Murder in Shakespeare's England / Edition 1

by Vanessa McMahon (Parkins)

Overview

Fascination with murder is not a modern phenomenon. People in the past were just as interested in extreme violence and homicide as people nowadays. In seventeenth-century England all excessive and gratuitous violence was condemned and prosecuted, with murderers being categorized as particularly wicked. The courtrooms where murderers were tried were packed and crowds attended their execution. Ballads about notorious cases and prints reflected the huge interest such cases generated. Yet, in a world with no police and little forensic expertise, identification, pursuit and prosecution presented many difficulties. Murder in Shakespeare's England looks at a series of murder cases, ranging from brawls to infanticide, and including serial and sex killings, to paint a picture of how murder was committed, discovered and punished in Stuart England.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781852855369
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	10/25/2006
Pages:	285
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.67(d)

About the Author

Vanessa McMahon is Assistant Professor at The American International University in London. She holds a doctorate in history from Royal Holloway, University of London.

Table of Contents

IllustrationsAbbreviationsPrefaceNotes on QuotationsIntroduction1 Investigating Crime2 Supernatural Sleuths3 Bodies4 Infant Corpses5 Husbands and Wives6 Disrupted Households7 Poison: A Women's Weapon8 Murderous Mothers9 Child-Killers10 Brawling and Duelling11 The Usual Suspects12 Serial Killers and Sex Crimes13 PunishmentNotesBibliographyIndex