Jeu et marchandage de justice : un défi pour le Tribunal de la Rote Romaine au milieu du XVIIe siècle

In the middle of the 17th century, the Court of Rome had to deal with a case of bribery involving one of its 12 auditors. The affair, which was the only one of its kind, was shrouded in the utmost secrecy and can only be reconstructed on the basis of the court's internal reports, the diaria rotalia. Through this documentation, the article examines the concept of scandal from two points of view: firstly, the behaviour that caused the scandal and prompted the Pope and the College to investigate the facts and take action, i.e. the vice of playing cards and the demand for money made by the auditor to those who had cases pending before the Court; secondly, the procedure followed by the institution to deal with the scandal, from the spread of the first rumours to the epilogue, i.e. the removal of the guilty party from the ranks of the Court.