Laws in the making: the feudal and penal charters of Hainaut (28 July 1200)

Summary This article deals with two important legal texts commonly attributed to the hand of Gislebert of Mons, author of the Chronicon Hanoniense and key-player at the chancery of Hainaut at the end of the twelfth century. Commonly known as the ‘legal’ and ‘feudal’ charters of Hainaut, these two documents were enacted by Count Baldwin vi at the castle of Mons in July 1200 and formed the basis of the legislation in Hainaut in the following centuries. The article investigates the writing process of these documents from the perspectives of palaeography and diplomatics. It demonstrates that Gislebert was not the author of these charters. By studying the content of the laws, the article establishes then that they were promulgated in order to solve problems relating to the inheritance of the comital power. The enforcement of the laws is being questioned in the last part of the paper, which examines their numerous Latin and French copies.