A woman claiming sanctuary in a church in medieval Spain--possible or not?

[shanrina]

Setting: Olvera, Spain, in 1410. It's historical fantasy, though, so the exact year and place are somewhat flexible

Comments

[sollersuk]

I've tried checking in Spanish, but haven't found anything helpful. According to my big dictionary the appropriate word would be "sagrado", which means "sacrament"; Spanish Wikipedia has nothing to say about this type of sanctuary under either "sanctuario" or "sagrado". I'm wondering if there really was an equivalent, or simply it might be seen as sacrilegious to drag her away if she was actually clutching the altar.

[cafecomics]

There's this on spanish wikipedia:
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asilo_en_sagrado#Asilo_en_sagrado_en_Espa.C3.B1a

ETA: Once you get the right phrase, it gets easier. Found this spanish-language 18 pages pdf about "the evolution of the asylum institution in medieval law" on the website of the Universidad de la Américas Puebla: http://catarina.udlap.mx/u_dl_a/tales/documentos/ledi/cornejo_c_ar/capitulo5.pdf

ETA 2: and it's part of a college thesis: http://catarina.udlap.mx/u_dl_a/tales/documentos/ledi/cornejo_c_ar/indice.html

[shanrina]

Thanks!

[shanrina]

Thanks!

[cafecomics]

If you have access to JSTOR (I don't), this article might give some answers: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27563643

[stormwreath]

I do, so I'll summarise some of the major points. It is an extremely informative article if you do get to read it, although a lot of it deals with a later period (17th-18th century

[shanrina]

Thank you!

[shanrina]

Thanks!