scholarly journals Suicide or accident – self-killing in medieval England

2001 ◽  
Vol 178 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice Seabourne ◽  
Gwen Seabourne
Keyword(s):  
Mental States ◽  
Common Method ◽  
Medieval England ◽  
Post Mortem ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Edward Ii ◽  
Edward Iii ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Edward I

BackgroundLittle is known about suicide in England in the medieval period. Legal records provide the best source of post-mortem data about suicides.MethodSelected Eyre records from the reigns of Henry III (1216–1272), Edward I (1272–1307), Edward II (1307–1327) and Edward III (1327–1377) were translated and examined for details of self-killing.ResultsOne hundred and ninety-eight cases of self-killing were found, eight of which were found to be accidental, non-felonious deaths. Self-killing was more common in men. Hanging was the most common and drowning the second most common method of self-killing in both males and females. Self-killing with sharp objects was predominantly a male method. Other methods of self-killing were rare. There were no reports of deliberate self-poisoning. There is some evidence of underreporting of, and attempts to conceal, self-killing from royal officers.ConclusionsEyre records suggest that although some of the facts surrounding self-killing have changed, others have remained constant, particularly the higher proportion of men who kill themselves and the greater use by men than women of sharp instruments to kill themselves. We discuss the description and understanding of psychiatric states by medieval English Eyres, particularly in terms of the perception of the mental states that accompanied suicidal actions.

A Historiographical Survey: Norman and Plantagenet Kings since World War II

1985 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
James W. Alexander
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Family Relations ◽  
Accidental Death ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Adequate Account ◽  
World War ◽  
Edward Ii ◽  
Edward Iii ◽  
Magna Carta ◽  
Edward I

If the sacred back was not always safe from family and associates in the Anglo-Saxon period, still less was it proffered in the Norman and Angevin periods. William I endured the rebellion of one son, William II an accidental death while hunting; Henry I suppressed a baronial rebellion in favor of his feckless brother Robert Curthose; Stephen's reign was characterized by lawlessness and rebellion on behalf of Empress Matilda. Henry II found his whole family actively at war against him, Richard I met his death in a political quarrel in Aquitaine, John was constrained by a rebellion of many barons to issue Magna Carta, Henry III faced constant baronial opposition to his policies, Edward I was compelled to face magnate disquiet from 1297 to 1300, Edward II was deposed (and betrayed by his wife). Edward III alone of the kings discussed in this portion of my article reigned withal quietly (after 1341) and successfully (in terms of familial and baronial opposition, at least until 1376). This is not a happy picture, but it is one that reminds us that family relations were vital to successful kingship and that a king must, if successful, be a canny politician. Unlike Rosenthal, I have chosen to limit my discussion of royal biography for the period 1066–1377 to pointing out the sources that have appeared in print since 1945 and to book-length royal biographies; no longer is it true (in the words of Sidney Painter written in 1949 that prefaced his study of The Reign of King John) that, “when I started to write this volume, there was no adequate account of the reign of a medieval English king.

History of the Study of Apocrypha in Early Medieval England

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 13-26
Author(s):  
Brandon W. Hawk
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Medieval England ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Early Judaism ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Early English

Literature written in England between about 500 and 1100 CE attests to a wide range of traditions, although it is clear that Christian sources were the most influential. Biblical apocrypha feature prominently across this corpus of literature, as early English authors clearly relied on a range of extra-biblical texts and traditions related to works under the umbrella of what have been called “Old Testament Pseudepigrapha” and “New Testament/Christian Apocrypha." While scholars of pseudepigrapha and apocrypha have long trained their eyes upon literature from the first few centuries of early Judaism and early Christianity, the medieval period has much to offer. This article presents a survey of significant developments and key threads in the history of scholarship on apocrypha in early medieval England. My purpose is not to offer a comprehensive bibliography, but to highlight major studies that have focused on the transmission of specific apocrypha, contributed to knowledge about medieval uses of apocrypha, and shaped the field from the nineteenth century up to the present. Bringing together major publications on the subject presents a striking picture of the state of the field as well as future directions.

Itineraries of Edward I. and Edward II

1867 ◽  
Vol s3-XI (263) ◽  
pp. 29-29
Author(s):  
W. H. Hart
Keyword(s):  
Edward Ii ◽  
Edward I

The Bishops and the Deposition of Edward II

2020 ◽  
Vol 56 ◽  
pp. 131-151
Author(s):  
Samuel Lane
Keyword(s):  
Legal History ◽  
Legal Aspect ◽  
Medieval England ◽  
Political Society ◽  
Edward Ii ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Church

The deposition of Edward II was a watershed in the legal history of later medieval England. However, the significance of the church in its accomplishment has remained controversial. This article offers a reassessment by providing a brief narrative of the episcopate's involvement in events; analysing the importance of their contribution, with particular reference to the quasi-legal aspect of proceedings; considering whether this participation reflected their own initiative or was something about which they had no choice; and questioning why so many bishops turned to oppose Edward II. It becomes evident that prelates played a key part in Edward II's downfall, and that they became involved as a consequence of the oppressive treatment which he had meted out to them, to their families and to political society more broadly.

Itineraries of Edward I. and Edward II

1867 ◽  
Vol s3-XI (265) ◽  
pp. 83-84
Author(s):  
George Vere Irving
Keyword(s):  
Edward Ii ◽  
Edward I

Archbishop Melton, his Neighbours, and his Kinsmen, 1317–1340

1951 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-68
Author(s):  
L. H. Butler
Keyword(s):  
Edward Ii ◽  
Comprehensive Knowledge ◽  
Edward Iii ◽  
The Needy

It was probably during the thirteen-eighties that the Dominican Thomas Stubbs wrote his short lives of the Archbishops of York. A Yorkshireman, from the forest of Knaresborough, Stubbs had been a close acquaintance of Bishop Bury and Bishop Hatfield of Durham, both of whom, in earlier years, were members of the York chapter. He is therefore likely to have been well informed about his subject. His life of William Melton, archbishop from 1317 to 1340—under whom Bury had been chancellor of York—though laconic, is no merely formal piece. Its phrases suggest a comprehensive knowledge. Stubbs apparently wished to leave a distinctive impression of Melton. He tells his reader that the archbishop was severe in correcting rebels; that he kept a great household, and clothed it in his livery twice a year; that he would often cancel the amercements imposed on his tenants by his bailiffs, and would remit to the needy the farms and debts they owed him. Above all, Stubbs goes on, he frequently assisted the two kings, Edward II and Edward III, and the noble men of the land in their business, both with loans and with gifts—‘tarn ex mutuo quam ex dono’. Finally, Melton was an ardent promoter of his servants and of all his kinsmen.

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