Crime and Punishment

• Crimes in medieval England


  • Crimes against the person
  • Crimes against property
  • Crimes against authority
• King as law maker

  • Anglo-Saxon kings issued codes of law that made certain actions crimes, helping to unify laws across the country
  • After 1066, William I added new laws, including the forest laws and murdrum fines
  • After Henry II became king in 1154, standard laws were written down, creating a uniform legal system across the country
• Norman laws

  • Murdrum fine - large sum of money had to be paid by those in the hundred where the body of a murdered Norman was found
  • Rebellion punished by death for those indirectly involved
  • Around 30% of England became 'royal forest' - hunting ground for Norman nobility, communities evicted and it became illegal to graze animals, kill wild animals or take wood without a licence
• Anglo-Saxon law enforcement


  1. Tithings - everyone in a tithing responsible for each other

  2. Hue and cry - victim or witness shouted to alert others to catch the criminal

  3. Courts decided guilt based on evidence, oaths and the will of God
• Norman law enforcement


  • Tithings and hue and cry system continued
  • Trial by combat introduced
  • Foresters policed the royal forests and enforced forest laws
• Later medieval law enforcement

  1. Parish constables led the chase after hue and cry

  2. Knights appointed to police some areas

  3. Justices of the Peace appointed to hear minor crimes

  4. Sheriff expected to track down criminals and could form a posse
• Medieval punishments


  • Fines and compensation
  • Corporal punishments
  • Capital punishment
• Social status and punishment

  • Wergild (compensation) amount depended on victim's social status
  • Commoners usually hanged, nobles usually beheaded
• Influence of the Church


  • Benefit of clergy - clergy tried in Church courts which were more lenient
  • Sanctuary - protection from the law offered by some churches
  • Trial by ordeal - God's judgement used to determine guilt or innocence
• Trial by ordeal was first used in Anglo-Saxon times but was still being used at the start of the 13th century
• In 1215, the pope ordered his priests to stop administering trial by ordeal and they quickly ended
• There were huge social and religious changes in England in the early modern period
• The Church would grant sanctuary to criminals
• Benefit of the clergy


  Allowed clergymen to be tried in Church courts
• Church courts also dealt with moral crimes
• Trial by ordeal


  A process used to interpret God's judgement of a crime
• Trial by ordeal


  1. Trial by hot water or iron

  2. Trial by water

  3. Trial by consecrated bread (for priests only)
• Crimes against person and property increased due to increasing population, decline of feudalism, and more people moving to urban areas
• Crimes against property, such as poaching, increased as a result of the end of feudalism and new farming methods leading to enclosure of land
• Heresy charges increased because the official religion of the country kept changing between Catholic and Protestant
• As monarchs (except for Mary I) became the head of the Church, heresy and treason became interlinked
• Crimes against the person increased with the growth of towns and cities due to a higher number of street criminals and petty thieves
• New crimes


  • Vagabondage/vagrancy
  • Smuggling
  • Witchcraft
• Witchcraft, whilst not a new crime, was dealt with much more severely
• In 1542 witchcraft was made punishable by death, and in 1604 summoning evil spirits was also made punishable by death
• As the populations of towns increased, town authorities had more influence and the role of the Church in the justice system decreased
• People were expected to raise and join the hue and cry to catch criminals when a crime took place
• Watchmen


  • Rang a bell to alert people
  • All male householders were expected to volunteer
  • Patrolled the streets between 10pm and dawn
• Town constables


  • Employed by authorities in towns
  • Could arrest suspects and take them to the Justice of the Peace
  • In charge of the watchmen in their area
  • Helped with town administration
• The early modern period saw the justice system become far more secular as the Church itself became less powerful in society
• Benefit of clergy


  Henry VII allowed non-clergy 'benefit of clergy' only once and people were branded to show they had received the privilege. Edward VI made serious crimes, such as murder, exempt from benefit of clergy. From 1576, Church courts couldn't try criminal acts (only moral ones) so everyone, including clerics, was tried in secular courts
• Sanctuary


  Henry VIII stopped exile abroad for those claiming sanctuary. Instead they had to keep to designated sanctuaries in England. In 1623, James I abolished sanctuary altogether
• Retribution and deterrence were still the main purpose of punishments in the early modern period
• Continuity in types of punishment


  • Fines
  • Pillory or stocks, flogging or maiming
  • Hanging
  • Burning
• The Bloody Code


  In the 17th century, the number of crimes punishable by death increased. By 1688, there were 50 capital offences ranging from minor crimes, such as stealing a loaf of bread, to murder. Because of the increase in capital offences, the period from 1688 to 1825 became known as the 'Bloody Code'
• Transportation to North America

  Transporting criminals to colonies in North America, where they did manual work, began under James I (1603–25). Criminals were sentenced to either seven or fourteen years and were then released but most could not afford to return to England. Between 50 000 and 80 000 people were transported to America during this time
• Reasons for transportation


  • It reflected new ideas on the aims of punishment – transportation was still a serious punishment but gave criminals a chance at rehabilitation
  • It provided an alternative to execution for petty crime, especially after the Bloody Code began and when prisons were not yet established
  • It provided workers to establish the American colonies while removing criminals from England
• The Gunpowder Plot

  1. A group of Catholics, led by Robert Catesby, plotted to kill the king on 5 November 1605

  2. Lord Monteagle gave a letter he received, which warned him not to attend the state opening of parliament, to Robert Cecil

  3. The plotters rented a cellar directly underneath the Houses of Parliament and filled it with barrels of gunpowder

  4. Cecil ordered a search of the Houses of Parliament. The gunpowder and Guy Fawkes were discovered on 5 November. Guy Fawkes was arrested and his conspirators were captured and tortured into confessing

  5. The plotters were found guilty of treason in January 1606. They were publicly hanged, drawn and quartered on 30–31 January
• Reasons for harsh and public punishment for treason

  • As the most serious crime, treason received the most serious punishment
  • Without a police force to help prevent crime, harsh punishment was thought to be the only way of deterring crime
  • The period of political instability, due to disputes over the royal succession, required harsh treatment as a form of deterrent
  • A harsh message was thought necessary to deter Catholics from rising up against the Protestant monarchy
• The punishment for witchcraft was death, typically by hanging