The Rôles d’Oléron are one of the most famous texts of medieval maritime law. Their influence was particularly strong in the Atlantic and North-European area. Nevertheless, for several centuries, they were a text ‘in motion’ that was...
moreThe Rôles d’Oléron are one of the most famous texts of medieval maritime law. Their influence was particularly strong in the Atlantic and North-European area. Nevertheless, for several centuries, they were a text ‘in motion’ that was known in form of different versions and with adjustments to specific geographical, legal, economic and social conditions. The details of their origin, their compiler or compilers, the history and stages of their genesis and the nature of their links with the French island of Oléron are still subject to scientific debate and raise many problems and enigmas .
Today we know over forty manuscripts from various centuries and linguistic spaces that contain certain elements of the Rôles d’Oléron or refer to them. In spite of the fact that the text is presumed to be much older, most of them only stem back from the 14th and 15th centuries. The first part of the article will give a short glance at the theories about their dating, some indications about their content, the historiography and editions. The second section will discuss the question of their origins and the relationship with later stages and versions, viewed and reviewed by ‘experts’ and royal, princely and urban legislators. The focus of interest will be the transformation process from oral customary law to written regulations that can be compared with similar evolutions by other types of sources as Weistümer. In a general way, this latter type, that has been much debated in German historiography, can be defined as a multitude of medieval and early modern sources of law whose common denominator is the special procedure of their genesis: they were ‘given’ (Weisung) by expert members of an assembly or court who possessed knowledge about customary law or the current state of law. These persons belonged to the court community or were summoned for a special purpose to give their advice4. So, just as in the case on the contrary an initiative ‘from above’, from royal, princely or urban authorities and rulers? Was this an expression of rather autonomous auto-regulation or an attempt of rulers to reinforce the control of their subjects? The third and last part will give some short examples for the need of adaptations to particular local topographical, environmental and climatic conditions.
