C+P Early modern England complete Flashcards
What time period was Early modern England?
c1500-c1700
Name some changes in society (4)
What happened to the feudal system? And the population?
- Increase in population
- Decline of feudal system
- Higher unemployment
- New farming method
- Changes in religious beliefs
Increase in what crimes?
- The person, increase in street criminals and petty thieves
- Property, poaching
- Authority, more people committed heresy and treason
What is heresy?
What is treason?
Heresy is having different religious beliefs to the official religion of the country.
Treason is plotting to overthrow or harm ruler of your country.
Vagabondage was a new crime in early modern England.
What is a vagabond?
Why was there an increase in the number of them? (2 reasons)
-A vagabond is an unemployed homeless person
There was an increase in them due to the population rise, falling wages and rising food prices.
What did the new crime of smuggling increase? And why smuggle?
Why was it difficult to enforce law?
Smuggling increased when import tax was introduced in the 17th century. Smuggling allows you to avoid tax.
It was difficult to enforce a law on it because it was seen as a social crime and many viewed it as not very serious.
How did witchcraft change as a crime? And name a law that was passed.
Witchcraft became much more serious offence because people saw it as harmful.
-1542 Henry VIII made witchcraft punishable by death.
Name a continuity and a change in catching the criminals and preventing crime in the early modern period.
- People were still expected to raise hue and cry.
- Watchmen were introduced to deal with increased urban crime.
What was the change in the role of the Church.
In Medieval Times it provided an alternative to the Justice System but Churches became less important in society.
How did Benefit of the clergy and Sanctuaries change?
Benefit of the clergy remained but were exempted from serious crimes like murder.
Sanctuaries, Henry VIII made them more strict and James I 1623 abolished them.
Name two features of watchmen.
Carried a lamp
Rang a bell to alert people
Patrolled from 10pm and dawn
Name two features of town constables.
Employed by authorities
Respected members of community
In charge of watchmen in their area
Name three continuities of punishments in early modern period.
And what was the reasoning behind these punishments.
-Fines
-Pillory and stocks
-Hanging
-Burning
Retribution and deterrence were still the main purpose of these punishments.
What was the time period of the Bloody Code?
1688-1825
Was this a change? What is the Bloody Code?
What was the aim behind it?
The Bloody Code was a change and it made minor crimes capital crimes, therefore increasing Capital offences.
Aim was to frighten people so they wouldn’t commit crimes.
Transportation in North America was a form of punishment how? And who brought this change?
Transportation was used to transport criminals to colonies in North America to do manual work.
Started under James I
Why was aim of transportation and why was it maybe an effective punishment?
Gave prisons a chance to reform while still acting as a deterrent.
Also provided an alternative to execution for petty crime which many deemed to be too harsh.
What year and day were the gunpowder plotters?
5th November 1605
What religion was Guy Fawkes and why did he want to blow up the houses of parliament?
They were Catholic and they wanted more freedom to practice their faith. They wanted to blow up the houses of parliament to get rid of leading protestants.
What were the gunpowder plotters punishment?
Plotters tried and found guilty of treason. Publicly hanged, drawn and quartered.
Give two reasons for why the punishment were so harsh. And develop just to ‘act as a deterrent’
- Treason received the most serious punishment
- Without a police force harsh punishment was thought to be the only way to deter crime.
- Period of instability, due to disputes over royal succession required harsh punishment to act as a deterrent.
What were the Witch hunts years most prolific?
1645-1647
What were witch hunts, which gender was it usually directed at? Where was it most prolific?
Witchhunts were where people actively tried to discover witches. East England where hundreds of women were investigated
Who was Matthew Hopkins
Name two things he did.
Witchfinder general
- He received money for each person prosecuted for being a witch.
- He used torture to extract confessions
- He helped stir up massive panic and fear.
Give two factors for the intensity of witch hunts in 1645-1647.
hint: James I’s book
Economic problems - Civil War and poor harvest caused huge economic problems and people looked for scapegoats.
Influence of individuals - James I promoted witch-hunting and James’s book Demonologie outlined his belief in witches.
Name three ways to find evidence of Witchcraft.
- Witness accounts
- Unusual marks
- Possessed.
