Jay Paul Gates & Nicole Marafioti 
Capital and Corporal Punishment in Anglo-Saxon England 

Essays examining how punishment operated in England, from c.600 to the Norman Conquest.


Anglo-Saxon authorities often punished lawbreakers with harsh corporal penalties, such as execution, mutilation and imprisonment. Despite their severity, however, these penalties were not arbitrary exercises of power. Rather, theywere informed by nuanced philosophies of punishment which sought to resolve conflict, keep the peace and enforce Christian morality.

The ten essays in this volume engage legal, literary, historical, and archaeological evidence to investigate the role of punishment in Anglo-Saxon society. Three dominant themes emerge in the collection. First is the shift from a culture of retributive feud to a system of top-down punishment, in which penalties were imposed by an authority figure responsible for keeping the peace. Second is the use of spectacular punishment to enhance royal standing, as Anglo-Saxon kings sought to centralize and legitimize their power. Third is the intersectionof secular punishment and penitential practice, as Christian authorities tempered penalties for material crime with concern for the souls of the condemned. Together, these studies demonstrate that in Anglo-Saxon England, capital and corporal punishments were considered necessary, legitimate, and righteous methods of social control.


Jay Paul Gates is Assistant Professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in The City University of New York; Nicole Marafioti is Assistant Professor of History and co-director of the Medieval and Renaissance Studies Program at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.


Contributors: Valerie Allen, Jo Buckberry, Daniela Fruscione, Jay Paul Gates, Stefan Jurasinski, Nicole Marafioti, Daniel O’Gorman, Lisi Oliver, Andrew Rabin, Daniel Thomas.

Daftar Isi

Introduction: Capital and Corporal Punishment in Anglo-Saxon England – Nicole Marafioti and Jay Paul Gates

When Compensation Costs an Arm and a Leg – Valerie Allen

Beginnings and Legitimation of Punishment in Early Anglo-Saxon Legislation From the Seventh to the Ninth Century – Daniela Fruscione

Genital Mutilation in Medieval Germanic Law – Lisi Oliver

‘Sick-Maintenance’ and Earlier English Law – Stefan Jurasinski

Incarceration as Judicial Punishment in Anglo-Saxon England – Daniel Thomas

Earthly Justice and Spiritual Consequences: Judging and Punishing in the Old English
Consolation of Philosophy – Nicole Marafioti

Osteological Evidence of Corporal and Capital Punishment in Later Anglo-Saxon England – Jo Buckberry

Mutilation and Spectacle in Anglo-Saxon Legislation – Daniel O’Gorman

The ‘Worcester’ Historians and Eadric
Streona’s Execution – Jay Paul Gates

Capital Punishment and the Anglo-Saxon Judicial Apparatus: A Maximum View? – Andrew Rabin

Tentang Penulis

Andrew Rabin is a Professor in the English Department at the University of Louisville.