History 1000-1500

• Society in Medieval England


  • Majority of people were peasants who lived in small rural communities
• Monarchy in Medieval England


  • Monarchy grew in strength as the king sought to increase his control
• Church in Medieval England


  • The Church was very powerful and influential
• The Anglo-Saxon period in Britain


  Around 1000-1066
• King's peace


  Anglo-Saxons believed it was the king's duty to take care of law and order so people could go about their everyday lives knowing the law would be upheld
• Collective responsibility


  In a village community, if somebody broke the law it was up to everyone in the village to take action
• Most common crimes in Anglo-Saxon England


  • Petty crimes such as petty theft (90% of crimes)
  • Poaching
  • Arson
  • Theft
  • Anti-social behaviour like drunkenness
  • Treason
  • Betraying your lord
  • Breaking the King's peace
• Moral crimes


  Crimes such as adultery that the Church dealt with
• Serious crimes in Anglo-Saxon England


  • Treason
  • Arson
  • Murder
• Trials


  • Trial by local jury was common - jury was made up of peers and decided based on character when no evidence
  • Trial by Ordeal - God determined guilt
• Policing


  • No police force - community policing
  • Tithings - all men aged 12+ joined a tithing with collective responsibility
  • Hue and Cry - whole community involved in catching criminals
• Wergild


  System of fines where all crimes have a price, paid to victims to compensate
• Corporal punishment


  For repeat offenders - chopping hands off thieves, stocks and pillory to humiliate
• Capital punishment


  Death by hanging, used for serious crimes but rarely
• Aims of Anglo-Saxon punishments


  • To stop people committing further crimes (deterrence)
  • To make the criminal pay for their crimes (retribution)
• Poaching was considered a 'social crime' as it helped local communities survive
• Factors causing change 1000-1500


  • Government and law makers
  • Religion
  • Towns
  • Key individuals
  • Poverty and wealth
• The Normans became the next group to rule England after the Anglo-Saxons

  1066
• Crimes in Norman England


  • Petty crimes like theft (90% of crimes)
  • Rebellions crushed by William I
  • Offences against the Forest Laws
• Murdrum


  Punishing communities for killing a Norman - nearest 100 people fined if killer not found
• Forest Laws


  Made foraging and hunting in the King's forest an offence, creating new social crimes
• The Church still dealt with moral crimes and crimes committed by clergy in Norman England
• Trials in Norman England


  • Trial by local jury
  • Trial by ordeal
  • Trial by combat
• Policing in Norman England


  • No police force - community policing
  • Tithing and Hue Cry used
  • Outlaw system expanded to deal with serious criminals
  • Foresters employed to oversee Forest Laws
• Punishments in Norman England


  • Fines - money went to the crown
  • Corporal punishment for Forest Law offences
  • Capital punishment for crimes against the monarch
• William the Conqueror continued many Anglo-Saxon laws in Norman England
• Murdrum


  Law used to help establish Norman control over the conquered Anglo-Saxon population - if a Norman was murdered and the culprit not found, a large fine had to be paid by the nearest 100 people
• Forest Laws


  30% of England became 'Royal Forests' for Norman nobility to use for hunting, with harsh punishments like having fingers cut off for poaching
• The Forest Laws were unpopular as they made illegal activities that were previously allowed on common land in Anglo-Saxon England
• Some people still broke the Forest Laws as they felt they were unfair and more of a social crime
• William I brutally punished anybody that rebelled against the Normans, with estimates of 100,000 people starving to death due to the destruction of farmland
• Forest land


  • Used by Norman nobility for hunting
  • People evicted from this land, causing resentment
  • Deer hunting made illegal, with punishment of having first two fingers cut off
• The forest laws were not popular because activities that were allowed on common land in Anglo-Saxon England were made illegal
• Some people still broke the forest laws because they felt they were unfair and they saw them as more of a social crime
• The Norman invasion


  Was not welcomed by the Anglo-Saxons and there was much resistance for the first few years
• Betraying authority had been a crime in Anglo-Saxon England, but William I punished these crimes much more harshly to assert authority
• Estimates suggest that 100,000 people starved to death due the destruction of farmland on William's orders in areas that had seen the rebellion
• William brutally punished anybody that rebelled against the Normans. William burned villages and destroyed crops and animals - he used brutal methods to threaten and have control
• Norman laws were harsher on women than the laws of the past. Women had been treated equally to men in Anglo-Saxon England
• Law enforcement in Norman and later medieval England


  1. William I continued many Anglo-Saxon methods of law enforcement and also added to them

  2. William was tougher on criminals, believing anyone who committed a crime was going against the King's Peace rather than just the individual victim

  3. William ended the idea of a Wergild, with fines paid to the King instead of the victim

  4. William started a programme of castle building, with Norman lords controlling the local population under Norman law