Abstract | Paper -a:
For imposing their power, medieval elites used inter alia the words that reflected different concepts of power (auctoritas, potestas); as to say something often meant to act and vice versa. However, the concepts of power were not the same all round the Christendom and medieval languages reflected them in different ways, especially when the vernaculars turned into 'languages of power'. At the time, political vocabularies became fluid and reflected the changes in the political sphere, while keeping their essential role in the execution of power. The paper discusses it on the example of the political 'vocabularies' of the 13th-century Norway.
Paper -b:
The Rex imperator in regno suo is a juridical construction which explains the sovereign use of Roman law by 'provincial' kings, and particularly by the king of France. But the Rex imperator concept has an external function as well, as it precludes any pretensions of Imperial domination over the French kingdom. Yet, this French identity based on the principle of absolute temporal independence is of little importance outside the jurists' milieu. This is surprising, as research has generally presumed that the Rex imperator ideology is ubiquitous. The paper will discuss its impact and limits accordingly.
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