Judicial Inquiry as an Instrument of Centralized Government : The Papacy’s Criminal Proceedings against Prelates in the Age of Theocracy (mid-12th to mid-14th century)

Julien Théry (1)

1 CIHAM - Histoire, Archéologie et Littératures des mondes chrétiens et musulmans médiévaux

From the end of the twelfth century until the Great Schism, the papacy prosecuted hundreds of prelates who were charged with ‘crimes’ (crimina), ‘excesses’ (excessus), or ‘enormities’ (enormia, enormitates), these words being used interchangeably in the documents. These proceedings were often called inquisitionis negocia. Most of them were initiated at the papal Curia and sentences were usually reserved to the pope or to a cardinal appointed by the pope. This article is based on the study of 570 cases between 1198 and 1342. It presents a general introductory survey of this judicial practice, which has never been studied before and seems curious, because, although serious and shameful charges were involved, ultimately many processes had minimal consequences for the accused. After a discussion of the sources which were used to establish the list of cases, a typology of the accusations is proposed. Finally, after a brief description of the procedures’ general characteristics, the various results of the processes are discussed.

Mots clés: Medieval History; Church History; History of the Papacy

Mots clés: Histoire de l'Eglise; Histoire du droit; Histoire de la justice; Histoire médiévale; Moyen Âge

Domaines: Histoire

Julien Théry. Judicial Inquiry as an Instrument of Centralized Government : The Papacy’s Criminal Proceedings against Prelates in the Age of Theocracy (mid-12th to mid-14th century). Joseph Goering, Stefan Dusil, Andreas Thier. Proceedings of the 14th International Congress of Medieval Canon Law (Toronto, 5-11 August 2012)., Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, pp.875-889, 2016, Monumenta iuris canonici.Subsidia, 978-88-210-0965-5. ⟨hal-01566893⟩