ABSTRACT
Public punishment for the political crime of treason often involved the tearing or hacking apart of the body of the traitor. Foucault's influence on the study of modern modes of punishment means that his presence cannot be ignored for the Middle Ages either. If imprisonment was evolving, so too were punishments inflicted on the body. There were certainly some enduring features of public execution and punishment across late medieval Europe. However, punishment in whatever guise continued to exist alongside other obligations laid on offenders which had the aim of securing their repentance, the reparation of their wrong and their eventual reintegration into society. One of the preferred alternatives was exile or banishment, but even this varied greatly in its incidence. Public shaming was also used as punishment. A further restriction of the role of punishment by the state arises in those special crimes where the injured party or other private persons could inflict punishment on criminals.
