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IMC 2007: Sessions

Session 1124: Perpetrators of Urban Crime and their Appearance in the Records

Wednesday 11 July 2007, 11.15-12.45

Organiser:Erik Spindler, Oriel College, University of Oxford
Moderator/Chair:Clive Burgess, Department of History, Royal Holloway, University of London
Paper 1124-aThe Perpetrators of Violence in Late 13th- and Early 14th-Century Paris and Arras
(Language: English)
Hannah Wheeler, Wadham College, University of Oxford
Index terms: Law, Mentalities, Social History
Paper 1124-bLate 14th-Century Yarmouth Criminals
(Language: English)
Janka Dorothy Rodziewicz, School of History, University of East Anglia
Index terms: Law, Social History
Paper 1124-cCriminals in the Law Enforcement Records of Late 14th- and Early 15th-Century Bruges and London
(Language: English)
Erik Spindler, Oriel College, University of Oxford
Index terms: Daily Life, Law, Mentalities, Social History
Abstract

Urban populations and authorities were concerned with crime and its perpetrators. Criminals can be categorised by gender, activity or status. Their actions (individual and collective) and the reactions they provoked left traces in the records that, carefully analysed, shed light on the functioning of urban society. Thus, different groups of perpetrators used violence to negotiate identities and relationships (paper a). In court, individual criminals were treated differently according to their perceived character, status and networks (paper b). In recording crime, law enforcement officers effectively and creatively adapted legal forms to deal with language use and problems of transience, group coherence and anonymity (paper c).