Corupția și anticorupția medievală în istoriografia recentă / Medieval Corruption and Anticorruption in Recent Historiography

Authors
Cosmin Popa-Gorjanu
Pages
13-40
Abstract

This article aims to survey the secondary literature on the questions of corruption and anticorruption in the Middle Ages. The prominence of these topics in contemporary society has drawn the attention of the media and the public. The question that stimulated this approach was: to what extent did medievalists working on history of medieval society, politics and institutions tackle these phenomena in their research? While some authors are reluctant to accept the validity of these two concepts for the examination of medieval institutions, regarding them as belonging to the premodern or modern age, others have not shied away from employing the terms or describing phenomena pertaining to corruption, and even policies applied during the Middle Ages to prevent it. Various studies and research projects dealing with aspects of political, social and juridical life in France, Italian cities, Germany, and England have contributed valuable insights into the manifestations pertaining to corruption and measures or policies designed to preclude them.

Keywords
Middle Ages, corruption, anticorruption, institutions, historiography.