What is the difference between a stabbing in a tavern in London and one in a hostelry in the South of France? What happens when a spinster living in Paris finds knight in her bedroom wanting to marry her? Why was there a crime wave following the Black Death? From Aberdeen to Cracow and from Stockholm to Sardinia, Trevor Dean ranges widely throughout medieval Europe in this exiting and innovative history of lawlessness and criminal justice. Drawing on the real-life stories of ordinary men and women who often found themselves at the sharp end of the law, he shows how it was often one rule for the rich and another for the poor in a tangled web of judicial corruption.

"has plenty to offer the voyeur as well as those with a scholarly interest...engagingly accessible...balances breadth of coverage with depth of interest by challenging other historians" BBC History "an essential introduction for undergraduates"English Historical Review

Trevor Dean is Professor of History at Roehampton University.