DOCSLIB.ORG

Harnessing the Power of the Criminal Corpse

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

palgrave historical studies in the criminal corpse and its afterlife HARNESSING THE POWER OF THE CRIMINAL CORPSE Sarah Tarlow and Emma Battell Lowman Palgrave Historical Studies in the Criminal Corpse and its Afterlife Series Editors Owen Davies School of Humanities University of Hertfordshire Hatfeld, UK Elizabeth T. Hurren School of Historical Studies University of Leicester Leicester, UK Sarah Tarlow School of Archaeology and Ancient History University of Leicester Leicester, UK This limited, fnite series is based on the substantive outputs from a major, multi-disciplinary research project funded by the Wellcome Trust, investigating the meanings, treatment, and uses of the criminal corpse in Britain. It is a vehicle for methodological and substantive advances in approaches to the wider history of the body. Focussing on the period between the late seventeenth and the mid-nineteenth centuries as a cru- cial period in the formation and transformation of beliefs about the body, the series explores how the criminal body had a prominent presence in popular culture as well as science, civic life and medico-legal activity. It is historically signifcant as the site of overlapping and sometimes contradic- tory understandings between scientifc anatomy, criminal justice, popular medicine, and social geography. More information about this series at http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14694 Sarah Tarlow · Emma Battell Lowman Harnessing the Power of the Criminal Corpse Sarah Tarlow Emma Battell Lowman School of Archaeology and Ancient School of Humanities History University of Hertfordshire University of Leicester Hertford, UK Leicester, UK Palgrave Historical Studies in the Criminal Corpse and its Afterlife ISBN 978-3-319-77907-2 ISBN 978-3-319-77908-9 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77908-9 Library of Congress Control Number: 2018934674 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018. This book is an open access publication. Open Access This book is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this book are included in the book’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the book’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specifc statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affliations. Cover illustration: Giovanni Aldini (1762–1834), a galvanism experiment on a corpse. Courtesy of the Wellcome Collection Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer International Publishing AG part of Springer Nature The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This book is the summation of the research programme ‘Harnessing the Power of the Criminal Corpse’, funded by the Wellcome Trust (Grant No. 095904/Z/11/Z), and we are grateful to the Trust for their intellectual, logistical and fnancial support at every stage of the pro- ject. Our thanks go to our colleagues on the project: Rachel Bennett, Owen Davies, Zoe Dyndor, Elizabeth Hurren, Peter King, Patrick Low, Francesca Matteoni, Shane McCorristine, Floris Tomasini, Richard Ward, and Clare Canning. Thanks also to our institutions, the University of Leicester and the University of Hertfordshire, for supporting the project. The gestation of this book has been longer than we had hoped because its production was severely affected by the illness and death of ST’s hus- band, Mark Pluciennik. ST would like to thank all her colleagues and friends for their patience and support over this diffcult time. EBL in particular thanks Adam Barker for his constant practical and emotional support. v CONTENTS Part I The Criminal Corpse in History 1 Introduction 3 2 The Power of the Criminal Corpse in the Medieval World 29 3 How Was the Power of the Criminal Corpse Harnessed in Early Modern England? 57 Part II The World of the Murder Act 4 Murder and the Law, 1752–1832 87 5 Anatomisation and Dissection 115 6 Hanging in Chains 151 Part III The Legacy of the Criminal Corpse 7 Seeking the Physical Remains of the Criminal Corpse 193 vii viii CONTENTS 8 Folk Beliefs and Popular Tales 213 9 Conclusions: Ethics, Bullet Points and Other Ways of Telling 239 Index 269 LIST OF FIGURES Fig. 2.1 The soul departing from the body (Wellcome Collection) 36 Fig. 2.2 ars moriendi manual (Wellcome Collection) 38 Fig. 2.3 Late medieval depictions of the crucifed Christ (Wellcome Collection) 43 Fig. 3.1 ‘nosce te ipsum’ (Thomas Fisher Rare Books Library) 64 Fig. 3.2 Memento mori object (Wellcome Collection) 68 Fig. 4.1 Hogarth print of an execution at Tyburn (Wellcome Collection) 98 Fig. 5.1 Cast of a hanged criminal’s head (Sarah Tarlow) 128 Fig. 5.2 Cast of William Corder’s head (Sarah Tarlow) 130 Fig. 5.3 Woodcut of Earl Ferrers in his coffn (Sarah Tarlow) 131 Fig. 5.4 Annual body supply to medical men under the Murder Act 136 Fig. 5.5 Number of convictions by year 138 Fig. 5.6 A galvanism experiment on a corpse (Wellcome Collection) 142 Fig. 6.1 Replica gibbet cage at Leicester Guildhall (Sarah Tarlow) 153 Fig. 6.2 Gibbet cage at Rye with skull inside (Sarah Tarlow) 154 Fig. 6.3 Examples of gibbet locations (a., b., and c.) (all Sarah Tarlow) 157 Fig. 6.4 Gibbet post at Banbury with detail of reinforcement (Sarah Tarlow) 159 Fig. 6.5 Crossbeam on a gibbet (Sarah Tarlow) 160 Fig. 6.6 Hook from Rye, showing wear (Sarah Tarlow) 161 Fig. 6.7 Keal’s gibbet at Louth, Lincolnshire (Sarah Tarlow) 162 Fig. 6.8 Gibbet cage with punched holes/iron (Sarah Tarlow) 163 Fig. 6.9 Chart/graph showing the frequency of civil gibbeting 167 Fig. 6.10 Replica of Jobling’s gibbet (Sarah Tarlow) 170 ix x LIST OF FIGURES Fig. 6.11 Noose and Gibbet Inn, Sheffeld (Tom Maskill) 177 Fig. 6.12 a. Caxton gibbet (Sarah Tarlow), b.Winter’s gibbet (Patrick Low) 183 Fig. 7.1 Drawing of an écorché (Wellcome Collection) 199 Fig. 7.2 Burke’s death mask and pocket book made of his skin (Sarah Tarlow) 202 Fig. 8.1 Hand of glory at Whitby (Sarah Tarlow) 225 Fig. 8.2 Hogarth’s ‘The Reward of Cruelty’ (1751) (Wellcome Collection) 229 Fig. 9.1 Shot at Dawn memorial (Sarah Tarlow) 243 Fig. 9.2 Dissection of a young, beautiful woman (Wellcome Collection) 250 Fig. 9.3 Gibbet Halloween ornament (Sarah Tarlow) 258 PART I The Criminal Corpse in History CHAPTER 1 Introduction This book is about the power of the dead body. This power is rooted in paradox: deprived of will and the capacity to take action, to think, speak, coerce or persuade, deprived of life itself, the human body can still be a powerful agent of change. On 3 September 2015 news media around the world carried a photo- graph distributed by a Turkish news agency of the tiny body of 3-year- old Alan Kurdi washed up on a beach. The little boy, dressed in a red T-shirt and blue shorts, drowned when the boat carrying him and his family from Turkey to the nearby Greek island of Lesbos sank. The pho- tograph was released at the height of the European migrant crisis of 2015. Hundreds of thousands of people, many from Syria but also sub- stantial numbers from Iraq, Afghanistan, and sub-Saharan Africa were travelling to Europe, many in extremely dangerous ways due to their desperation to reach safety. Five days before Alan Kurdi lost his life the number of migrants drowned in the Mediterranean during this crisis was already over 2400.1 The European reaction to these migrants—both political and popular—had not been positive. Many European leaders reacted by try- ing to strengthen their borders, police the Mediterranean, and institute rigorous and deterrent immigration policies. But the publication of the Alan Kurdi photographs proved a salutary and transformative moment. In the United Kingdom, the British Prime Minister David Cameron changed his rhetoric from how best to protect the nation from the © The Author(s) 2018 3 S. Tarlow and E. Battell Lowman, Harnessing the Power of the Criminal Corpse, Palgrave Historical Studies in the Criminal Corpse and its Afterlife, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77908-9_1 4 S. TARLOW AND E. Battell LOWMAN ‘swarm’ of migrants to announcing new, much higher numbers of Syrian refugees that would be taken in by the United Kingdom.2 Marches in London, Vienna and elsewhere mobilised popular support and sympathy for the human plight and suffering of the migrants.
Recommended publications
  • DATES of TRIALS Until October 1775, and Again from December 1816

    DATES of TRIALS Until October 1775, and Again from December 1816

    DATES OF TRIALS Until October 1775, and again from December 1816, the printed Proceedings provide both the start and the end dates of each sessions. Until the 1750s, both the Gentleman’s and (especially) the London Magazine scrupulously noted the end dates of sessions, dates of subsequent Recorder’s Reports, and days of execution. From December 1775 to October 1816, I have derived the end dates of each sessions from newspaper accounts of the trials. Trials at the Old Bailey usually began on a Wednesday. And, of course, no trials were held on Sundays. ***** NAMES & ALIASES I have silently corrected obvious misspellings in the Proceedings (as will be apparent to users who hyper-link through to the trial account at the OBPO), particularly where those misspellings are confirmed in supporting documents. I have also regularized spellings where there may be inconsistencies at different appearances points in the OBPO. In instances where I have made a more radical change in the convict’s name, I have provided a documentary reference to justify the more marked discrepancy between the name used here and that which appears in the Proceedings. ***** AGE The printed Proceedings almost invariably provide the age of each Old Bailey convict from December 1790 onwards. From 1791 onwards, the Home Office’s “Criminal Registers” for London and Middlesex (HO 26) do so as well. However, no volumes in this series exist for 1799 and 1800, and those for 1828-33 inclusive (HO 26/35-39) omit the ages of the convicts. I have not comprehensively compared the ages reported in HO 26 with those given in the Proceedings, and it is not impossible that there are discrepancies between the two.
  • COUNTING EXECUTIONS and PARDONS at the OLD BAILEY, 1730-1837 Simon Devereaux1

    COUNTING EXECUTIONS and PARDONS at the OLD BAILEY, 1730-1837 Simon Devereaux1

    Law, Crime and History (2016) 1 THE BLOODIEST CODE: COUNTING EXECUTIONS AND PARDONS AT THE OLD BAILEY, 1730-1837 Simon Devereaux1 Abstract This article presents the most detailed and accurate accounting to date of capital convicts at the Old Bailey during the era of England’s ‘Bloody Code’ (1730-1837), at which time that court produced more capital convictions and executions than any other jurisdiction in the western world. It notes and explains some limitations of the two most authoritative sources for the statistics of capital punishment at the Old Bailey currently available: the published trial Proceedings of the court; and the statistical returns presented to Parliament from 1818 onwards. And it reviews the sorts of criteria that need to be considered in determining how a more complete accounting of all those condemned and executed might be achieved. Keywords: Capital punishment; Old Bailey; ‘Bloody Code’ Introduction This article introduces and explains the most extensive and accurate accounting of execution and pardon at the Old Bailey that has yet been attempted. It is derived from a new web-based dataset whose aim is to provide – and to make searchable – all of the relevant and recoverable details (with documentary references) pertaining to the 9,474 men, women and (sometimes) children who were capitally convicted at London’s Old Bailey courthouse from 1730 to 1837.2 The Old Bailey (more properly known to contemporaries as the ‘Sessions House’) was the largest single criminal jurisdiction in eighteenth century Europe, the population of London having surpassed that of its principal continental rival Paris no later than 1700.3 Even so, until the last three years examined here, the Old Bailey did not embrace the entire metropolitan conurbation.
  • Bury St Edmunds Walking Tour Final

    Bury St Edmunds Walking Tour Final

    Discovering Bury St Edmunds: A Walking Guide A step by step walking guide to Bury St Edmunds; estimated walking time: 2 hours Originally published: http://www.burystedmunds.co.uk/bury-st-edmunds-walk.html Bury St Edmunds is a picturesque market town steeped in history. Starting in the Ram Meadow car park, the following walk takes you on a circular route past the town's main sights and shops, with a few curios thrown in for good measure. At a leisurely pace it should take approximately 2 hours to complete. Bury St Edmunds car parks charge every day of the week, but are cheaper on Sundays. There are public toilets at the car park. A market takes over the centre of town every Wednesday and Saturday throughout the year. Abbot's Bridge From the car park, face the cathedral tower in the distance, and head through the courtyard of the Fox pub and out on to Mustow Street. Cross the road and turn right to find Abbot's Bridge, which dates back to the 12th century, and originally linked Eastgate Street with the Abbey's vineyard on the opposite bank of the river Lark. Beside this, you can still see the Keeper's cell, from which he would have operated the portcullis which protected the Abbey from unwanted visitors. The Aviary A little further along Mustow Street, enter the Abbey gardens on your left. The information board in front of you includes the current opening hours of the Abbey grounds, which vary with the changing seasons. Head straight up the path, and fork right at the first opportunity, you will find the aviary, and beyond this duck under the archway to enter the sensory garden.
  • The Healing Hand in Literature: Shakespeare and Surgery

    The Healing Hand in Literature: Shakespeare and Surgery

    Shakespeare and surgery Thehealinghandinliterature:Shakespeareandsurgery KTLFu The interplay between surgery and dramatic literature in the plays of Shakespeare is reviewed. This review attempts to explore medical references in Shakespeare’s works and to analyse the medical and social background of his time. Caution should be taken in interpreting Shakespeare’s works through a modern medical view; diseases and their therapy are used metaphorically as a means to an end in the Bard’s masterly hands. Shakespeare’s medical knowledge may be accounted for by his avid reading of contemporary medical texts, from primary or secondary sources; an astute sense of observation of Lon- don’s medical practitioners—bona fide or otherwise—and their activities and patients; and a medical connection by way of his son-in-law, Dr John Hall. It should be remembered that nothing in Nature stands alone; but every art and science has a relation to some other art or science, that it requires us to have a knowledge of those others, as this connexion takes place, to enable us to become perfect in that which engages our particular attention. John Hunter (1728-93) HKMJ 1998;4:77-88 Key words: History of medicine, ancient; History of medicine, medieval; History of medicine, 16th cent.; History of medicine, 17th cent.; History of medicine, 18th cent.; Medicine in literature Introduction seen. The patient’s history is the story of his life— his odyssey in the realm of disease. A primary This review attempts to explore the history of the source for the doctor is the personal history of dramatic representation of surgery and orthopaedics the patient which is in truth his life story.
  • CAPITAL PUNISHMENT in EARLY AMERICA, 1750-1800 by Gabriele

    CAPITAL PUNISHMENT in EARLY AMERICA, 1750-1800 by Gabriele

    THEATER OF DEATH: CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN EARLY AMERICA, 1750-1800 by Gabriele Gottlieb Equivalent of B.A., Augsburg University, Germany, 1995 M.A., University of Pittsburgh, 1998 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the University of Pittsburgh in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2005 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH Arts and Sciences This dissertation was presented by Gabriele Gottlieb It was defended on 12/07/2005 and approved by Seymour Drescher, University Professor, Department of History Van Beck Hall, Associate Professor, Department of History Wendy Goldman, Full Professor, Department of History, CMU Dissertation Advisor: Marcus Rediker, Full Professor, Department of History ii Copyright © by Gabriele Gottlieb 2005 iii Theater of Death: Capital Punishment in Early America, 1750-1800 Gabriele Gottlieb, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2005 This dissertation analyzes capital punishment from 1750 to 1800 in Boston, Philadelphia, and Charleston. All were important Atlantic ports with bustling waterfront and diverse populations. Capital punishment was an integral part of eighteenth-century city life with the execution day as its pinnacle. As hangings were public and often attended by thousands of people, civil and religious authorities used the high drama of the gallows to build community consensus, shape the social order, and legitimize their power. A quantitative analysis of executions reveals patterns of punishment over time. The number of executions was relatively low in the colonial period, varied greatly during the Revolution, rose sharply in the mid- to late-1780s, and then declined during the 1790s in Boston and Philadelphia but remained high in Charleston.
  • Hangmen, Headsmen, and Other Fun Ways to Die

    Hangmen, Headsmen, and Other Fun Ways to Die

    Hangmen, Headsmen, and other Fun Ways to Die By: THL Beatrice de Winter This class will focus on a discussion of capital punishment in period. In particular, we will focus on hangings and beheadings, as well as the hangmen and headsmen who performed them, but we will also discuss a few more unusual forms of capital punishment. I. Well-known Forms of Capital Punishment a. Hanging b. Beheading c. Gibbeting d. Drowning e. Boiling f. Burning II. Early History of Capital Punishment a. See chart on page 3. III. Ways to Escape Death a. Benefit of clergy b. Royal pardon c. Begging for a husband IV. Hanging a. Evolution of hanging i. Primitive gallows ii. Cart substitution iii. Knot placement change iv. Drop length b. Location of hangings i. The Elms ii. Discussion of Tyburn 1. Traveling to the gallows at Tyburn 2. “Triple Tree” c. Reasons to attend a hanging i. Entertainment ii. Prevent dissection iii. Prevent burial after ineffective hanging/resuscitation iv. Obtain a cure 1 | P a g e v. Instructional purposes d. Famous hangmen e. About hangmen i. Who were the hangmen? ii. Attitudes about hangmen iii. London vs. Scotland V. Beheading a. Executioner’s Axe i. Dimensions ii. Materials iii. Practice/protocols iv. Location of use b. Executioner’s Sword i. Dimensions ii. Materials iii. Practice/protocols iv. Location of use c. Famous people who were beheaded d. Halifax Gibbet i. Dimensions ii. Materials e. Scottish Maiden i. Dimensions ii. Materials VI. Gibbeting VII. Drowning and Boiling VIII. Burning 2 | P a g e Early History of Capital Punishment Date Practitioner Reason Method Notes 2070 BC - 1600 BC Ancient China Five Punishments of the Xia Dynasty Beheading 500 offenses punishable First code of law ever established, which 1750 B.C.
  • The Death Penalty in Decline: from Colonial America to the Present John D

    The Death Penalty in Decline: from Colonial America to the Present John D

    University of Baltimore Law ScholarWorks@University of Baltimore School of Law All Faculty Scholarship Faculty Scholarship 2014 Foreword: The eD ath Penalty in Decline: From Colonial America to the Present John Bessler University of Baltimore School of Law, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.law.ubalt.edu/all_fac Part of the Constitutional Law Commons, Criminal Law Commons, and the Law Enforcement and Corrections Commons Recommended Citation Foreword: The eD ath Penalty in Decline: From Colonial America to the Present, 50 Crim. L. Bull. 245 (2014) This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Scholarship at ScholarWorks@University of Baltimore School of Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@University of Baltimore School of Law. For more information, please contact [email protected]. RIMI AL LAW BULLETIN Volume 50, Number 2 FOREWORD THE DEATH PE~ALTY IN DECLINE: FROM COLONIAL AMERICA TO THE PRESENT John D. Bessler Foreword The Death Penalty in Decline: From Colonial America to the Present John D. Bessler" In colonial America, corporal punishments-both lethal and non­ lethal-were a gritty reality of life. The Massachusetts "Body of Uber­ ties," adopted in 1641, contained twelve capital offenses and authorized the imposition of up to forty lashes. Everything from murder and rebellion, to adultery and bestiality, to blasphemy and witchcraft were punishable by death, with eleven of the twelve offenses-as
  • Progressive Reactionary: the Life and Works of John Caius, Md

    Progressive Reactionary: the Life and Works of John Caius, Md

    PROGRESSIVE REACTIONARY: THE LIFE AND WORKS OF JOHN CAIUS, MD by Dannielle Marie Cagliuso Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2015 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH KENNETH P. DIETRICH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This thesis was presented by Dannielle Marie Cagliuso It was defended on July 20, 2015 and approved by Dr. Peter Distelzweig, Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy (University of St. Thomas) Dr. Emily Winerock, Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of History Dr. Janelle Greenberg, Professor, Department of History Thesis Director: Dr. James G. Lennox, Professor and Chair, Department of History and Philosophy of Science ii Copyright © by Dannielle Marie Cagliuso 2015 iii PROGRESSIVE REACTIONARY: THE LIFE AND WORKS OF JOHN CAIUS, MD Dannielle Marie Cagliuso, BPhil University of Pittsburgh, 2015 The picture of Dr. John Caius (1510-1573) is fraught with contradictions. Though he had an excellent reputation among his contemporaries, subsequent scholars tend to view him more critically. Caius is frequently condemned as a reactionary and compared unfavorably to his more “progressive” contemporaries, like Conrad Gesner and Andreas Vesalius. This approach to Caius is an example of what I term “progressivist history,” a prevalent but problematic trend in historical scholarship. Progressivist history applies a progressive-reactionary dichotomy to the past, splitting people and events into two discrete camps. By exploring the life and works of John Caius and comparing him to some of his “progressive” contemporaries, I reveal why this dichotomy is problematic. It treats both the progressive “heroes” and reactionary “villains” unfairly in that it fails to appreciate the agency of each individual and the nuanced differences between them.
  • The Dark Value of Criminal Bodies: Context, Consent, and the Disturbing Sale of John Parker’S Skull

    The Dark Value of Criminal Bodies: Context, Consent, and the Disturbing Sale of John Parker’S Skull

    Europe PMC Funders Group Author Manuscript J Conserv Mus Stud. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2018 June 04. Published in final edited form as: J Conserv Mus Stud. 2015 ; 13(1): . doi:10.5334/jcms.1021220. Europe PMC Funders Author Manuscripts The Dark Value of Criminal Bodies: Context, Consent, and the Disturbing Sale of John Parker’s Skull Shane McCorristine* *Wellcome Trust Postdoctoral Fellow University of Leicester, UK Abstract The recent sale of a human skull at an auction in Sussex should raise ethical concerns. Whenever human body parts are sold or put in a glass case and displayed for public view people should be provided with context and extensively informed about what they see. The gaze is never innocent, and to ignore the particular journeys that body parts take into auction rooms, anatomy departments, and museums is to be complicit in acts of historical injustice. In this case the skull was that of John Parker, who was executed by hanging in 1813. The likelihood that this was illicitly obtained by medical professionals means that the sale of the skull at auction two hundred years later is fraught with ethical problems. Along with a discussion of context, fragments like Parker’s skull must therefore also become part of a debate about consent. Issues of context and consent can help us think about the display of human remains in museums in a manner that is intimate and ‘disturbingly informative’ (Mütter Museum 2014). However, the sale of Parker’s skull – described as an ‘antique piece’ in the press coverage (BBC News 2014) – is a reminder that Europe PMC Funders Author Manuscripts the global marketplace in objectified body parts is disturbing in quite a different manner.1 Keywords Criminal body; display; execution; auction; organ theft Introduction In May 2014 it was reported that the skull of John Parker, a 36-year-old man executed at Gloucester gaol in 1813, was sold at an auction in Sussex for £2,000.
  • 500 Years of the Royal College of Physicians

    500 Years of the Royal College of Physicians

    500 Years of the Royal College of Physicians Professor Simon Bowman Harveian Librarian (with particular thanks to Kristin Hussey, Julie Beckwith, Louella Vaughan and other colleagues) 16th Century The Founding of the College 1518 1510 - 1500-1535 Church of England 1534 Cast list Thomas Linacre Cardinal Wolsey King Henry VIII 1460-1524. 1st PRCP 1470-1530 1491-1547 B: Derby (age 27 in 1518) Educ: Canterbury, Oxford, Florence, Padua Tutor to: Prince Arthur Royal Physician Medical Marketplace • Extremely vigorous and varied • Array of people jostling for custom - surgeons/barbers - Apothecaries/grocers/spicers - ‘illiterate Monks and Empiricks’ - assorted other quacks, blood-letters and charlatans… • Plague, influenza, smallpox, dysentery, syphilis Physicianly Medicine c1518 • Hippocrates, Galen, Avicenna: 460-370 BC 129-200 AD 980-1037 AD • Four Humors: blood, phlegm, choler (yellow bile), melancholy (black bile) • Treatments – Bloodletting & Purging – Astrology – Uroscopy – Herbs & Medicines Founding of the College • Founded in 1518. Linacre=PRCP • Bulwark against ‘quacks & charlatans’ • Based on Padua? ‘Humanism’ • Right to ‘make Statutes … most expedient for publick Service’ • ‘With regard to their own dignity, the good of the people, and in particular to the honour of the Universities (Oxbridge)’ • 1st home=Knightrider Street The 1518 Charter • Granted same rights as previously given to the Church to regulate medical practice within 7 miles of the City of London • Rights to examine, admit and appoint • President elected for 1 year at
  • The Gibbet in the Landscape: Locating the Criminal Corpse in Mid-Eighteenth-Century England Zoe Dyndor

    The Gibbet in the Landscape: Locating the Criminal Corpse in Mid-Eighteenth-Century England Zoe Dyndor

    OPEN 3 The Gibbet in the Landscape: Locating the Criminal Corpse in Mid-Eighteenth-Century England Zoe Dyndor In the late 1740s a group of smugglers known as the Hawkhurst gang committed a number of violent crimes that included several brutal murders. At least 75 of the gang were subsequently hung or transported for smuggling, robbery and murder. Of those in receipt of the death sentence, 14 were subjected to the further punishment of hanging in chains (or gibbeting), thereby inflicting further ignominy on the offenders.1 Hanging in chains was usually reserved for murderers, and occasionally mail robbers. However, between 1747 and 1750 members of the Hawkhurst gang were also gibbeted for crimes including smug- gling and robbery. Gibbeting was an infrequently used punishment, but the violent circumstances of the Hawkhurst gang’s crimes coupled with the authorities’ desire to punish smugglers on the south coast led to the large number of gibbetings, and consequently a peak in the use of the punishment in the 1740s. These gibbetings reflected the increasingly severe measures taken to eradicate the crime of smuggling. They were temporally and spatially specific, reflecting the nature of the crimes and the circumstances that led to the hanging in chains. This study provides an insight into the extreme use of a particular punishment, showing that judicial penalties were adapted to fit the circumstances of the crimes and reflect how the offences were perceived. Hanging a body in chains was a post-execution punishment used to subject further humiliation and ignominy on criminals who were to be made an example of, or were deemed to have committed especially heinous crimes.
  • William Harvey, M.D.: Modern Or Ancient Scientist? Herbert Albert

    William Harvey, M.D.: Modern Or Ancient Scientist? Herbert Albert

    [Loyola Book Comp., run.tex: 0 AQR–Vol. W–rev. 0, 14 Nov 2003 ] [The Aquinas Review–Vol. W–rev. 0: 1 14 Nov 2003, 4:02 p.m.] . The Aquinas Review, Vol. III, No. 1, 1996 William Harvey, M.D.: Modern or Ancient Scientist? Herbert Albert Ratner, M.D.ý William Harvey was born in England in 1578 and died in 1657. He received his grammar school education at the famous King’s School in Canterbury. In 1593 he en- tered Caius College, Cambridge, and received his B.A. degree in 1597. In this period, it was not unusual for English Protestants interested in a scientific education to seek it in a continental Catholic university. Harvey chose the Universitas Juristarum, the more influential of the two universities which constituted the University of Padua in Italy and which had been attended by Thomas Linacre and John Caius, and where, incidentally, the Dominican priests were associated with University functions. Competency in the traditional studies of the day was characteristic of William Harvey’s intellectual develop- ment. The degree of Doctor of Physic was awarded to Harvey in 1602 with the unusual testimonial that ‘‘he had conducted himself so wonderfully well in the examina- tion, and had shown such skill, memory, and learning that he had far surpassed even the great hopes which his Dr. Ratner, a philosopher of medicine, is Visiting Professor of Com- munity and Preventive Medicine, New York Medical College, and editor of Child and Family. This article was originally published as one of a series in a special issue of The Thomist, Volume XXIV, Nos.