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The Death Penalty in Late-Medieval Catalonia: Evidence and Significations

The Death Penalty in Late-Medieval Catalonia: Evidence and Significations

Author: Flocel Sabate
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 9780367188634
Published In: September 2019
Format: Hardback
Jurisdiction: U.K. ? Disclaimer:
Countri(es) stated herein are used as reference only

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Description
Contents

Details

The death penalty was unusual in medieval Europe until the twelfth century. From that moment on, it became a key instrument of rule in European society, and we can study it in the case of Catalonia through its rich and varied unpublished documentation. The death penalty was justified by Roman Law; accepted by Theology and Philosophy for the Common Good; and used by rulers as an instrument for social intimidation. The application of the death penalty followed a regular trial, and the status of the individual dictated the method of execution, reserving the fire for the worst crimes, as the Inquisition applied against the so-called heretics. The executions were public, and the authorities and the people shared the common goal of restoring the will of God which had been broken by the executed person. The death penalty took an important place in the core of the medieval mind: people included executions in the jokes and popular narratives while the gallows filled the landscape fitting the jurisdictional limits and, also, showing rotten corpses to assert that the best way to rule and order the society is by terror.

This book utilises previously unpublished archival sources to present a unique study on the death penalty in late Medieval Europe.

Acknowledgements

List of abbreviations

Chapter One: Introduction

Chapter Two: Precedent times: The Early-Medieval Justice Before Major Crimes

Chapter Three: Sovereignty and merum imperium

Chapter Four: The Symbology of the Gallows: Jurisdiction and Terror

Chapter Five: The Death Penalty in the ‘plenitudo potestatis’

Chapter Six: The Death Penalty in the Non-Royal Jurisdictions

Chapter Seven: The Death Penalty in the Legislation and Municipal Capitality

Chapter Eight: The Death Penalty in Ordinary Justice

Chapter Nine: The Death Sentences

Chapter Ten: The Application of the Death Penalty: The Ceremony of Execution