The Treaty of Meaux-Paris (1228)

Abstract

The authors analyze the Treaty of Meaux-Paris (1228) signed between France and Toulouse. It has extraordinary relevance as it establishes the terms of the application of French law over the powerful county of Toulouse and by extension over Occitan lands, as the result of the Battle of Muret (1213). They offer the first translation ever (into English) of this treaty and they analyze it as the legal rendering of the centralized expansion of the French Crown on its way towards becoming an absolutist monarchy. They also study for the first time this treaty in comparison to the Decrees of Nova Planta issued in Spain between 1707-1716 by a king of French origin which represented the fulfillment of an authoritarian process that began in France in the 13th century. The treaty and the decrees used the concept of the “just right of conquest,” which provided a (debatable) legitimacy to the interests of the winning parties. They analyze literary texts such as the Cançó de la Croada as well as historical contemporary accounts creation of a Catalan collective identity.