From citizenship to citizenry : towards a cultural approach to the figure of the citizen in the 15th century Barcelona

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to approach medieval citizenship from a cultural perspective, which has been somehow neglected by historiography. More specifically, the article will focus on the daily life of the citizen, recreating the acts and behaviors the citizen was supposed to perform regularly in order to show his belonging and commitment to the city where he was living. In so doing, I will focus on 15th century Barcelona, for which a long series of citizenship reports have been conserved. The Informes de la Ciutadania were ordered by the authorities of the city but give us a fascinating inside into the opinions of contemporary Barcelonians and, more particularly, on their perception of citizenship. This is a set of long and complete sources from which I intent to show that medieval citizenship should not only be approached as a legal statute but also as cultural phenomenon that needs to be taken into consideration in order to reach a better understanding of the structures of medieval urban society, its hierarchies and fluidity.