Sara Mcdougall
Biographic Data
| ID | 4101730 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sara Mcdougall |
| GIVEN NAMES | Sara |
| FAMILY NAME | Mcdougall |
| SIGNATURE | MCDOUGALL S |
| AFFILIATIONS | John Jay College of Criminal Justice |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8961-1630 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 26 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 13 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Judging sexy women in late medieval France
Blindfolded Lady Justice with her scales rarely features in modern representations of medieval European justice. Instead, it is the female sexual sinner bound to the stake for burning who dominates modern imaginings. This reflects a widespread perception of medieval criminal justice as committed to the fierce judicial repression of women, and of women’s sexual activity in particular; an idea that persists in scholarly circles as well as in popula…
Introduction: Rethinking the Criminalization of Childbirth: Infanticide in Premodern Europe and the Modern Americas
On October 2, 2020, a newborn infant girl was discovered in the trash in an airport bathroom in Doha, Qatar. There was a rush to secure the infant's life, which was successful. There was a rush, also, to find the infant's mother, an effort that involved subjecting several women to intrusive physical examinations to determine if they had recently given birth, leading, eventually, to international outcry
Pardoning Infanticide in Late Medieval France
The handling of infanticide in late medieval France offers modern audiences an underappreciated paradox: on the one hand infant murder was deplored as grave sin and crime, on the other hand, it was a pardonable offence, even the infanticidal singlemother who had killed to conceal her sin could obtain royal grace. This is far more than the usual story of law differing from practice. Christian ideology of mercy and forgiveness for sin played a cent…
Singlewomen and Illicit Pregnancy in Late Medieval France
This article examines the consequences of extramarital pregnancy for women in late medieval France. Pregnancy outside marriage is typically thought of as a disaster for women and children alike and for their families. However, careful analysis of records of royal pardon, other legal and prescriptive sources, and a wide range of other materials all suggests otherwise. The article demonstrates that, at least for some single mothers in late medieval…
Bastard Priests: Illegitimacy and Ordination in Medieval Europe
Introduction: Marriage's Global Past
The picture looks familiar to Western eyes-the happy couple cutting the cake to celebrate their marriage. The pose is classic wedding stuff-hands of both spouses holding the knife on the tall white cake. It was a special moment, one to treasure in photos. Yet one man's expression is cheeky, like a naughty school boy. The expression and the picture suggest that they were doing something utterly traditional, yet at the same time outrageously subver…
Polygamy and Western History
In the Western tradition, for the last 2,000 years and more, marriage has been most often defined as a monogamous bond between one man and one woman. While the second half of this definition has br
The Opposite of the Double Standard: Gender, Marriage, and Adultery Prosecution in Late Medieval France
W h e n c o n s i d e r i n g t h e c o n s e q u e n c e s of adultery in medieval Europe, popular imagination often paints a picture of considerable gender disparity. One imagines adulterous wives such as Arthur’s Queen Guinevere burned at the stake while their husbands freely indulged in extramarital liaisons. Scholars too generally assume that wives in medieval Europe could be subject to severe judicial and extrajudicial punishment for any ad…
The Transformation of Adultery in France at the End of the Middle Ages
In 1522, Marie Quatrelivres, accused of adultery by her husband and found guilty, was condemned to be beaten with sticks on three Fridays and afterwards enclosed in a convent. The court allotted her husband 2 years to decide if he wanted to take her back. If he did not choose to reconcile with her, she was to be enclosed for life and lose all of her property. So wrote eminent jurist Jean Papon (1505–1590) in his collection of notable cases heard …
Women and Gender in Canon Law
Canon law, the law of the church, defined men and women as distinct and different. Nevertheless, particularly in marriage, canon law also endorsed several important equalities for spouses, irrespective of gender. This article seeks out the balance between gender equalities and inequalities in marriage as found in legal theory and in legal practice, in canon law and in canon law courts. The law itself called for a contradictory positioning of men …
Witnesses, Neighbors, and Community in Late Medieval Marseille
Susan Alice McDonough. Witnesses, Neighbors, and Community in Late Medieval Marseille. The New Middle Ages. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. xv + 234 pp. $85. ISBN: 978–0–230–39199–4. - Volume 66 Issue 4
The Making of Marriage in Medieval France
Georges Duby described medieval, Catholic marriage as the product of two competing groups of people, clergy and nobles, each with their own conflicting ideas of marriage. Clergy wanted indissoluble and monogamous marriage, while nobles wanted to divorce and remarry at will. This widely influential idea of marriage is extremely misleading. Clergy and nobles did not comprise distinct and competing camps, nor did they have opposing ideas of marriage…
Bigamy: A Male Crime in Medieval Europe
Crime is often gendered. This article argues that the crime of bigamy was a male crime in the fifteenth‐ and sixteenth‐century Catholic world. Courts prosecuted male bigamists far more often and more harshly than female offenders. However, drawing in particular on records from the fifteenth‐century bishop's court of Troyes, I argue that women also committed bigamy. Judicial and social gender biases identified only male bigamy as fully criminal be…
Pardoning Infanticide in Late Medieval France
The handling of infanticide in late medieval France offers modern audiences an underappreciated paradox: on the one hand infant murder was deplored as grave sin and crime, on the other hand, it was a pardonable offence, even the infanticidal singlemother who had killed to conceal her sin could obtain royal grace. This is far more than the usual story of law differing from practice. Christian ideology of mercy and forgiveness for sin played a cent…
Bigamy: A Male Crime in Medieval Europe
Crime is often gendered. This article argues that the crime of bigamy was a male crime in the fifteenth‐ and sixteenth‐century Catholic world. Courts prosecuted male bigamists far more often and more harshly than female offenders. However, drawing in particular on records from the fifteenth‐century bishop's court of Troyes, I argue that women also committed bigamy. Judicial and social gender biases identified only male bigamy as fully criminal be…
Singlewomen and Illicit Pregnancy in Late Medieval France
This article examines the consequences of extramarital pregnancy for women in late medieval France. Pregnancy outside marriage is typically thought of as a disaster for women and children alike and for their families. However, careful analysis of records of royal pardon, other legal and prescriptive sources, and a wide range of other materials all suggests otherwise. The article demonstrates that, at least for some single mothers in late medieval…
Bastard Priests: Illegitimacy and Ordination in Medieval Europe
Introduction: Marriage's Global Past
The picture looks familiar to Western eyes-the happy couple cutting the cake to celebrate their marriage. The pose is classic wedding stuff-hands of both spouses holding the knife on the tall white cake. It was a special moment, one to treasure in photos. Yet one man's expression is cheeky, like a naughty school boy. The expression and the picture suggest that they were doing something utterly traditional, yet at the same time outrageously subver…
The Opposite of the Double Standard: Gender, Marriage, and Adultery Prosecution in Late Medieval France
W h e n c o n s i d e r i n g t h e c o n s e q u e n c e s of adultery in medieval Europe, popular imagination often paints a picture of considerable gender disparity. One imagines adulterous wives such as Arthur’s Queen Guinevere burned at the stake while their husbands freely indulged in extramarital liaisons. Scholars too generally assume that wives in medieval Europe could be subject to severe judicial and extrajudicial punishment for any ad…
The Transformation of Adultery in France at the End of the Middle Ages
In 1522, Marie Quatrelivres, accused of adultery by her husband and found guilty, was condemned to be beaten with sticks on three Fridays and afterwards enclosed in a convent. The court allotted her husband 2 years to decide if he wanted to take her back. If he did not choose to reconcile with her, she was to be enclosed for life and lose all of her property. So wrote eminent jurist Jean Papon (1505–1590) in his collection of notable cases heard …
Judging sexy women in late medieval France
Blindfolded Lady Justice with her scales rarely features in modern representations of medieval European justice. Instead, it is the female sexual sinner bound to the stake for burning who dominates modern imaginings. This reflects a widespread perception of medieval criminal justice as committed to the fierce judicial repression of women, and of women’s sexual activity in particular; an idea that persists in scholarly circles as well as in popula…
The Making of Marriage in Medieval France
Georges Duby described medieval, Catholic marriage as the product of two competing groups of people, clergy and nobles, each with their own conflicting ideas of marriage. Clergy wanted indissoluble and monogamous marriage, while nobles wanted to divorce and remarry at will. This widely influential idea of marriage is extremely misleading. Clergy and nobles did not comprise distinct and competing camps, nor did they have opposing ideas of marriage…
Bigamy: A Male Crime in Medieval Europe
Crime is often gendered. This article argues that the crime of bigamy was a male crime in the fifteenth‐ and sixteenth‐century Catholic world. Courts prosecuted male bigamists far more often and more harshly than female offenders. However, drawing in particular on records from the fifteenth‐century bishop's court of Troyes, I argue that women also committed bigamy. Judicial and social gender biases identified only male bigamy as fully criminal be…
Women and Gender in Canon Law
Canon law, the law of the church, defined men and women as distinct and different. Nevertheless, particularly in marriage, canon law also endorsed several important equalities for spouses, irrespective of gender. This article seeks out the balance between gender equalities and inequalities in marriage as found in legal theory and in legal practice, in canon law and in canon law courts. The law itself called for a contradictory positioning of men …
Witnesses, Neighbors, and Community in Late Medieval Marseille
Susan Alice McDonough. Witnesses, Neighbors, and Community in Late Medieval Marseille. The New Middle Ages. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. xv + 234 pp. $85. ISBN: 978–0–230–39199–4. - Volume 66 Issue 4
The Making of Marriage in Medieval France
Georges Duby described medieval, Catholic marriage as the product of two competing groups of people, clergy and nobles, each with their own conflicting ideas of marriage. Clergy wanted indissoluble and monogamous marriage, while nobles wanted to divorce and remarry at will. This widely influential idea of marriage is extremely misleading. Clergy and nobles did not comprise distinct and competing camps, nor did they have opposing ideas of marriage…
The Opposite of the Double Standard: Gender, Marriage, and Adultery Prosecution in Late Medieval France
W h e n c o n s i d e r i n g t h e c o n s e q u e n c e s of adultery in medieval Europe, popular imagination often paints a picture of considerable gender disparity. One imagines adulterous wives such as Arthur’s Queen Guinevere burned at the stake while their husbands freely indulged in extramarital liaisons. Scholars too generally assume that wives in medieval Europe could be subject to severe judicial and extrajudicial punishment for any ad…
The Transformation of Adultery in France at the End of the Middle Ages
In 1522, Marie Quatrelivres, accused of adultery by her husband and found guilty, was condemned to be beaten with sticks on three Fridays and afterwards enclosed in a convent. The court allotted her husband 2 years to decide if he wanted to take her back. If he did not choose to reconcile with her, she was to be enclosed for life and lose all of her property. So wrote eminent jurist Jean Papon (1505–1590) in his collection of notable cases heard …
Polygamy and Western History
In the Western tradition, for the last 2,000 years and more, marriage has been most often defined as a monogamous bond between one man and one woman. While the second half of this definition has br
Introduction: Marriage's Global Past
The picture looks familiar to Western eyes-the happy couple cutting the cake to celebrate their marriage. The pose is classic wedding stuff-hands of both spouses holding the knife on the tall white cake. It was a special moment, one to treasure in photos. Yet one man's expression is cheeky, like a naughty school boy. The expression and the picture suggest that they were doing something utterly traditional, yet at the same time outrageously subver…
Bastard Priests: Illegitimacy and Ordination in Medieval Europe
Introduction: Rethinking the Criminalization of Childbirth: Infanticide in Premodern Europe and the Modern Americas
On October 2, 2020, a newborn infant girl was discovered in the trash in an airport bathroom in Doha, Qatar. There was a rush to secure the infant's life, which was successful. There was a rush, also, to find the infant's mother, an effort that involved subjecting several women to intrusive physical examinations to determine if they had recently given birth, leading, eventually, to international outcry
Pardoning Infanticide in Late Medieval France
The handling of infanticide in late medieval France offers modern audiences an underappreciated paradox: on the one hand infant murder was deplored as grave sin and crime, on the other hand, it was a pardonable offence, even the infanticidal singlemother who had killed to conceal her sin could obtain royal grace. This is far more than the usual story of law differing from practice. Christian ideology of mercy and forgiveness for sin played a cent…
Singlewomen and Illicit Pregnancy in Late Medieval France
This article examines the consequences of extramarital pregnancy for women in late medieval France. Pregnancy outside marriage is typically thought of as a disaster for women and children alike and for their families. However, careful analysis of records of royal pardon, other legal and prescriptive sources, and a wide range of other materials all suggests otherwise. The article demonstrates that, at least for some single mothers in late medieval…
Judging sexy women in late medieval France
Blindfolded Lady Justice with her scales rarely features in modern representations of medieval European justice. Instead, it is the female sexual sinner bound to the stake for burning who dominates modern imaginings. This reflects a widespread perception of medieval criminal justice as committed to the fierce judicial repression of women, and of women’s sexual activity in particular; an idea that persists in scholarly circles as well as in popula…
History (11 works) · History (9 works) · Political science (9 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Medieval and Early Modern Justice (7 works) · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis (6 works) · Law (6 works) · Law (5 works) · Medieval Literature and History (5 works) · Ancient history (4 works)