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Infamy of Roman Law was accepted in Christian Councils of the fifth century. But a lot of references on infamy were included in Decretum Gratiani of the twelfth century when the decretales were collected most actively. It is from this period that the decretists began to concentrate their debate on infamy. Infamy which was settled in medieval canon law could be divided into three categories, such as infamy of law, canonical infamy, and infamy of fact. Infamy of law came from the result of sentence in the court. It was sentenced to the people who accused priests to the courts, but could not prove, who distorted the abandoned documents of councils, and thieves, in addition to the people who was listed in Roman law. Even though Canonical infamy was caused by criminal and moral sins, it was considered to be very slight infamy. Thus, it could be removed by way of penance. Canonical infamy was just medieval concept which did not have its origin in Roman law. Infamy of fact was caused by rumor and suspicion, rather than real crime. The early decretists called it as mala fama, infamatio, or sinister rumor. Such a kind of infamy could be removed through canonical purgation. Canonical purgation was a ceremony to refine the bad name before the ordination to priest, or performing the canonical right. No matter of kinds, since infamy was caused from the crimes and violations of rule in Christian community, the loss of rights were considered to be indispensible. The disciplines to infamy of law and infamy of fact was almost same, even though those two kind of infamy were different each other. The right to accuse others to the court, ordination to holy position and promotion were prohibited to persons in these infamies. But the people in canonical infamy did not have any loss in any kinds of rights besides penance.

Thanks to about 70,000 lead seals discovered in ancient byzantine empire’s territory and now conserved at many museums or national libraries in European countries, the studies on the Byzantine bureaucracy have been considerably developed over the past half century. Seals provide important information on byzantine administration and imperial elites. This article's aim is to illuminate not only the identities of civil bureaucratic elites but also their role in the imperial administration by examining the information of the lead seals. For this purpose, the analyses were carried out on the names, dignities, functions and public careers of six logothetes of génikon, or minister of general Treasury during the period between the second half of 7th century and the first half of the 9th century. Firstly, the titles of patrikios or protospatharios, held by most ministers of general Treasury either on the seals or in the literary sources show the high position of the dignitaries integrated into the new imperial hierarchy in the 7th-9th centuries. So we can understand on this evidence the high relationship of the title holders with emperors at the Court during the same period. Especially, the hallmark of the monk (monachos), held by the minister of general Treasury, Theodotos in 694/695 make us understand the key financial post of general Treasury used to be attributed to the most faithful servant at the inner circle of the emperor's men to assure imperial authority and security. Secondly, the personal name or surname held by the ministers of general Treasury, George Syros and Sisinnios show the dignitaries’ origin of Syrians and Armenian family whose ancestors would have been immigrated to the imperial territories before their sons or grand sons were recruited in the new emerging bureaucracy. However the title of different nature, apo hypaton, held by the first minister of general Treasury Paulos makes sure that the financial key post could be also attributed to dignitaries issued from the old senatorial families. In evidence, we can understand the openness of byzantine civil bureaucracy based on the personal competence and loyalty to the emperors during the same period. Due to the absence of the dignitaries’ family names on the seals of the same period, we can’t estimate how much the civil bureaucratic families were so influential on the whole aristocratic society during the same period but the appearance of some family names in the literary sources, like the Monomachos or the Triphyllios, to which the contemporary ministers Niketas and Sisinnios could belong, make us guess the origin of the new aristocratic families and their solidarity developing from the second half of 8th century. Finally, another viewing point of analysis is on the career stages of some ministers of general Treasury who were or could be nominated not only to the financial posts but also to the military commander in chief. It seems that simultaneous or alternative exercise by some high dignitaries of different type of fiscal and military functions authorized the byzantine government to finance the new provincial Army (themata) in keeping the whole budget of payments of imperial elites during the crisis of Arabs invasions in the 7th-8th centuries. So we can understand on this assumption the flexibility of Byzantine fiscal administration well adapted to the military organization and the way in which Byzantine empire was able to survive in the same period of economic and military crisis.

The acts of the Seventh Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in 787 declared that the cult of images was a part of the Byzantine Orthodox while iconoclasm was condemned as behaviors deviated from the Byzantine religious tradition. Thereafter most of the literatures that had supported the theories of iconoclasts was thoroughly destroyed and only the writings recorded in accordance with viewpoints of champions of iconoclastic controversy survived. Later scholars had no choice but to study the subjects related to iconoclasm on the basis of the literatures that chiefly reflected the position of iconophiles and iconoclasts consequently came to be regarded as very evil and heretic people who denied the tradition of Byzantine Orthodox. Especially LeoⅢ who first took the measures of removing the holy images from the Byzantine churches has been regarded as the forerunner and leader of Byzantine iconoclasm by most of scholars. They criticized unfavorably Emperor Leo as a destroyer who eliminated holy images and a persecutor who inflicted severe punishment on many people hostile to his religious policy throughout his whole reign after he officially issued an imperial edict for the destruction of the holy images in 726. But these understandings of LeoⅢ were wrong because they were based on the distorted views of Byzantine iconodules and on the biased interpretations of later scholars. It was not true that Leo issued an official edict of iconoclasm in 726. Evidences on the imperial edict are never found in any writings of representative iconodules such as Theophanes or Nicephorus. And so-called "the Event of Chalké Gate" which has been known as the starting point of iconoclasm was not true but only an event forged by the icondules to emphasize the destructive behavior of Leo. It may be accepted that Leo took some significant measures to prohibit the use of the sacred images in the churches of Constantinople, but it did not mean that he destroyed holy images in whole Empire extensively and thoroughly. The measures of prohibiting images was partial and the extent of iconoclasm was also limited to the city of Constantinople. Therefore Leo was at least not such a cruel destroyer as iconodules had blamed. It was natural that rebellions against iconoclasm of Leo did not break out throughout the empire because iconoclasm did not take place in the whole empire. Of course there were various disputes on the dogmas of images between clergy but the extent of confusion was not so much serious as it split people of the empire into several factions. The interpretations that regional soldiers of Hellas and Italy made rebellions against Emperor Leo on account of their discontents with iconoclasm were far from the truth. The substantial cause of the rebellions was not because of religious reasons but because of the problems of heavy taxes which were imposed on people of the regions by the emperor. Persecution to the opposers to the imperial religious policy was naturally not severe because extent of opposition was not so much serious as it brought down political disorder on the whole empire.

The following article pursues the birth and development of national consciousness in medieval Germany. In the course of and after the dissolution of the Carolingian Empire, an idea of common identity was first born among the ruling class in the Eastern Frankish Realm. This idea of identity evolved during the period between the late eleventh and the early thirteenth century into a consciousness of common German identity. As the elect nation, the German people were believed to be destined to protect and lead the Christianity to the end of the world. This article pays special attention to the theory of empire by Alexander of Roes (c.1225-before 1300), a Franciscan monk who arduously defended the cause of the Holy Roman Empire lead by the Germans at the very time it was undergoing a series of serious crises, cross-fired by the Papacy and the French monarchy. By analyzing his theory of empire and the underlying view of the world this study will demonstrate how German national consciousness was ripening.

This paper aims at reinterpreting Thomas Aquinas’ texts dealing with the question of the just price by applying an adequate methodology to them. Earlier researchers understood that the just price, according to Thomas, was determined by the utility or the cost of production including the labor, or both. But my more systematic and thorough examination of the texts in question reveals that Thomas considered that the just price was determined by various factors, such as the value of goods, the balance of profit and loss between sellers and buyers, the utility, the labor, the quantity of demand and supply, and the market price in time of transaction. However, he did not explain exactly how these elements determined the just price. This seems to be understandable, for Thomas was not interested in accounting for the price determination in the economic reality, but in deciding whether a certain price is just or not. This reflects the normative viewpoints of the medieval theologians who treated the economic phenomena. Contrary to the tendency of the modern economics since the Renaissance, which has disregarded ethical problems, today the relationship of economy and ethics emerges as an object of scientific discussion of the economics. Against this background, our study on a normative approach of the just price, which is a representative subject of medieval thoughts of the economics, can be a very significant contribution.

This article aims to investigate commercial activities of European merchants in Asia during the period of the Mongol empire from the middle of the thirteenth century to the middle of the fourteenth century. The invasion of the Europe by the Mongol army brought about a great shock and threat to the Europeans. However, the Mongol offered a opportunity for the Europeans to visit Asia by creating a great territorial empire from the Far East to the Eastern Europe and by guaranteeing them security and safe passage across the Mongol empire. In fact, many Europeans, particularly papal envoys and missionaries such as John of Pian di Carpine, William of Rubruck, John of Montecorvino, Odoric of Pordenone, and John of Marignolli, visited Asia and left their accounts of travels. Not only missionaries but also merchants go to Asia for trade. But, regretably most merchant didn't leave documents of their commercial activities in Asia. They had a tendency to refrain from leaving accounts of their travels for their business secrets not to be known to their rivals. Therefore, to investigate their trading in Asia, we have to resort to travelogues of missionaries, deeds of notaries, diplomatic documents, judicial sentences, decrees of the city states, etc. The first conclusion is that many European merchants visited Asia to make a commerce during the period of the Mongol Empire. Diverse documents testify their active commercial activities in Asia. Several hundreds of Genoese merchants and artisans made their affairs in Tabriz, capital of Il-Khanid. Not a few of European merchants were trading in the Southern ports of the Mongol Empire. According R. S. Lopez who studies actively the commercial relation between the Europe and the Mongol empire, the commercial operations in Asia of the European merchants should not be considered as rare adventures and created a veritable commerce of mass. Secondly, it was italian merchants, above all those of Genoa, that participated most actively in the Asian trade. This fact is clearly attested by several documents. the commercial guidebook of Francesco Pegolotti, factor of the Bardi company of the fourteenth century, shows that standard weights and measures used in the trade between the Europe and the Mongol Empire were those of Genoa. Giovanni Boccaccio, florentine author of the fourteenth century, said that the Genoese were most informed of what took place in China.

The so-called 'Pax Mongolica' led to a very dynamic period in which the West and the East encountered and communicated substantially. Considering a series of contemporary Travels to the East such as those of Plano di Carpini, Guillaume de Rubrouck, Marco Polo and Odorico da Pordenone, this article aims to shed new light on several novelties of Mandeville's Travels. First of all, from a viewpoint of fact and fiction, this article focuses on conventional and new aspects appeared in Mandeville's text. If the author filled his text with so many marvels, it might be not only because they were interesting, but also because they satisfied the expectation of his readers. In this sense, the strangeness of the East was a familiar strangeness, as Mary B. Campbell has noted. Furthermore, the author's tactics were to put most of these marvels into the barbarous and unknown space from many islands around India to Southern China called Manzi on the one hand, and to make the strange objects familiar and understandable by describing them in detail on the other. Mandeville's Travels is also outstanding in its attitudes towards the Others. The author's conventional appeal to the Crusades was overshadowed by his tolerant and relativistic attitudes towards different customs and cultures of Islam and the East, and his idea that the morals of many heathen societies were compatible with the Christian creeds. Moreover, the encounter with the East by means of his reading and imagining served for him as a path to self-reflection and self-criticism by projecting the realities of Christendom onto the outside world with religious and cultural diversity. It is by such intention that he chose certain topics out of so many information regarding the East and transformed them in a particular way. In a word, his travel towards the Others was the travel towards the Self.

This paper illustrates how Ferdinand I defended Habsburg Monarchy against the Ottoman Empire after his expedition to Buda failed in 1542. Due to the lack of influential force and the need for secured safety in Habsburg, Ferdinand I had no alternative but to set up diplomatic ties with Turk and establish a line of defense. The main thrust of this paper is to determine the ultimate purpose of his defense strategy. After Buda fell into Turkish territory, not only Hungary itself but also the entire Habsburg Monarchy was laid under the Turkish Menace. In this status the Habsburg Erblands, situated in the central Europe, has to be tasked with defending the Monarchy. Accordingly, Ferdinand I decided to shield the central European nations including Austria, Bohemia, and Hungary against Turk. The nations established strategic partnership one another, standing up against the Turkish Menace. After all, it was a effective excuse to draw up a new border among those nations for the defensive purpose. There was a urgent need for centralized administration in order to structure defense network throughout the whole region, which also required participation of the ruling class as well as the congress from each nation. After Ferdinand I was crowned in 1558, the Habsburg Monarchy came into existence along the Donau, composed of diverse ethnic groups. Hungary played a vital role in shielding this Monarchy and acted as a bulwark against Turk, thanks to which the Habsburg Monarchy was capable of protecting itself from large scale attacks of the Turks.

중세 시대에 신성모독(blasphemy)은 언어폭력의 한 형태로서 ‘혀의 죄악’ 중 가장 극악한 죄악으로 인식되었다. 신성모독은 신이나 성모 마리아 성인성녀들에 대해 말이나 행동으로 모욕을 주는 행위를 말하며, 특히 13세기 이후에는 “불경죄(Lese-majesty)”의 개념과 결부되기 시작했다. 교황청에서 제시되고 발전한 이러한 새로운 개념은 14세기 이후 세속권력에 의해 “국왕모독죄”의 개념으로 발전하였다. 이에 따라 중세 후기에는 국왕이나 국왕의 대리인에 대한 폭력적인 언사의 사용을 국왕모독죄로 처벌하는 사례가 늘어났다. 한편, 13세기 이후부터는 신성모독의 언어적인 측면이 부각되어 중시되기 시작했는데, 이는 12세기 후반부터 발전한 “혀의 죄악”의 분류에 대한 스콜라적 논의에 바탕을 두고 있었다. 또한 같은 시기의 시각적인 이미지 자료들에서, “혀”라는 신체기관이 신성모독 혹은 언어적인 일탈을 상징하는 도상요소로서 강조되기 시작한다. 중세 후기에 들어서 신성모독 등 언어폭력을 저지른 죄인들에 대한 지옥의 처벌 장면이나 타락천사 도상 중 루시퍼의 타락과 그에 대한 단죄 장면 등 “혀”가 강조되는 이미지들이 많이 등장하게 되는 것은 이러한 역사적 맥락에서 기인하는 것이다.