Huvelin, Paul. Essai historique sur le droit des foires et des marchés. Paris: Rousseau, 1897.
Laurent, Henri. “Droits des foires et droits urbains aux XIIIe et XIVe siècles.” Revue historique de
droit français et étranger 4th ser. 11(1932):660–710.
Verlinden, Charles. “Markets and Fairs.” In Cambridge Economic History of Europe. 8 vols.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1952–78, Vol. 3: Economic Organization and Policies
in the Middle Ages, ed. M.M.Poston, E.E.Rich, and E.Miller, 1965, pp. 119–53.
FALAISE
. Celebrated in legend, the mighty citadel of Falaise (Calvados) is the oldest fortress in
Normandy. Built atop a rocky spur (Fr. falaise), it was a favorite residence of the Norman
dukes. According to legend, it was from the castle windows that Robert le Diable, the
younger son of Duke Richard II, spotted the beautiful Arlette, daughter of a rich tanner,
doing her washing in the river. Refusing to be carried off in secret, she rode boldly
through the castle gates to become the mother of William the Conqueror. It was from
Falaise that William launched his invasion of England in 1066. The town was captured
by Philip II Augustus in 1204, retaken by Henry V in 1417, and finally rejoined to the
French crown by Charles VII in 1450.
The castle is an impressive ruin, dominated by its 12th-century square Norman keep.
The curtain walls, main gate, and sixteen flanking towers are 13th-century. Within the
town are the Romanesque church of Saint-Gervais (11th c., with a 12th-c. lantern tower),
and the Gothic church of La Trinité (13th-16th c.), both of which sustained damage in
World War II.
William W.Kibler/William W.Clark
[See also: ROBERT LE DIABLE; WILLIAM I THE CONQUEROR]
Berry, Maurice. “Église Saint-Gervais de Falaise.” and “Église Sainte-Trinité de Falaise.” Congrès
archéologique (Orne) 111(1953):143–80.
Doranlo, M. “Le château de Falaise.” Congrès archéologique (Orne) 111(1953):181–200.
FAMILY AND GENDER
(ARISTOCRACY)
. The word “family” today usually refers to either the nuclear family or an ill-defined
group of cousins and in-laws, but there was no word in medieval Latin for either of these
meanings, and aristocrats probably did not think in those terms. A stirps or gens, which
we might now translate as “family,” was a group that included both the living and the
dead and generally was composed of those descended from a common male ancestor and
the women who had married into this group.
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