For the 45^th issue (2027) of Cahiers d’études italiennes (Filigrana)

Guest editors

• Valérie Phelippeau-Guillain
• Élise Leclerc

Argument

We live in an era of scandals, and constantly, through social networks or traditional media, public figures use the denunciation of a scandal in order to remedy what common morality, or their own criteria of judgment, considers to be dysfunctions. Scandal is a provocation, a call for public outrage that can be used either as a political tool or as a method of publicly promoting ideas, works, or personalities. Scandal can thus be understood as a technique for manufacturing and/or mobilizing public opinion (BOUCHERON, OFFENSTADT, 2011). This link between social norms and the public sphere is at the heart of the issue of scandal. 

However, the origin of the concept of scandal, both in vocabulary and in social reality, is religious. It covers other realities than the “modern” scandal that gradually developed from the 16^th century onwards. Derived from medieval theological vocabulary (from the Greek skandalon, “stumbling block”) based on the occurrences of this word and its equivalents in the Bible (obstacle, trap, abomination, cry, etc.), scandal covers both the fault (active and objective scandal) that can cause others to stumble (passive scandal) and the public disturbance caused by knowledge of this fault (subjective and receptive scandal). Medieval scandal put faith to the test. This is why scandal was usually hushed up, or at least dealt with secretly by the Church, as we regularly see in sources dealing with cases of scandalous behavior by priests. When scandal appears as such in our sources, it can be used as a means of educating the masses: this is the case in sermons, for example. We can therefore distinguish between good scandal, used in the government of the Church, and bad scandal, which “spills over” and arouses indignation.

The various studies (see Indicative bibliography below) that use the concept seem to indicate a gradual shift towards a broader and undoubtedly less controlled form of scandal, a moral scandal that more spontaneously arouses emotions. However, when this form of scandal enters the public conversation, is it an illustration of a challenge to social norms that emerges, or, on the contrary, an effective instrument for consciously organizing the social body? Did the scandal of the late Middle Ages become scandalous? In any case, at the dawn of the 16^th century —a period marked by intense doctrinal debates, increasingly complex social hierarchies, and the growing importance of the public sphere— scandal could be seen as a privileged indicator of the tensions that structured Western societies. It lays bare the internal boundaries of a community, its implicit norms and hierarchies, by making visible tensions that usually remain latent.

This thematic issue therefore aims to examine both the polysemy and social functions of scandal in Italy in the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance (1350-1530), combining approaches from history, literature, art history, political philosophy, and law. Contributions will focus primarily on Italian society, but contributions addressing cases of scandal related to Italy or Italian personalities are also welcome. The chosen period, at the turn of the modern era, corresponds to the moment when scandal emerged from the strict domain of the Church, inviting us to highlight the gradual shift in the primary meaning of the term – scandal as an example of sin or as a denunciation of sin – to a broader understanding of what constituted scandal within a social group and the reaction of scandalized communities.

The aim is to examine how scandal, both in its lived experience and in its representation, contributed to redefining collective norms, forms of authority, and processes of moral control. Scandal is not just a matter of individual transgression; it becomes a publicizing agent that brings a matter from a restricted circle into the “public domain” and reconfigures the reputation of individuals and institutions. We hope that this approach will contribute to highlight a proto-“public space of opinion” which, at that time, took various forms that are difficult for us to grasp, apart from the cases of crystallization created precisely by scandal.

Focus areas

The question of scandal can first be addressed in the legal and canonical context. In the absence of a clear definition of scandal in medieval legal thought (BIANCHI RIVA, 2022), what rituals or procedures were used to restore the disturbed moral order? In this way, we will attempt to shed light on how scandal fits into society’s thinking about itself at the end of the Middle Ages: fama, secrecy and truth of the prince’s actions, regulation of conflicts between the people and their elites, gender relations, etc. Scandal, analyzed sometimes as a symptom of crisis (referred to in legal sources as “cries”, “tumult”, “disorders”, or even “sedition” or “revolt”), and sometimes as a tool of protest, can shed light on possible transformations in regimes of legitimacy.

Thus, we can focus on the scandal provoked or mobilized by public life, broadly defined as a public form of indignation. Examples include notable crises or controversies such as the controversy between Lorenzo Valla and Poggio Bracciolini, extraordinary events (such as the assassination of Louis d’Orléans, brother of King Charles VI, in 1409, which was justified by its instigator, the Duke of Burgundy, by mobilizing the rhetoric of scandal and condemning the role of Valentine Visconti at the mad king’s side), or behaviors deemed particularly amoral because they were outside the norm (and here we think of the criticisms against Pope Alexander VI). In the analysis, particular attention may thus be paid to the mechanisms of fabrication and dissemination of scandal (rumors, flyers, chronicles, sermons, etc.). Who defines what is scandalous or the subject of scandal? How does a scandal “take hold”? For example, how is it that the suspicious death of Gian Galeazzo Sforza —which allowed Ludovico il Moro to become Duke of Milan— did not cause a major public scandal?

Another promising angle can be found in narratology and/or iconology, drawing on literary sources and representations depicting scandal: satire, invective, defamatory paintings, visual provocation in religious images (the obvious example of the representation of Hell comes to mind) … How does fiction contribute to establishing, amplifying, or, on the contrary, subverting moral and social norms by using scandalous provocation? How could the same motif, nudity for example, be considered moralizing or, on the contrary, scandalous? Moreover, are works of fiction, even provocative ones, really scandalous? Particular attention may be paid to practices of censorship, erasure, or symbolic appropriation. Gender relations, for example, can be questioned as a trope of the upsidedown world, with female figures turning away from or transcending their ordinary social roles. In this way, it is also by thinking about the controversy introduced by Christine de Pisan surrounding Jean de Meung’s Roman de la Rose, which shocked part of the literary world while earning her strong support (Deschamps, Gerson), that we can integrate literary quarrels into the vast field of scandal. Class relations may also be of interest when they are portrayed in fabliaux and short stories in a way that borders on scandal, with obscenity, anticlericalism, or satire of the nobility, but are protected by the fictional framework.

Submission guidelines

Proposals (maximum 2,500 characters) should be sent before March 15^th, 2026, accompanied by a short biographical note and an indicative bibliography to the following email addresses: valerie.phelippeau@univ-grenoble-alpes.fr elise.leclerc@univ-grenoble-alpes.fr

Selected contributions must be submitted by January 15th, 2027, for double-blind peer review. The special issue is scheduled for publication in September 2027. Accepted languages are French, Italian, and English; authors will give preference to their native language when writing their contributions. 

Source : Calenda