Culture of Inquisition in Medieval England

<p>Inquisition in medieval and early modern England has typically been the subject of historical rather than cultural investigation and focussed on heresy. Here however inquisition is revealed as playing a broader role in medieval English culture not only in relation to sanctions like excommunication penance and confession but also in the fields of exemplarity rhetoric and poetry. Beyond its specific legal and pastoral applications inquisitio was a dialogic mode of inquiry a means of discerning producing or rewriting truth and an often adversarial form of invention and literary authority. The essays in this volume cover such topics as the theory and practice of canon law heresy and its prosecution Middle English pastoralia political writing and romance. As a result the collection redefines the nature of inquisition's role within both medieval law and culture and demonstrates the extent to which it penetrated the late-medieval consciousness shaping public fame and private selves sexuality and gender rhetoric and literature. Mary C. Flannery is a lecturer in English at the University of Lausanne; Katie L. Walter is a lecturer in English at the University of Sussex. Contributors: Mary C. Flannery Katie L. Walter Henry Ansgar Kelly Edwin Craun Ian Forrest Diane Vincent Jenny Lee James Wade Genelle Gertz Ruth Ahnert Emily Steiner</p>