The Peace of God in Iceland in the 12th and 13th centuries
This article focuses on one of the most strife-ridden periods of Icelandic history, the Age of the Sturlungs (1220–1262) and the Church’s endeavours to bring about peace.
The politics of factional conflict in late medieval Flanders
In his influential study on political factions in medieval Europe, Jacques Heers demonstrated the importance of factionalism in the political life of the middle ages, at the level of cities and regions as well as at the ‘national’ level.
The Rectitudines singularum personarum: A Pre- and Post-Conquest Text
The most important extant document for our understanding of Anglo-Saxon manorial social structure is a text scholars call the Rectitudines singularum personarum
Torture and Plea Bargaining
Under certain circumstancesthe law permitted the criminal courts to employ physical coercionagainst suspected criminalsin orderto induce them to confess. The law went to great lengths to limit this technique of extorting confessions to cases in which it was thought that the accused was highly likely to be guilty…
Review: The Countess
The Countess is a 2009 film about Elizabeth Báthory. It is the Julie Delpy’s third directorial effort. Julia casts her self in the starring role as Erzsébet Báthory.
Feuding in Viking Age Iceland’s Great Village
My premise is that we come closest to understanding early Icelanders through a two-pronged approach: on the one hand, by focusing on their well-documented perception of themselves as a community and, on theother hand, through anthropological and historical analyses of the forces that shaped this perception.
Early Irish Law, Annals, and Computer Science
What I propose to do is establish the approximate number of people who died during the fighting by feeding the rules of Early Irish law into a computer program.
The Axed Man of Mosfell: Skeletal Evidence of a Viking Age Homicide and the Icelandic Sagas
The discovery of the skeletal remains of the person described in this chapter is one of many scientific results of the Mosfell Archaeological Project, an ongoing international research effort we began in 1995.
The foundational rape tale in Medieval Iberia
When one reads Medieval historiographic texts—whether written in Latin, Arabic or Romance—it appears that both the Moorish invasion and the Christian Reconquest of Spain are linked to a rape episode.
Rape in Medieval England: A Legal History, 1272-1307
Many historians have therefore concluded that although Westminster II’s rape laws were intended to halt the growing incidence of rape and facilitate prosecutions, they were evidently inadequate.
Medieval Student Violence
Throughout the middle ages university towns such as Oxford, Paris and Bologna were incredibly dangerous places to live.
Defining a community: Controlling nuisance in late-medieval London
Looking only at late-medieval London, this study examines nuisance and social regulation through an analysis of secular court records, as well as other relevant municipal sources.
Homo Sacer: Power, Life and the Sexual Body in Old French Saints’ Lives
It might of course be argued that the comfort for this torture that Christine receives by God’s grace draws attention away from the cruelty of her punishments…
“As Men Do with Their Wives”: Domestic Violence in Fourteenth-Century Lucca
Marriage disputes, such as those contained in the records of the episcopal court of Lucca, offer a glimpse into the meanings and effects of domestic violence in the fourteenth century.
The Uses of Torture and Violence in the Fabliaux: When Comedy Crosses the Line
Comic violence is a device used in the Old French fabliaux to mete out just punishments, to castigate transgression, and to amuse a mixed audience for whom violence was all too common.
Was there Really Such a Thing as Feud in the High Middle Ages?
The pull toward the taking of personal vengeance is at least as evident in the medieval West as at other times and in other places. It is, indeed, a staple theme of entertainment literature.
Lady killers: Women, violence, and representation in medieval English literature
The women of medieval English literature kill children, invade kingdoms, torture devils, and murder their enemies.
Faction and civil strife in late Medieval Castillian towns
Faction and civil strife in late Medieval Castillian towns By Angus Mackay Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, Vol.72:3 (1990) Introduction: The social…
Abingdon and the Riots of 1327
Abingdon and the Riots of 1327 By Gabrielle Lambrick Oxoniensia, Vol. 29-30 (1964-1965) Introduction: It is well known that the political troubles of…
Marriage and Mutilation: Vendetta in Late-Medieval Italy
‘All of the family take up offensive weapons, for the injury done to one stains the whole house’, wrote one fourteenth-century lawyer. Vendetta was an obligation on kinsmen. That obligation did not die with an injured party: often quoted is Dante’s experience in Hell, when an ancestor angrily fled from his presence because his death had not yet been avenged.
Protection, Feud and Royal Power: Violence and its Regulation in English Law, c. 850 – c. 1250
Protection, Feud and Royal Power: Violence and its Regulation in English Law, c. 850 – c. 1250 By Thomas B. Lambert PhD Dissertation,…
Persecution Perpetuated: The Medieval Origins of Anti-Semitic Violence in Nazi Germany
We explore the long-term persistence of interethnic hatred by using a new data set of almost 400 towns where Jewish communities are documented for both the medieval period and interwar Germany.