Dark Speech

In this impressive volume Robin Chapman Stacey highlights performance as an essential element of legal procedure in medieval Ireland; in doing so she cultivates some ideas sown in her previous monograph, The Road to Judgement (1994; rev. ante, cxi [1996], 1233–4). Dark Speech is also written with the clarity, contemporary allusions and occasional humour which laced her earlier work. Nevertheless, for all its accessibility, one is left in no doubt about the depth of the author's research, her broad knowledge of medieval Irish law, and the significance of her innovative approach to the sources. The book begins with an exploration of the significance of public display in medieval Irish society. Non-verbal performance is examined in four legal procedures (distraint, tellach, sick-maintenance and giving pledges). Influenced by the work of the anthropologist Catherine Bell, Chapman Stacey argues that the role of performance was not simply to make proceedings memorable. Rather, the formal enactment of legal procedures publicly communicated the transformation of the social relationships which they embodied. Furthermore, the risk of violent disagreement was reduced, because these actions were contained within a procedural framework sanctioned by the community. Chapman Stacey presents a highly convincing argument, and one gains the impression that a whole book could be dedicated to the issue of non-verbal performance in medieval Irish law. However, the overall focus in this volume is on the power of the spoken word

Argument (complex analysis · CLARITY · Embodied cognition · Epistemology · Irish · Judgement · Linguistics · Political science · Power (physics · Sociology · History · Law · Law in Society and Culture · Medieval and Early Modern Justice · Medieval Literature and History · Philosophy · Psychology