Norman

• The Murdrum Fine was created to ensure that if a Norman was murdered, all people of that region had to join together to pay an expensive fine
• William I caused many changes, but kept most things the same when it came to crime and punishment. (Continuity = important)
• Forest Laws were created to protect areas as Norman hunting lands. Anyone caught poaching would be charged.
• The New Laws And Crimes

  • Reaffirm Norman control
  • Protect Normans from Anglo-Saxons
• Medieval Chronicles suggests that there was less crime after the Norman Conquest
• Norman kept the local systems of tithings and the hue and cry
• Trial by Combat introduced

  • Accused and accuser fought until one was killed or unable to fight on
  • Loser was hanged
• Trial by Combat benefited the Normans as they were knights and could use their skills to fight
• Murdrum fine - if someone committed murder, they had to pay half of it to the king
• Normans used capital Punishments for serious crimes and reoffenders
• William Duke of Normandy beat Harold Godwinson in the Battle of Hastings and became the new king of England


  14th of October 1066
• Castles


  • Built by the Normans to control the land and people
  • Had never been built in England before
  • Showed the local population they had to follow the Normans' laws and respect their way of doing things
• The Normans kept the majority of Anglo-Saxon laws
• Reasons the Normans kept Anglo-Saxon laws

  • It was too much trouble to replace them
  • The laws actually worked well, e.g. tithings and hue and cry
• The Normans kept trial by ordeal until 1215 when it was outlawed
• Trial by combat


  The accused and accuser would fight until the death or until one couldn't continue, with the idea that God would be on the side of the innocent
• Church courts


  • Specifically for people claiming benefit of clergy or involved in the church
  • More lenient than royal courts, with far easier punishments
• Forest laws


  • Trees in royal forests couldn't be cut down
  • People living near woods/forests deemed the king's land were forbidden from having bows, arrows, or dogs
  • Hunting of deer in royal forests was banned
  • Serious punishments for breaking these laws, e.g. losing fingers needed to fire a bow
• The Normans kept corporal and capital punishments for serious crimes, like the Anglo-Saxons
• Language changes


  • Normans spoke Norman French, which was used in courts and records were kept in Latin
  • Neither language would make sense to normal Anglo-Saxons, another form of control
• Fines


  Kept by the Normans but made payable to the king instead of the system of wergild
• Murdering fine


  A significant fine payable to the king if you murdered a Norman
• The Normans took away women's rights, subjecting them to the rule of men, unlike the more forward-thinking Anglo-Saxons
• Sanctuary


  • If you were on the run, you could claim 40 days of sanctuary in a cathedral or church
• Benefits of clergy


  • If you could read a passage from the Bible in Latin, you could be tried by the more lenient church courts instead of royal courts
• Parish constables


  • Unpaid volunteers whose job was to lead a hue and cry
• Sheriffs


  • Royal officials whose job was to go after serious criminals like murderers and rapists, and bring them before the royal courts