BOOK: Kate GILBERT and Stephen D. WHITE, Eds., Emotion, Violence, Vengeance and Law in the Middle Ages: Essays in Honour of William Ian Miller (Leiden-New York: Brill, 2018), ISBN 978-90-04-34272-9, €99.00

(Source: Brill)

Brill has just published a Festschrift for American scholar William Ian Miller, which contains several legal-historical contributions on European Medieval legal history.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Contributions to this Festschrift for the renowned American legal and literary scholar William Ian Miller reflect the extraordinary intellectual range of the honorand, who is equally at home discussing legal history, Icelandic sagas, English literature, anger and violence, and contemporary popular culture. Professor Miller's colleagues and former students, including distinguished academic lawyers, historians, and literary scholars from the United States, Canada, and Europe, break important new ground by bringing little-known sources to a wider audience and by shedding new light on familiar sources through innovative modes of analysis.

Contributors are Stuart Airlie, Theodore M. Andersson, Nora Bartlett, Robert Bartlett, Jordan Corrente Beck, Carol J. Clover, Lauren DesRosiers, William Eves, John Hudson, Elizabeth Papp Kamali, Kimberley-Joy Knight, Simon MacLean, M.W. McHaffie, Eva Miller, Hans Jacob Orning, Jamie Page, Susanne Pohl-Zucker, Amanda Strick, Helle Vogt, Mark D. West, and Stephen D. White.

ABOUT THE EDITORS

Kate Gilbert, M.Litt. (2010), University of St Andrews, is an independent scholar and freelance editor. Her published work includes Life in a Hampshire Village: The History of Ashley (1992) and, as associate author, The Bayeux Tapestry and its Contexts (2014).

Stephen D. White, Ph.D. (1972), Harvard University, is Candler Professor of Medieval History Emeritus, Emory University. His books include Re-Thinking Kinship and Feudalism in Early Medieval Europe (2005) and Feuding and Peacemaking in Eleventh-Century France (2005).

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Front Matter

Copyright page

Acknowledgments

List of Illustrations

Notes on Contributors

List of Abbreviations

Introduction: In Search of Miller By: Stephen D. White Pages: 1–15

Bill the Boundless By: Jordan Corrente Beck Pages: 16–18

Miller(ed) in St Andrews By: Kimberley-Joy Knight and John Hudson Pages: 19–21

Emotion, Violence, Vengeance, and Law in Medieval Historical Sources

Hot Anger and Just Indignation: Justificatory Strategies in Early Modern German Homicide Trials By: Susanne Pohl-Zucker Pages: 25–48

Trial by Ordeal by Jury in Medieval England, or Saints and Sinners in Literature and Law By: Elizabeth Papp Kamali Pages: 49–79

Threats and Intimidation in Anglo-Norman Legal Disputes By: William Eves Pages: 80–102

Courts and Rule-Making in Eleventh-Century Western France By: M. W. McHaffie Pages: 103–129

Standing up in Court: Gender and Genitalia in Fourteenth-Century Zurich By: Jamie Page Pages: 130–155

How To Be Remembered: Securing the Memoria of a Slain Person in Medieval Denmark By: Helle Vogt Pages: 156–171

Emotion, Violence, Vengeance, and Law in Medieval Literary Sources Telling Evidence in Njáls saga By: Carol J. Clover Pages: 175–188

Widening Horizons in Njáls saga By: Theodore M. Andersson Pages: 189–201

Feud in the State: The Conflict between Haakon Haakonsson and Skule Baardsson By: Hans Jacob Orning Pages: 202–224

‘Waltharius’: Treasure, Revenge and Kingship in the Ottonian Wild West By: Simon MacLean Pages: 225–251

Comparative Perspectives

Braveheart and Sexual Revenge By: Robert Bartlett Pages: 255–270

Stringer’s Saga: Njal and The Wire By: John Hudson and Mark D. West Pages: 271–295

‘An Overdeveloped Sense of Vengeance’? The Middle Ages, Vengeance and Movies By: Stuart Airlie Pages: 296–314

Getting a Head in the Neo-Assyrian Empire: Narratives of Enemy Decapitation in Ashurbanipal’s Sources By: Eva Miller Pages: 315–343

Epilogue: Silence as a Weapon of Self-Defence in Sense and Sensibility By: Nora Bartlett Pages: 344–350

Back Matter

Bibliography of Books and Scholarly Articles by William I. Miller

Index

More information with the publisher

CONFERENCE: A legal history conference: Russian Revolution in the Nordic perspective (7 Nov 2017, Oslo, Oslo University)

This conference aims at discussing the history, legal implications, and legacy of the 1917 Russian Revolution.

Time and place: Nov. 7, 2017 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM, Gamle Festsal, Domus Academica

Add to calendar

Illustration: Reidar Aulie: Tendens (copyright BONO).

In February and October 1917 Revolutions took place in Russia, bringing about dramatic changes in the society and the legal system. Did the Russian Revolution(s) have any impact on the Nordic countries? What legal transformations did the Revolution(s) bring about for Russia and for the Nordic countries?

Without understanding the legal and political transformations which occurred in Russia 100 years ago, we may not fully understand the legal system of Russian law in the later Soviet and post-Soviet period, and the implications for the Nordic countries.

This conference will be of interest not only for legal historians. We invite legal scholars, practitioners, students and everyone interested in history of Russia and the Nordic states, international and comparative law and Russian law.

PROGRAM

9:00-9:15 Coffee

9:15-9:30 Welcome: Professor Dag Michalsen, Dean of the Law Faculty / Professor Alla Pozdnakova

9:30 Professor William E. Butler (Penn State University): Key note speech

Revolution: history, philosophy and law (10:00-12:15)

Chair: Professor Marit Halvorsen

10:00 History of 1917 Russian Revolution(s): Professor Emeritus Åsmund Egge (UiO)

10:25 Young Marx and why Revolutionists did not like him: Professor Christoffer Conrad Eriksen (UiO)

11:50 Coffee break

11:15 Comparative Law in Russia: Historical traces of influence: Irina Fodchenko, PhD candidate (UiO)

11:15 Revolutionary Law in Russia: Continuity and change: Dr. Tatiana Borisova (HSE St. Petersburg)

11:30 Questions and discussion

          12:15-13:00 Lunch break

Revolution and ownership rights (13:00-15:15)

Chair: Professor Gentian Zyberi

          13:00 Fisheries in Finnmark – relationship with Russia in legal history perspective: Professor Emeritus Kirsti Strøm Bull (UiO)

13:20 Right to state and other property  after the revolution and/or recognition of new government in Russia, contra Russian recognition of the Norwegian government in 1905: Professor Ola Mestad (UiO)

13:40 Real property law in pre- and post-soviet Russia: Has the Revolution altered Russia's legal regime? Professor Tina Hunter (University of Aberdeen)

14:00 How Russia became a market economy - or did it? Professor Kaj Hobér (University of Uppsala; Stockholm Chamber of Commerce)

14:30 Questions and discussion

14:50 Commentary/ Professor William E. Butler

15:00 - 15:15 Coffee break

Afternoon session II: International and Comparative Law perspectives on the Russian Revolution (15:15-17:30)

Chair: Professor Alla Pozdnakova

15:15 The Martens Clause and Its Importance for the Development of International Humanitarian Law, Professor Gentian Zyberi (NCHR)

15:35 The Soviet Union and the negotiation of the UN Charter and universal human rights, 1941-1948: Professor Emeritus Åsbjørn Eide

15:50 Turbulent times: Finnish independence and civil war in a comparative context: Professor Jukka Kekkonen (University of Helsinki)

16:20 "Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic or so called "Stuchka’s Republic" (December 1918 – January 1920) as a Latvian statehood alternative and social experiment": Dr.iur. Elīna Grigore-Bāra (University of Latvia)

16:40 Commentary / Professor William E. Butler

17:00 Questions and round-up

(source: University of Oslo)