Arson, Communities, and Social Conflict in Later Medieval England

Abstract

Fires played a central role in medieval communities, whether they were licit, as in annual communal rituals, or illicit, and fires could draw communities together in protest or celebration as well as in creating boundaries between feuding parties. Arson attacks were open and public demonstrations of discontent, at the root of which could lie inter-personal disputes, including feuds, as well as wider social protest and revolt. Incendiarism was therefore a very public crime affecting whole communities, which drew these communities into the dialogue between the arsonist(s) and their victim(s). This article examines some aspects of the relationship between arson and communities, as well as the role of arson in the reification of certain communal bonds.