Sex, Theft, and Violence: Conflict and Local Society in the Mountains of León around the Year 1000

Abstract

The charters from the monastery of Otero de las Dueñas include an important set of private documents referring to the area of the high Esla, in the Mountains of León, around the year 1000. An important part of these texts refers to the payment of fines and the resolution of disputes in a local area. The aim of this paper is to study these cases to highlight the type of conflicts that were usual in a “small world”, focusing on social and gender differences. This study will allow us to know aspects of daily life and also some ways to build social control and to exercise daily resistance.