Who are the judges? Charter of the King of France John II Good in favor of the Cathedral of Laon (1352)
The article deals with relationships between secular and ecclesiastical powers in medieval France in the 14th century. The king's John II letter to the Cathedral of Laon served as a basis for this case study. This document is kept in the archives of the Saint-Petersburg Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The document comes from the collection of Nikolai Petrovich Likhachev (1862-1936). The article gives a detailed analysis of its content and form. The problem which considered in the article, was spread throughout over medieval Europe. The form of the letter corresponds to the traditions of the French royal chancellery of the Late Middle Ages except the combination of languages - Latin and French. Generally, coexistence of the two languages was quite normal during 14-15th centuries. But in most cases one charter was entirely cited in the other. In the charter from Likhachev's collection one part does not exist without the other: the Latin part has no content, and the French part has no legal force. Ecclesiastical authority is represented by the catholic chapter of Laon, in whose favor a dispute was settled. The decision of royal Parliament based rather on principles of a relationship between the bishop and the cathedral developed in this city, than on royal own ordinances. It should be stressed that the analyzed document shows the multifaceted relationship between the spiritual and ecclesiastical authorities in medieval France, and puts out the low efficiency of using of same sources in juridical practice.