Sleepless Souls - Suicide In Early Modern England

Manufacturer

Clarendon Press

This book is about suicide in early modern England and how it was viewed and treated. Suicide was considered a heinous crime in Tudor and Stuart England, and those who committed suicide had their property forfeited to the crown, and their bodies were denied Christian burial and desecrated. In Georgian England suicide was in practice de-criminalized, tolerated and even sentimentalized. This change in attitude was due to a variety of factors, including political events, religious changes, philosophical fashions, conflicts between center and localities, and differing class interests. The authors' focus on the trauma of death by suicide uncovers the forces that were reshaping the mental outlook of different English classes and social groups. Their detailed and scholarly exploration of the 'crime' of self-murder thus provides a history of social and cultural change in English society over three centuries.

Sleepless Souls is a social and cultural history of suicide in early modern England. Self-murder was regarded as a heinous crime in Tudor and Stuart England, and was subject to savage punishments. Those who committed suicide had their property forfeited to the crown, and their bodies were denied Christian burial and desecrated. In Georgian England suicide was in practice de-criminalized, tolerated and even sentimentalized. Michael MacDonald and Terence R. Murphy, using a wide variety of contemporary sources, especially local records, trace the causes of this dramatic change in attitude. They analyse suicide within its contemporary context, relating shifts in opinion and practice to the complex framework of life in early modern England. Political events, religious changes, philosophical fashions, conflicts between centre and localities, and differing class interests all played their part. The authors' focus on the trauma of death by suicide uncovers the forces that were reshaping the mental outlook of different English classes and social groups. Their detailed and scholarly exploration of the 'crime' of self-murder thus provides a history of social and cultural change in English society over three centuries. Review: Magisterial in research, forceful in analysis, a joy to read ... MacDonald and Murphy have not merely documented suicide; they have significantly advanced the debate about the motors and media of cultural change. Roy Porter, Times Higher Education Supplement they have written a very distinguished book indeed ... It is extremely learned in fields ranging from coroners inquests to literary criticism ... They have done a fine job, and their close, on Dickie Bracknell's ghost from Lark Rise to Candleford, is as imaginative and intelligent as the rest. Times Literary Supplement