You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
From the late Middle Ages to THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO to Mel Gibson's BRAVEHEART, the ultimate symbol of feudal barbarism has been the right of a feudal lord to sleep with the bride of a vassal on her wedding night. But here, in a fascinating case study of the folklore of sexuality, Alain Boureau elegantly demonstrates such tradition is a myth.
At one time in Europe, there was a point to pain: physical suffering could be a path to redemption. This religious notion suggested that truth was lodged in the body and could be achieved through torture. In Tortured Subjects, Lisa Silverman tells the haunting story of how this idea became a fixed part of the French legal system during the early modern period. Looking closely at the theory and practice of judicial torture in France from 1600 to 1788, the year in which it was formally abolished, Silverman revisits dossiers compiled in criminal cases, including transcripts of interrogations conducted under torture, as well as the writings of physicians and surgeons concerned with the problem o...
None
None