At 03:44 PM 12/4/00 +0000, you wrote:
>Dear All
>
>Can anybody throw any light on the practice of shaving the heads of women
>who were burned following inquisitorial processes?
>
>Was it common practice?
>
Shaving the heads of reprobate women is an ancient tradition. I believe it
is attested in Tacitus' _Germania_. It continues into the present era:
for discussion of the post-War shaving of the heads of provincial French
women who were suspected of horizontal collaboration with German occupiers
of France, see Megan Koreman, _The expectation of justice : France,
1944-1946_ Durham, N.C. ; London : Duke University Press, 1999.
--John Howe, Texas Tech
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