1500-1750

Question 1

How did Population growth cause crime?

Answer 1

The population of Britain was 2 million in 1450; by 1750 it was 7 million. Population growth led to more people, which therefore led to more crime, as it was harder to find work.

Question 2

How did religious ideas cause crime?

Answer 2

Religion massively changed throughout this period. It began with Henry VIII breaking with the Catholic church through his divorce. This then led to anyone going against the new Church of England being punished. Anyone who went against the religion of the country was called a heretic. Under Mary I Protestants were persecuted, and under Elizabeth Catholics were punished. In the early 1600s the views of extreme protestants, called puritans, began to influence people. They were opposed to much traditional entertainment, especially on Sundays when people should be at church. The puritans by the 1640s and 1650s controlled Parliament and introduced laws so people could follow their way of life e.g. inns were shut and theatres closed

Question 3

How did Technological changes cause crime?

Answer 3

The printing press was first used in England in 1476 by William Caxton returned to London and established a press at Westminster, the first printing press in England. He published over 100 books. Favourite topics for early pamphlets were reports on crime.

Question 4

How did Establishment of colonies cause crime?

Answer 4

The British Empire under Elizabeth I began to find colonies. The first successful colonies were founded in the 1620s. However there were no major consequences for prisoners during this period.

Question 5

How did Increased wealth and poverty cause crime?

Answer 5

England was becoming wealthier, so some people were getting richer. However the majority remained very poor – particularly when bad harvests increased food prices or a fall in trade meant that people lost jobs.

Question 6

How did Landowners attitudes cause crime?

Answer 6

Landowners were getting richer. They wanted to protect their property, rights and power against other classes. They wanted to keep the poor in their place. Only wealthy people were represented in parliament, where laws were made.

Question 7

How did Beginnings of urbanisation cause crime?

Answer 7

Business and trade were growing rapidly. London was becoming a major centre for commerce throughout England. Banks and banknotes were new developments. Increased growing towns were harder to control.

Question 8

How did Civil war cause crime?

Answer 8

Civil war led to Charles I being executed and Oliver Cromwell becoming protectorate (in charge) of England. This impacted the puritan belief in England, as Cromwell was one. It was a turbulent period in English history.

Question 9

How did Increased travel cause crime?

Answer 9

Better roads helped the development of coaches and so more people were travelling around the country. Horses became cheaper to buy.

Question 10

Explaination on witchcraft

Answer 10

In 1563 an ‘Act Against Conjurations, Enchantments and Witchcrafts’ was passed by Elizabeth I. In 1597 James VI of Scotland (to be James I of England in 1603) passed a law that all witch trials had to be seen by royal courts. 1604 law against witches by James I.

Question 11

Signs of a witch

Answer 11

· Devil marks – birth mark · No shadow · Talk to themselves · Their hair cannot be cut = this came from the Deamonologie by James I in 1603

Question 12

An example of a witch

Answer 12

Margaret Harkett- a woman accused of witchcraft in the 1600s because she was seen talking to animals and those who did unfavourable things to her died. She was convicted and sentenced to death by hanging.

Question 13

Why was it mainly women convicted for magic?

Answer 13

· Patriachal society – men were dominant and blamed women. Feminist historians think this led to an increase in witchcraft trials.
· It was mainly women who were healers and therefore they were blamed when things went wrong.

Question 14

What caused witchcraft?

Answer 14

· Religion – people worried it was against God. Puritanism increased and this led to any strange happenings being seen as evil and witches being blamed.
· Poverty and famine – people who were desperate would accuse each other of witchcraft. During the harvest failures under Elizabeth in the 1596/1597 the number of witchcraft trials increased.
· Patriachal society – blame women as they were lesser than men. John Knox under Elizabeth I said ‘women in her greatest perfection was born to serve and obey man.’

Question 15

An example of a witch hunter

Answer 15

Mathew Hopkins- In the 1620s he was a self appointed witch hunter who tortured women in confessing and would get money for every witch turned in.

Question 16

What were the causes of vagrancy?

Answer 16

Henry VII (1st Tudor King in 1480s) banned his barons (nobles) from keeping private armies so lots of men lost their jobs as soldiers.
· Many landowners kept sheep on their land instead of crops and so people lost jobs.
· When Henry VIII later closed monasteries, many poor people couldn’t visit there for help as they used to help the poor.
· The pressure on the poor was particularly bad in years of bad harvest and when there was a downturn in the demand for woollen cloth; this put many people out of work. In the 1570s, bad harvests led to 209 per year being vagrants.
· There was a massive rise in prices for basic essentials. The wages of poor labourers failed to keep up with the price of their main food supply – bread.
· People believed it was due to ideleness. Puritan religion taught that everyone should work hard and not be tempted into sins.

Question 17

Types of vagrants?

Answer 17

Bare top tricksters – trick men into giving money.
The clapper dudgeon – would foam at the mouth to get money. The trickster
The counterfeit crank - pretend to be ill to get money.
The bristler – use weighted dice to trick people.

Question 18

Punishments for vagrants?

Answer 18

· In 1531 unemployed men and women found begging would be whipped until their bodies ‘be bloody’ and returned to their birthplace.

· 1547 First offence – 2 years slavery. Second offence – slavery for life or execution.
· 1572: First offence – shipping and burning of an ear. Second offence – execution.
· 1593 – 1572 act repealed and 1531 re-introduced.
· 1598: vagrants to be whipped and sent home. If they did not mend their ways, the JPs would send them to a house of correction, banish them from the country or execute them.

Question 19

Punishments for vagrants?

Answer 19

· In 1531 unemployed men and women found begging would be whipped until their bodies ‘be bloody’ and returned to their birthplace.

· 1547 First offence – 2 years slavery. Second offence – slavery for life or execution.
· 1572: First offence – shipping and burning of an ear. Second offence – execution.
· 1593 – 1572 act repealed and 1531 re-introduced.
· 1598: vagrants to be whipped and sent home. If they did not mend their ways, the JPs would send them to a house of correction, banish them from the country or execute them.

Question 20

What things did Puritanism make a crime?

Answer 20

š 1642 London Theatres were closed.
š 1644: May Day celebrations were forbidden.
š 1647 Illegal to celebrate Christmas.
š 1650: adultery was punishable by death. A law was introduced to punish anyone caught swearing.
š 1653: weddings in churches were banned although this law was repealed in 1657.
š 1657: betting and music in taverns and alehouses were made illegal.

Question 21

Smuggling?

Answer 21

Smuggling in the 17th and 18th centuries became a big problem in many coastal regions. They did this due to the high import taxes. It would begin with a ‘venturer’ provided money to buy goods in France or Holland. A ship’s captain and crew brought them across the English channel. ‘Landers’ bought the goods ashore in small boats. Other smugglers carried the contraband to a cave where it could be hidden. Local people acted as look outs. At a safe time carters took the goods to the nearest large town.

Respectable people became involved as they disliked the governments import duties and saw it as an easy way to get money. For poor labourers one night’s smuggling could provide them with the same amount of money as a week’s honest work.

Question 22

Highway Robbery?

Answer 22

During the 17th and 18th centuries more roads were built and so coach travel became common and the number of travellers increased. Because there were few banks, people often carried money and jewellery with them and the roads were unlit. People travelled through forests and remote areas, and they were an easy target

Question 23

An example of Highway Robbery

Answer 23

In 1722, when a woman said that she knew the identity of 3 men she saw robbing a stagecoach, the highwayman cut out her tongue.

Question 24

Why did the bloody code begin?

Answer 24

In 1688, rich land owners and merchants increased their power to make laws in parliament. With no police force to protect their property, MPs used the threat of capital punishment to frighten people into being law-abiding citizens. They believed that the fear of hanging would act as a strong deterrent.

Question 25

What is the bloody code?

Answer 25

The number of offences for which people could be hanged rose dramatically from the late seventeenth century. Between 1688 and 1820, the government created a ferocious legal system which became known as the Bloody Code.

Question 26

What is the black Act?

Answer 26

In 1723, The Black Act made the poaching of deer, rabbit and fish a capital offence. Even being caught in a forest with a blacked up face could result in hanging.

Question 27

Why were so few people killed under the Bloody Code?

Answer 27

o From the middle of the seventeenth century, they frequently sentenced people to transportation to one of England’s colonies in North America or the West Indies, rather than execution by hanging.

o Offenders agreed to join the army or the navy to avoid being hanged.

o Pious judges - It seems that juries were often unwilling to pass a sentence of hanging for minor crimes. Sometimes they reduced the value of the goods stolen to below that of a capital crime.

o Petitions for mercy were often answered favourably especially if the defendant had influential friends.

o If an individual showed remorse for their crimes and was respectful towards the court, they were often shown mercy.

o Judges often acquitted people due to insufficient evidence.