Uses and customs Pope Gregory XI confirms the uses and customs of the town of Tremp to prevent the population from emigrating

Date: 1376

Archive: County Archives of Pallars Jussà

Document type: Textual

Reference code: CAT-ACPJ-116-27

Link to the online document

Description: Uses and Customs. Rural communities in the European mountain areas, mainly in the Pyrenees and the Alps, generally enjoyed “privileges” that allowed a better adaptation of family economies to the feudal legal model. These rights were known in Catalonia as “uses and customs” which could be recorded in documents or be of oral tradition demonstrable through “immemorial custom” through witnesses. From the European demographic crisis caused by the plague of the 14th century, a lordly reaction to capture more resources was experienced throughout Western Europe, which clashed with village customs. But in the Pyrenees, the increase in lordly “bad uses” could lead to the emigration of the population to other places with a more benign climate and a greater availability of land, which is why many lords ended up confirming the uses and customs. In the presenting document, Pope Gregory XI confirms the uses and customs, written and verbal, of the town of Tremp to prevent the population from emigrating.

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