Jacque and Her Four Husbands (Picardy, 1490s)

Authors

Elisabeth Lusset, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, Laboratoire de médiévistique occidentale de ParisFollow

Abstract

This paper examines the judicial odyssey of Jacque Le Carpentier, an inhabitant of Amiens (Picardy)), judged in first instance by her bishop, then on appeal by the archbishop of Reims, and finally by the Pope and his judge delegate, the Bishop of Arras. With these multiple appeals, Jacque sought to escape the marital promise Gille Lhoste claimed she had made to him. The matter was complicated when Jean Hanocque, whom she had subsequently secretly married, killed Gille during the proceedings. Jacque then addressed a petition to the Apostolic Penitentiary, while Jean obtained pardon for the murder from the king of France. This reconstituted dossier of documents reveals a remarkable record of a woman’s engagement with courts at multiple jurisdictional levels, and as a result sheds light on the agency of a bourgeoise of Picardy at the end of the Middle Ages. The paper also shows that, contrary to what scholars has long asserted, different jurisdictions do not necessarily compete with each other: for the litigants, they can function as complementary resources in handling judicial concerns.

Recommended Citation

Lusset, Elisabeth (2024) "Jacque and Her Four Husbands (Picardy, 1490s)," Medieval People: Vol. 39: Iss. 1, Article 7.
Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/medpros/vol39/iss1/7