Essays examining how punishment operated in England, from c.600 to the Norman Conquest. Anglo-Saxon authorities often punished lawbreakers with harsh corporal penalties, such as execution, mutilation and imprisonment. Despite their severity, however, these penalties were not arbitrary exercises of power. Rather, theywere informed by nuanced philosophies of punishment which sought to resolve conflict, keep the peace and enforce Christian morality. The ten essays in this volume engage legal, literary, historical, and archaeological evidence to investigate the role of punishment in Anglo-Saxon society. Three dominant themes emerge in the collection. First is the shift from a culture of retributive feud to a system of top-down punishment, in which penalties were imposed by an authority figure responsible for keeping the peace. Second is the use of spectacular punishment to enhance royal standing, as Anglo-Saxon kings sought to centralize and legitimize their power. Third is the intersectionof secular punishment and penitential practice, as Christian authorities tempered penalties for material crime with concern for the souls of the condemned. Together, these studies demonstrate that in Anglo-Saxon England, capital and corporal punishments were considered necessary, legitimate, and righteous methods of social control. Jay Paul Gates is Assistant Professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in The City University of New York; Nicole Marafioti is Assistant Professor of History and co-director of the Medieval and Renaissance Studies Program at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. Contributors: Valerie Allen, Jo Buckberry, Daniela Fruscione, Jay Paul Gates, Stefan Jurasinski, Nicole Marafioti, Daniel O'Gorman, Lisi Oliver, Andrew Rabin, Daniel Thomas.

About the Author
Andrew Rabin is a Professor in the English Department at the University of Louisville.

Reviews
Legal studies can seem a more-than-usually specialized subdiscipline of any field, with distinctive vocabulary, textual forms, and mode of analysis. This collection not only renders all these aspects accessible, but it also demonstrates that legal discourse, broadly conceived, is related in some way to almost every other corner of the field. Attentive readers will find much to reward them here, and likely some new insights into their own work, whatever that may be. * JOURNAL OF ENGLISH AND GERMANIC PHILOLOGY *
[T]his volume provides a fresh and important multi-disciplinary approach to the topic, and will be the foundation for future research in the same area. It has much to offer any historian interested in the Middle Ages, and particularly the conjunctures of law, political power, and archaeology. * AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW *



Book Information
ISBN 9781843839187
Author Jay Paul Gates
Format Hardback
Page Count 224
Imprint The Boydell Press
Publisher Boydell & Brewer Ltd
Weight(grams) 1g