In Medieval France a ''paréage'' or pariage was a

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...

treaty recognising joint sovereignty over a territory by two rulers, who were on an equal footing, ''

pari passu ''Pari passu'' is a Latin phrase that literally means "with an equal step" or "on equal footing". It is sometimes translated as "ranking equally", "hand-in-hand", "with equal force", or "moving together", and by extension, "fairly", "without pa ...

''; compare peer. On a familial scale, ''paréage'' could also refer to the equal division of lands and the titles they brought between sons of an inheritance. Such a power-sharing contract could be signed between two secular rulers or, most usually, by a secular and an ecclesiastic ruler, as in the case of the most famous, the Act of paréage of 1278 that founded a legal basis for the Principality of Andorra, signed by the Count of Foix and Viscount of Castellbo and the Bishop of Urgell. The Count and the Bishop were to receive taxes in alternate years, to appoint local representatives to administer justice jointly, and should forbear to make war within Andorra, where each might levy soldiers, nevertheless. The wording of a ''paréage'', an exercise in defining reciprocity without sacrificing

suzerainty A suzerain (, from Old French "above" + "supreme, chief") is a person, state (polity)">state or polity who has supremacy and dominant influence over the foreign policy">polity.html" ;"title="state (polity)">state or polity">state (polity)">st ...

, was the special domain of ministerial lawyers, being produced in the universities from the late eleventh century. Contracts of ''paréage'' were very numerous in the regions of intensely protected local rights,

Languedoc The Province of Languedoc (, , ; ) is a former province of France. Most of its territory is now contained in the modern-day region of Occitanie in Southern France. Its capital city was Toulouse. It had an area of approximately . History ...

and

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, during the high and late

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, especially between lay and clerical interests. Erecting new towns called '' bastides'' repopulated "desert" or uninhabited lands: "in an effort to colonize the wooded wilderness of southwest France, almost seven hundred towns were founded during the two centuries between 1200 and 1400". A formal agreement of ''paréage'' was often necessary. By the terms of several ''paréages'' agreed upon between the

Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

abbey of Bonnefont-en-Comminges on the one hand and the local ''

seigneur A seigneur () or lord is an originally feudal title in France before the Revolution, in New France and British North America until 1854, and in the Channel Islands to this day. The seigneur owned a seigneurie, seigneury, or lordship—a form of ...

'' or the king on the other, the Abbey granted the land from one of its outlying granges, the king granted certain liberties, such as market privileges, that made the new village attractive, and the two agreed to split tax revenues. An example of a ''paréage'' that was settled through the arbitration of William Durant the Younger, established the "''paréage'' of Mende" (1307), between the bishop of Mende in the Lozère and

Philip IV of France Philip IV (April–June 1268 – 29 November 1314), called Philip the Fair (), was King of France from 1285 to 1314. Jure uxoris, By virtue of his marriage with Joan I of Navarre, he was also King of Navarre and Count of Champagne as Philip&n ...

; it remained in effect until 1789.See Constantin Fasolt, ''Council and Hierarchy: The Political Thought of William Durant the Younger'' (Cambridge University Press) 1991.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pareage Treaties by type 13th century in Andorra