Download or read book Violence and Society in the Early Medieval West written by Guy Halsall and published by Boydell & Brewer Incorporated. This book was released on 1998 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work begins with the premise that the violence of life in the Middle Ages is nowadays both taken for granted and misunderstood. The essays in this collection all suggest or explore reasons why violent acts might have been perpetrated, and attempt to understand the social priorities which governed such acts. The studies aim to clarify a range of issues including the creation of political identities and the establishment of social order, matters of administration, colonisation, religious ritual, and gender.