Crime And Punishment In Saxon And Medival England

Question 1

Blood feuds

Answer 1

If a person committed a crime against another then the victim’s family may have
a blood feud with the criminal’s family. This meant that the victim’s family was
allowed to take revenge on criminal’s family. The main problem with this method
was if the victim’s family retaliated with something that was considered harsher
than the original crime then the family of the original criminal would feel the need
to retaliate further to balance things out.

Question 2

WERGILD

Answer 2

This literally translates as blood money. Wergild was a bit like compensation for
damage to a person.

Question 3

Tithings

Answer 3

Once a man reached 12 years old he was expected to join a tithing. A
tithing was a
group of 10 men who were all responsible for their behaviour. If one
committed a crime the others were responsible for bringing him to justice, if
they did not and he was caught anyway the punishment would be given
to all members of the tithing.

Question 4

Trial by ordeal: trial by hot iron

Answer 4

the accused would hold a red hot iron
bar and then have their wounds dressed. If after 3 days their wounds were
healing it was considered that god had protected them and they were
innocent, if their wounds were infected God had forsaken them.

Question 5

Trial by ordeal: trial by hot water

Answer 5

the accused would retrieve an object from the
bottom of a pot of boiling water. Their wounds were then bound and
inspected 3 days later.

Question 6

Trial by ordeal: trial by cold water

Answer 6

The water represented purity, therefore the guilty would be rejected and
would float; unfortunately the innocent would be accepted into the purewater and could drown

Question 7

Trial by ordeal: trial by blessed bread

Answer 7

The accused praying that if they were guilty they would choke on a
slice of bread, they would then eat the bread and if they survived they were
innocent.

Question 8

Trial by combat

Answer 8

For this ordeal the accused and the accuser would fight until either the death or one
of the two gave in. The loser was considered to have been forsaken by God and
was therefore guilty. For this ordeal people did not have to fight themselves, they
could pay someone to fight for them. This put Norman lords who would have a lot
more access to money in a stronger position than the average Saxon.

Question 9

Murdrum fines

Answer 9

This law stated that if a Norman law was killed and the killer could not be found it
was considered to be ‘Murdrum’. If the killer was not found then a hefty fine was
given for the whole village to pay. This encouraged the other members of the village
to inform on the killer if they knew who it was.

Question 10

Forest laws

Answer 10

These laws applied to areas of woodland that were protected by William I. Saxons could not hunt deer; carry a bow or chop wood from the trees in these protected
woods.

Question 11

The Harrying of the north

Answer 11

When William I first came to power in England there were a number of rebellions
(people who use violence to defy authority). William’s reaction to this was to take
decisive and harsh action. He would burn down villages to put his message across
and also would kill whole herds of livestock. All of this was designed to deter further
rebellion.

Question 12

Travelling justices

Answer 12

If you wanted the king to hear your case then you could be waiting a long time to follow him around and get an opportunity for him to hear you. Some cases however needed to be heard by the king so that he could make a judgement. Travelling Justices were people who were given power by the king to hear cases and make judgements on behalf of the king. This made
the court system much more efficient.

Question 13

County Gaols

Answer 13

Until the county gaols were built the only form of prisons were those that wereused to hold people prior to going to court. These gaols, once built, were used as a form of punishment.

Question 14

Trial by jury

Answer 14

If you felt that you did not want to be judged by an ordeal then you could pay for a ‘writ’ a document that allowed you to be heard in the king’s court and be tried by a 12 man jury (the basic model that we still use today). Henry II also did not like the power the Church had in making legal judgements; because of this in 1215 Henry II ended the system of trial by ordeal. This meant that all criminal cases had to be tried by a 12 man jury and because the need for a writ was not removed it generated a lot of money for the king.

Question 15

Justice of the peace

Answer 15

In 1361 the Justice of the Peace Act appointed 3-4 Justices of the Peace or JP’s to each county. These JP’s had the power to fine, bind and arrest people who were disturbing the peace. This was one of the first active forms of policing authorised by the king rather than just by ordinary people policing themselves.

Question 16

Country coroners

Answer 16

These were people who were specifically appointed to investigate
unexpected or suspicious deaths.

Question 17

Benefit of the Clergy

Answer 17

The benefit of the clergy was the right that Priests had to have any discretion tried by the Church Courts. The church courts were seen as much less harsh than the King’s court or the manor courts. Over time more and more people claimed the benefit of the clergy, from monks to the church doorkeeper.

Question 18

Sanctuaries

Answer 18

If someone was being perused for committing a crime and
they made it to a church they could claim sanctuary. If
they claimed sanctuary they would be protected from the
law for 40 days. After this they could leave the country or
face trial. A person was not allowed to claim sanctuary if
they had committed certain crimes such as heresy. Over
time the number of crimes a person was not allowed to
claim sanctuary for was increased until Henry VIII dissolved
the monasteries in 1536 and sanctuary ended entirely.