Iniunctum est castellano: Auditing, Institutional Dialogue, and Administrative Accountability in Late Medieval Savoy

Abstract

This study focuses on the instructions (iniunctio) inserted in the accounts of Savoyard territorial officials (castellans) at the regular audits. It argues that the insertion of increasingly numerous instructions in the castellany computi from the early fourteenth century transformed these records from mere balances of revenues and expenses into complex instruments for governing the territory from the center. This finding brings to the fore the hitherto neglected role of administrative accountability in the Savoyard fiscal-institutional project. In addition to addressing the preservation of the dynasty's patrimony and its more efficient exploitation, the instructions tackled the castellans' increased autonomy by emphasizing the norms and procedures that defined institutional accountability. The auditores computorum turned to rhetorical language the better to engage the castellans in an institutional dialogue. They achieved some success in inculcating the standards of accountability in office, but could not stem their decline in the late fourteenth century, as the House of Savoy failed to address the structural tensions in finances and administration.