Salisbury E., Donavin G., Price M.L. Domestic Violence in Medieval Texts

University Press of Florida, 2002. — 368 p."Domestic Violence in Medieval Texts" addresses a topic critical to our understanding of the medieval past--its notions of childhood and marital relations, its attitudes toward corporal punishment, and its contribution to the shaping of our present-day notions of family values. Using a wide range of late medieval narratives, including poetry, law, sermons, saints' lives, drama, and iconography, the authors explore the meaning and social effects of punitive violence within the domestic sphere. As the first collection to analyze such early manifestations of a problem still afflicting society today, it will be an insightful reference not only for medievalists but for students of literature, history, sociology, psychology, and law as well.