This reference work examines the ways in which some medieval behaviours and identities were categorized as criminal or deviant. It also explores the implications of modern demonization of the Middle Ages. As well as discussing constructions of deviance, this book also explores the behaviours and identities which provoked these labels and processes. The model is one of reciprocity between behaviours and processes of demonisation and criminalisation. Each authoritative essay engages carefully with this approach, examining behaviours, the ways they were demonized, and the relationship between the two processes. The three parts of the volume are centred around forms of discursive and normative power-religious ideologies, political ideologies, and legalism. The authors also explore issues of political discourse, spiritual censure, justice and punishment, and the construction of taboos.

This New Companion to Critical Thinking on Chaucer brings together preeminent scholars from around the world and adopts a novel approaching, beginning with the basics: Chaucer's words. Each chapter explores a single word from the Chaucerian corpus to develop readings that extend across the author's works. Without being limited to a particular text or theoretical approach, contributors model scholarly thinking in action, posing questions and offering analyses from textual, theoretical, historical, and material approaches. The result is a comprehensive collection of essays that illuminates Chaucer's aesthetics, philosophical complexity, and continued relevance. Part innovative scholarship, part how-to manual, the volume includes apparatus to help less experienced readers of Chaucer negotiate its contents. In addition to fourteen main essays, the volume also includes three response essays, each modelling how a seasoned scholar uses the chapters to develop his or her own thinking about Chaucer. Thus, the companion offers something to audiences of all levels who wish to read, research, and enjoy Chaucer, his language, and his works.