Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and Royal Power in the Valencia of the 17th Century. The vision of the jurist Francisco Jerónimo de León

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyze the view of the jurist Francisco Jerónimo de León about the conflicts of competence between the ordinary ecclesiastical jurisdiction and the royal power emerged in the kingdom of Valencia in the seventeenth century. His approach was aimed, on one hand, to restrict the jurisdictional prerogatives of the Church over lay people. On the other hand, he insisted on limit the privilegium fori that protected clergy from secular trials. In that sense, de León argued the submission of the clergy to civil laws and to the royal jurisdiction in certain cases.