IMC 2009: Sessions

Session 707: Capital and Corporal Punishment in Anglo-Saxon England

Tuesday 14 July 2009, 14.15-15.45

Organisers:	Jay Paul Gates, Department of English, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York Nicole Marafioti, Cornell University
Moderator/Chair:	Nicole Marafioti, Cornell University
Paper 707-a	The Emergence of Anglo-Saxon Judicial Practice: The Message of the Gallows (Language: English) Andrew Reynolds, Institute of Archaeology, University College London Index terms: Archaeology - General, Law
Paper 707-b	The Wounded Man: Battle-Scars and Corporal Punishment in Anglo-Saxon England (Language: English) Richard Sowerby, Christ Church College, University of Oxford Index terms: Hagiography, Language and Literature - Old English, Language and Literature - Other
Paper 707-c	Chronicling, Cleansing, and Killing: Narrating Genocide in Anglo-Saxon England (Language: English) Jay Paul Gates, Department of English, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York Index terms: Language and Literature - Old English, Law
Abstract	Execution, mutilation, and bodily punishment permeate our understanding of Anglo-Saxon judicial practice. In addition to the Old English law codes that prescribe death and mutilation for criminal offenders, physical penalties figure prominently in biblical exegesis and theological discourse, in hagiographical and literary texts, in works of art, and in the archaeology of the pre-Conquest landscape. This session will offer an interdisciplinary approach to the role of capital and corporal punishment in Anglo-Saxon England, investigating the legal, practical, theological, ethical, and archaeological aspects of sentencing offenders.