THE WRITIEN WORD IN THE ARAGONESE RECONQUISTA•

U nder the influences of linguistic theory and social history, medievalists have reevaluated the role of the written word in che Middle Ages. In line with these influences, this reevaluation emphasizes less the actual literacy of persons and more the functions of the written word, to determine its importance in medieval society 1• In other words, the state of literacy in medieval society is no longer che chief focus; the uses of writing are. An excellent opportunity to study the function of the written .word in a medieval society comes from the Iberian kingdom of Aragon; and the best opportunity in this realm's history can be found in the glory years of the Aragonese Reconquista during the reigns of Pedro I ( 1094-1104) and Alfonso I ( 1104-1134). U nder the rule of these rwo brothers, the Aragonese gobbled up large amounts of territory from Spanish Islam 2• In turn this great acquisition of land created an active land market in

which the written word in the forrn of the charter flourished, che basic tool by which land and other property transactions were enacted.
This period is also advantageous to study for two other reasons. Under che sanction of royal authority, che public notary, with itsfideJ publica, had not yet reappeared in Aragon. Charcers during che eleventh and twelfth centuries, in che view of traditional diplomatics, were not yet dispositive--their chief func tion remained that of witness lists .
i . This assumption about the use of charters will be tested against Aragonese practices. Another important point also ought to be considered. Aragon·s union with Catalunya that created the Crown of Aragon did not occur until 113 7. Consequently, Aragonese diplomatics during Pedro's and Alfonso's reign were not yet subject to Catalan influences .. With these considerations in mind, let us now examine the use of charters in medieval Aragon.
The field of diplomatics has distinguished two categories of charters in the Middle Ages: public, that is, all royal and papal charters; and privare, ali non-royal and non-papal charters 4 • The key development in the history of the privare charter has been traditionally seen as its loss of dispositive force after the Germanic invasions ended Roman rule in the West. Charters were at best only probative and served merely to record witnesses of property transactions. They did not constitute a legal document that transferred property; rather property was alienated in a ceremony conducted orally, with the exchange of sorne object between two parties actually transferring property. This view has been challenged, however, with recent scholarship holding that the charter validated property transactions , .
As for the Iberian Península, the charter continued to be commonly used afrer che end of Roman rule because of the Visigothic Law Code that embraced both the probative worth of a charter and witnesses to validare a property transaction Iberian Peninsula, Aragon still reflected the general Iberian practice of using charters for property transactions. Certainly by the eleventh century the charter had come to play a majar role in property transactions in Aragon, as we shall shortly see. Befare the thirteenth century reappearance of the public notary with royal authority to legalize documents, charters in Aragon were produced by professional scribes, either clerical or secular. Clerical scribes, easily distin guished by such cides as preshiter oc cape//anu.r in charters, seem especially prominent and were especially needed to record property rights. For example, monasteries or cathedrals required scribes to draw up documents for property records and called on their own members for chis task 7 • Commoner and noble alike counted on these clerical or lay scribes to produce charters, for even che · great nobility of Aragon lacked chanceries H. With Aragonese expansion from the Pyrenees into the Ebro River V alley, professional lay scribes especially proliferated; but where and how these scribes received their training is a mystery. Since evidence for the training of these scribes is lacking, it must be assumed that, as in other pares of the Iberian Peninsula, scribal training was undertaken in the scriptoria of monasteries, the bishop' s court, or che cathedral school. 9 No typology has been established for che private charters that Aragonese scribes produced. Charters like those of Aragon can be classified according to che categories determined by scribes themselves or by che modern student of diplomatics 10 • In Aragon's case, we can lec charters classify themselves, since in the notification of che corpus of charters, scribes usually described che type of transaction that the charter recorded. In turn the description of a transcription provides the categories with which to classify Aragonese charters: «This is the Disputes in Early Medieval Europe», eds. Wendy DAVIES and Paul FOURACRE, Cambridge, 1986, p. 85. Collins (pp. 103-4) believes that Aragon and Navarre lagged behind che resc of che lberian Peninsula in che use of charters and chat the two areas were less influenced by che Code.
7 Mariano ALONSO y LAMBÁN, Notas para el 11111dio d,I notariado de Af'a g ón, «Anua rio de derecho aragonés», V (1949-50), p. 387; Rosa RODRÍGUEZ TRONCOSO, A/g11na1 consideraciones sobre los ori g enes del notariado en el alto A,-agón, in« VIII Congreso de Historia de la Corona de Aragón. Crónica, ponencias y comunicaciones, 3: «Comunicaciones», Barcelona, 1962, pp. 250-1. 8  «This is the charter of donation.» 1 2 «This is the charter of purchase.>► u «This is the charter of the authority of the pledge.» 14 «This is che charter of the authority of the sale.» u Sometimesthe scribe would label bis document a <<writing» but still classify it according to function: «per hanc scripturam vendicionis.» 16 In short, these charter formulas describe the func tion of a charter, eg, to record a sale, and the different functions provide the categories of classification for Aragonese charters from the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries: sale, donation, purchase, pledge, and property divi s1ons.
The common charter formulas just cited range chronologically from the late eleventh century to the early twelfth century, and geographically from Huesca to Zaragoza. The broad geographical and chronological usage óf these formulas indicares a common training for Aragonese scribes. Other widespread formularies also indicare common scribal training, and in general Aragonese charters display similar diplomatic form, wherever their origin. This common formar includes an explicit invocation, of which the most common forms are in nomine Dei, or in nomine sancte et individue TrinitatiJ: Patris ac Fi//ii et SpirituJ Sancti. After chis come the notification and disposition in the corpus of a charter, stating the names of the buyer and seller, their intentions, and the property being alienated. The following formula is typical: «1, Durán, sold my garden ... with its tower and trees ... to you, Sancho, bishop of Calahorra, for the price that we agreed on.» 11 In the final section of the corpus are listed the fidanzaJ (guarantors of the transaction) and witnesses. The date (almost always in the Spanish Era) and actum (place enacted) come in the final protocol, along with a list of the important lords of Aragon and their lordships, and bishops.
Sometimes an important historical event in Aragon or for ali Spain was also noted 18 • These notices function as a meaos to date a document; but they may have served other purposes as well. Historical writing in eleventh-and twelfth-11 Doc11m1nto1 para el tJtudio d, la ReconquiJta y repoblación del Valle del Ebro, ed. José María LACARllA, 2 vols., «Textos Medievales», 62, 63, Zaragoza, 1982, 1983: «Hec est carca de particione. ►► Hereafter cited as DocumentoJ.
12 [bid. no. 88 (1122): «Hec est carta donationis.» 1 ·' Colección diplomática d, la catedra/ de HMesca, ed. Antonio DURAN GUDIOL, 2 vols., Fuentes para la historia del Pirineo, V, VI, Zaragoza, 1965, 1969  Later in the document Raol, through the scribe, reiterated that the money was received in the presence of all the local residents: <<I gave those 10/idi, and you received them in the presence of ali those local residents and witnesses and hearers. »

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The scribe of the charter precisely described the various steps of this http://estudiosmedievales.revistas.csic.es transaction, which suggests that the charter was intended to be an accurate record. This purpose is seen most clearly in the scribe's efforts to record the customary procedures of land transactions (which were carried out orally). He documented the all-important fact that the local community and witnesses observed the transaction, thereby approving it. Besides this, the scribe noted that the customary meal called the aliala was eaten, an act in itself that sealed a transaction 2 · 1 • The documenting of all these practices suggests that the charter was intended to show that the custom for property transactions had been faithfully observed. This documentation would subsequendy establish the validity of the transaction. In chis way che written word complemented custom by preserving its memory and by verifying its observance. If this is true, then the charter was clearly intended as a record of the transaction. Clíarters in Aragonese society were, therefore, records serving as more than witness lists, although this still remained one of their functions .
. The circumstances surrounding the redaction of charters in Aragon also evidence uses other than witness lists. When charters were drawn up, they apparendy were read both to witnesses and to the seller commissioning the charter. This practice comes across most clearly in a document of 1129. Other evidence as well demonstrates purposes -especially as records of property transactions-for charters other than witness lists. In the corrobora tion of a document of 1132, a certain Ala confirmed her donation of property to the cathedral of San Salvador of Zaragoza «justas it is written above.» 21 B y this statement, Ala acknowledged that the document recorded accurately her donation to San Salvador, and thac chis was its purpose. At least to Ala, the charter funccioned as more than a wicness list.
A formula used in private charters indicates that property transactions were enacted through documents, suggesting they were dispositive. The for mula is per hanc scripturam venditioniJ. An example of its use comes from 1132, when Altisenes noted that he and his children «through this writing of our sale are sellers. » ia In another example Pere <;abater and wife Guasen used a similar formula in their sale of property: «Through chis writing of sale ... we sold sorne houses.» 29 lf this charter formula is taken at face value, then the property transactions had been enacted through charters, making them dispositive.

Examples from other documents suggest that the use of charters ensured the stability of property transactions. In 1087 Galindo, abbot of Santa María of Alquéazar and San Pedro de Estada, exchanged properties with Ondisculo of Araguas, at the order of Pedro Sánchez, future king of Aragón. (At that time he was ruling the counties of Sobrarbe and Ribagorza for his father, King Sancho Ramírez). The prohibitive clause of the document states: «And it is written above, so that {the exchange of property] may be firm and scable for the property of Santa María and San Pedro de Estada.»
1 º A donation would seem to have stronger force if written clown. As only suggested in this example, the reason for this can be credited to the tangible evidence provided by writing. A charter offered a more stable record of a cransaction, since memory could be more fleeting and less stable over time--witnesses could die or move away. The internal evidence of an Aragonese charter has again suggested its use other than as a witness list, the document in this case perhaps even having legal for ce.
Certain charter formulas do testify to the legal force of charters. The imprecative dauses of many charters linked violations of the transaction with violations of the charter itself. to the monastery of San Pedro of Siresa sometime in either 1114 or 1115. She observed in a renunciative clause of the charter that «I should not have power to destroy this charter. » 31 A charcer from 1119 contains a similar clause concerning che relationship between the charter and transaction. The docu ment records che acquisition of two fields by the clerics of San Pedro el Viejo of Hu esca and provided for che safecy of che transaction by this warning: « Whoe ver wishes to violare or to interrupt this charcer or donation ... let him accept a pare in hell with the traitor Judas and with Dathan and Abiron. » u In this case che charter and donation were clearly considered the same--a violation of either threatened the transaction.
In this last example, an attempced violation of the charter meant that the transgressors would be subject to spiritual penalties. Other types of formulaic injunctions against violators of charter and transaction existed as well; these penalties were temporal, rather than spiritual. In 1121 Per Denia sold a garden and vineyard to Raol of Larrasoaña. The imprecative clause of the document made it clear that «if a man or any person signed below ... by force or by any deceit ... wishes to disrupt this charter», then the Ji.danzas (guarantors) were obligated to protect che transaction by finding another garden for Raol 3 ·'.
This formula, by no means an isolated example, demonstrates that the charter served as a legal record of a property transaction. If the charter were violated, chen che cuscomary legal processes were triggered to protect the safety of che cransaction -in this case, the Ji.danzas oc guarantors of the transaction acted. Although Per's and Raol's charter did not so state, other charters stipulated that che Ji.danzas acted according to local custom: <if,danza ... tion of the written word and custom found in Aragonese charters. The legal safeguard of the fidanza was a vital customary practice of Aragonese property transactions; the charter recorded who the fidanzas were and by what authority they acted (secundum usum terre). Once the charter was violated, then the fidanzas acted. Charters thus stood as records of property transactions, thereby giving legal force to charters. All of these formulas strongly evidence the legal force of the private charter in Aragon and its use as more than a mere witness list, the usual role of the prívate charter assigned by traditional diplomatics n. The formula discussed above, per hanc scripturam venditionis, indicares that charters using this formula were dispositive, since the transaction was enacted by the document. Rather than overanalyzing various charter formulas and groping for clues about their legal significance, che matter of the dispositive force of private charters could be easily resolved if a charter were clearly used as the only means of transferring property. Such a document is unfortunately lacking. Even the documents with the formula per hanc scripturam venditionis include witness lists and fidanzas, indicating that they recorded an oral transaction. The transaction itself also had che legal force of transferring property, not the document alone. We must remember that property transactions were oral proceedings, enacted before the local community, whose presence stamped the proceedings with legality ' 6 • Nonetheless, charters had sorne type of legal force, as the formulas discussed above most assuredly demonstrate. This legal stature perhaps carne from che approval of property transactions (which charters represented) by the local community. Because of its approval, the local community indirectly validated the charter that recorded the transaction. In this way, the public notary that reappeared in Aragon in che thirteenth century was not needed to legitimize charters. The custom of che community did so and functioned in place of Perhaps in 1148, the date is uncertain, García Romeu and his brother disputed the will for reasons unknown. The Templars, and the canons and bishop of Zaragoza defended themselves against the Romeu clan before the court (plena curia) of Ramon Berenguer IV, count of Catalunya and prince of Aragon, and his justiciar (Ato Sans, iu.rticia). The defense of the ecdesiastics rested on che testimony of two of che witnesses of Lop's will, whose purpose was to authenticate the will: «the witnesses swore that they saw and heard that lord Lop Garcés so made his testament just as it is written in the foresaid charter.»

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The written word in the form of Lop's testament had been introduced before the count's court, so that the witnesses of Lop's will could be produced and authenticate the document. The will obviously had sorne legal force 39 , since it was introduced into the hearing as evidence. The purpose of the witnesses' testimony was to confirm that they had seen and heard Lop make his will as recorded in the document. Oral testimony validated the document; but the written word evidenced whether or not Lop's will had been carried out properly. In this case, the written word complemented custom, helping to establish a legal decision. Lop's purposes in drawing up the will had been fulfilled--the written word had protected the disposition of his property. suggest that che great nobility of Aragon were not unaccustomed to using the written word.

Both the great nobility and lesser folk of Aragon commonly used charters for che business of property transactions. No seignorial archives have survived from the great nobility of Aragon
Lop's and Fortún's use of the written word does not yield evidence on the existence of prívate chanceries arnong the nobility. As was probably the practice of the Aragonese 47 , the two great lords and their wives relied on prívate scribes for the redaction of documents. If unfruitful in determining the possibilities of prívate chanceries, Lop's example does provide fresh evidence about where Aragonese nobles stored their documents. Copies of his will were given to the church of Santa María of Zaragoza and to two of the witnesses: «Fortún Aznaréz gave that charter of testament ... to lord Vilelmo, chaplain of Santa María, and Fortún Blaschez and Garnero, witnesses. » 48 According to this example, prívate documents could be stored with ecclesiastical institutions and witnesses for safekeeping. Churches and monasteries probably served as che most important local depositories for documents. The storing of documents with witnesses may have had another purpose than the safekeeping of documents. Witnesses could use documents in their possession to verify a transaction; chus, they did not have to rely solely on memory. Witnesses also functioned as more than a way of verifying transac tions: they were record keepers who preserved transactions by their memories and by the documents in their possession. If the use of charters appears commonplace among the nobility, then neither <lid the lesser folk of Aragon differ in this respect. Examples of charter use among them abound. A typical instance can be found in the sale of sorne houses and a shop in Zaragoza by Pere C::abater and wife Guasen to lñigo Galíndez 49 • The scribe redacted the document at Pere's and Guasen's arder, as the corroboration demonstrates: «Pere C::abater and my wife who ordered chis charter to be written.» 'º That the couple ordered the document drawn up indicares the use of the written word was not foreign to them.
Interna! evidence from this document suggests the social status of the transaction's participants. The format of this document is similar to the others that we have studied: notification, disposition, witness list, and list of fidanzas.
The names gleaned from these different parts of the charter evidence their social status. Neither buyer, seller, witnesses, nor fidanzas bear the title of señor, don, dominus, dompnNs, oc dompna, all words used in Aragonese charters denoting noble status. The lack of tides suggests that the participants in the transaction were commoners or, at best, infanzoneJ, the lesser nobility of Aragon. Since the persons of this charter lack tides, perhaps the more plausible interpretation of their social status is that of commoner. Also Pere bears che surname of �abater, which transliterates into the modern Castilian word for shoemaker, zapatero. This surname suggests that Pere's occupation was shoe maker, a profession not highly pursued by the nobility of the Middle Ages. lt appears as if the participants in this transaction such as Pere, Guaseo, and Iñigo were commoners, and that they accepted the use of writing in property transactions.
Other documents also bear out the use of charters among commoners and the lesser nobility of Aragon. In 1124 Roberto bought a shop in Zaragoza from Guiomar and his wife. The scribe attributed no titles of nobility to any of the participants in the sale, whether buyer, seller, witnesses, or [,danzas ' 1 • The participants were probably merchants, as evidence from the document itself suggests. Witnesses of property transactions usually carne from the locale in which che property was located; the place of chis transaction was probably a shopkeeper's district. One witness to this transaction was «Randulfus zabate rius,» suggesting that his occupation was shoemaker. Furthermore, the shop bought by Roberto was in a neighborhood of a/fonda.s or caravansaries for traveling merchants ,i_ These facts indicate that the participants in this transac-•!J lbid., no. 134 (1126). , o Ibid.: «Pere C::.abater et uxor mea Guasen, qui ista carta mandauimus scribere.» '' Ibid., no. 95 ( 1124). u /bid.: «Et [ese] illa tenda infra alfonda de Garner carnifice de Osca, et infra alteram alfondam de Galter lo comer de Osca ... Huius rei sunt testes ... Randulfus zabate nus. » tion were craftsmen and shopkeepers. If so, then one could conclude that such people in places like Zaragoza used charters for property purchases.
In 112 3 Raol of Larrasoaña, whom we have met previously, bought a field in the Gallego River district above Zaragoza from Benedict of Bolea and his wife. As with the previous examples, the witnesses,fidanza.r, sellers, and buyer all lack cides of nobility H. In fact, Raol appears in a number of documents as a buyer of property around Zaragoza, and he is never given the title of lord )◄ • Raol was perhaps a commoner, a well-to-do landowning peasant who used charters for his land transactions at Zaragoza. His example seems to be the rule rather than che exception in the countryside around Zaragoza, where the charter was commonly used in property transactions ) ) .
For sorne of Raol 's purchases, nobles served as witnesses and as fidanza.r. In 1121 Raol bought from a Don Pon� four fields. Pon�, whose tide Don suggests noble status was also called a .1poron,r, a maker of spurs, revealing that all trades were not confined to commoners , <>. Because of Don Pon�' s involve ment in a trade, perhaps he was an infanzón. The witness list describes one witness as «Don Helias,» suggesting that he too was noble. This mixture of noble and non-noble in chis charter reveals that persons of different degrees of social rank participated in purchases of land, and that both used the written word to record transactions )7. In a matter of the utmost importance for an agracian society--the alienation of land--the written word in the form of the charter played a vital role. Probably not all business important in an agrarian society was conducted by the written word. lnheritable property, for example, probably did not pass to heirs through documents, since che customary right of H Ibid., no. 93 (1123).
, -1 For Raors purchases, sec che appropriate notes above and also Doc1'mtnloJ, nos. 72  1066-1307, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1979. He believes that before 1200 properties were normally given without documentation. Influenced by the practices of che English monarchy, che great barons of England had adopted the use of documcnts by 1200; by 12 50 knights were using documents; and by 1300 documents were uscd evcn in property transactions betwecn peasants. Thc use of thc writtcn word in Aragon seems to have prevailed earlier than in England. http://estudiosmedievales.revistas.csic.es iu1 hereditaJ already ensured inheritance. In the alienation of land between two different parties, though, the use of charters was the rule. In this way, the written word performed an important function for the agracian society of Aragon.
This brief examination of private documents has suggested that their use was common in property transactions in Aragon. The case was equally true--in fact, even more so--for the Aragonese monarchy. The large number of royal charters granting land shows that che written word was che usual way for Aragonese kings to reward the faithful participants of the Reconquista. To colonize lands after conquest from Muslims, the normal procedure for kings was to give and authorize grants through charters. Examples of the use of charters from the reigns of Pedro I and Alfonso the Battler will demonstrate this function, as well as other uses.
In 1098 Pedro I granted to Fortún Garcés properties in Huesca that had been owned by a Muslim. Displaying a form similar to private charters, the charter opens with an explicit invocation, which is followed in the notification by Pedro's description of the grant as a donation ,s. Land grants such as these belong to the category of royal privileges � 9 , according to Angel Canellas López who worked out a typology for royal charters in his study of the Aragonese royal chancery before the union with Catalunya.
After the disposition in the corpus, Pedro, through the scribe, noted in the renunciative dause that «this donation that is written above . . . you should have it secure and free, noble and free ... as your own alod ... except for my loyalty.» 60 The king himself assured the validity and security of the grant; no fidanzaJ or witnesses were needed to secure or to authenticate the transaction. This royal charter was dispositive, made sure by the king's own authority. After the renunciative dause, the sign"m of the king, and the actum and date follow, along with a list of important personages of the realm.
The common format of royal charters from the reigns of Pedro and Alfonso strongly evidences continuity in royal chancery practices. Toe example of Alfonso·s grant to Guillermo Sánchez ofTena will suffice to demonstrate the similarity. As always, an Aragonese royal charter begins with an explicit invocation in the initial protocol, followed by the notification if acio hanc caf'lam donacioniJ) 61• Next, a long disposition oudines Guillermo's good fortu- The final protocol condudes with the signum of the king, actum, date, and a list of important personages of the realm. The form of the charter follows closely that of royal charters from Pedro' s reign; and examples of this similarity could be multiplied many times.
As in many royal charters, a key formula is «sicut superius scriptum est» (just as it is written above). The phrase suggests that the wording of a document was intended to be precise. Perhaps this formula could be discoun ted as only a routine clause, notable only for its frequent use; but evidence suggests otherwise. Precisely oudined in their wording, royal documents con tained important legal rights over property. This comes to light in a remarka ble document from 1118.
Iñigo Sanz of Laves and family had been kidnapped by Muslims from their home at Ayera in 1112. Iñigo's captivity was not easy; he was imprisoned six years in Muslim lands, suffering «in chains ... and they tortured us by hunger and thirst.» ó. i lñigo's captivity did not end until 1118, when the Aragonese lord Fortún Dat ransomed him. The happiness of Iñigo's rescue was darkened by his obligation to repay the costs of his ransom to Fortún. Unable to find help from friends or family, this unfortunate man turned to the monks ofSan Pedro el Viejo ofHuesca, to obtain the needed money. They were willing to huy Iñigo's land near Ayera, thus providing him with the ransom mo ney 6•.
Iñigo, however, lacked a charter proving his ownership of the land and subsequent rights to alienare it. The monks consequently refused to do busi ness with him, until he produced such a charter: «the monks said to me that they would give to me one thousand 10/idi of J acan money for my property of Ayera ... if I might be able to have a charter from my lord king Alfonso, by whose license I might be able to sell and they themselves able to buy. follows this declaration. The albara in this context seems to have functioned as a receipt. The document is unusual, since documents actually called a/baras are extremely rare. The a/bara was usually only referred to in other documents, themselves not alba.ras. In one example, a document of Alfonso spoke of his officials who distributed aJharaJ 11• Since Alfonso was confirming land grants authorized by his officials, the a/bara seems to have been a document through which grants were made. If so, it probably played an important role in the royal setdement of such places as Zaragoza.
Once given, the albara was not forgotten by its recipients; individuals often referred to their albaras as giving them right to alienate �property. In 1124 Sancho Garcés and wife Toda sold to Bernard and Señor a garden that «we have from our right a/hara.» 12 In 1126 Aznar Arcés and family sold to Hugo and family a field: «It the field carne to us from settlement and with our own aJhara.» n In a document previously discussed, Altisenes sold to Lop Garcés Peregrino property that had come to Altisenes «from the donation of our lord king and from our a/bara.» 74 That these three examples of che a/bara come from Zaragoza or its environs also demonstrates the a/bara 's use in settling the area. The individual sellers in these three documents at least pardy established their rights to property by the a/bara. The use of the alhara in this manner meant that the written word was relied on to prove property rights, and that customary meaos of determining property ownership, especially the use of witnesses, were superseded. Reference to the albara also illustrates the disposi tive nature of royal documents, since royal documents alone transferred pro perty. Finally, the a/hara's use in prívate property transfers again evidences the reliance on the written word in the private sphere of Aragonese society. This examination of charters and che written word has shown that the written word was no stranger even in a customary society like Aragon. Charters served as records of the oral custom by which transactions were conducted, were Les chartes privées avaienc force de loi et représentaient 1 · enregiscrement des transac tions, de meme que les coutumes orales par lesquelles les transactions étaient menées. Elles servaient, par conséquent, plus que comme simple témoignage, qui est le role qui leur est généralement attribué par les diplomates habituels.

SUMMARY
The kingdom of Aragon offers an excellent opportunity to study the written word in a medieval, customary sociecy. This is so because the Aragonese during the reigns of Pedro I ( 1094-1104) and Alfonso I ( 1104-1134) conquered much terri tory, creating a great landmarket in which the written word in the form of the charter was the normal means to alienate properry. Charters were commonly used on all levels of society by king, nobility, and commoner. Private charters possessed legal force and were records of transactions, including the oral custom by which transac-