Due documenti del Tabulario di S. Maria Maddalena di Valle Giosafat: Messina, febbraio 1176

This article provides a new edition of two Greek documents written in Messina in February 1176 (Archivio di Stato di Palermo, Tabulario di S. Maria Maddalena di Valle Giosafat, poi S. Placido di Calonerò, nrr. 52 e 51). The need to re-edit these two documents, which were previously published in the 19th century by Salvatore Cusa and Giuseppe Spata, arises from a series of legal, administrative and archival issues related to the two parchments, which are discussed in the article. Through an accurate prosopographic analysis of the legal authors of the documents (private individuals and institutions), this contribution attempts first of all to investigate the role of the comes of the galley of Messina and its assembly of pententares. Furthermore, it reconstructs the reason why the two documents ended up in the Tabulario di S. Maria Maddalena di Valle Giosafat, even though they are not related to this monastery. The aim of the article is to add some new elements to the study of the legal and administrative practices of Sicily during the Norman age.