Institutions and society in revolutionary Greece: The testimonies of the police and court archives (1822-1827)

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The research explores the formation of state institutions during the 1821 Greek Revolution and their social reception, through the paradigm of two emblematic institutions, such as the justice system and the police. Apart from a detailed view of state formation processes that take place in the “central” stage, the research in the Archives of the Ministry of Justice (1822-1827) and the Ministry of the Police (1822-1826) brings into light a considerable volume of documents concerning the communication of the new institutions with the citizens of the revolutionary Greece. This kind of material (criminal files, interrogation documents, police reports, complaints and litigations) prompts us to study the formation of the state during the revolution also “from the bottom-up”: In other words, to explore how the new institutions were accommodated and acquired their existence by a society in revolution and war. Approaching the court and police archives as privileged fields to trace major political and social changes in the microhistorical level, the research also aspires to follow continuities and ruptures brought about the Revolution in social relations and the everyday life.

(Edited description from organiser’s website)