The King's Felons: Church, State and Criminal Confinement in Early Tudor England

— —

Margaret McGlynn (Professor of History, Professor of History, Western University)

The King's Felons

Church, State and Criminal Confinement in Early Tudor England

Margaret McGlynn (Professor of History, Professor of History, Western University)

$260

Hardback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Oxford University Press
24 June 2023

Early modern history: c 1450 to c 1700; Social & cultural history; Legal history; Criminal law & procedure

Series: Oxford Legal History

The King's Felons examines the subtle but intentional development of criminal confinement as an alternative to capital punishment in early Tudor England. As the judicial establishment looked for ways to enhance law and order without provoking political opposition, they increasingly turned to two traditional mitigations of criminal punishment: benefit of clergy and sanctuary. Often reviled as corrupt clerical rights which served to undermine secular authority and the rule of law, benefit of clergy and sanctuary in fact provided the justices with room to manoeuvre, allowing them to punish a larger number of felons less harshly while avoiding political scrutiny. The King's Felons explores the evolution of this approach over a period of sixty years, allowing us to see not only the internal development of both law and process, but the ways in which the judicial system responded to external pressures.

The dissolution of the monasteries between 1536 and 1540, together with the steady erosion of the wealth and power of the bishops, meant that the institutional and financial foundations on which the justices built this system began to crumble as it was reaching fruition. Over the next two decades they scrambled, with limited success, to secure some small vestiges of the system they had built. The epilogue connects the state of the system in the aftermath of this collapse to our existing understanding of the system in the later part of the century.

Providing the first detailed study of criminal justice in the early Tudor period, The King's Felons highlights the role of the Church in the administration of criminal justice and reframes our understanding of many significant acts of the Reformation parliament. This book is a must-read for students and scholars of Tudor history, legal historians and those interested in the role of the church with regard to politics, law, and crime.

By: Margaret McGlynn (Professor of History Professor of History Western University)
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 240mm, Width: 165mm, Spine: 25mm
Weight: 722g
ISBN: 9780192887689
ISBN 10: 0192887688
Series: Oxford Legal History
Pages: 400
Publication Date: 24 June 2023
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Margaret McGlynn is Professor of History and the Vice-Provost of Academic Planning, Policy and Faculty at Western University. Her research and administrative work both focus on the ways in which policy and regulation intersect with cultural norms during periods of rapid change, as well as the ways in which the adaptation of old policies can support or modify the introduction of new ones.

Reviews for The King's Felons: Church, State and Criminal Confinement in Early Tudor England

This is a dense though intriguing work, written with a relative lightness of touch that manages to bring the subject to life while ensuring the reader stays the course with difficult concepts. It is clearly an important contribution to an understanding of the genesis of a modern criminal justice system. * Tom Proverbs-Garbett, The Gazette *