Glossary Flashcards
Tithings
Groups of 10 men introduced in the 10th C. All males over the age of 12 belonged to a tithing. If the tithing refused to bring a member of their group to court, then they would all pay a fine of compensation. Tithings were used during the rest of the Middle Ages.
Hue and Cry
When fellow villagers would help to chase criminals. This was the main method of catching offenders throughout the Middle Ages.
Trial by Jury
Used for most offences but there were no lawyers to prosecute or defend, the accuser was the victim. The jury was made up of men who knew the victim and the accused. Both sides told their side to the jury and then the jury would decide. If the evidence was unclear then they would use their experience of the persons involved.
Compurgation
If the jury felt the accuser was more honest than the accused, then they swore an oath to God saying the accused was guilty compurgation.
Royal Court
Throughout the Middle Ages, there was a royal court which dealt with the most serious of cases, involving his lords and other serious cases. (After the 1160s royal courts toured the country, visiting each area two or three times a year.). The jurors were always drawn from the criminal’s area. Judges from this court also travelled to counties to try cases, but irregularly and inefficiently.
Shire or County Courts
Shire/county courts existed throughout the Middle Ages and met twice a year. They dealt with all cases from murder to local issues. All landowners and a representative from each village had to attend the shire court. Local noblemen acted as judges. This was also the name of area of land controlled by a sheriff.
Hundred Courts
Hundred courts existed throughout the Middle Ages and were held every month. All freemen had to attend these local courts and this was where they joined tithings and swore to keep the peace. The hundred courts dealt with less serious cases. Each hundred was an area which provided the main unit of local government. There were several smaller parishes within each hundred.
Manorial Courts
Manorial courts were held by all landowners in their own villages or manors. The landowner was the judge. These courts dealt with people who had broken local rules, such as workers who had not done enough work on the Lord’s land, or slaves who had run away. Their main task was to run the lord’s lands and deal with offences by villeins. By 1250 many manors had taken over the work of hundred courts, which meant that they judged any petty crimes affecting the whole community. The jury was made up of wealthy villagers. By 1500 they were losing their influence as the king’s JP heard more cases.
Church Courts
The Normans introduced church courts after 1066. These courts had two functions -to supervise the conduct of the clergy and deal with the sins of the laity (the public). These sins included…Recusancy – the sin of not attending church, and Blasphemy – the sin of speaking sinfully, or disrespecting God. There were no juries in these courts. Priests heard the evidence and passed judgement.
Chief Constables of the Hundred
They were not regular police, but they tried to keep the peace in addition to their ordinary job. They were unpaid and only held the role for 1 year. They were usually wealthy farmers. Their main duty was to ensure that every freeman 15-60 was equipped and ready to take up arms to serve the king, in an army or as part of a posse.
Parish Countable
Appointed for one year and responsible for ensuring that his parish could supply armed men when needed, as well as making sure the village responded properly to all crimes. From 1363 it was his job to make sure that they all practiced archery on Sunday. He had to arrest suspicious strangers.
Coroners
They enquired into unnatural deaths with the help of the jury. He would then pass on any information to the sheriff. It was their job to record evidence about sudden death with the help of locals. He viewed and measured the body and recorded any wounds. There were four in every county which meant that the bodies were often in a bad state when the coroners got to them.
Sheriff
His job was to track down and imprison criminals who had not been apprehended by the hue and cry. The sheriff investigated all major crimes and had to track down suspects identified by the jury using his posse. He would then bring the accused before a judge. This was the King’s agent in each county. He would be a powerful lord. The role was unpaid. He would take a share of the property of all convicted murderers.
Posse
Posse comitatus –force of the country- any male over the age of 15 could be called to assist the sheriff in a manhunt.
Stocks, pillory, carting, the ducking+ cucking stools, whipping
Public humiliations that were used to punish minor offences such as drunkenness and petty theft. Women guilty of swearing or arguing in public, or disobeying their husbands, were punished on the ducking stool. This crime appeared from around 1350. Manor courts sometimes forced women accused of being scolds to sit in public on a kind of wooden toilet called a Cucking Stool.
Benefit of Clergy
In 1351 anyone who could read ‘the Neck Verse’ from the Bible had the right to be tried in a Church court and possibly avoid execution.
King’s approver
To avoid execution you could inform on ten guilty men, and be released as a reward.
Sanctuary
Another way that you could avoid the death penalty in the later Middle Ages. Criminals could get protection from the law by staying in churches and cathedrals. The bell of the religious building would sound to alert the locality that sanctuary had been granted. The accused then had 40 days to decide whether to stand trial or leave the country. If they chose to leave, then they would have safe passage to the coast by wearing a black gown with a yellow cross on the shoulder and carrying a white cross.
Quarter Sessions
Courts held in each area four times a year dealing with serious crimes, because royal courts were too busy, from 1363 onwards.
Justices of Peace
JPs were local gentry and noblemen who served as judges in the Quarter sessions courts introduced in 1361. The king appointed 3-4 JPs per county to take over the sheriff’s court duties. They passed really serious to the assizes but judged others in their own court with local juries. After 1388 they did this four times a year at quarter sessions. They were unpaid but educated and wealthy.
Folville Gang
Group of violent outlaws in the 14th C. led by Sir Eustace Folville a disinherited knight. They targeted the most vulnerable and poor to line their own pockets, terrorising local Lincolnshire, killing rivals and kidnapping a judge. Their first victim was Roger Bellers and important royal judge in 1326. A hue and cry failed to capture them and they escaped to France. They were issued a pardon by Edward III in 1327. His most notorious crime was in 1332 when he kidnapped another king’s judge. He was never brought to justice.
Villeins
Most peasants were called this. They worked on the land in return for shelter and security provided by the lord. They were not freemen.
Lollards
From the end of the 14th C this group challenged Roman Catholic teachings about God’s forgiveness and demanded to be allowed to read the Bible in English. They were accused of heresy for this crime and burnt as punishment.
County Assizes
1293 King Edward ordered that royal judges from London would visit each country two or three times a year to try cases of serious crime from that area. These courts were called county assizes.
Royal Judges
1293 King Edward ordered that royal judges from London would visit each country two or three times a year to try cases of serious crime from that area. These courts were called county assizes.
Watchmen
1285 King Edward passed the Statute of Winchester which ordered towns to appoint watchmen to patrol gates and walls at night. Watchmen carried lamps and had to arrest suspicious strangers and take them to the constable in the morning. They called the hue and cry if they discovered a crime. It was an unpopular job.
Borough Courts
Name given to courts run by towns. They had a similar role to hundred courts as anyone who lived in a medieval town for over a year was a freeman.
