Treated as an aggravated homicide, suicide was considered as a crime against God and the society in early modern times. Such behaviour therefore led to trials in front of the judicial authorities. In case of conviction, the corpse was marked with infamy. The goods of deceased were confiscated for the benefit of the sovereign and the corpse could not be buried in the parish cemetery. This strict attitude towards voluntary death seems to change during the 17^th, 18^th and 19^th centuries. This has been shown by some French and English studies. Rejecting more and more the religious interpretations, the judicial authorities were turning to philosophy and medicine to explain the act of suicide. The sentences in case of suicide were progressively abandoned. A process of secularization of suicide occurred and eventually led to a decriminalization.

This research project focuses on those changes of mentality regarding the judicial, political, medical and religious view of suicide. In the Netherlands and the Principality of Liège, how were suicide cases dealt with by the justice? How did the secularization and the decriminalization of suicide work in our regions from the Spanish Netherlands to the Belgian independence? Which mechanism did the society organise to manage the suicidal profiles? To answer these questions, we will usejudicial archives from central, ecclesiastical and urban institutions from four big towns (Liège, Brussels, Gent and Antwerp) and three middle-sized towns (Namur, Nivelles and Dinant). For the 19^th century, the thematic will be considered through the local, departmental or provincial police archives relating to violent and suspect deaths. The historical works, mainly from England, will allow us to incorporate our study into the wider debate about the way to deal with suicide. In parallel we will have recourse to the philosophical, theological, judicial treaties and the encyclopaedias, just as to the archives of houses of internment and workhouses.

Thesis director: Xavier Rousseaux