Table of Contents

Introduction 1. Historical and Anthropological Approaches Problems of Definition Problems of Interpretation 2. Punishing Bodies Antiquity Later Antiquity Religion and Punishment Medieval and Early Modern Europe Modernity to the Present Conclusion Acknowledgements Notes Works Cited Index

About the Author

G. Geltner is Professor of Medieval History at the University of Amsterdam. His main focus is on Western Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries.

Reviews

"A direct, scathing, and largely successful critique of what Geltner sees as the intellectually dishonest rhetoric about corporal punishment in modern Western identity narratives and policy arguments." - Warren C. Brown, Speculum Volume 94, Number 1 | January 2019. "Geltner's striking account...makes this volume necessary reading well beyond the history of criminology itself." - Ed Peters, Henry Charles Lea Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania. "Brilliant! A short, sharp, and often shocking corrective to conventional penal history and western cultural categories. Geltner's little book mobilizes an abundance of comparative evidence to challenge our historical understanding of bodily punishment and to point up the invidious cultural uses of that history. An object lesson in scholarly provocation." - David Garland, New York University, author of Punishment and Modern Society. 'This provocative thesis about the continuation of corporal punishment will give rise to a great deal of debate.' - Pieter Spierenburg, Emeritus Professor at the Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam 'This is an important book for anyone interested in the history of violence or punishment, or interested in tracking historical change over the long term.' - Susan D. Amussen, The Medieval Review