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IMC 2020: Sessions

Session 831: The Social Dynamics of Religious Dissent, IV: The Social Impact of Inquisitions and Anti-Inquisitorial Resistance in Italy

Tuesday 7 July 2020, 16.30-18.00

Sponsor:Centre for the Digital Research of Religion / Dissident Networks Project (DISSINET), Masarykova univerzita, Brno
Organisers:Robert Shaw, Oriel College, University of Oxford
David Zbíral, Department for the Study of Religions, Masarykova univerzita, Brno
Moderator/Chair:Rob Lutton, Department of History, University of Nottingham
Paper 831-aA Call to Arms: Collusion and Complicity in Contesting Inquisitorial Authority in 13th- and 14th-Century Italy
(Language: English)
Janine Larmon Peterson, Department of History, Marist College, New York
Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Politics and Diplomacy, Religious Life, Social History
Paper 831-bHow Confiscation for Heresy Helped Redistribute Land Ownership in North-Central Italy in the 13th and 14th Centuries: Was Its Impact Deliberate or Random?
(Language: English)
Jill Moore, Department of History, Classics & Archaeology, Birkbeck, University of London
Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Economics - Rural, Economics - Urban, Social History
Paper 831-cRepression, Resistance, and Politics in the Inquisitorial Trials in Piedmont, 1387-1388
(Language: English)
František Novotný, Department for the Study of Religions, Masarykova univerzita, Brno
Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Politics and Diplomacy, Religious Life, Social History
Abstract

The records of inquisitions provide us with an invaluable source for the social history of the regions in which they took place. It cannot be forgotten, however, that the inquisitors who recorded these details also had a major effect on both dissident communities and wider society through their operations. While there has been much discussion of the way inquisitors 'constructed' heresy, or represented an increasingly persecuting society, our sessions seek to follow the pioneering lead of James Given in exploring the social stresses and strains created by inquisitions, social strategies for coping with investigation, and resistance to authority. In particular, the potential for regional variation in inquisition impact and dissident reaction deserves greater attention: this session will focus on Italy, the previous having focussed on Languedoc.