Early Modern Period

• Changes in society 


  • increase in population = more unemployment, towns and cities grew
  • change in religious beliefs an monarch’s religion
• Increase in crimes against …


  person - increase of criminals

  property - poaching

  authority - heresy and treason (religion of country kept changing)
• Increase in crimes against authority


  • constant religious changes through the country led to heresy and treason
  • Treason charges were more common because there was disputes about who should rule.
  • country kept changing from catholic to Protestant and back
  • Important members of the clergy judged if people were guilty
  • As monarchs became the head of the Church, heresy and treason became interlinked.
• New crimes - Vagabondage or vagrancy

  • Unemployed, homeless person
  • There was a large increase in the number of vagrants due to the increasing population, falling wages, rising food prices and no system to help the needy (especially after the closure of the monasteries in 1536).
• Vagabondage or vagrancy


  • Hated and feared by public
  • Stole
  • begged and stole
  • Viewed as lazy and responsible for their own problems
• New crimes - smuggling


  • import tax on certain goods, including brandy and tea, was introduced in the 17th century
  • The crime of smuggling increased dramatically.
  • Smuggling is where people bring goods into the country and avoid paying import tax and then sell it
  • Was a social crime
• New crimes - witchcraft 


  • Witchcraft had been a minor crime in medieval times that was dealt with by Church courts.
  • New laws against witchcraft were passed, making it a very serious offence
  • people saw it as harmful and most were very afraid of it.
  • In 1542, Henry VIII made witchcraft punishable by death.
  • In 1563, Elizabeth I changed the law so charges of witchcraft had to be tried in a common court.
  • In 1604, James I instructed the death penalty to be given to people 'summoning evil spirits’
• Law enforcement 


  Continuity

  • people expected to join hue and cry
  • no national police force

  change

  • Changes to the role of town constable and watchmen
• Changes in role of the Church


  • 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 VIl allowed non-clergy 'benefit of clergy‘ only once and people were branded to show they had received the privilege.
  • From 1576 Church courts couldn't try criminal acts
  • 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.
• Town watchmen

  • carried a lamp
  • rang bell to alert people
  • Unpaid work
  • all males expected to volunteer
  • patrolled streets form 10pm-dawn
  • overseen by town constable
• Town constable


  • Employed by town authorities
  • respected members of the community
  • power to arrest suspects and take them to JP’s
  • in charge of watchmen
  • helped with town administration
• Punishments


  • Fines
  • stocks and pillories
  • Flogging
  • maiming
  • Hanging
• The Bloody Code


  • In the 17th century the number of crimes punishable by death increased.
  • By 1688 there were 50 capital offences from minor crimes to major crimes.
  • Because of the increase in capital offences, the period from 1688 to 1825 became known as the 'Bloody Code'.
  • The aim was to frighten people so they wouldn't commit crime.
• Transportation


  • Transporting criminals to colonies in North America, where they did manual work
  • Began under James I (1603-25).
  • Criminals sentenced to either seven or 14 years and were then released
  • Most could not afford to return to England. Between 50000 and 80000 men, women and children were transported to America during this time.
• Transportation became a punishment because…

  • gave criminals a chance at rehabilitation while still acting as a deterrent
  • provided an alternative to execution for petty crime which some began to think was too harsh, especially after the Bloody Code began
  • it provided inhabitants and workers to establish the American colonies while removing criminals from England.
• Witch-hunts


  • people actively tried to discover witches.
  • The hunts of 1645-47 occurred during the English Civil War (1642-51)
  • Hundreds of women and a few men (mostly clergymen) were investigated. Those convicted were executed, usually by hanging.
• Reasons for Witch hunts

  1. economic problems (civil war, poor harvests)
  2. Social changes (women widowed after wars)
  3. Lack of authority (civil war weakened control)
  4. Influence of individuals (James I, matthew Hopkins)
  5. Religious changes (civil war causes religious changes)
• Matthew Hopkins

  • employed by a Justice of the Peace to find witches in Essex and East Anglia.
  • received money for each person prosecuted for being a witch.
  • estimated that his 'work' led to around 300 people being investigated for witchcraft, with 112 of these hanged
  • used torture to extract confessions
  • He helped stir up mass panic and fear of witches during the years 1645-47 through his prosecutions and pamphlets.
• Evidence of witchcraft


  1. Unusual marks on the body of the person accused.
  2. Witness accounts.
  3. When pricked with a needle the accused doesn't bleed.
  4. When thrown in water the accused floats.
  5. Confessions from the accused.
  6. If two proven witches swear the accused is a witch.
  7. 'Possessed' children acting as accusers.