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NOTES
NOTES
INTRODUCTION
1 Cf. for the Greco-Roman period the introductory and methodological contributions
of I. Weiler, H. Grassl and A. Bellebaum in Soziale Randgruppen und Außenseiter im
Altertum, ed. I. Weiler, Graz 1988, 11ff.; 41ff.; 47ff.
2 See for example C. Küther, Räuber und Gauner in Deutschland. Das organisierte
Bandenwesen im 18. und frühen 19. Jh., Göttingen 1976. U. Danker, Räuberbanden
im Alten Reich um 1700. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte von Herrschaft und Kriminalität in
der Frühen Neuzeit, Frankfurt-am-Main 1988. N. Finzsch, ‘Räuber und Gendarme
im Rheinland: Das Bandenwesen in den vier rheinischen Départements vor und
während der französischen Verwaltung (1794–1814)’, Francia 15, 1987, 435–71.
Idem, Obrigkeit und Unterschichten. Zur Geschichte der rheinischen Unterschichten gegen
Ende des 18. und zu Beginn des 19. Jahrhunderts, Stuttgart 1990. M. Spicker-Beck,
Räuber, Mordbrenner, umschweifendes Gesind. Zur Kriminalität im 16. Jahrhundert, Freiburg
1995. H. Siebenmorgen, ed., Schurke oder Held? Historische Räuber und Räuberbanden
(= Catalogue of the exhibition in the Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe, 1995/96),
Sigmaringen 1995 (with full bibliography).
3 Amm. 27.2.11 (nec historiam producere per minutias ignobiles decet).
4 This approach, with its unavoidable limitations, has for example been attempted in
the studies of Guenther, Latrocinium, and Minor, Brigand, Ch. 1.
5 On the problem of the fragmentary source tradition, particularly in respect of the
history of crime, see K.S. Bader, ‘Aufgaben, Methoden und Grenzen einer historischen
Kriminologie’, Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Strafrecht 71, 1956, 17–31, criticising G.
Radbruch, H. Gwinner, Geschichte des Verbrechens. Versuch einer historischen Kriminologie,
Stuttgart 1951, repr. 1990 (also Th. Würtenberger, ZRG Germ. Abt. 69, 1952,
479ff.). Given the poor sources, Bader was pessimistic about the future of historical
criminology (p. 25: ‘basically, all we know about the extent of crime in, say, the
Middle Ages, is incomplete and, at best, symptomatic and paradigmatic’; p. 28:
‘common and petty misdemeanours, generally more important for gaining a good
idea of what was going on overall than recurrent major crime, are frequently ignored’).
Bader refers here only to the medieval and early modern periods, apparently believing
that ancient crime defies scientific investigation.
6 A similar complexity is encountered in English, in the use of ‘robber’ as a synonym
for ‘bandit’, although in colloquial speech its force is much less strong. In the
following I employ the latter as far as possible in order to retain its violent connotations.
(Translator)
7 E.A. Thompson, ‘Peasant revolts in late Roman Gaul and Spain’, P&P 2, 1952, 11–
23; on this cf. also pp. 128–32, and the references to the work of J.F. Drinkwater
and L. Okamura. Minor, Brigand. Van Dam, Heretics, Bandits and Bishops. Van Campen,
167