ABSTRACT
This chapter examines Peter III's military orders during the French crusade of 1285, which constitute the majority of extant wartime orders produced by the royal chancery in a Romance language during the thirteenth century. Latin served as the exclusive language of record in the federation of realms under the jurisdiction of the kings of the Crown of Aragon until the twelfth century, when documents begin to appear written entirely in the realms' Romance languages, Catalan and Aragonese. Peter's decision to compose these orders in low-prestige codes exemplifies the use of codeswitching strategies to emphasize pressing military commands and transmit a sense of exigency. On November 9, 1283, the royal chancery emitted several hundred military orders in the high-prestige language to the king's subjects in Catalonia, Aragon, and Valencia. The chapter suggests that Peter's pattern of symbolic codeswitching during the French crusade, in turn, helps us interpret why he composed other military orders in Romance languages.
