Edited by Larissa Tracy and Jeff Massey

From the cover: “The decapitation motif recurs in nearly all medieval and early modern genres, from saints' lives and epics to comedies and romances, yet decollation is often little regarded, save as a marker of humanity (that is, as the moment mortality exits) or inhumanity (chat is, as the moment the supernatural enters). However, as a seat of reason, wisdom, and even the soul, the head has long been affordeda special place in the body politic, even when separated from its body proper. Capitalizing upon the enduring fascination with decapitation in European culture, chis collection examines-through a variety of critical lenses-the recurring "roles/rolls" of severed human heads in the medieval and early modern imagination.”

Boston. Brill. 2012. 371p. CONTAINS MARK-UP