The homage of Muslims of the Crown of Aragon in the XIV century
The article is devoted to such specifically medieval phenomenon as homage. In the center of a small study is a problem of the sacredness of the oath in those cases when the future overlord and his vassals belong to different confessions. The author focuses on the legal, rather than social or political side of the issue, and analyzes the text of the oath and the procedure of homage. In the Crown of Aragon of the XIV century the homage of Muslims to the Christian King or to Christian lord sovereign was not an exceptional phenomenon. Homage was a conventional form of establishing the feudal allegiance, which found reflection in the documentary sources. The author notes that the Islamic tradition is not always explicitly refers to the fact of citizenship of Muslims to Christian rulers. At the same time, in practice, it is homage, with its formal and sacred formulas recognized by both parties and indeed reinforcing the relationship of a particular type. The Muslim side often initiated drafting two-parties acts where offering of homage or concluding vassal relationships were prescribed. These documents provided legitimacy Saracens citizenship not only in the framework of the new relationship with the Christian authorities, but also from the point of view of Islamic legal tradition. Homage existed in a multidimensional legal space of the Christian Kingdom. This space was treated as a combination of different systems, each of which had its own legitimacy. In such a structure is clearly visible the functionality of multidimensional legal space, which is typical for the medieval perception of right and law. Neighboring systems are in hierarchical relations with each other, and the legitimacy of any system that is included in the total hierarchically organized space, should be supported by efforts and agreements of all parties, by political authority and by law itself.