Conclusion. The Power to Pardon and the History of Crime, Justice, and Violence in Western Europe
(2025) The Power to Pardon in Medieval and Early Modern Christian Europe — ISBN: [9783412533861], 277-295, published
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- How did the medieval and early modern practices of pardoning contribute to conflict resolution, and what can the long-term history of pardon teach us about regulating conflicts in the twenty-first century? How might a historical perspective on the sovereign prerogative of mercy inform contemporary approaches to peace and reconciliation in shaping social relations among individuals, communities, and states? These are large questions, and attempting to provide a comprehensive answer is undoubtedly an overly ambitious undertaking. Nevertheless, it is remarkable that even today, the relationship between justice, mercy, and forgiveness remains the subject of philosophical and legal debates, just as it was in antiquity, the medieval period, and the early modern era. 1 Whether as a provision for clemency in criminal matters, a political amnesty, or a tool of reconciliation in the aftermath of mass violence, the power to pardon remains a complex and contested instrument that challenges our understanding of justice and human rights. The contributions gathered in this book illustrate that the study of pardoning remains a particularly dynamic field of research for historians of crime and criminal justice. 2 Over the past 50 years, historians have extensively explored the transformations of the prerogative to pardon, tracing its various forms and manifestations, from religious mercy to political amnesty, over more than two millennia. Most scholars agree that the power to pardon was a fundamental component in the construction of sovereignty and governmentality in Western Europe, making it a crucial factor in the early modern state building process. However, as the contributors to this volume also show, this process was neither uniform nor linear, but rather multidirectional, operating across multiple power levels and driven as much by central authorities as by local actors and communities. For instance, recent studies in political history have highlighted the crucial role of popular participation 1 See, for instance, Murphy, Hampton, Forgiveness; Sarat, Hussain, Forgiveness. 2 For this reason, in this conclusive essay, we have opted to provide only a limited list of bibliographical references on the history of pardon, as this would otherwise lead to an overwhelming number of footnotes. Instead, we refer the reader to the other contributions for a more comprehensive bibliography.
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Rousseaux, X., & Verreycken, Q. (2025). Conclusion. The Power to Pardon and the History of Crime, Justice, and Violence in Western Europe. In Ulrike Ludwig, Quentin Verreycken (ed.), The Power to Pardon in Medieval and Early Modern Christian Europe (pp. 277-295). Böhlau Verlag Köln. https://doi.org/10.7788/9783412533861.277