Vivere «secundum Langnobardorum legem» ad Ariano Irpino tra X e XII secolo

Abstract

The study examines a dossier of 51 notarial documents, produced between Xth and XIIth centuries, mostly coming from the ancient archive of St. Michele Arcangelo monastery in Ariano Irpino (Benevento), to trace the notary development in a peripheral center of Campanian hinterland. It arises as a continuation of the previous essay Prassi giuridica e pratiche di documentazione in carte inedite di Ariano Irpino dall’XI e XII secolo, in «Nuovi Annali della Scuola Speciale per Archivisti e Bibliotecari», 24 (2010), pp. 7-26). The documents, preserved in different locations (Archive of Montevergine Abbey, Museo del Sannio in Benevento, private Archive of Aldobrandini family in Frascati and the Vatican Library), constitute the platform on which it focuses the historical, paleographical and diplomatic exegesis. The edition of 19 charters (15 of them still unpublished), together with the analysis of the other documents, allowed to observe on the one hand the coexistence of conservative attitudes related to the tradition with symptoms of change in negotial patterns and documentary system in a restricted area, even if well connected to Benevento, the capital of the Lombard Principality, and on the other hand to bring out the steps of a slow but refined process of professional identity achievement pursued by notaries and judges, working together to construct a constantly evolving documentary practice.