Anglo Saxon Law and Order

• Anglo-Saxon legal practices

  • Blood feuds
  • Wergild
  • Trial by ordeal
• Blood feuds were particularly common earlier in the Saxon period but became less common by the 11th century
• Blood feud


  Legal framework for revenge where if a family member was murdered, the family was entitled to murder a member of the perpetrator's family in revenge, leading to a potentially long-lasting and devastating dispute
• Intended purpose of the blood feud

  As a form of deterrence to put people off murdering their neighbors altogether
• Wergild was a form of compensation for assaults and murders in Anglo-Saxon law
• Wergild fines

  • For a king: 30,000 gold coins
  • For a thane: 1,200 shillings
  • For a prosperous churl: 200 shillings
  • For a Welshman: 70 shillings
• Wergild fines acted as a deterrent

  Even fines for richer individuals were crippling and served as a deterrent
• Trial by ordeal

  Accused person undergoes a painful and injuring process, and the outcome is determined by the healing of the wound
• Outcome of trial by ordeal

  If the wound healed quickly and cleanly, the accused was judged innocent; if not, they were judged guilty and faced punishment
• Religious Anglo-Saxons believed trial by ordeal was god's judgment, while innocent individuals might feel hard done by if judged guilty
• People would probably accept god's judgment


  They might feel hard done by if they realized they were innocent but judged guilty in a trial by ordeal
• Being executed after being wrongly convicted could lead to ending up in heaven


  God's judgment as guilty on earth might be a way to get to paradise quicker
• Community responsibility in upholding the law

  Expected to raise the hue and cry when witnessing a crime, forming a posse to catch criminals and deliver them to the shire reeve
• Forms of collective punishment

  • Fining the whole community if a hundred failed to raise the hue and cry
• No police force existed at this time
• Communication with the shire reeve would take so long that the miscreant would definitely get away
• Communities acted as a form of deterrence against breaking the law

  Chasing down lawbreakers and trying to maintain order
• Common punishments in Saxon England

  • Fines, mutilation, exile, execution
• Imprisonment was rare as prisons didn't really exist at all
• God also judged people in cases without concrete proof as seen in trial by ordeal
• Anglo-Saxon law and order was enforced by the king, earls, and shire reeves
• Compensation could be paid for harming others such as the weregild
• Anglo-Saxon England may seem violent and lawless compared to modern times
• System of law was enforced by the king, earls, and shire reeves
• Community was expected to assist in keeping law and order
• Prisons didn't really exist at all in Saxon England
• King, earls, and shire reeves prosecuted crimes, collected taxes and fines, and dished out punishments
• Subjects were expected to obey the law or face punishment
• Local towns often became centers of justice in addition to trade
• Important lords were appointed as shire reeves or sheriffs
• Violent and lawless image of Saxon England compared to modern times
• System of law enforced by the king, earls, and shire reeves
• Community expected to assist in maintaining law and order
• Prisons were non-existent in Saxon England
• God judged people without concrete proof in trial by ordeal
• Overview of Anglo-Saxon law and order