Exceptis militibus et sanctis": Restrictions upon Ecclesiastical Ownership o Land in the Foral Legislation of Medieval Castile and Valencia (original) (raw)

The late twelfth-century fuero of Cuenca, in discussing family relationships, states that, as matter of principIe, «no one may disinherit his sons». If someone, for example, should decide to enter te religious life, he may retain only a fifth of his personal property. The remainder, and alí of his real property, must as a matter of equity and justice be turned over to his heirs'. While in general, Cuencas municipal law code guarantees to property owners fulí powerover theirholdings, including the right of its disposal, thefuero specifically forbids the granting of any real property to monks orto those who have renounced the world. The rationale is that, because eccíesiastical persons cannot selí property, they should not be perniitted to acquire it 2. Later on, in te section dealing with buying and selling, the fuero stipulates that sales and exchanges of property within the city are permitted, except when monks are involved>. These seemingly minor provisions in medieval property law are significant because they helpus to understand the place that te Church occupied in the society of frontier Spain. On the one hand, and as numerous privileges demonstrate, priests and communities of religious were welcomed into frontier municipalities as settlers, and endowed with lands in the hope that these, by establishing a Christian presence in lands formerly Muslim, would assist in planting