Vengeance in Medieval Europe
A Reader
Published on 1. June 2009
Book
Hardback
496 pages
978-1-4426-0134-5 (ISBN)
Description
How did medieval society deal with private justice, with grudges, and with violent emotions? This ground-breaking reader collects for the first time a number of unpublished or difficult-to-find texts that address violence and emotion in the Middle Ages. The sources collected here illustrate the power and reach of the language of vengeance in medieval European society. They span the early, high, and later middle ages, and capture a range of perspectives including legal sources, learned commentaries, narratives, and documents of practice. Though social elites necessarily figure prominently in all medieval sources, sources concerning relatively low-status individuals and sources pertaining to women are included. The sources range from saints' lives that illustrate the idea of vengeance to later medieval court records concerning vengeful practices. A secondary goal of the collection is to illustrate the prominence of mechanisms for peacemaking in medieval European society. The introduction traces recent scholarly developments in the study of vengeance and discusses the significance of these concepts for medieval political and social history.
Reviews / Votes
The editors are to be applauded for their outstanding efforts to make so many relevant texts available. Overall, the entire period of the Middle Ages is well covered, and we can easily grasp the long tradition on vengeance going back to the Old Testament. This proves to be a very useful textbook that will allow new approaches in university seminars. -- MediaevistikMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Toronto
Canada
Dimensions
Height: 236 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 34 mm
Weight
860 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4426-0134-5 (9781442601345)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Daniel Lord Smail is Professor of History at Harvard University. He is the co-editor with Thelma Fenster of Fama: The Politics of Talk and Reputation in Medieval Europe (Cornell University Press, 2003), The Consumption of Justice: Emotions, Publicity, and Legal Culture in Marseille, 1264-1423 (Cornell University Press, 2003), and Imaginary Cartographies: Possession and Identity in Late Medieval Marseille (Cornell University Press, 1999). Kelly Gibson is a doctoral candidate in the Department of History at Harvard University.
Content
Introduction Part I. Prologue: Sources for the Medieval Language of Vengeance Chapter One: The Old Testament 1. The Pollution of Kin-Slaying 2. The Law of the Talion 3. Vengeance and Emotion 4. The Principle of Sanctuary 5. The Levite's Concubine 6. Humiliation and the Lord's Vengeance 7. Restraining the Vengeful Emotions 8. The Vengeance of the Maccabees Chapter Two: The New Testament 9. Peacemaking and the Ties of Kinship 10. Humility as Vengeance? Chapter Three: Roman Laws 11. Criminal Justice and Vengeance in the Theodosian Code and Sirmondian Constitutions 12. Criminal Justice and Vengeance in Justinian's Digest Part II. The Early Middle Ages (500-1000) Chapter Four: Codes, Capitularies, and Penitentials 13. The Laws of the Salian Franks 14. The Lombard Laws 15. Carolingian Capitularies 16. Early Medieval English Law 17. Emotion and Sin Chapter Five: Sermons, Exegesis, and Letters 18. Augustine on the Legitimacy of Fighting Back 19. Augustine on the Need to Await God's Vengeance 20. Jerome on Kindness and Cruelty 21. Law and the "Accursed Custom" of Vengeance in Theoderic's Italy 22. Isidore of Seville on the Law of the Talion 23. Pope Honorius Speaks of Justice as Vengeance 24. Smaragdus of St. Mihiel on Restraining Royal Anger 25. Hrabanus Maurus's Homily on Avoiding Anger and Homicide 26. Einhard on the Fear of Family Vengeance 27. Charles the Bald to Pope Nicholas on Vengeance without Violence 28. Vengeance for the "Hard Man" Chapter Six: Saints' Lives, Chronicles, and Epics 29. Jordanes on Vengeance and the Vandal Wars of Conquest 30. Gregory of Tours on Feuding and Vengeance 31. Gregory of Tours on God's Vengeance 32. Vengeance As the Devil's Work in the Life of Saint Sadalberga 33. Saint Amandus Rescues a Man from Judicial Vengeance 34. Saint Willibrord Forgoes Vengeance and Anger 35. History of the Lombards by Paul the Deacon 36. Einhard on the Peace Inspired by the Relics of Saints Marcellinus and Peter 37. Saint Gerald of Aurillac Seeks Peace with His Enemies 38. Liutprand of Cremona's Tit-For-Tat 39. Heroic Vengeance Chapter Seven: Formularies, Charters, and Judgments 40. Security for Peace after a Murder 41. An Orderly Merovingian Judgment 42. Lombard Notice of Judgment at Pavia Part III. The High Middle Ages (1000-1250) Chapter Eight: The Effort to Regulate Violence and Emotion 43. The Peace of God in Charroux 44. Penance for Homicide in the Decretum of Burchard of Worms 45. The Laws of the Family of St. Peter 46. The Penitential of Burchard of Worms 47. Truce of God in Arles 48. A Comital Peace Assembly of Barcelona 49. The Truce of God in Cologne 50. Peace of the Land in Mainz 51. The Laws of Henry I of England 52. The Usatges of Barcelona 53. Rules for Trial by Combat in Brescia 54. The Penitential of Alain of Lille 55. The Penitential of Robert of Flamborough 56. General Constitution Concerning Judgments and Keeping the Peace Chapter Nine: Sermons and Learned Commentary on Anger and Vengeance 57. Aelfric's Sermon on Anger and Peace 58. Wulfstan's "Sermon of the Wolf" on the Evils of His Day 59. Peter Damian on Restraining Anger 60. A Letter by Peter Damian on the Vengeance of Spiritual Leaders 61. William of Malmesbury on the Consequences of Resisting Peace 62. Pope Urban II Urges Vengeance on the Enemies of Christendom in Robert the Monk's History of Jerusalem 63. An Account of the Speech of Pope Urban II by Fulcher of Chartres 64. A Sermon by Saint Francis on Hatred and Peace 65. The Wolf of Gubbio 66. Albertanus of Brescia on the Cost of Pursing Private War 67. Thomas Aquinas on Homicide, Vengeance, and Anger Chapter Ten: Saints' Lives, Chronicles, and Epics 68. Rodulphus Glaber on the Truce of God 69. How the Emperor Conrad Pacified His Realm, According to Wipo 70. Adam of Bremen on the Attacks of Bishop Adalbert's Enemies 71. The Cattle-Raid of Cooley 72. Feud between Bishop Gaudry and Baron G rard in the Autobiography of Guibert of Nogent 73. The Murder of Charles the Good by Galbert of Bruges 74. Peter Abelard's "Story of My Adversities" 75. The Deeds of Louis the Fat by Suger of St. Denis 76. The Vengeance of Kings in Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain 77. The Bloodfeud of Meingold and Albric 78. Hariulf on the Sweet Words of Arnulf of Soissons 79. Chronicle of the Slavs by Helmold of Bosau 80. Emotions among the Military Aristocracy in Raoul of Cambrai 81. The Hatred of Kriemhild and Brunhild in The Nibelungenlied 82. Parzival by Wolfram von Eschenbach 83. Harald's Norway and the Flight to Iceland in the Laxdaela Saga 84. The Story of a Feud in Njal's Saga Chapter Eleven: Peace Charters and Oaths 85. Peace Oath Proposed by Bishop Warin of Beauvais to King Robert the Pious 86. Henry II Settles a Feud on Monastic Land 87. Attempted Settlement by Combat 88. Grant to the Norman Bishops of Fines Due from Breaches of the Truce of God 89. A Catalan Peace Settlement 90. A Forged Immunity of King Dagobert III 91. A Peace Treaty from Avignon Part IV. The Later Middle Ages (1250-1500) Chapter Twelve: Municipal, Territorial, and Royal Laws Concerning Vengeance and Murder 92. Homicide in the Laws and Customs of England 93. From the Sachsenspiegel 94. Guarantees of Peace in the Customs of Touraine and Anjou 95. The Law of Homicide in the Fuero Real 96. Procedures for Private War in the Customs of Beauvaisis 97. The Statute of Homicide of Marseille, France 98. From the Statutes of Acqui, Italy 99. From the Statutes of Apricale, Italy 100. From the Statutes of Saone, Italy 101. From the Statutes of Cuneo, Italy 102. From the Statutes of Celle, Italy 103. The Perpetual Peace of the Land Proclaimed by Maximilian I Chapter Thirteen: Ecclesiastical and Secular Commentary on Peace and the Restraint of Emotions 104. The Nature of Wrath According to a Preacher's Manual 105. A Sermon on Peace by Vincent Ferrer 106. Laudable Anger in Leonardo Bruni's Handbook of Moral Philosophy 107. Sermon on the Importance of Peace by Bernardino of Siena Chapter Fourteen: Saints' Lives, Chronicles, and Epics 108. A vision of peacemaking in the Miracles of Saint Rose of Viterbo 109. Ambrose Sansedonius's Preaching of Peace Arouses Enmity 110. The Vengeful Miracles of Saint Bridget of Sweden 111. Saint Catherine of Siena as Peacemaker 112. Vengeance and Peace in the Life of Cola di Rienzo 113. Dino Compagni on the Florentine Factions 114. Trial by Combat in Froissart's Chronicles 115. The Vengeance of Our Lord 116. A Miracle of the Blessed Virgin Mary Chapter Fifteen: Court Cases and Notarial Peace Acts 117. The Peace Registers of the City of Tournai 118. Tura Ranerii, of Florence, Creates a Procurator 119. Cases of Homicide in the Calendar of Coroner's Rolls, London 120. Notarized Peace Acts and Related Acts from Marseille 121. A Lawsuit by Nicolau Guilhem, a Cutler of Marseille 122. A Lawsuit against Lois Orlet of Marseille 123. A Lawsuit by Anhellon Faber, a Butcher of Marseille 124. An Inquest into the Murder of Bernart Berengier in Marseille 125. The Marseille City Council Makes a Ruling about Broken Sanctuary 126. Ignoring Due Process during a Feud in the Paston Letters "