The English were punished in many different ways in the five centuries after 1500. This pathbreaking collection stretches from whipping to the gallows, and from the first houses of correction to penitentiaries. Punishment provides a striking way to examine the development of culture and society through time. These studies of penal practice explore violence, cruelty and shame, while offering challenging new perspectives on the timing of the decline of public punishment, the rise of imprisonment and reforms of the capital code. J. R. DICKINSON Researcher, University of York CYNTHIA HERRUP Professor of History and Law, Duke University, Durham MARTIN INGRAM Fellow, Brasenose College, Oxford RANDAL MCGOWEN Professor of History, University of Oregon MARK RIGSTAD Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Oakland University, Minnesota PHILIPPE ROSENBERG Lecturer, Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey KATHERINE ROYER Assistant Professor of History, California State University Stanislaus J. A. SHARPE Professor of History, University of York R. S. SHOEMAKER Reader in History, University of Sheffield GREG. T. SMITH Assistant Professor of History, University of Manitoba, Canada.