Medieval Crime and Social Control by Barbara A Hanawalt

Medieval Crime and Social Control by Barbara A Hanawalt

Uses historical and literary insights to consider crime and punishment in the Middle Ages. Crime is a matter of interpretation, and never was this truer than in the Middle Ages, when societies faced with new ideas and pressures were continually forced to rethink what a crime was-and what was a crime. This collection undertakes a thorough exploration of shifting definitions of crime and changing attitudes toward social control in medieval Europe. These essays-by leading specialists in European history and literature-reveal how various forces in medieval society interacted and competed in interpreting and influencing mechanisms for social control. They also demonstrate how well the different methods of history and literature combine to illuminate these developments. The essays show how the play with boundaries between legitimate and illegitimate actions took place not only in laws and courts, but also in the writing of social commentators such as John Fortescue and Jean Gerson, in the works of authors such as William Langland and Geoffrey Chaucer, and in popular literature such as sagas and romances. Drawing on a wide range of historical and literary sources-legal treatises, court cases, statutes, poems, romances, and comic tales-the contributors consider topics including fear of crime, rape and violence against women, revenge and condemnations of crime, learned dispute about crime and social control, and legal and political struggles over hunting rights. Their work shows how medieval society also defined its boundaries in contested spaces such as taverns and forests and in the different rules applying to the behavior and treatment of men and women. Contributors: Christopher Cannon, Oxford U; Elizabeth Fowler, Yale U; Louise O. Fradenburg, U of California, Santa Barbara; Claude Gauvard, Sorbonne; James H. Landman, U of North Texas; William Perry Marvin, Colorado State U; William Ian Miller, U of Michigan; Louise Mirrer, CUNY; Walter Prevenier, U of Ghent. ISBN 0-8166-3168-9 Cloth $49.95xx ISBN 0-8166-3169-7 Paper $19.95x 268 pages 5 7/8 x 9 January Medieval Cultures Series, volume 16 Translation inquiries: University of Minnesota Press

Barbara A. Hanawalt is professor of history at the University of Minnesota. David Wallace is Judith Rodin Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780816631698
ISBN 10	0816631697
Title	Medieval Crime and Social Control
Author	Barbara A Hanawalt
Series	Medieval Cultures
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	University of Minnesota Press
Year published	1998-12-15
Number of pages	280
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.