La simonia: un bilancio storiografico e nuove prospettive

The article intends to offer a historiographical review of the\r\n‘classic’ subject of simony – i.e. of the purchase and sale of ecclesiastical offices\r\n– through a reasoned review of articles and interventions that (in the\r\nabsence of a systematic study, given that there is no monograph dedicated\r\nto simony) make the approach to the question problematic and suggest new\r\nresearch hypotheses. Studies on the subject, even when they cover a wide\r\ntime span, are subject to a strong conditioning: they are in fact based on\r\na historiographic and interpretative paradigm of which ecclesiastical and\r\nreligious history has long been captive, a top-down approach that focuses\r\nalmost exclusively on condemnations of simony or on theological debate.\r\nLittle attention is paid to the praxis, for the mechanisms and protagonists\r\nof the exchanges. The research conducted so far focus almost exclusively\r\non certain historical periods, those with a very high rate of condemnations,\r\nsuch as the 6th to 7th centuries and especially the 11th century. The article intends\r\nto problematise the issue and historiographical approaches to the topic\r\nby introducing a reflection on new research paths and new methodologies\r\nto investigate a social mechanism, that of exchange, which characterised all\r\nmedieval centuries and geographically extensive areas.