H 117 - Laying Down the Law: Legal Culture in the Medieval Mediterranean, c. 530-1230

Medieval law can seem strange from a modern perspective. Why was trial by battle acceptable? Why were forgery and murder both crimes punishable by death? How did religion impact law? The strangeness of medieval law reminds us that our ways of thinking about the law-our assumptions about why it exists and how it should work-are conditioned by our contemporary cultural and social values. In this course we will examine the diverse legal traditions of the medieval Mediterranean-European, Byzantine, and Islamicate law-to better understand law as a dynamic aspect of medieval societies and cultures. The course will introduce students to the methodology and theory of legal history and encourage them to consider from this perspective the political, social, and cultural factors which influence our modern attitudes towards law.