Dissecting the Criminal Corpse : Staging Post-Execution Punishment in Early Modern England / by Elizabeth T. Hurren.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hurren, Elizabeth T., Author.

Series:

Palgrave Historical Studies in the Criminal Corpse and its Afterlife, 2947-6356

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Great Britain--History.

Great Britain.

Science--History.

Science.

Civilization--History.

Civilization.

History of Britain and Ireland.

History of Science.

Cultural History.

Local Subjects:

History of Britain and Ireland.

History of Science.

Cultural History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xxx, 326 pages) : illustrations (some colour), 1 map.

Edition:

1st ed. 2016.

Place of Publication:

London : Palgrave Macmillan UK : Imprint: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.

Language Note:

English

System Details:

text file

Summary:

Those convicted of homicide were hanged on the public gallows before being dissected under the Murder Act in Georgian England. Yet, from 1752, whether criminals actually died on the hanging tree or in the dissection room remained a medical mystery in early modern society. Dissecting the Criminal Corpse takes issue with the historical cliché of corpses dangling from the hangman’s rope in crime studies. Some convicted murderers did survive execution in early modern England. Establishing medical death in the heart-lungs-brain was a physical enigma. Criminals had large bullnecks, strong willpowers, and hearty survival instincts. Extreme hypothermia often disguised coma in a prisoner hanged in the winter cold. The youngest and fittest were capable of reviving on the dissection table. Many died under the lancet. Capital legislation disguised a complex medical choreography that surgeons staged. They broke the Hippocratic Oath by executing the Dangerous Dead across England from 1752 until 1832. This book is open access under a CC-BY license.

Contents:

PART I: INTRODUCTION

1. The Condemned Body Leaving the Courtroom

2. Becoming Really Dead: Dying by Degrees

3. In Bad Shape: Sensing the Criminal Corpse

PART II: PREAMBLE

4. Delivering Post-Mortem ‘Harm’: Cutting the Corpse

5. Mapping Punishment:Provincial Places to Dissect

6. The Disappearing Body: Dissection to the Extremities

PART III: CONCLUSION

7. The Anatomical Legacy of the Criminal Corpse

.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 293-312) and index.

CC BY

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9781137582492

1137582499

OCLC:

960707581

Access Restriction:

Open access Unrestricted online access