glyph 474: medieval constitutionalism . history . limits, limitation, of power, limited government . ... Barcelona's charter of citizens' rights - precedes Magna Carta ... Catalan sense of otherness, of separation ... the nation-state constrained

 

Oath of Fealty of the Aragonese Lords to their Monarch

an illustration of medieval constitutionalism


We, who are as good as you,
swear to you, who are no better than us,
to accept you as our king and sovereign,
provided you observe all our liberties and laws,
but if not, no.


 

Jim Bennett (author of The Anglosphere Challenge) found this in Barcelona, by Robert Hughes, who wrote:

The Catalans' sense of otherness — the separation, cultural and institutional, from the rest of Spain — comes through loud and clear in the oath of allegiance their leaders swore to the Aragonese kings in the 15th century... . Catalans have always waxed lyrical over their medieval defiance of kingship and railed against 'centralism' — rule by Madrid. Their political history is one long rebuke to the dominant ideology of Europe: that of the nation-state that subsumes and represses cultural differences within it.

More, at "Iberia Nature: a guide to the environment, climate, wildlife, geography and nature of Spain":
http://iberianature.com/spain_culture/culture-and-history-of-spain-c/catalan-aragonese-oath-of-allegiance/

https://explorersfoundation.org/glyphery/474.html
June 15, 2009; edited/updated November 26, 2015

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