The crime of poison in the Middle Ages

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Bibliographic Information

The crime of poison in the Middle Ages

Franck Collard ; translated by Deborah Nelson-Campbell

Praeger Publishers, 2008

Other Title

Le crime de poison au Moyen Âge

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Note

Translation of:Le crime de poison au Moyen Âge

"Originally french edition, Le crime de poison au Moyen Âge, by Franck Collard frst published in 2005. Presses universitaires de France"--T.p. verso.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [277]-288) and index

HTTP:URL=http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip0819/2008022062.html Information=Table of contents only

Description and Table of Contents

Description

This book will lead readers into a medieval culture of ambition, greed, and jealousy that motivated men and women to take the lives of individuals who trusted them. Collard examines the perception of the crime of poisoning in the West in medieval times, from about 500 to 1500 AD, exploring the ways the alleged crime was perceived in contemporary minds. His primary sources are chronicles that cover the entire medieval period and legal texts that are limited to the late medieval centuries. In order to portray the culture of murder by poisoning in the West, it was necessary to take into account Byzantine and Islamic documents as well as ancient texts such as the Scriptures and the writings of Roman historians, both of which were widely known in the Middle Ages. This book will lead readers into a medieval culture of ambition, greed, and jealousy that motivated men and women to take the lives of individuals who trusted them. In these pages, French medievalist Franck Collard examines the perception of the crime of poisoning in the West from about 500 to 1500. His primary sources of information are chronicles that cover the entire medieval period and legal texts that are limited to the late medieval centuries. In order to portray the culture of murder by poisoning in the West, he takes into account Byzantine and Islamic documents, as well as ancient texts such as the Scriptures and the writings of Roman historians, both of which were widely known in the Middle Ages. The resulting volume is concerned with the criminal actions that involve poison and not poison as such. Poisonous substances as such are described only when necessary for an understanding of a crime. What is important here is an examination of the ways the alleged crime was perceived in contemporary minds. Poisoning avoids the use of violence. It was committed without a drawn weapon or bloodshed in a world in which wounds, swords, knives, and clubs represented aggression and in which the flow of blood determined the gravity of the crime. Necessarily involving preparation and secrecy, it was often perpetrated treacherously during a meal, a particularly heinous act in a universe that was united by the companionship of a meal and the sociability of drinking. The special horror associated with poisoning resulted from the treachery of those close to the victim-and a sudden death that prevented a final confession of sins.

Table of Contents

Foreword Introduction Chapter I An Elusive Crime? The Crime as Event: The Emergence of the Crime in Narrative The Crime and Its Description: Its Existence in the Judicial Code The Difficulty in Quantifying Cases of Poisoning Chapter II A Unique Weapon The Poison Market Products that Were Used and the Instructions A Invincible Weapon? How to Prevent and to Recover from Poisoning Chapter III The Sociology of Poisoning Profiles of the Victims of Poisoning The Faces of the Poisoners The Crime of Poison in the World of Relationships Chapter IV Horrendum scelus. An Abominable Crime A Crime Described in Superlatives The Reasons for the Abomination: How to Kill The Reasons for the Abomination: Objectives and Effects of Poisoning Chapter V Pursuit and Punishment Theoretical Bases and Effective Practice The Poisoner on Trial Sentences and Sanctions Chapter VI Beyond Crime: Issues and Uses of Poison Poisonous Aggression, Heroism and Sainthood The Accusation of Poisoning and Social Regulation The Use of Poison: A Theme of Propaganda Conclusion Major Sources Selected Bibliography Index of Major Historical Figures

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