Law Inforcement - Early Modern Period 1500-1700

Question 1

How did people police?

Answer 1

• Hue and Cry
• Parish Constables to lead the hue and cry
• Town watchmen / sergeants
• Citizens: had to get an arrest warrant from magistrates

Question 2

What were trials like in The Early Modern Period

Answer 2

• Manor courts: local non serious crimes
• JPs deal with minor crimes
• Royal judges for serious crimes

Question 3

How did benefit of clergy change?

Answer 3

Church courts remained and you could still claim benefit of clergy, but serious crimes were not allowed to claim it. Only for low level crimes. Claiming sanctuary has also been removed (Henry VIII break with the church, wanted to limit their power.)

Question 4

What is the Habeas Corpus act?

Answer 4

You cannot be locked up or arrested unless you are charged with a crime, anyone arrested had to appear in court or be released.

Question 5

Was witchcraft a crime?

Answer 5

Yes, but was previously dealt with in Church courts. Now after 1550, it is officially recognised as a crime and is punishable by death.

Question 6

How does King James I change the laws surrounding witchcraft?

Answer 6

He tightens the laws, and enforced major witch-hunts. 1964. He wrote a book called ‘demonology” about witches which changed and affected public attitudes.

Question 7

How did religious turmoil affect belief in witchcraft?

Answer 7

Fear. The change from catholicism to protestantism meant people didn’t feel safe and felt exposed to evil. Cannot rely on the church

Question 8

How did poverty affect witchcraft?

Answer 8

Economic problems as a result of the rising population: food shortages, unemployment. There were also poor harvests. People couldn’t explain this, blamed it on witches.

Question 9

How did the civil war affect witchcraft?

Answer 9

The English civil war caused distrust. Also meant that there was a lack of strictness with law enforcement, so figures such as Matthew Hopkins could hunt witches. The Assize judges could not visit each country to deal with crime, so people took the law into their own hands.

Question 10

How did Hopkins identify witches? How did he get them to confess?

Answer 10

He would look for a ‘devils mark’, which many women had as a result of harsh lifestyles and diets. He would torture them.

Question 11

What was the Vagabonds Act (1)?

Answer 11

1494, Beggars or vagabonds would be put in the stocks for three days and then sent back to where they came from

Question 12

How were vagabonds dealt with (2)?

Answer 12

1531, Beggars or vagabonds were deemed to be deserving or undeserving.Deserving - allowed to beg. Undeserving - Whipped and sent home.

Question 13

What was the vagrancy act?

Answer 13

1547, Beggars forced to work, they could be whipped, enslaved or even executed.

Question 14

Why were they punished so harshly?

Answer 14

People didn’t like that they had to pay to support vagabonds, and they were seen as a threat to land owners and the government as they could move around the country, making them think they were criminals.

Question 15

Why did Vagabonds emerge?

Answer 15

• Henry VII banned private armies, so all the soldiers lost their jobs.
• Henry VIII dissolved monasteries so people could no longer seek help from the church or monks.
• Rising population, more unemployed.
• Bad harvests

Question 16

What types of people feared the vagabonds?

Answer 16

Mostly the rich land owners

Question 17

How did new technology affect people’s views of vagabonds?

Answer 17

Pamphlets and newspapers published criticisms which changed people’s views.

Question 18

What is Heresy

Answer 18

When someone doesn’t have the same religious beliefs as the monarch.

Question 19

Explain the struggle between protestantism and catholicism?

Answer 19

Henry VIII used protestant ideas to divorce his wife, causing a split in the throne.
1547- 1553 Edward VI enforced protestantism.
1553- 1558 Mary I was a strict Catholic, executed about 300 protestants. Died unpopular.
1558- 1601 Elizabeth I restored Protestantism.

Question 20

What dates did the Bloody code span over?

Answer 20

1688-1830

Question 21

How can we explain the development of the Bloody Code?

Answer 21

• People feared crime because of the rise of pamphlets and newspapers such as penny dreadful which liked to focus on brutal and dangerous crimes
• Towns were growing in size, more people and a growing population. Harder to police as Hue and Cry only works in small communities.
• Wealthy land owners wanted to protect property and see the poor as a threat.
• People believed that to stop crime, people had to be punished harshly.