Heads will roll : : decapitation in the medieval and early modern imagination / / edited by Larissa Tracy and Jefff Massey.

• Superior document: Medieval and Renaissance authors and texts, v. 7
• TeilnehmendeR: Tracy, Larissa, 1974-; Massey, Jeff.
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden [The Netherlands] ;, Boston : : Brill.; c2012.
• Year of Publication: 2012
• Language: English
• Series: Medieval and Renaissance Authors and Texts 7.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (386 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

The decapitation motif recurs in nearly all medieval and early modern genres, from saints' lives and epics to comedies and romances, yet decollation is often little regarded, save as a marker of humanity (that is, as the moment mortality exits) or inhumanity (that is, as the moment the supernatural enters). However, as a seat of reason, wisdom, and even the soul, the head has long been afforded a special place in the body politic, even when separated from its body proper. Capitalizing upon the enduring fascination with decapitation in European culture, this collection examines--through a variety of critical lenses--the recurring \'roles/rolls\' of severed human heads in the medieval and early modern imagination. Contributors are Nicola Masciandaro, Mark Faulkner, Jay Paul Gates, Christine Cooper-Rompato, Dwayne Coleman, Mary Leech, Tina Boyer, Renée Ward, Andrew Fleck, Thomas Herron, Thea Cervone, and Asa Simon Mittman. Preface by Jeffrey Jerome Cohen.

Table of Contents

Preliminary Material -- Introduction / Larissa Tracy and Jefff Massey -- Non potest hoc corpus decollari: Beheading and the Impossible / Nicola Masciandaro -- “Like a Virgin”: The Reheading of St. Edmund and Monastic Reform in Late-Tenth-Century England / Mark Faulkner -- A Crowning Achievement: The Royal Execution and Damnation of Eadric Streona / Jay Paul Gates -- Decapitation, Martyrdom, and Late Medieval Execution Practices in The Book of Margery Kempe / Christine F. Cooper-Rompato -- Talking Heads in Hell: Dante’s Use of Severed Heads in Inferno / Dwayne C. Coleman -- Severed Silence: Social Boundaries and Family Honor in Boccaccio’s “Tale of Lisabetta” / Mary E. Leech -- The Headless Giant: The Function of Severed Heads in the Ahistorical (Aventiurehafte) Dietrich Epics / Tina Boyer -- “To be a ‘Fleschhewere’ ”: Beheading, Butcher-Knights, and Blood Taboos in Octavian Imperator / Renée Ward -- The Werewolf at the Head Table: Metatheatric “Subtlety” in Arthur and Gorlagon / Jefff Massey -- “So he smote of hir hede by myssefortune”: The Real Price of the Beheading Game in SGGK and Malory / Larissa Tracy -- “At the time of his death”: The Contested Narrative of Sir Walter Ralegh’s Beheading / Andrew Fleck -- “Killing Swine” and planting heads in Shakespeare’s Macbeth / Thomas Herron -- “Tucked Beneath Her Arm”: Culture, Ideology, and Fantasy in the Curious Legend of Anne Boleyn / Thea Cervone -- “Answering the Call of the Severed Head” / Asa Simon Mittman -- Bibliography -- Index -- Illustrations.