Crime and Punishment in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Age : Mental-Historical Investigations of Basic Human Problems and Social Responses

All societies are constructed, based on specific rules, norms, and laws. Hence, all ethics and morality are predicated on perceived right or wrong behavior, and much of human culture proves to be the result of a larger discourse on vices and virtues, transgression and ideals, right and wrong. The topics covered in this volume, addressing fundamental concerns of the premodern world, deal with allegedly criminal, or simply wrong behavior which demanded punishment. Sometimes this affected whole groups of people, such as the innocently persecuted Jews, sometimes individuals, such as violent and evil princes. The issue at stake here embraces all of society since it can only survive if a general framework is observed that is based in some way on justice and peace. But literature and the visual arts provide many examples of open and public protests against wrongdoings, ill-conceived ideas and concepts, and stark crimes, such as theft, rape, and murder. In fact, poetic statements or paintings could carry significant potentials against those who deliberately transgressed moral and ethical norms, or who even targeted themselves. Norms, Rules, And Laws Have Determined The Interaction Of People Throughout Time, And Yet Transgressions Have Always Occurred. Crime And Subsequent Punishments Are Fundamental Issues Identifying Every Society. The Articles In This Volume Study Medieval Laws And Documents Reflecting On Vices, Crimes, And Wrongdoings And Thus Give A Profound Analysis Of The Premodern World In Its Development In Social, Economic, Legal, Moral, And Ethical Terms. Introduction. Albrecht Classen And Connie Scarborough / Crime, Transgression, And Deviancy: Behaviors That Defines Us All -- Bernard Ribémont / Le Crime Épique Et Sa Punition: Quelques Exemples (xiie-xiiie Siècles) -- Susanna Niiranen / I Know How To Be A Whore And Thief: The Poet's Reputation, Troubadours: Ancestors Of Poètes Maudits? -- Christopher R. Clason / The Law-letter And Spirit: Language, Transgression And Justice In Three Medieval German Epic Poems -- Stacey Hahn / Crime, Punishment And The Hybrid In Medieval French Romance: Robert The Devil And Geoffrey Big Tooth -- Scott L. Taylor / Judicium Dei, Vulgaris Popularisque Sensus: Survival Of Customary Justice And Resistance To Its Displacement By The New Ordines Iudiciorum As Evidenced By Francophonic Literature Of The High Middle Ages -- Albrecht Classen / Crime And Violence In The Middle Ages: The Cases Of Heinrich Der Glichezare's Reinhard Fuchs And Wernher Der Gartenære's Helmbrecht --^ John Gough / The Function Of Projected Pain: The Poetry Of François Villon And The Gift Of Self -- Jean E. Jost / Retribution In Gamelyn: A Case In The Courts -- Jolanta N. Komornicka / Contra Signum Nostrum: The Symbolism Of Lèse-majesté Under Philip Vi Valois -- Connie L. Scarborough / Women As Victims And Criminals In The Siete Partidas -- Maria Cecilia Ruiz / Theft In Juan Manuel's El Conde Lucanor -- Patricia Turning / Competition For The Prisoner's Body: Wardens And Jailers In Fourteenth?century Southern France -- Birgit Wiedl / The Host On The Doorstep: Perpetrators, Victims, And Bystanders In An Alleged Host Desecration In Fourteenth?century Austria -- Daniel F. Pigg / Does The Punishment Fit The Crime?: Chaucer's Physician's Tale And The Worlds Of Judgment -- Lia B. Ross / Deviancy In The Late Middle Ages: The Crimes And Punishment Of Gilles De Rais -- John Beusterien / The Celebratory Conical Hat In La Celestina --^ Kathleen M. Llewellyn / Equal Opportunity Vengeance In The Heptaméron Of Marguerite De Navarre -- Nicolas Lombart / Crimes Et Châtiments D 'exception En France Au Temps Des Guerres De Religion: L'utopie Judiciaire Des Commentaires De Monluc (livres V à Vii) -- Martha Moffitt Peacock / The Amsterdam Spinhuis And The Art Of Correction -- Thomas Willard / Pimping For The Fairy Queen: Some Cozeners In Shakespeare's England -- Denis Bjaï / Réflexions De Montaigne Sur Le Châtiment Des Criminels -- Allison P. Coudert / The Ultimate Crime: Cannibalism In Early Modern Minds And Imaginations -- Evelyne Luef / Punishment Post Mortem -- The Crime Of Suicide In Early Modern Austria And Sweden. Edited By Albrecht Classen, Connie Scarborough. Includes Index. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Classen, Albrecht#Scarborough, Connie|Introduction. Crime, Transgression, and Deviancy: Behaviors that Defines Us All 10 Ribémont, Bernard|Chapter 1. Le ‘crime épique’ et sa punition: quelques exemples (XIIe-XIIIe siècles) 38 Niiranen, Susanna|Chapter 2. “I know how to be a whore and thief” The poet’s reputation: troubadours – ancestors of poètes maudits? 52 Clason, Christopher R.|Chapter 3. The Law – Letter and Spirit: Language, Transgression and Justice In Three Medieval German Epic Poems 74 Hahn, Stacey|Chapter 4. Crime, Punishment and the Hybrid in Medieval French Romance: Robert the Devil and Geoffrey Big Tooth 96 Taylor, Scott L.|Chapter 5. Judicium Dei, vulgaris popularisque sensus: Survival of Customary Justice and Resistance to its Displacement by the “New” Ordines iudiciorum as Evidenced by Francophonic Literature of the High Middle Ages 118 Classen, Albrecht|Chapter 6. Crime and Violence in the Middle Ages: The Cases of Heinrich der Glichezare’s Reinhard Fuchs and Wernher der Gartenære’s Helmbrecht 140 Gough, John|Chapter 7. The Function of Projected Pain: The Poetry of François Villon and the Gift of Self 168 Jost, Jean E.|Chapter 8. Retribution in Gamelyn: A Case in the Courts 184 Komornicka, Jolanta N.|Chapter 9. Contra Signum Nostrum: The Symbolism of Lèse-majesté under Philip VI Valois 198 Scarborough, Connie L.|Chapter 10. Women as Victims and Criminals in the Siete Partidas 234 Ruiz, Maria Cecilia|Chapter 11. Theft in Juan Manuel’s El Conde Lucanor 256 Turning, Patricia|Chapter 12. Competition for the Prisoner’s Body: Wardens and Jailers in Fourteenth-Century Southern France 290 Wiedl, Birgit|Chapter 13. The Host on the Doorstep: Perpetrators, Victims, and Bystanders in an Alleged Host Desecration in Fourteenth-Century Austria 308 Pigg, Daniel F.|Chapter 14. Does the Punishment Fit the Crime?: Chaucer’s Physician’s Tale and the Worlds of Judgment 356 Ross, Lia B.|Chapter 15. Deviancy in the Late Middle Ages: The Crimes and Punishment of Gilles de Rais 368 Beusterien, John|Chapter 16. The Celebratory Conical Hat in La Celestina 412 Llewellyn, Kathleen M.|Chapter 17. Equal Opportunity Vengeance in the Heptaméron of Marguerite de Navarre 424 Lombart, Nicolas|Chapter 18. Crimes et Châtiments d’Exception en France au Temps des Guerres de Religion: l’Utopie Judiciaire des Commentaires de Monluc (livres V à VII) 446 Moffitt Peacock, Martha|Chapter 19. The Amsterdam Spinhuis and the “Art” of Correction 468 Willard, Thomas|Chapter 20. Pimping for the Fairy Queen: Some Cozeners in Shakespeare’s England 500 Bjaï, Denis|Chapter 21. Réflexions de Montaigne sur le châtiment des criminels 518 Coudert, Allison P.|Chapter 22. The Ultimate Crime: Cannibalism in Early Modern Minds and Imaginations 530 Luef, Evelyne|Chapter 23. Punishment Post Mortem – The Crime of Suicide in Early Modern Austria and Sweden 564 List of Illustrations 586 Contributors 590 Index 600 Acknowledgment and Gratitude 610 Norms, rules, and laws have determined the interaction of people throughout time, and yet transgressions have always occurred. Crime and subsequent punishments are fundamental issues identifying every society. The articles in this volume study medieval laws and documents reflecting on vices, crimes, and wrongdoings and thus give a profound analysis of the premodern world in its development in social, economic, legal, moral, and ethical terms. Albrecht Classen, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA;Connie Scarborough, Texas Tech University, Dallas, USA