Share
Pain, Penance, and Protest: Peine Forte et Dure in Medieval England (Studies in Legal History)
Sara M. Butler
(Author)
·
Cambridge University Press
· Hardcover
Pain, Penance, and Protest: Peine Forte et Dure in Medieval England (Studies in Legal History) - Butler, Sara M.
Choose the list to add your product or create one New List
✓ Product added successfully to the Wishlist.
Go to My Wishlists
Origin: Spain
(Import costs included in the price)
It will be shipped from our warehouse between
Thursday, June 13 and
Monday, June 24.
You will receive it anywhere in United Kingdom between 1 and 3 business days after shipment.
Synopsis "Pain, Penance, and Protest: Peine Forte et Dure in Medieval England (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.
