The Locus Credibilis and the Making of Urban Authority
Résumé
The concept of locus credibilis, understood as a place for archives that provided credibility and authenticity to the documents, has been debated for the last few years among medievalists. The historiographical problem resides in the successive re-appropriations of the term, employed without a deep reflection on its meaning within the medieval society. To shed light on this controversial issue, this article aims to examine the notion of locus credibilis in the context of Metz at the end of the Middle Ages. The analysis will focus on two medieval inventories from the ark of the cathedral, where the urban authorities kept the written documents resulting from the exercise of power, both preserved in the manuscript BnF, fr 18,905. This approach will reveal that, in Metz, it was both the institutional structure and the sacredness of the location that conferred authenticity and credibility to the written documents and legitimacy to those in power in the city between the thirteenth and the sixteenth century: the paraiges.