The Margins of Society in Late Medieval Paris

by Bronislaw Geremek , Translated by Jean Birrell , Foreword by Jean-Claude Schmitt

• ISBN13: 9780521026123
• ISBN10: 0521026121
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-04-27
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This book discusses the 'marginal' people of late medieval Paris, the large and shifting group of men and women who existed on the margins of conventional organized society. Professor Geremek examines the various groups which made up the marginal world - beggars, prostitutes, procuresses and pimps, petty criminals, casual workers and the unemployed - their haunts in and around Paris, their way of life, and their relation to 'normal' society. Professor Geremek has made with this book a major contribution to the study of late medieval society which illuminates the little-known area of the medieval underworld in a fascinating and very accessible manner. Translated by Jean Birrell from the French edition of 1976, this edition includes a new introduction by Jean-Claude Schmitt, which offers a frank appraisal of the author's life and career to date.

Table of Contents

Foreword	vii
Introduction	1	(5)
Criminality and Its Social Milieu	6	(38)
The marginal milieus and criminality	6	(6)
Crime and punishment	12	(9)
Security and the town police	21	(8)
Legislation against vagabondage	29	(15)
The Sources	44	(22)
The Chatelet	47	(6)
Seigneurial jurisdictions	53	(9)
Parlement and the royal chancellery	62	(4)
The Social Topography of Paris	66	(29)
The topography of poverty	68	(10)
The housing problem	78	(4)
The centres of crime	82	(5)
The sites of prostitution	87	(8)
The Criminal and His Group	95	(40)
The thief	95	(14)
Criminal ties	109	(26)
Clerks and Bohemians	135	(32)
The tonsure	136	(11)
The student milieu	147	(12)
Jongleurs and performers	159	(8)
Charity and Beggars	167	(44)
The hospitals of Paris	169	(10)
Charity and its recipients	179	(13)
The beggars	192	(19)
The World of Prostitution	211	(31)
Legislation and social attitudes towards prostitution	212	(3)
The prostitutes: categories and way of life	215	(13)
Pimps and procuresses	228	(11)
The world of prostitution and marginality	239	(3)
The World of Work and the World of Crime	242	(28)
Criminality and the world of work	243	(10)
The role of migrations	253	(10)
Traders and criminals	263	(7)
The Boundaries of the Marginal World	270	(30)
The general opinion: of no use to anyone	270	(6)
Ways of life: factors which unite	276	(12)
The crowd in social movements	288	(12)
Conclusion	300	(10)
Note on the original documents used for this work	310	(3)
Index of persons and places	313