Thomas W. Barton – författare

In Contested Treasure, Thomas Barton examines how the Jews in the Crown of Aragon in the twelfth through fourteenth centuries negotiated the overlapping jurisdictions and power relations of local lords and the crown. The thirteenth century was a formative period for the growth of royal bureaucracy and the development of the crown’s legal claims regarding the Jews. While many Jews were under direct royal authority, significant numbers of Jews also lived under nonroyal and seigniorial jurisdiction. Barton argues that royal authority over the Jews (as well as Muslims) was far more modest and contingent on local factors than is usually recognized. Diverse case studies reveal that the monarchy’s Jewish policy emerged slowly, faced considerable resistance, and witnessed limited application within numerous localities under nonroyal control, thus allowing for more highly differentiated local modes of Jewish administration and coexistence. Contested Treasure refines and complicates our portrait of interfaith relations and the limits of royal authority in medieval Spain, and it presents a new approach to the study of ethnoreligious relations and administrative history in medieval European society.

As Western Christendom expanded dramatically along its frontiers in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, Church leaders debated how to organize and administer newly captured diocesan lands. These questions were especially pressing in the Iberian Peninsula, where conquests ushered in piecemeal, multidimensional processes of consolidation and integration in which lay and religious authorities sought to establish ecclesiastical institutions to govern territories containing Christian and non-Christian populations.In Diocesan Dominion, Thomas Barton examines these dynamics through the comparative lens of two neighboring dioceses, Lleida and Tortosa, each formed from conquered Muslim territory in the mid-twelfth century. Using rich archival records, Barton reconstructs how bishops and their clergy strategized to enhance their authority over diocesan lands by engaging with landlords, military orders, and monasteries. He observes that, while these litigants sometimes invoked authorities such as the papacy or lay rulers and appealed to rigid privileges or legal guidelines to help resolve conflicts, they usually formulated compromises, sharing jurisdiction and resources. Observing commonalities and contrasts among these cases, Barton demonstrates the locally contingent nature of episcopal authority and shows how Western Christendom developed variegated and flexible ecclesiastical administrative frameworks long before its early-modern globalization.The first book in any language to reconstruct the postconquest history of the dioceses of Lleida and Tortosa, Diocesan Dominion challenges default assumptions about episcopal practices during the high and later medieval periods and will be essential reading for all scholars in the field.

At the beginning of the eleventh century, Catalonia was a patchwork of counties, viscounties, and lordships that bordered Islamic al-Andalus to the south. Over the next two centuries, the region underwent a dramatic transformation. The counts of Barcelona secured title to the neighboring kingdom of Aragon through marriage and this newly constituted Crown of Aragon, after numerous failed attempts, finally conquered the Islamic states positioned along its southern frontier in the mid-twelfth century. Successful conquest, however, necessitated considerable organizational challenges that threatened to destabilize, politically and economically, this triumphant regime. The Aragonese monarchy's efforts to overcome these adversities, consolidate its authority, and capitalize on its military victories would impose lasting changes on its governmental framework and exert considerable influence over future expansionist projects.In Victory's Shadow, Thomas W. Barton offers a sweeping new account of the capture and long-term integration of Muslim-ruled territories by an ascendant Christian regime and a detailed analysis of the influence of this process on the governmental, economic, and broader societal development of both Catalonia and the greater Crown of Aragon. Based on over a decade of extensive archival research, Victory's Shadow deftly reconstructs and evaluates the decisions, outcomes, and costs involved in this experience of territorial integration and considers its implications for ongoing debates regarding the dynamics of expansionism across the diverse boundary zones of medieval Europe.