The Construction of Information in Medieval Inquisition Records: A Methodological Reconsideration

Abstract

A sophisticated epistemological approach is essential to the use of inquisitorial evidence. Historians have proposed various reading strategies based on the idea that it is possible to distinguish excess elements from inquisitorial sources that can be attributed to the deponents. This article uses examples from Languedocian inquisition records to challenge such interpretations. The construction of deposition records is framed in terms of information flow influenced by variables such as selection, interpretation, abstraction, and the reconstructive nature of human memory. Inquisitorial documents are approached as materially embedded amalgamations of abstracted information co-constructed by the deponents, the inquisitors, and the notaries. The argument is that this information originating from multiple sources became entangled and blends seamlessly in the extant documents, due to which the idea of sifting through inquisitorial evidence in search of a distinct excess or surplus is untenable as a methodological guideline. Instead, an holistic and stratified approach is proposed.