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Purgatory and Prison: Punitive Spaces in Old and Middle

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Purgatory and Prison: Punitive Spaces in Old and Middle PURGATORY AND PRISON: PUNITIVE SPACES IN OLD AND MIDDLE ENGLISH LITERATURE A Dissertation by KATAYOUN TORABI Submitted to the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Chair of Committee, Britt Mize Co-Chair of Committee, Nancy Warren Committee Members, Laura Mandell Justin Lake Head of Department, Maura Ives August 2018 Major Subject: English Copyright 2018 Katayoun Torabi ABSTRACT This dissertation investigates the connection between incarceration and purgative penance as it developed in medieval Christian tradition, with a particular focus on the ways in which that connection is represented in Old and Middle English literature. Both earthly and otherworldly prisons, I argue, were closely linked through their purpose of reform and rehabilitation. Prisons were seen as transformative spaces and punitive measures were a means of correcting and reintegrating transgressive members of the community. Medieval communities felt compelled to assist prisoners with alms, clothing, food, and spiritual guidance. In order to facilitate this aid, prisons were centrally located, punitive sentences were short, and prison boundaries were permeable, allowing inmates easy access to the outside world. Likewise, the community felt an obligation to care for and rehabilitate the transgressive dead in Purgatory through intercessory prayer, alms, and masses until the deceased received absolution and were released into Heaven. Because prisons were seen as morally and spiritually transformative spaces, a similar rhetoric emerged around earthly and otherworldly carceral spaces. Purgatory and—to a certain extent—Limbo were imagined as G-d’s divine prison in Old and Middle English literature; and prisons were often described by medieval writers as a kind of earthly Purgatory. Over time, however, as both religious and secular penal practices evolved, the connection between prison and Purgatory which found such ubiquitous expression in religious as well as medieval literary texts became more attenuated until it was eventually lost. ii DEDICATION For Hooshang and Karen Torabi and Thomas Phelps In Memory of Walter Grey Phelps and Irma Moodenbaugh Phelps iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my appreciation and gratitude to my advisor, Dr. Britt Mize, for his time, guidance, and valuable feedback during the writing of this dissertation. His kindness, unwavering support, and encouragement since I entered the graduate program has helped make my time at Texas A&M productive and enjoyable. I also wish to thank Dr. Warren, my committee co-chair, Dr. Mandell, and Dr. Lake for for their advice, insightful comments, helpful suggestions, and support while I planned, wrote, and revised my dissertation. I wish to acknowledge the Department of English for the generous Dissertation Enhancement Fellowship that funded my research at the British Library for this project. I am also grateful to the faculty and staff at Texas A&M for making my time as a graduate student in the Deparment of English a wonderful experience. Thank you to Thadeus Bowerman for reading through my rough drafts, giving me excellent feedback, encouraging my ideas, and always making room for me at the UWC Writing Retreats. I am also grateful to Reverend Perry, whose excellent guidance helped reorient me whenever I was feeling lost. Finally, I wish to thank my husband and my parents for their love, encouragement, and patience. iv CONTRIBUTORS AND FUNDING SOURCES This work was supervised and supported by a dissertation committee consisting of Professor Britt Mize, advisor of the Department of English; Professor Nancy Warren, co-advisor of the Department of English; Professor Laura Mandell of the Department of English; and Professor Justin Lake of the Department of International Studies. The information collected for the maps in Chapter V was obtained, in part, from the British Library in June 2016. Archival research conducted at the British Library in June 2016 was funded by the Texas A&M University English Department Dissertation Enhancement Award. Graduate study at Texas A&M was supported by a Diversity Fellowship 2012-2015 and a Summer Dissertation Fellowship 2016 from the Department of English. All other work conducted for the dissertation was completed by the student independently. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................ii DEDICATION ................................................................................................................. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................. iv CONTRIBUTORS AND FUNDING SOURCES .............................................................. v TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................. vi LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................ viii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... 1 References .................................................................................................................... 12 CHAPTER II PURGATORY, LIMBO, AND THE RISE OF THE MEDIEVAL PRISON SYSTEM IN ENGLAND ................................................................................. 13 The Marginal Dead: Space, Time, and Agency in Purgatory and Limbo .................... 19 The Liminal Body: Excommunication, Exclusion, and (In)Visbility in the Middle Ages .............................................................................................................................. 49 Excommunication: Forms and Practices .................................................................. 51 Excommunication: Legal, Economic, and Social Exclusions .................................. 56 Carceral Spaces (Un)Bound: Space, Place, and Mobility in Medieval English Prisons .......................................................................................................................... 62 References .................................................................................................................... 85 CHAPTER III OTHERWORLDY PRISONERS: VISIONS, GHOSTS, REVENTANTS, AND LIMBO BABIES ........................................................................ 92 Ghosts and Purgatory in the pre-Conquest Period ....................................................... 98 Ghosts and Purgatory in the post-Conquest Period .................................................... 117 Visions of the Otherworld in post-Conquest England ............................................... 147 References .................................................................................................................. 182 CHAPTER IV EARTHLY PRISONERS: WRITING BY AND ABOUT PRISONERS IN THE MIDDLE AGES ........................................................................ 187 vi From Red to White Martyrdom: Prison as a Spiritual Crucible ................................. 191 Prisoners and Prison Spaces in the Middle Ages ....................................................... 223 References .................................................................................................................. 252 CHAPTER V FROM RECOVERY TO EXILE: EARTHLY AND OTHERWORLDLY CARCERAL SPACES IN OLD AND MIDDLE ENGLISH LITERATURE ............................................................................................................... 256 Burial Practices in the Pre-Conquest Era ................................................................... 259 Burial Practices and Imprisonment in the Post-Conquest Era ................................... 276 References .................................................................................................................. 310 CHAPTER VI CONCLUSIONS .................................................................................. 316 References .................................................................................................................. 330 vii LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1 Network Graph Generated for the Latin ‘Passio S. Margaretae’ (c. 900) Using Gephi ................................................................................................... 205 Figure 2 Tiberius A. iii MS, c. 1050 (Gephi) ................................................................. 207 Figure 3 Cambridge Corpus Christi College 303 MS, C. 1150 (Gephi) ........................ 209 Figure 4 The Liflade ant te Passium of Seinte Margarete (c. 1225) (Gephi) ................. 211 Figure 5 John Lydgate’s Lyfe of Seynt Margarete, c. 1415-1426 (Gephi) ..................... 212 Figure 6 John Mirk’s Sermon on St. Margarete MS, 1403 (Gephi) .............................. 213 Figure 7 Major Romano-Briton Cemeteries in London, post 400 AD (Visualeyes) ..... 261 Figure 8 Jewish Burial in the Middle Ages from 1070 – 1290 (VisualEyes) ................ 264 Figure 9 Early Anglo-Saxon Burial in London 5th Century (VisualEyes) .................... 266 Figure 10 Major London Cemeteries in the Middle Ages (1386) (VisualEyes) ............ 294 Figure 11 Crossbones cemetery in a very isolated location across the River Thames (VisualEyes) ................................................................................................... 295 Figure 12 London
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