Paper short abstract:

This presentation will examine Portuguese perceptions of corruption in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in order to expose how the Portuguese thought about corruption, what they viewed as corrupt, what might have motivated accusations, and how they responded to the challenges corruption posed.

Paper long abstract:

Corruption has been a thorny topic among historians who debate the extent to which this phenomenon was present in the ancient regime. In early modern Portuguese India, corruption has been deemed ubiquitous, but is altogether overlooked in Indo-Portuguese historiography. While the context and semantics may have differed, the early modern Portuguese possessed a concept of corruption, a sense of integrity tied to their broader Christian values that guided the comportment of crown officials, ecclesiastics, and laypeople alike. However, they had no uniform language to refer to the contravention of norms that were established by law, or even by religious or social convention, and constituted disobedience to King and God. The study of corruption is made even more difficult by the lack of proof, as often only charges are present, but nonetheless, an allegation of corruption — whether substantiated or not, prosecuted or not — is sufficient to ascertain the existence of an established law, normative attitude, or custom accepted over time, and so inversely how and when these conventional ideas and behaviors were transgressed. This presentation will examine Portuguese perceptions of corruption in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in order to expose how the Portuguese thought about corruption, what they viewed as corrupt, what might have motivated accusations, and how they responded to the challenges corruption posed.