| The twelfth century witnessed a renaissance of the scientific study of law in Western Europe. Students flocked to the nascent universities to study the canon law of the Church as well as ancient Roman jurisprudence. These two bodies of law and the layers of commentary that built up around them formed the ius commune, the common legal culture and jurisprudence that thrived in Europe for centuries. Scholars have long noted the importance of the ius commune in discussions of political authority, ecclesiology, and rights, as well as a myriad of other legal issues, but the jurists of the ius commune also possessed a sophisticated reflection on the problems raised by insanity in law. As medievalists begin to examine the cultural meanings and social realities of disability and madness, it is particularly important to understand the ways in which jurists conceived of the relation between the insane and society. Using the glosses, lectures, and commentaries of the ius commune, this dissertation pursues the figure of the furiosus, the insane person, across multiple areas of jurisprudence from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries. It examines important questions that still plague jurists today. How can one prove insanity in court? To what extent are the insane criminally responsible? What rights do the insane possess while under guardianship? Can the insane consent or possess agency in any way? By answering these questions, this dissertation will show that the medieval jurisprudence concerning insanity was sophisticated, diverse, and responsive to contemporary needs. In order to test the ideas of the jurists against a more practically oriented source base, this dissertation also examines a number of fourteenth-century cases involving insanity found in the Archivio di Stato of Venice. Ultimately, this research shows that the insane were not a simple marginal group during the Middle Ages, but one integrated into the larger social world. It also illustrates the importance of jurisprudence for further studies of disability and marginality. |
