Gyanús viszonyok. Megengedett és tiltott kommunikáció a középkor végi Franciaországban
Suspicious Affairs: Legal and Illegal Communication in Late Medieval France

Summary/Abstract: The author first presents the general practice of late medieval intelligence, private correspondence and political conversations. The most suitable types of sources for such investigation are the records of the administration of justice, the documentation of lawsuits and the letters of pardon containing detailed descriptions of cases. During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries official spies acted in large numbers among the warring parties, though espionage was not limited to their activity only. Many war prisoners had to provide information in return for their ransoms. On the other hand, the inner conflicts dividing France as well as its internal and external wars brought about the denunciation and general distrust as a widespread practice among the civil population as well. In the Middle Ages only the official and commercial correspondence had their own, permanently functioning channels of communication. The central and local powers, the princes as well as the companies involved in long-distance trade often employed numerous official messengers. Private persons, however, relied upon occasional dispatch-runners. It might be an established practice that those setting out for a longer journey offered their acquaintances to deliver their letters. The analysis of the judicial sources reveals numerous, closely interwoven channels used in correspondence, where – besides the written word – the verbal message and the objects sent in order to certify authenticity also played an important role. Sending a message was per se regarded a suspicious activity, therefore, when the domestic political situation seemed more dangerous, the local powers tried to control entirely this way of communication. The borderline between political discourse and high treason, or even conspiracy, was rather uncertain. The receptive atmosphere of urban taverns, as far as wide social layers are concerned, often provided shelter for perturber speeches. The conversations frequently focused on the atrocities of soldiers, or discussed the misdeeds of the government, or even the king himself. The interest in political issues was a characteristic feature of all social layers. Having outlined the general practice, a case study is presented analysing a lawsuit on espionage that happened in Paris in 1415–1416. The defendant was an astrologist who had been accused of giving advice to the English before the campaign against France in 1415. As the questions of the judges aimed at disclosing the stages of how a learned intellectual became a spy, they – at the same – expose for us what sort of activity was attributed to a secret agent at that time. The defendant, in his answers, rendered the suspicious activities to be fully accepted, moreover, the diplomatic delegation, he was the member of, not only tolerated but also used for its own purposes his communicational activity.

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