Outlawry, Governance, and Law in Medieval England

The idea of outlawry was, of course, a highly important concept of legal and social control in the early Medieval societies in Europe as well as elsewhere, and especially so in the early Germanic societies of England and Scandinavia. It became a tool of conquest for the Norman invaders from the 11th century onward. The author, an historian at the West Virginia University, traces the development of miscellaneous exclusionary practices, of which outlawry was the main one, in the specifically English context between the 10th and the 13th centuries. After an introductory chapter describing the practice itself together with the complexities of language and practice, the book moves in chronological order through Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman England, then reigns of several Plantagenet kings, Baronial Reforms and, finally with Edwardian reforms of the late 1200s. A chapter analyzing the impact of the several centuries of the practice on the legal and social systems of medieval England concludes the book. Annotation c2014 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)

Melissa Sartore received her BA in history and her MA in European history from Western Illinois University. She was awarded her PhD at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is currently Assistant Professor of History at West Virginia University Institute of Technology.