The trial of Thomas Frogbrook
Bestiality and the law in an early sixteenth-century English rural community
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4970324 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Tess Wingard (0000-0002-8273-7983, University of York, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 95 |
| Issue | 270 |
| Pages | 506-521 |
| Publication date | 2022-11-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Historical Research (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0950-3471 • E-ISSN: 1468-2281 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/hisres/htac011 |
| OpenAlex | W4225634810 |
| Language | EN |
This article examines the gap between legal theory and practice regarding bestiality in late medieval England. It focuses on a microhistorical analysis of a 1520 trial heard in Chichester consistory court, integrating other archival documents, legislation and legal commentaries to illustrate local and national contexts. I argue first that personal enmity rather than a moralizing agenda was the primary motivating factor in this case, and second that this trial illustrates the broader limitations of English church courts and the system of canon law in affecting popular attitudes to 'unnatural' intercourse and in the suppression of such acts
Legislation · Political science · Sociology · Classics · Historical Legal Studies and Society · History · Law · Medieval and Early Modern Justice · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |