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a key instrument of rule in European society, and we can study it in the case of Catalonia through its rich and varied unpublished documentation.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 This book utilises previously unpublished archival sources to present a unique study on the death penalty in late Medieval Europe.
Author(s): Flocel Sabaté
Series: Studies in Medieval History and Culture
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2020
Language: English
Pages: 400
City: London
Presentation and acknowledgements: genealogy of this book ix
Abbreviations xiii
1. Introduction 1
2. The preceding context: the early-medieval justice and major crimes 12
3. Sovereignty and the “merum imperium” 21
4. The symbology of the gallows: jurisdiction and terror 30
5. The death penalty in the royal “plenitudo potestatis” 50
6. The death penalty in the non-royal jurisdictions 82
7. The death penalty in the legislation of the municipal centres 94
8. The death penalty and ordinary justice 120
9. The death sentences 153
10. The application of the death penalty: the ceremony of execution 183
11. The application of the death penalty: the display of the body 215
12. The application of the death penalty: death by fire 233
13. More fire: the inquisition and the death penalty 244
14. The death penalty applied to Jews and Muslims 278
15. The death penalty in the mind 301
16. Consolidating power and social cohesion through the death penalty 322
17. The death penalty in a tense Catalonia at the end of the Middle Ages 338
18 Conclusion 363
Index of images 368
Index 371
