Folia Theologica et Canonica 6. 28/20 (2017)

IUS CANONICUM - José Miguel Viejo-Ximénez, Raymond of Penyafort decretalist

RAYMOND OF PENYAFORT DECRETAIJST

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tain business and also thanked the monarch for his interest in the evolution of his disease «istis diebus longe solito graviores»65. The Dominican of Saint Catherine is one of the persons on whom King James usually counted for all sorts of ecclesiastical or civil advice, from the examination of books written by Jews «in toto districtu nostro ubique commorantibus»66 to the irrevocable confirmation of Barcelona’s legal tender67 * 69 *. Raymond defended the case of Raymond of Saint Catherine, who complained about James I because the king had withdrawn his right to weigh flour in the city of Barcelona before the term set for the end of the concession6*. Infant Peter, the future King Peter III of Aragón (1276-1285), took the papal chaplain as witness of his secret protests against the donations made by his father67. The Catalonian nobles entrusted the judgment on their marriage alliances or the solution of their conflicts with churches and monasteries to the recognized canonist71'. In the last stage of his life, Raymond of Penya- fort participated in juristic acts related to the knowledge and execution of last wills, as well as property disputes resolved by arbitration or amicable agreements71.

Politics and law were not the only issues that occupied the Catalonian Dominican, whom the historians of his order called «zelator hdei propagandáé inter sarracenos»72. During the last stage of his life, especially since his resignation from the Generalate, Raymond seconded the decisions taken at the general and provincial chapters in relation to the missions in North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula. As he explained to the master general around 1246, he expected two fruits from the ministry of his Dominican brothers: the pastoral care of Christians -mercenaries, servants, apostates and captives- and the conversions «inter Sarracenos (...) maxime potentiores»73. He himself had taught that Jews and Saracens should be invited to faith «auctoritatibus, rationibus et blandimentis potius quam asperitatibus» (SdC 1.4.1 ), so he committed to the foundation and maintenance of a school of languages in Tunisia (Studium arabicum from 1245 to c. 1258), in Murcia (Studium arabicum et hebraicum from 1266 to c. 1280)

65 Valls I Taberner. F., Diplomatali, num. XXIII.

“ Valls i Taberner, F„ Diplomatali, nums. XXVIJI-XXX.

67 Valls i Taberner, F., Diplomatari, num. XXXV.

** Cf. Baucells I Reig. J„ Documentation, num. 2.

69 Cf. Valls i Taberner, F„ Diplomatán, nums. XXV and XXXII.

™ Cf. Collell, A. (ed.), Raymundiana, nums. 9, 10, 11 and 12.

71 Cf. Valls i Taberner, F., Diplomatari, nums. IV, X, XI and XXXIII.

72 Gerard Fradiét (c. 1254): Fratris Gerardi de Fracheto O. P. Vitae f rat rum ordinis praedicato- rum: necnon Cronica ordinis ah anno MCCIII usque ad MCCLIV, Lovanii 1896. 332.

73 Coll, J. M., Escuelas de lenguas orientales en los sights XIII y XIV (Periodo Raimundiano), in Analecta sacra Tarraconensia 17(1944) I 15-138, appendix 2. Cf. Reillo, A. G., E! àrabe corno lengua extranjera en el s. XIII: medicina para convertir, in E! saher en al-Andalus. Textos v estudios 4(2005) 147-187.