Capital and Corporal Punishment in Anglo-Saxon England

International Congress on Medieval Studies
Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo MI
13-16 May 2010

Execution, mutilation, and bodily punishment were prominent elements of Anglo-Saxon judicial practice. In addition to the Old English law codes that prescribed death and mutilation for criminal offenders, physical penalties figured 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 investigation of the role of capital and corporal punishment in Anglo-Saxon England. We seek papers that consider the legal, practical, theological, and ethical considerations that surrounded the sentencing of offenders. Explorations of individual penalties, specific texts, artistic or archaeological evidence, or the wider context of physical punishment are also welcome.

Please submit abstracts for twenty-minute papers by 15 September to:

Jay Paul Gates
jgates@jjay.cuny.edu

John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY
Dept. of English, Room 730
619 W. 54th St.
New York, NY 10019
(646) 557-4406

Organizers: Jay Paul Gates and Nicole Marafioti