Crime and Punishment in the medieval period

Question 1

How were areas divided in the Anglo-Saxon period?

Answer 1

Shires (counties) were divided into smaller areas known as hundreds, each hundred was split into ten tithings. One man from each tithing had to meet regularly at the king’s shire reeve. Their role was to prevent crime.

Question 2

What was the population in 1000?

Answer 2

Between 1,700,000 and 2,000,000 and about 90% of which lived in the countryside.

Question 3

What caused the growth of towns in 1000?

Answer 3

Towns like Lunderwick (London), Eoforwick (York) and Hamwick (Southampton) grew thanks to trade contacts with Europe, coined money and settled populations

Question 4

Why was it easier to commit crimes in towns?

Answer 4

It was easier as not all people knew each other, there was a higher concentration of goods and money and there was lots of people in close contact.

Question 5

What was the Anglo-Saxon system of society like?

Answer 5

The king was at the top and ruled the country, he decides new laws and issues code of law. Beneath him was the nobles who were given land by the king, they appoint shire reeves and were wealthy and powerful. Then there were freemen with little land and finally the serfs with almost no power and no land.

Question 6

How powerful was the church in the Anglo-Saxon period?

Answer 6

The church was very powerful and had a responsibility for preventing moral crimes and crimes against the church. They punished those who broke the church laws like steeling church property

Question 7

How was the local community responsible for crime prevention in the Anglo-Saxon period?

Answer 7

Anglo-Saxons believed that it was the victims responsibility to seek justice but the local community also played a part in delivering justice, loyalty to the community was seen as duty and anyone who witnessed a crime would raise hue and cry (shouting for help), everyone who heard was expected to help chase down suspects

Question 8

What were crimes against authority?

Answer 8

They were actions that threatened the social structure

Question 9

What were crimes against the person?

Answer 9

Crimes like assault or murder that cause physical harm to another person

Question 10

What were crimes against property?

Answer 10

They were crimes like theft, robbery and arson that involve taking or damaging something that belongs to another person

Question 11

What was taking oaths? And why was it used?

Answer 11

Hearings were taken place in public and the accused would swear their innocence under oaths, to decide if someone was guilty for a first offence.
It was used because people were very religious and if they swore their innocence to God then they thought that they must be innocent

Question 12

What was trial by ordeal? And when was it used?

Answer 12

Trial by ordeal meant the accused would be tested in the eyes of God by going through a trial e.g. Water and hot iron. They did this when there was not enough evidence to prove their innocence and they believed that God would make you win if you were innocent

Question 13

What was maiming? And when was it used?

Answer 13

It involves criminals having part of their body chopped off or have a mark on their skin. Used for lesser crimes as a deterrent

Question 14

What was wergild? And when was it used?

Answer 14

It involved murderers being forced to pay fines to the families of the person killed. It was often done to rich families for what was seen as compensation for death, the amount depended on social class and was also done to prevent blood feuds

Question 15

What was execution? And when was it used?

Answer 15

It meant being punished by death, people were often hanged or beheaded, used for treason and arson which was seen as very serious as a major crime deterrent

Question 16

What was stocks and pillory? And when was it used?

Answer 16

It involves people being put into stocks so that everyone could see that they were guilty, in public. It was a punishment for lesser crimes as a deterrent

Question 17

What was the first new law introduced by William the Conqueror after the Norman conquest? And what did it involve?

Answer 17

It was Murdrum which meant that if a Norman was murdered by an Anglo Saxon and the murderer was not caught and executed, then a large was was paid by the hundered where the body is found, done to stop revenge murders

Question 18

What was the second new law introduced by William the Conqueror after the Norman conquest? And what did it involve?

Answer 18

It was the forest laws which declared that all forests were now owned by the king and anyone caught hunting animals or taking wood was considered a poacher and would receive corporal punishments such as castration or blinding

Question 19

What were the laws regarding outlaws?

Answer 19

Anyone who tried to avoid trial and punishment was considered an outlaw and if you were and outlaw or a waived woman (a woman who ran away) then you lose all protection of the law and could be killed without any legal consequences for the murderer

Question 20

The power of what roles increased after the Norman conquest?

Answer 20

The influence of the king and the church grew and there were increased uses of punishments like capital punishment to boost power and authority of the king

Question 21

What did Henry II do in 1166?

Answer 21

He reorganised courts and set up prisons for accused known as Assize of Clarendon. He ordered judges called Justices in Eyre to visit counties twice a year to hear criminal cases meaning stronger more centralised control

Question 22

What did Richard I introduce?

Answer 22

He introduced coroners to deal with suspicious death which had no natural explanation

Question 23

What did Richard appoint to keep the King’s Peace in 1195?

Answer 23

He appointed knights as keepers of the King’s Peace in unruly areas to maintain law and order

Question 24

How did crime and punishment change in the 13th and 14th centuries?

Answer 24

The growth of towns like London meant for crime in villages so a more centralised approach was needed to control crime meaning the role of the government increased

Question 25

What did Edward III do in 1327?

Answer 25

Edward extended the system out in by Richard to all areas and men judged to be good and lawful were appointed to the role by 1361, they were known as justices of peace

Question 26

What major event happened in 1348?

Answer 26

The Black Death hit England and about a third of the population died from it, with less people peasants were able to Demand higher wages. The ruling classes used a new rule to prevent this.

Question 27

What law was passed in 1361?

Answer 27

The statue of labourers was passed by parliament introducing a maximum wage for workers

Question 28

What were people who committed heresy set known as?

Answer 28

They were known as heretics

Question 29

What was the Feudal system?

Answer 29

It was the new system of society in the Norman period which meant that nobles now had castles and knights were introduced to fight for nobles and the king