Crime and punishment

• Crimes committed in 1000 AD - crimes against a person

  These crimes involve physical harm to the victim

  Murder

  Rape

  Assault

  18% of crimes in this time period involved violence. Many of these crimes would be against the person like assault
• Crimes committed in 1000 AD - crimes against property

  These are crimes which involve damage to the victims property

  Arson (deliberately setting fire to a building or land)

  Theft (stealing, often while the victim is not there)

  Robbery (theft involving violence, while the victim is there)

  Poaching (stealing/killing animals on land which does not belong to you)

  73% of crime in this period involved small scale theft - known as 'petty theft'. The most common stolen items were things like clothing, food and small amounts of money
• Crimes committed in 1000 AD - crimes against authority

  These are crimes which generally involve attacking or disobeying the king, the government or other figures of authority

  Rebellion (attacking the king, the government or the king's representatives)

  Treason (betraying your country)

  Heresy (refusing to follow the king's religious beliefs)

  Very few crimes in the year 1000 involved crimes against authority. However, after the Norman conquest in 1066, these crimes became more common, because so many people were unhappy with the authority of their new rulers
• The King

  Medieval people believed their Kings were chose by God. The King was the most important person in the country as he controlled the land and decided how to share it out. The main tasks facing medieval Kings were defending their country from attack and ensuring their subjects were protected by the law
• The Nobles

  Main supporters of the King. In return for land, the nobles provided the King with knights and military service in times of war. They were expected to keep law and order in their own land
• The Church

  People saw life as preparation for the eternal afterlife after death. They believed firmly in heaven and hell. Therefore, the Church was an important organisation because it offered ways to help a persons soul get to heaven. There was a priest in every village and everyone was expected to attend church and live by its rules. The Church ran its own courts for churchmen and offered sanctuary to criminals who took refugee in a Church building. Sometimes this bought the Church into conflict with the Kings who wanted to enforce royal justice on everyone without interference
• The Peasants

  Most people were Peasants - farmers who worked the land and lived in villages. For part of each week they worked on the land of the local lord. In their remaining time peasants worked on their own land to feed their families. People lived in close knit communities and knew their neighbours well. As there was no police force they were expected to look out for one another and ensure that the village was a lawful place
• Method of law enforcement

  Tithings - every male older than twelve joined a group of ten men who were responsible for each others behaviour. If one of them broke the law the other members of the tithing had to bring him to court or pay a fine
• Method of law enforcement

  Hue and cry - If a crime was committed the witness or victim would raise the hue and cry. So they would yell for help and the entire village would hunt to catch the criminal. If a person did not join the whole village would have to pay a fine
• Trial by hot iron

  Usually taken by women

  Accused picked up a red hot weight and walked three paces with it

  The hands were bandaged and unwrapped three days later

  Innocent if it healed
• Trial by hot water

  Usually taken by men

  Accused put his hand into boiling water to pick up an object

  Hand/arm bandaged and unwrapped three days later

  Innocent if wound was healing clearly but guilty if it was festering
• Trial by blessed bread

  Taken by priest

  A priest prayed that the accused would choke on bread if they lied

  The accused ate the bread and found guilty if choked
• Trial by cold water

  Usually taken by men

  Accused was tied with a knot above the waist and lowered into the water on the end of the rope

  If the accused sank below Gods pure water then he was judged as innocent

  If the accused floated he had been rejected by the pure water as was found guilty
• Shire courts

  By the year 1000, England was divided into local shires. These were small areas of land, covering one or two small villages. Each shire had its own sheriff (a local landowner or lord).

  The sheriff was in charge of organising two court sessions per year to deal with the more serious crimes (e.g. murder). These ‘shire courts’ would usually be led by the local landowner/lord, but the decision about whether the accused was guilty was sometimes left to a trial by jury.
• Shire courts - law enforcement

  The shire was also divided further into ‘hundreds’, which were groups of 100 peasant farms. Each hundred had its own monthly court sessions to deal with less serious crimes (e.g. petty theft).

  Trials in Anglo-Saxon courts were based on trial by jury. A jury was a group of ordinary people who listened to both sides of a story and decided which side they believed. When they had decided which side they believed, the jury would swear an oath of compurgation (oath to God)
• Punishment

  Wergild - paying money for killing/injuring someone else. Price differs depending on the body part and the person

  Wergeld - for deaths

  Botgeld - for injuries
• Punishment - Wergild

  Killing a noble 300 shilling

  Killing a freeman 100 shilling

  Loss of eye 50 shilling

  Broken arm 6 shilling
• Punishment

  ‘Capital punishment’ means the death penalty. In Anglo-Saxon England, people thought the best way to reduce the number of crimes was to make people afraid of the law. So they used the death penalty as a ‘deterrent’.

  To ‘deter’ someone means that they will be ‘put off’ from committing an offence. The idea was that by making people afraid of the law, people would be less likely to break the law.
• Punishment - capital punishment

  People in Anglo-Saxon England were ‘deterred’ from breaking the law because they were scared of the consequences.

  In the Anglo-Saxon period, the usual method of execution was by hanging. A ‘gallows’ apparatus was set up, often on a hill. The criminal would be hung by the neck. Their body was often left there as an example to others.
• Punishment - corporal punishment

  ‘Corporal punishment’ means punishment ‘to the body’. Because the Anglo-Saxons did not have prisons to punish people, they had to rely on physical punishments. Like the death penalty, these were meant to be an example to other people - don’t break the law!

  In Anglo-Saxon England, there were lots of forms of corporal punishment:

  Public beating.

  Mutilation - e.g. chopping off a hand, fingers or even cutting out someone’s eyes.

  Public whipping.

  The stocks/the pillory.