Crime And Punishment 1500-1700 Flashcards
Vagabondage
Change:
More people leaving homes due to falling wages, rising food shortages and increasing population
Wealthier people concerned due to links with increasing crime rate
Gov concerned will stir religious opposition
Clapper dudgeon - arsenic on skin to make it bleed and bandages on arms and legs
Doxy - hid stolen items in a bag
Thomas Harman stirred up fears in Caveat in 1566, categorised vagabonds
1547 - Vagrancy act
Able bodied vagabonds w/o work for 3+ days = branded w/ letter + sold as slave for 2 years
Second offence = slave 4 life or execution
Severe = not always enforced
Smuggling (1500-1700)
Gov introduced taxes on range of goods
People don’t want to pay = smuggling
Many people benefitted of all classes - difficult to enforce
Case study: Witchfinder general Matthew Hopkins
In 30 days, 200 witches were hanged Started in Manningtee Looked for a devil's mark (spots, lumps etc) as evidence of a witch Devil came in form of familiars Tortured to confess Repented by naming other witches £1 for every witch hung 1542 -1736 1000 people executed
Elizabeth I
1558 - 1603
Doctrinely protestant but kept Catholic views and compromised on religion
Heretics were extreme Catholics or Protestants
Religion and changing definition of a crime
1517 - Martin Luther + reformation
Monarch decided the established religious beliefs and heretics would be going against the king
Heresy and treason still crimes against authority
Night watchman
Unpaid volunteers
Answered to constable
Rota - more organised
All expected to take part
prisons
Use of prisons as a punishment and to house poor children
First prison was Bridewell prison - 1556
Overcrowded + men & women kept together, hard labour and poor sanitation
Edward VI
1547-1553
Protestant king - heretics were Catholics
James I
(1603 - 1628)
protestant but was initially soft on Catholics (afraid of assassination)
Gunpowder plot of 1605 made all Catholics treasonous
Thief Takers
Paid rewards for catching criminals.
Susceptible to corruption (often other gangs)
Example - Jonathon Wild, led a gang of thieves
Bloody Code
50 capital crimes by 1668 - 222 capital crimes by 1810
More crimes were considered capital crimes
Many crimes were often out of desperation
Severe penalties = not always enforced (pardons if prove good character)
Transportation to NA
Severity of crime determined length of time (7 or 14 yrs)
Journey took many months
Hard labour + unpaid
usually unable to pay for return trips
Punishment - continuity
Fines - deterrent
Pillory or stocks - deterrent (public humiliation)
corporal punishment (whipping, maiming, branding) - retribution and deterrent
Hanging + hung, drawn and quartered
Burning at the stake
Reasons behind transportation
Ideology
Effective deterrent
possibility of rehabilitation
Change of scene might allow a fresh start
Practicality
Lack of effective prison system
Convicts can be used to populate and control colonies
Estimated 50 000 - 80 000 transported to NA in c1700
Puritan Laws
1653 - 1658 Oliver Cromwell - Lord Protector
not allowed to do anything on Sunday
Not allowed to drink and feast (bad behaviour)
Christmas = holy day = only doing holy things (i.e., read bible)
Town Constable
Arrested criminals and sent them to court
Rounded up “sturdy beggars”, stop suspected criminals and break up fights
Employed by town authorities
Appointed by local people (good standings)
Powers to arrest suspects w/o warrant
End of Witchcraze
Hopkins disappeared - 1647 Doubts about evidence 1647 killed preacher John Love Rev John Gaute criticised evidence Enlightenment movement Royal society established in 1660 and 1662 awarded a royal charter by King Charles II
Law enforcement (1500 - 1700)
Collective responsibility, still hue and cry
Increase in people paid to law enforcement (small and local)
increased wealth = more crime
More businesses = more fraud
Denser population = easier to pickpocket
Vagabonds who can’t find work become criminals
Local policed funded by tax or rich
Mary I
1553 - 1558
Catholic queen - heretics were protestants
283 burned at the stake
Change in 1500 - 1700 (punishment)
Use of prisons as a form of punishment to punish poor people who broke the law and to house poor children
First prison: 1556, Bridewell Prison
Conditions: Overcrowding, women men and children all together, hard labour and ppor sanitisation
More crimes considered capital punishment
50 capital crimes by 1968
“Bloody Code”
Flawed system:
Many crimes out of desperation
Sever penalties = not always carried out - can receive pardon if good character
Henry VIII
1509-1534, heretics were protestants
After 1534 could include Catholics
Heretics were people who disagreed with his views
Gunpowder Plot
Date: 5 November 1605
Aims: Breakup powerful ruling protestant aristocrats and replace James I with his daughter Elizabeth, to influence and control her
People involved: Robert Catsby, Guy Fawkes, Thomas Percy, Thomas Winton and Jack Wright
Method: 20 May 1604 rented cellar under Parliament and blow it up with 36 barrels of gunpowder
Discovered bcos: 20 October 1605, Lord Monteagle received an annonymous letter warning not to go - given to Robert Cecil
Impact: Guy Fawkes tortured all sentenced to hung, drawn and quartered