Words as Weapons: Speech, Violence, and Gender in Late Medieval Ireland

Abstract

Dianne Hall In 1312 the Justiciary court in Clonmel found that Adam, son of John de Midia, had dealt a mortal wound to William Drak, for which he was jailed and later paid a substantial fine. Physically violent acts such as this were commonly recorded throughout medieval Irish communities and many occurred during the skirmishes and battles that characterized so much of this land of war. Yet there was also significant interpersonal violence that was not directly associated with warfare. In common with findings from other medieval societies, much of the interpersonal violence that was recorded in medieval Ireland was between men who used readily available weapons, such as knives and axes, to settle disputes in the taverns, homes, and streets of these small communities. Recent research into medieval violence has emphasized the need to analyze not only its incidence, but also how medieval societies interpreted violence. One method of analyzing more than quantitative data on violent crimes is to step back from the bare verdicts and concentrate on the scene in which the violence occurred, when that is recoverable from the surviving records.