Pain, Penance, and Protest
Peine Forte et Dure in Medieval England

An examination of peine fort et dure, the coercive medieval punishment for defendants refusing to plead to criminal indictments.

Sara M. Butler (Author)

9781316512388, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 18 November 2021

459 pages
23.6 x 15.8 x 3.5 cm, 0.88 kg

'The accused stands mute in medieval court, ready to undergo torment rather than plead. What can explain this scene? In this engrossing study, Sara M. Butler takes us beyond the confines of legal history, exploring forgotten worlds of religious and cultural meaning.' James Q. Whitman, Yale Law School

In medieval England, a defendant who refused to plead to a criminal indictment was sentenced to pressing with weights as a coercive measure. Using peine forte et dure ('strong and hard punishment') as a lens through which to analyse the law and its relationship with Christianity, Butler asks: where do we draw the line between punishment and penance? And, how can pain function as a vehicle for redemption within the common law? Adopting a multidisciplinary approach, this book embraces both law and literature. When Christ is on trial before Herod, he refused to plead, his silence signalling denial of the court's authority. England's discontented subjects, from hungry peasant to even King Charles I himself, stood mute before the courts in protest. Bringing together penance, pain and protest, Butler breaks down the mythology surrounding peine forte et dure and examines how it functioned within the medieval criminal justice system.

Introduction
1. Peine Forte et Dure: the medieval practice
2. Standing mute in the courts of medieval England
3. Due process and consent to jury trial
4. Peine as Barbarity? putting the practice in context
5. Why stand mute?
6. Standing mute as Imitatio Christi
7. Rejecting the jury, rejecting the common law, rejecting the king
Conclusion
Works cited
Index.

Subject Areas: Legal history [LAZ], Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500 [HBLC], British & Irish history [HBJD1], European history [HBJD]