A01=Gwen Seabourne
Alexander III
Author_Gwen Seabourne
Category=NHDJ
Common Law Actions
communal
confinement
De La Beche
discord
Doris Stenton
Edward II
Edward III
EHR
En Garde
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
Felicity Riddy
female agency medieval
gendered incarceration
Gruffudd Ap Llywelyn
henry
Henry III
Hugh Despenser
iii
John Tripes
King Henry III
Kingis Quair
Medieval English Kings
medieval legal history
Military Tenure
non-judicial
Non-Judicial Confinement
non-judicial female confinement studies
peter
Plea Rolls
Richard III
Richard Son
royal prerogative law
sheridan
Sir Thomas West
sue
Sue Sheridan Walker
walker
wardship guardianship
Westminster II
William De Briouze
wrongful detention England
Product details
- ISBN 9781409417880
- Weight: 589g
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 13 Jun 2011
- Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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The non-judicial confinement of women is a common event in medieval European literature and hagiography. The literary image of the imprisoned woman, usually a noblewoman, has carried through into the quasi-medieval world of the fairy and folk tale, in which the 'maiden in the tower' is one of the archetypes. Yet the confinement of women outside of the judicial system was not simply a fiction in the medieval period. Men too were imprisoned without trial and sometimes on mere suspicion of an offence, yet evidence suggests that there were important differences in the circumstances under which men and women were incarcerated, and in their roles in relation to non-judicial captivity. This study of the confinement of women highlights the disparity in regulation concerning male and female imprisonment in the middle ages, and gives a useful perspective on the nature of medieval law, its scope and limitations, and its interaction with royal power and prerogative. Looking at England from 1170 to 1509, the book discusses: the situations in which women might be imprisoned without formal accusation of trial; how social status, national allegiance and stage of life affected the chances of imprisonment; the relevant legal rules and norms; the extent to which legal and constitutional developments in medieval England affected women's amenability to confinement; what can be known of the experiences of women so incarcerated; and how women were involved in situations of non-judicial imprisonment, aside from themselves being prisoners.
Gwen Seabourne is Senior Lecturer in the School of Law, University of Bristol, UK. She specialises in medieval legal history, and has written on medieval crime, economic regulation and medieval women.
