IMC 2008: Sessions

Session 117: Bestial Encounters: The Natural World, Animals, and the Law in Medieval Europe

Sponsor:	Glossa - Society for Medieval Studies in Finland
Organiser:	Mia Korpiola, Faculty of Law, University of Helsinki
Moderator/Chair:	Sini Kangas, Department of History, University of Helsinki
Paper 117-a	The Natural World in English Law Books (Language: English) Anthony Musson, School of Law, University of Exeter Index terms: Art History - Painting, Law, Manuscripts and Palaeography
Paper 117-b	Diabolical Temptations: Bestiality in Late Medieval Sweden (Language: English) Mia Korpiola, Faculty of Law, University of Helsinki Index terms: Canon Law, Law, Sexuality
Paper 117-c	Tried and Executed Animals in Late Medieval Culture (Language: English) Hannele Klemettilä, Department of Cultural History, University of Turku Index terms: Anthropology, Law, Mentalities
Abstract	This session will look at the interaction of the natural world, especially animals, and the law in medieval Europe. The session will also discuss animals as legal subjects in the sense that they could be tried and executed for crimes that they had committed and been convicted for. The first paper will look at the images of animals and plants in medieval legal manuscripts, and investigate how the natural world was depicted in them. The second paper will address the crime of bestiality and its penalities in medieval Sweden, while the third paper deals with the execution of tried and convicted animals especially in later medieval France.