Conf. univ. Dr. Bogdan-Petru Maleon
(Universitatea “Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, Iaşi/Rumänien)
Political non-Capital Punishments in the Byzantine Custom
The Case of the Romanian Medieval Principalities
Dienstag, 29. Juni 2010, 18.15 Uhr, Raum 01-718 (Philosophicum)
Within the Byzantine Empire the penalties for political offence illustrated the changes at ideological level produced under the impact of Christian faith and oriental influences. The law of Roman origin was adapted to the new realities, and executions were replaced with various physical punishments, among which mutilations were the most important. Walachia and Moldavia adopted Byzantine law, but custom was referred to in procedural practice, which left the princes as autocratic sovereigns great freedom in terms of sentencing. Thus, Romanian medieval society preserved a series of legal practices of Byzantine tradition in full modernity. Mutilation was used for punishing political offences until the 18th century, while beating was practised till the 19th century.
Bogdan-Petru Maleon, Conf. univ. Dr., studied History in Iaşi; lecturer and researcher at the Faculty of History of the University of Iaşi; founding member and since 2007 President of the Society for Historical Studies in Romania. The focal points of his work and research include the church history, as well as the ideology, symbols and rituals of power in the Byzantine and post-Byzantine area.
Related and current publications (selection): Confession and Culture in the Middle Ages. co-editor Iaşi 2004; Secular Clergy in Moldavia, 14th–16th centuries. Iaşi 2007; Ideologies and Representations of Power in Europe. co-editor Iaşi 2009.