{"product_id":"venomous-tongues-9780812239362","title":"Venomous Tongues","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eSandy Bardsley examines the complex relationship between speech and gender in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and engages debates on the static nature of women''s status after the Black Death. Focusing on England, \u003ci\u003eVenomous Tongues\u003c\/i\u003e uses a combination of legal, literary, and artistic sources to show how deviant speech was increasingly feminized in the later Middle Ages. Women of all social classes and marital statuses ran the risk of being charged as scolds, and local jurisdictions interpreted the label scold in a way that best fit their particular circumstances. Indeed, Bardsley demonstrates, this flexibility of definition helped to ensure the longevity of the term: women were punished as scolds as late as the early nineteenth century.\u003cbr\u003eThe tongue, according to late medieval moralists, was a dangerous weapon that tempted people to sin. During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, clerics railed against blasphemers, liars, and slanderers, while village and town eli\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The unique contribution of \u003ci\u003eVenomous Tongues\u003c\/i\u003e lies in its interdisciplinary approach and the way it situates scolding within a broader range of issues specific to the legal and social history of the period. Its subject matter makes it likely to be read by many beyond specialists: those interested in comparative women's history, in oral culture, and in anthropologically influenced modes of social\/cultural analysis.\" * L. R. Poos, The Catholic University of America *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIntroduction: Speech, Gender, and Power in Late Medieval England\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 1. \"Sins of the Tongue\" and Social Change\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 2. The Sins of Women's Tongues in Literature and Art\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 3. Women's Voices and the Law\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 4. Men's Voices\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 5. Communities and Scolding\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 6. Who Was a Scold?\u003cbr\u003e Conclusion. Consequences of the Feminization of Deviant Speech\u003cbr\u003e Notes\u003cbr\u003e Bibliography\u003cbr\u003e Index\u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgments\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"University of Pennsylvania Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49405712662871,"sku":"9780812239362","price":49.3,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780812239362.jpg?v=1730493369","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/venomous-tongues-9780812239362","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}