Reviewed by: Punishment and Medieval Education by Ben Parsons Samaya Borom Parsons, Ben, Punishment and Medieval Education, Cambridge, D. S. Brewer, 2018; hardback; pp. 262; 11 b/w illustrations; R.R.P. £60.00; ISBN 9781843845157. In the introduction to Punishment and Medieval Education Ben Parsons writes of the fact that the medieval period has often been studied and contextualized as brutal, cruel, and violent. He notes that contemporary scholarship has attempted to challenge that view, to understand punishment and violence in a more nuanced way. In light of this, Parsons presents an analysis of punishment and violence in an educational setting, looking at the ways in which corporal punishment was inextricably linked to education and pedagogical discourse during the medieval period. Chapter 1 traces the transformation of Greek and Roman culture into classic medieval pedagogy. providing examples from Aristotle, Plato, and Philo around the discipline of schooling boys and the supposed virtue of using violence as part of an educational framework to encourage learning. Parsons discusses how corporeal punishment was as much about pedagogy as it was also about understanding the perceived psychological drivers of learning. Faith-based expression of punishment linked to piety also evolved during this period; however, Parsons notes that there was still a discourse gap in linking punishment with learning which led to divisions in the conceptualization of discipline. Chapter 2 continues with dissecting theories of punishment as discipline, using multiple sources such John Bromyard’s Summa praedicantium and the Parisian text from the 1230s De disciplina scolarium. Considerations of pictorial sources are also provided, such as chest panels, carvings, and manuscript images depicting punishment that in turn was said to be used only in encouraging adherence to pedagogy. Chapter 3 presents an analysis of the functions of classroom discipline, where commentary centres around the usefulness of punishment, particularly in consideration of mental operation and psychology. Parsons points out the different ways of conceptualizing punishment, including the popular notion that sparing the child from a rod would adversely affect their moral fortitude, and linking these to further discourse about different theories on school punishment and education. The fourth chapter considers the voice of the child, where previously, punishment and pedagogy are seen from the viewpoint of the adult, or the educator. Parsons is able to deconstruct prose, games, rituals, and handbooks that convincingly present a distinct voice on how punishment was perceived from the realm of childhood and how this carried into the educational space. In concluding, Parsons makes it clear that the use of punishment in education was complex and closely linked to societal ideas of psychological and biological intervention in order to ensure transformation of the child to an adult. Punishment and Medieval Education is a fascinating contribution to the discourse surrounding medieval history and in particular to understanding how punishment functioned within pedagogy, which challenges the representation of the medieval period as simply violent and brutal for violence’s sake. [End Page 268] Samaya Borom Monash University Copyright © 2020 Samaya Borom