The Body Legal in Barbarian Law

Lisi Oliver (Author)

9781487547707

Paperback / softback, published 16 August 2022

320 pages, 30 b&w illustrations, 13 b&w maps, 27 b&w tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm, 0.46 kg

’Intriguing book...The Body Legal in Barbarian Law is like an (unmutilated)body itself: pleasingly structured on the outside and hiding a lot of intricate workings under the skin.’ - Matthias Ammon (TOEBI(Teachers of Old English in Britain & Ireland), vol 29:2012)

The sixth to ninth centuries saw a flowering of written laws among the early Germanic tribes. These laws include tables of fines for personal injury, designed to offer a legal, non-violent alternative to blood feud. Using these personal injury tariffs, The Body Legal in Barbarian Law examines a variety of issues, including the interrelationships between victims, perpetrators, and their families; the causes and results of wounds inflicted in daily life; the methods, successes, and failures of healing techniques; the processes of individual redress or public litigation; and the native and borrowed developments in the various 'barbarian' territories as they separated from the Roman Empire.
By applying the techniques of linguistic anthropology to the pre-history of medicine, anatomical knowledge, and law, Lisi Oliver has produced a remarkable study that sheds new light on early Germanic conceptions of the body in terms of medical value, physiological function, psychological worth, and social significance.

Image List