<論説>シモン・ド・モンフォールのガスコーニュ統治

Abstract

イングランド議会史上に名をとどめるシモン・ド・モンフォールは、国政改革運動を開始する以前には、国王ヘンリ三世の信任が厚く、プランタジネット家がガスコーニュに領有する地域の統治を委託されて、一二四八年から一二五二年にかけて現地に赴いた。現地領主や主要都市民は彼の統治策に反抗し、これを受けてヘンリはシモンを事実上解任した。本稿では大陸領経営をめぐるヘンリとシモンとの政策の違いを、領有と統治をキーワードにし、現地人の不満を述べた文書を史料にして解明する。その過程で、封建的主従関係が領域統治において果たす役割を再検討し、また一三世紀ヨーロッパにおける帝国という概念についても展望した。

Powicke once wrote, "Simon de Montfort, an authoritarian by nature, was the victim of Henry's caprice" (King Henry III and the Lord Edward, p.214). Concerning the Plantagenet's administration of Gascony, Powicke paid little attention to the allegiance and political movements of local lords and boroughs in Gascony. No events from Roles Gascons were cited in his explanation of Simon's administration in his book. He assumed the personal character or nature of the distant king, who stayed only sporadically in Gascony, would have decided the success or failure of the administration of the seneschals. However, more evidence is needed to prove what circumstances caused the collapse of Simon's administration of Gascony in 1252. Such evidence may be found in the grievances presented to Henry III by the Gascon barons, burgesses and ecclesiastics between 1248 and 1252. In this paper documents concerning three different occasions of such grievances will be examined. The first group of documents concerns the peace after the revolt of the burgesses of Bordeaux in June 28, 1249. The second group is about the contract between Simon and the Gaston de Bearne and Amaneus d'Albret after the latter two rebelled against the seneschal in 1251. The third group includes documents of grievances rendered to Henry III by various factions in Gascony, i.e. barons, burgesses and ecclesiastics, in 1252. By examining the documents we can conclude that if Simon's administration had been thoroughly successful, the feudal relationships between Plantagenet kings and the Gascon lords and boroughs could have been stronger. Edward I seems to have been able to carry out a large-scale re-examination of feudal relationships in 1273-74 on the basis of Simon's precedent.