Una McIlvenna is Honorary Senior Lecturer at the Australian National University. A literary and cultural historian of early modern Europe, she is also the author of Scandal and Reputation at the Court of Catherine de Medici (2016). She has held positions at the Universities of Melbourne, Sydney, Kent and Queen Mary University of London.

• Acknowledgements


• Abbreviations


• List of Illustrations


• List of Music Examples


• Introduction


• Part I: Selling the news of death


• Chapter One: The significance of contrafactum or, how melody made meaning


• Chapter Two: The centrality of shame in the punishment ritual


• Chapter Three: Fake news? How execution ballads walked the line between truth and fiction


• Part II: Crimes that Feature in Execution Ballads


• Chapter Four: The Devil's business: religion, witchcraft, sorcery, possession


• Chapter Five: How ballads portrayed murder and violence


• Chapter Six: Political executions in song


• Chapter Seven: Outlaw ballads: fantasy vs reality


• Chapter Eight: The end of execution ballads?


• Coda: Songs about the executioner


• Conclusion


• Bibliography


• Index

Author Una McIlvenna brings the execution ballad to life in Singing the News of Death, uncovering the relationship between punishment and music throughout Europe from 1500-1900 with an unprecedented breadth of study and ambition.