1000-1500 Medieval England - Medieval Punishments

Question 1

What were the aims of medieval punishments

Answer 1

Retribution, deterrence and to keep people safe

Question 2

What is retribution

Answer 2

Making a criminal suffer for the crime committed

Question 3

What is deterrence

Answer 3

Trying to prevent others or the criminal from carrying out crime

Question 4

What were the types of punishments

Answer 4

Fines
Stocks (humiliation)
Maiming (corporal)
Flogging (corporal)
Hanging (capital)
Beheading (capital)

Question 5

Anglo-Saxon punishment core

Answer 5

• fines/compensation were most common
• the system of paying compensation to victims of crime was used in many crimes (includes murder) - called the Saxon wergild
• corporal punishments were fairly common but capital punishments were rarely used

Question 6

What’s capital punishment

Answer 6

Killing the criminal

Question 7

What is corporal punishment

Answer 7

Physically hurting the criminal

Question 8

Norman punishment core

Answer 8

• use of capital/corporal punishments rose dramatically - more offences were capital crimes
• breaking forest laws was punished harshly (includes castration, blinding and hanging)
• the wergild system ended and fines were paid to the king
• minor crimes were still punished by fines, whipping or time in the stocks

Question 9

Later medieval punishment core

Answer 9

• use of capital punishment gradually decreased but crimes angst authority were still harshly punished
• corporal punishment was still widely used but many juries wouldn’t convict their neighbours unless they regularly offended
• fines became more common

Question 10

Who influenced punished during Anglo-Saxon and later Middle Ages time + its aim

Answer 10

The church - it wanted the aim of punishment to involve reforming criminals

Question 11

How did medieval punishments vary

Answer 11

Varied depending on class and gender
- commoners were treated differently from nobles
- women were treated differently from men
- priests were treated differently from ordinary people

Question 12

Examples of how medieval punishment varied

Answer 12

• amount of wergild payable in Anglo-Saxon times depended on the victims social status - wergild for nobles was a huge sum but wergild for a serf was very little
• during later medieval periods commoners were usually hanged for murder but nobles were usually beheaded

Question 13

How did the Anglo-Saxons feel about the Norman invasion

Answer 13

The Norman’s weren’t welcomed by the Anglo-Saxons and there was much resistance for the first few years

Question 14

What did the Norman’s see as the best way to make people behave

Answer 14

Harsh punishments carried out in public