Distributed for Iter Press
The Carleton Bigamy Trial
Multiple conflicting perspectives come together in this collection to provide a Rashomon-style account of marriage, fraud, and trickery in seventeenth-century England.
Mary Carleton was an ordinary woman from Canterbury who entered historical records when she was accused of bigamy. The seven pamphlets in this edition focus on the bigamy trial of Mary Carleton, in which the accused eloquently defends herself and is ultimately acquitted. Written in the early years of the English Restoration, they demonstrate that narratives presenting what “she said” and what “he said” can reveal, forcefully and painfully, how truth can be fragmented in the different arenas of law, love, and politics. Through their disparate accounts of a marriage gone wrong, these pamphlets reinforce the social status quo even while they radically shatter the very foundations that give it heft. In asking readers to question absolutes, they unmask the precarious relationship between words and the world.
Mary Carleton was an ordinary woman from Canterbury who entered historical records when she was accused of bigamy. The seven pamphlets in this edition focus on the bigamy trial of Mary Carleton, in which the accused eloquently defends herself and is ultimately acquitted. Written in the early years of the English Restoration, they demonstrate that narratives presenting what “she said” and what “he said” can reveal, forcefully and painfully, how truth can be fragmented in the different arenas of law, love, and politics. Through their disparate accounts of a marriage gone wrong, these pamphlets reinforce the social status quo even while they radically shatter the very foundations that give it heft. In asking readers to question absolutes, they unmask the precarious relationship between words and the world.
394 pages | 7 figures | 6 x 9 | © 2023
The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe: The Toronto Series
History: British and Irish History
Literature and Literary Criticism: British and Irish Literature
Reviews
Table of Contents
Illustrations
Abbreviations
Acknowledgments
MARY CARLETON TIME LINE
INTRODUCTION
John Carleton, THE REPLICATION; OR, CERTAIN VINDICATORY DEPOSITIONS
Mary Carleton, AN HISTORICAL NARRATIVE OF THE GERMAN PRINCESS
Mary Carleton, THE CASE OF MADAM MARY CARLETON
John Carleton, THE ULTIMUM VALE OF JOHN CARLETON, OF THE MIDDLE TEMPLE
F. B., VERCINGETORIXA; OR, THE GERMAN PRINCESS REDUC’D TO AN ENGLISH HABIT
T. P., A WITTY COMBAT; OR, THE FEMALE VICTOR. A TRAGI-COMEDY
THE ARRAIGNMENT, TRIAL, AND EXAMINATION OF MARY MODERS
Bibliography
Index
Abbreviations
Acknowledgments
MARY CARLETON TIME LINE
INTRODUCTION
John Carleton, THE REPLICATION; OR, CERTAIN VINDICATORY DEPOSITIONS
Mary Carleton, AN HISTORICAL NARRATIVE OF THE GERMAN PRINCESS
Mary Carleton, THE CASE OF MADAM MARY CARLETON
John Carleton, THE ULTIMUM VALE OF JOHN CARLETON, OF THE MIDDLE TEMPLE
F. B., VERCINGETORIXA; OR, THE GERMAN PRINCESS REDUC’D TO AN ENGLISH HABIT
T. P., A WITTY COMBAT; OR, THE FEMALE VICTOR. A TRAGI-COMEDY
THE ARRAIGNMENT, TRIAL, AND EXAMINATION OF MARY MODERS
Bibliography
Index
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