The game of fame: Slander in Late Medieval legislation (1450-1500)

This article aims to gain deeper understanding of the complex relation between words and deeds by studying criminal utterances at the late medieval court, especially slander. The concept of slander is analysed by a ritual I describe as the ‘game of fame’, based on Bourdieu’s game theory and adapted for the context of the late medieval local/regional courtroom. The main argument is that an analysis of the slander suit within the framework of the ‘game of fame’ provides insights into the construction of words as destructive deeds and into the question why certain utterances were strenuously rebuked in the late medieval local courtroom slander. This is illustrated by a micro-level case study of a slander suit between a tenant and a landlord in 1480 in the Dutch city of Echt. The 1480 slander suit can be labeled as a game, because it was a competitive activity between two opponents, played according to particular rules, with specific back and forth moves and an ultimate trophy: one’s fame.