Overview

This reference work examines the ways in which some medieval behaviours and identities were categorized as criminal or deviant. It also explores the implications of modern demonization of the Middle Ages. As well as discussing constructions of deviance, this book further explores the behaviours and identities which provoked these labels and processes. The model is one of reciprocity between behaviours and processes of demonization and criminalization. Each authoritative essay engages carefully with this approach, examining behaviours, the ways they were demonized, and the relationship between the two processes. The three parts of the volume are centred around forms of discursive and normative power—religious ideologies, political ideologies, and legalism. The authors also explore issues of political discourse, spiritual censure, justice and punishment, and the construction of taboos.

Full Product Details

Author:   Hannah Skoda (Tutorial Fellow in History, University of Oxford)
Publisher:   Arc Humanities Press
Imprint:   Arc Humanities Press
Edition:   New edition
ISBN:  

9781802704464

ISBN 10:   1802704469
Pages:   446
Publication Date:   28 February 2026
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming
Availability:   Not yet available  
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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements Hannah Skoda, ""General Introduction"" PART 1: RELIGIOUS IDEOLOGIES Hannah Skoda, ""Introduction"" Ideas and Beliefs Ian Forrest, ""The Heretic: Contingent and Commodified"" Ann Giletti, ""Censorship and Criminalization of Ideas in Western Europe"" Alexander Murray, ""Medieval Suicide"" Sexuality Ruth Mazo Karras, ""Attitudes to Same-Sex Sexual Relations in the Latin World"" Christian de Pee, ""Marriage and Sexuality in China, 960–1368 CE"" Money Julie Mell, ""Usury as Deviance in Medieval Europe"" PART 2: POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES Hannah Skoda, ""Introduction"" Treason Michael Hope, ""El and Bulqa: Between Order and Chaos in the Formative Years of the Mongol Empire (1206–1259)"" Emily Hutchison, ""Treason in France and England in the Later Middle Ages"" Nassima Neggaz, ""Revolts in the Late Medieval Middle East, 1200–1500"" Political Visions of Community Rebecca Rist, ""Power, Scapegoating, and the Marginalization of Jews in Western Europe in the High Middle Ages (Eleventh-Fourteenth Centuries)"" Amira Bennison, ""Articulating and Contesting Power in the Maghrib"" Guy Geltner and Gregory Roberts, ""Social and Environmental Policing"" PART 3: LEGALISM Hannah Skoda, ""Introduction"" Theft Valerie Toureille, ""Shifting Attitudes to Theft in Medieval Western Europe"" Ephraim Shoham-Steiner, ""‘This May Bring About Many Evils’: The Jewish Minority Community in Medieval Europe Facing its Own Thieves"" Violence Warren Brown, ""The Criminalization of Violence in the Medieval West"" Gwen Seabourne, ""Rape and Law in Medieval Western Europe"" Yasmine Badr, ""An Analysis of ‘Rape’ in Islamic Legal Discourse (1000–1500 CE)"" Within the Home Sara M. Butler, ""Attitudes to Domestic Violence in Christian Europe"" Oded Zinger, ""Between the Muslim State and Individual Agency: The Regulation of Sexuality in the Jewish Communities of Medieval Egypt"" Hannah Skoda, ""Epilogue""

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Author Information

Hannah Skoda is Tutorial Fellow in History at St. John's College, University of Oxford, UK

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