Pain, Penance, and Protest

Erscheinungsjahr 2024
ISBN: 978-1-009-06572-6
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 488 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 788 g

Reihe: Studies in Legal History

In medieval England, a defendant who refused to plead to a criminal indictment was sentenced to pressing with weights as a coercive measure. Using peine forte et dure ('strong and hard punishment') as a lens through which to analyse the law and its relationship with Christianity, Butler asks: where do we draw the line between punishment and penance? And, how can pain function as a vehicle for redemption within the common law? Adopting a multidisciplinary approach, this book embraces both law and literature. When Christ is on trial before Herod, he refused to plead, his silence signalling denial of the court's authority. England's discontented subjects, from hungry peasant to even King Charles I himself, stood mute before the courts in protest. Bringing together penance, pain and protest, Butler breaks down the mythology surrounding peine forte et dure and examines how it functioned within the medieval criminal justice system.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Butler, Sara M.

Fachgebiete

• Rechtswissenschaften Recht, Rechtswissenschaft Allgemein Rechtsgeschichte, Recht der Antike
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie Vor- und Frühgeschichte, prähistorische Archäologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Europäische Länder
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtswissenschaft Allgemein

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction; 1. Peine Forte et Dure: the medieval practice; 2. Standing mute in the courts of medieval England; 3. Due process and consent to jury trial; 4. Peine as Barbarity? putting the practice in context; 5. Why stand mute?; 6. Standing mute as Imitatio Christi; 7. Rejecting the jury, rejecting the common law, rejecting the king; Conclusion; Works cited; Index.

Über Autor(innen)

Butler, Sara M.
Sara M. Butler is the King George III Professor in British History at the Ohio State University. She is the author of three books: The Language of Abuse: Marital Violence in Later Medieval England, Divorce in Medieval England: From One to Two Persons in Law, and Forensic Medicine and Death Investigation in Medieval England.