Crime and punishment- Medieval England

Question 1

What is a crime against a person?

Answer 1

Murder
Rape
Assault
Public disorder

Question 2

What is a crime against property?

Answer 2

Arson
Theft
Counterfeiting coins

Question 3

What is a crime against authority?

Answer 3

Treason
Rebellion

Question 4

What is a social crime?

Answer 4

A crime that was considered acceptable to many people, for example poaching

Question 5

Describe William I’s forest laws (give 4 points)

Answer 5

30% of England became a royal forest, which William used for hunting
You needed a hunting right to hunt in these forests
In Royal Forests it became illegal to hunt, graze animals or take wood without a license.
Was seen as unfair so nobody listened, or didn’t see people who did it as criminals

Question 6

Describe the Murdrum fine (give 2 points)

Answer 6

New law used to establish control over the newly conquered population
If an Anglo-Saxon killed a Norman and was not caught- the money was paid by the hundred (area of land) where it was found.

Question 7

Briefly describe 5 aspects of Anglo-Saxon law enforcement

Answer 7

Tithings - All people in a tithing were responsible for each other: if one was accused of a crime the others would make sure he went to court or the tithing would need to pay a fine.

Hue and cry - The victim or a witness to a crime raise a hue and cry by shouting to alert the others, anyone who heard it would need to go and chase them.

Courts- Different courts depending on the crime and who committed (eg. royal courts for more serious crimes and hundred courts for petty crimes.)

Oaths- The accused to swear oaths before God and others could support them as oath helpers.

Deciding when innocent or guilty- If the jury couldn’t decide they were handed over to church courts for a trial by ordeal

Question 8

Change and Continuity: Norman law enforcement (give 3 points)

Answer 8

Continuity: Kept Anglo-Saxon system of tithings, hue and cry, and the court system. Still mostly the responsibility of the community
Change: Normans introduced trial by combat- accused and acusser 1v1
Also added “foresters” to police Royal Forest and enforce forest laws. Very feared and hated.

Question 9

Change and Continuity: Growth of Towns- The Roles of community in Law Enforcement

Answer 9

Continuity: Hue and cry system
Trial and ordeal continued

Change: From 1250s, parish constables led the chase for criminals after the hue and cry was given and arrest suspects
Some towns also had a night watch in which volunteers patrolled the streets and handed over suspects to the constable
Trial by ordeal and combat were abolished 1215

Question 10

Give two features of parish constables

Answer 10

1) Local people nominated by the community
2) Unpaid position and constables held post for a year

Question 11

Change and Continuity: Growth of Towns- The Roles of Government appointed officials (4)

Answer 11

Change: Knights were appointed by Richard I as keepers of the peace from 1195
-Following the Justice of the Peace Act (1361), JP had the power to hear minor crimes in smalls courts four times a year.
The role of the sheriff expanded and he was now expected to track down criminals if hue and cry had not worked. From 1285, he was allowed to form a posse of local mean to try and catch criminals.

Question 12

Describe how Medieval punishments changed in the Norman period
(give three points)

Answer 12

Use of capital and corporal punishments rose dramatically- more offences became capital crimes
Breaking the Forest laws were punished harshly eg. by castration, blinding or hanging
Wergild system ended, fines were now paid to the King

Question 13

Describe how medieval punishment changed in the Later medieval period
(give three points)

Answer 13

Use of capital punishment gradually decreased- although crimes against authority were still greatly punished
Corporal punishments were still widely used, although juries would not convict their neighbours unless they were continuous reoffenders
Fines became more common

Question 14

Give 5 similarities between Anglo-Saxon, Norman and Later medieval punishments.

Answer 14

All used capital punishments
All used corporal punishments
All used fines
All punished people differently depending on class
Aims of punishment were the same across the periods

Question 15

Describe the benefit of the clergy (give three points)

Answer 15

Appealing to people because you would be tried less harshly
People proved their right to it by reading a verse from the bible
Unavailable to women

Question 16

What were Church courts mainly used for? (give three points)

Answer 16

Trying people accused of:
Adultery
Moral Crimes
Not following Church rites

Question 17

Describe sanctuary (give three points)

Answer 17

A person could claim sanctuary by going to an important church only
Priest would report the crime but nobody was allowed to arrest the accused
The accused would swear an oath to go to a court or leave the country within 40 days.

Question 18

Describe trial by ordeal, and give 3 examples

Answer 18

Trial by ordeal was used when a persons innocent could not be decided by a court.
Various methods included:
- Trial by hot water or hot iron (if it heals well their innocent)
-Trial by water (if they dank they were innocent)
-Trial by blessed bread (for priests only, if they choked they were guilty)