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IMC 2010: Sessions

Session 1201: Capital and Corporal Punishment in Anglo-Saxon England, I: Literary and Linguistic Considerations

Wednesday 14 July 2010, 14.15-15.45

Organiser:Jay Paul Gates, Department of English, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York
Moderator/Chair:Nicole Marafioti, Department of History, Trinity University, Texas
Paper 1201-aMutilation and the Assembly of the Nation in Cnut's Laws
(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
Paper 1201-b'Hraþe seoþðan wæs æfter mundgripe': Anglo-Saxon Punishment and Middle English Torture
(Language: English)
Larissa C. Tracy, Department of English & Modern Languages, Longwood University, Virginia
Index terms: Language and Literature - Old English, Language and Literature - Middle English
Paper 1201-cRepresentations of Imprisonment in Old English Poetry
(Language: English)
Daniel Thomas, Jesus College, University of Oxford
Index terms: Hagiography, Language and Literature - Old English
Abstract

Treatments of capital and corporal punishment appear in various contexts during the Anglo-Saxon period. In addition to the Old English law codes that prescribe death and mutilation for criminal offenders, physical penalties figure prominently in literary texts, theological writings, works of art, and the archaeology of the Anglo-Saxon landscape. Current research in each of these areas has done much to illuminate the judicial, practical, and ethical considerations that influenced the sentencing of offenders, and this interdisciplinary panel should further such research. We had a very successful session with this at the 2009 Congress, and hope to be included again.