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Heads Will Roll: Decapitation in the Medieval and Early Modern Imagination (Repost)

Posted By: DZ123
Heads Will Roll: Decapitation in the Medieval and Early Modern Imagination (Repost)

Larissa Tracy, Jeff Massey, "Heads Will Roll: Decapitation in the Medieval and Early Modern Imagination"
English | 2012 | ISBN: 9004211551 | PDF | pages: 387 | 3,9 mb

The final cut, the fatal blow: Beheading is one of the most pervasive modes of execution in human history. From the iconic images of Judith sawing off the head of the tyrant Holofernes, to the animated head of the Green Knight in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, to the English block and the French Guillotine, to modern images of captured soldiers beheaded on camera by terrorists, decapitation crosses all boundaries of time, culture and genre and provides a spectacular and performative affirmation of power and authority. But beheading also serves multiple purposes in the corpus of medieval literature. It is a means by which to ensure death and immobilize a recalcitrant corpse; it is magical and prophetic; it is a marker of sanctity and theological propaganda; it is a testament to brutality and the reality of martial violence. Just as the head is given special significance in many medieval cultures, the act of beheading takes on special significance in the medieval texts collated in this collection.

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