The Reordering of Society in Medieval Provence

Stephen Weinberger

Dedicated to the memory of David Herlihy.

"Here, some pray, others fight, still others work ..." {}). "Since the beginning of time, mankind has been divided into three groups, men of prayer, farmers, and warriors" (2). Appearing between 1024 and 1031 in the writings of Adelbero, bishop of Laon, and his cousin Gerard, bishop of Cambrai, these two statements constitute the first fully developed expression of a tripartite, or more accurately a trifunctional conceptualization of European society. It is this particular theory of the social order which has had such a profound effect on the structure of European society, ultimately serving as the basis for the three estates. Above all else, this is a view of society which stressed order and harmony, presenting society as being divided into three groups, each distinguished from the others on the basis of its primary function-praying, fighting, and working. Rather than overlapping or conflicting with one another, each of the three groups provides a function that is complimentary to, and indeed essential to the well-being of the other two. In this way, all of the essential needs of society — the spiritual, the military, and the agricultural — are fully satisfied.

Because of its importance, this particular conceptualization of society has been the object of considerable scholarly analysis, and not surprisingly, of intense disagreement. For decades, scholars have been at odds with one another over such issues as the origin of tripartition, its purpose, and its effects (3). Within this body of scholarship, the study which is unquestionably

(1) Adalbero of Laon, Poème au Roi Robert, ed. and transi. Cl. Carozzi, Paris, 1979, 22. (2) Gerard of Cambrai, Gesta episcoporum cameracensium, éd. G. Pertz, M.G.H. S.S. VII, Hanover, 1846, 485. (3) J. Batany, "Des 'trois fonctions' aux trois états 7' Annales. Economies, Sociétés, Civilisations 17 (1963), 933-38 ; M. Rouche, "De l'Orient à Occident : les origines de la tripartition fonctionnelle et les causes de son adoption par l'Europe chrétienne à la fin du Xe siècle", Occident et Orient au xe siècle, Paris, 1979, 31-49. J. Le Goff,