Crossing Borders: Boundaries and Margins in Medieval and Early Modern Britain

Sara M. Butler, Ph.D. (2001), Dalhousie University, is King George III Professor in British History at The Ohio State University. Her publications include The Language of Abuse: Marital Violence in Later Medieval England (Brill, 2007), Divorce in Medieval England: From One to Two Persons at Law (Routledge, 2013), and Forensic Medicine and Death Investigation in Medieval England (Routledge, 2015).Krista J. Kesselring, Ph.D. (2000), Queen’s University, is Professor of History at Dalhousie University. Her publications include Mercy and Authority in the Tudor State (Cambridge UP, 2003) and The Northern Rebellion of 1569 (Palgrave, 2007).

''This is a stimulating set of essays that will be of interest to historians of medieval and early modern Britain, and to scholars with an interest in border studies. It is a genuinely British collection, with material from different regions of England, Scotland, and Wales, as well as a number of frontiers. The authors, as a group, set their research in clear historical and historiographical context, making it possible for readers to engage with a diverse set of essays and understand how the papers not only enter into dialogue with Neville’s work but also advance their own fields''. Morgan Ring, in Canadian Journal of History, 54.1-2 (2019)."The collection illustrates the value of seeking out the margins in which the mixing of peoples, ideas, laws, and customs produced so many fascinating aspects of British history [...] In all, this book makes an excellent contribution to our understanding of medieval Britain by further diversifying both the subjects we endeavour to understand and the manner in which we examine them. It provides continued evidence of the value of examining margins and borders, and of how these spaces – real and imagined, social and legal, gendered and economic – provide the most fruitful areas for enquiry." Daniel MacLeod, in The Innes Review, 71.1 (2020).

• List of IllustrationsNotes on ContributorsIntroductionSara M. Butler and K.J. KesselringList of Publications: Cynthia J. NevillePart 1: Making and Marking Borders: Conflict1 Frontier Law in Anglo-Saxon EnglandTom Lambert2 Henry iv and the Welsh March: The Application and Limits of Royal Patronage and Glyn Dwr’s Rebellion in South Wales, 1399–1405Douglas Biggs3 Commemorating the Battle of Harlaw (1411) in Fifteenth-Century ScotlandStephen Boardman4 Spies and Intelligence in Scotland, c. 1530–1550Amy BlakewayPart 2: Crossing Lines: Gender and Social Status5 Participation in National Politics: Evidence Provided by Fifteenth-Century Parliamentary Election Returns from the County of HuntingdonshireAnne R. DeWindt6 Pleading the Belly: A Sparing Plea? Pregnant Convicts and the Courts in Medieval EnglandSara M. Butler7 Catching Fire: Arson, Rough Justice and Gender in Scotland, 1493–1542Chelsea Hartlen8 Negotiating the Economy: Gender, Status, and Debt Litigation in the Burgh Courts of Early Modern ScotlandCathryn R. SpencePart 3: Policing Boundaries: Jurisdiction and Disorder9 The Ritualistic Importance of Gallows in Thirteenth-Century EnglandKenneth F. Duggan10 Liberties of London: Social Networks, Sexual Disorder, and Independent Jurisdiction in the Late Medieval English MetropolisShannon McSheffrey11 Crossing Borders and Boundaries: The Use of Banishment in Sixteenth-Century Scottish TownsElizabeth Ewan12 Marks of Division: Cross-Border Remand after 1603 and the Case of Lord SanquharK.J. KesselringIndex