Medieval England

Question 1

What years make up the middle ages?

Answer 1

1000-1500

Question 2

Examples of crime against the person in the Anglo-Saxon era?

Answer 2

Murder, assault, rape, public disorder

Question 3

Crimes against property examples.

Answer 3

Arson, theft(stealing crops), counterfeiting coins

Question 4

Crimes against authority examples.

Answer 4

Treason, rebellion.

Question 5

In the Anglo-Saxon period, who made the laws?

Answer 5

people with power and authority - the king.

Question 6

What is poaching?

Answer 6

Hunting wild animals on other people’s land without paying ‘hunting rights’.

Question 7

Why was poaching seen as a ‘social’ crime?

Answer 7

It was considered to be acceptable to many people.

Question 7

What started happening about the law in the year 1,000?

Answer 7

The kings were issuing codes of law that made certain actions crime when before laws were based on local custom and not written down. This illustrated the growing power of the monarch and law became more unified across the country.

Question 8

What did William 1 creating new crimes show?

Answer 8

It showed that a powerful king could lead to much change.

Question 9

What happened when Henry II became king in 1154?

Answer 9

Standard laws were written down. This meant that for the first time there was a legal system across the whole country.

Question 9

Why did William I add new crimes to the existing Anglo-Saxon ones?

Answer 9

To establish his royal authority over his new kingdom.

Question 9

William I’s Forest Laws…

Answer 9

• About 30% of England became ‘Royal Forest’, which William I and the Norman nobility used for hunting.
• Village communities and farms were evicted from this land, which caused resentment.
• The Royal Forests were protected by new Forest Laws.
• Only those people who paid for hunting rights were allowed to hunt in the Royal Forest.
• In the Royal Forests it became illegal to graze animals, kill wild animals or take wood without a license.
• The forest laws were seen as unfair by ordinary people so those who broke these laws were not seen as criminals by most people in society.

Question 10

How did the Anglo-Saxons react to the Norman invasion?

Answer 10

They showed heavy resistance and rebellions.

Question 10

What was different about the Anglo-Saxon punishment of rebellion to the Norman one?

Answer 10

They both used death penalty for the rebels themselves. However, William also punished those who were not directly involved in the rebellions. Estimates suggest that 100,000 people starved to death due to the destruction of farmland and animals on William’s orders in the areas that had seen rebellions.

Question 11

What was the murdrum fine?

Answer 11

If an Anglo-Saxon murdered a Norman and the culprit was not caught, a large sum of money has to be paid by the hundred where the body was found.

Question 11

What were the consequences of the murdrum fine?

Answer 11

• Established control over the conquered population.
• Murdering a Norman was more serious than murdering an Anglo-Saxon - shows how the ruling class can make laws to benefit themselves.

Question 12

Were tithings authorities or local communities?

Answer 12

Local communities

Question 13

What were tithings?

Answer 13

Shires were split into areas called hundreds and each hundred was divided into ten tithings. All people in a tithing were responsible for each other: if one was accused of a crime, the others made sure he went to court or the tithing would have to pay a fine for them. A shire reeve was a local man appointed by the community to take criminals to courts and make sure any punishment was carried out.

Question 13

Was hue and cry authorities or local communities?

Answer 13

The victim or a witness to a crime raised hue and cry by shouting to alert others. Anyone who heard the hue and cry was expected to chase and help catch the suspected criminal.

Question 14

Were courts authorities or local communities?

Answer 14

Authorities

Question 15

What were courts?

Answer 15

If the suspect did not admit to the crime, or was not caught in the act, their guilt or innocence had to be decided by a court. There were different courts depending on the type of crime committed and the person who committed it - royal courts were national courts that dealth with the most serious of crimes; lesser crimes were dealt with in shire courts; and petty crimes were dealt with in hundred courts. Court hearings took place in public.

Question 16

What did norman law enforcement continue?

Answer 16

Tithings, the hue and cry, the court system.

Question 17

What did norman law enforcement change?

Answer 17

Introduced trial by combat (shows the more military nature of the normans). Two people would fight to the death until one of them died or surrendered.

The use of ‘foresters’ to police the forest laws.

Question 18

|What did later medieval law enforcement change?

Answer 18

They introduced parish constables

Question 18

Who were the Parish constables?

Answer 18

These were local people nominated by the community. It was an unpaid position. Constables did their usual jobs as well. They held the post for a year.

Question 19

What were the aims of medieval punishment?

Answer 19

Deterrence and retribution.

Question 20

What was capital punishment like in Anglo-saxon England?

Answer 20

Capital punishment, in particular death by hanging, was used as a punishment for treason. This lethal punishment was intended to deter
other people from committing this crime.

Question 21

What was corporal punishment like in anglosaxon England?

Answer 21

Corporal punishment included mutilation, such as cutting off someone’s hand. This was used for repeat offenders. Those who continued to carry out petty theft would have their hand cut off. This was intended to deter them from committing the crime again.

Question 22

What were stocks like in anglo-saxon England?

Answer 22

The pillory and stocks were also used as punishments. These punishments were intended to humiliate the convicted criminal.

Question 23

What was wergild like in

Answer 23

The Anglo-Saxons used a system of fines called the
wergild, which was a type of compensation that was paid to the victims of crime or their families based on social status.
Previously, the victim or victim’s family had had the right to kill the person accused of a serious crime. This was known as ‘blood feud’ and led to long-running feuds and violence.
The introduction of wergild (for death) and botgild (for injuries) meant money was paid instead of blood. The king decided how much each fine was, and this was set out in the king’s laws. It was an unequal system as, for example, the fine for killing a prince was 1,500 shillings while the fine for killing a peasant was 40 shillings

Question 24

What was Wergild like in Norman England?

Answer 24

Wergild ended. All fines were paid to William I and his officials, rather than the victim or their family.

Question 25

What was capital and corporal punishments like in Norman England?

Answer 25

Their uses rose dramatically with more offences becoming capital crimes.

Question 26

Why were Norman punishments so harsh?

Answer 26

The norman invasion was not welcomed by the Anglo-Saxons and there was mcuh resistance for the first few years. Harsh puishments carried out in public were seen by the normans as the best way to make people behave.

Question 27

In the later medieval period how did social status affect your punishment?

Answer 27

Commoners were usually hanged for murder while nobles were usually beheaded. Punishments varied depending on gender and class.

Answer 28

Although the right to be tried in a Church court was intended for priests, it was often extended to anyone who was connected to the Church. To claim ‘benefit of the clergy’, an individual had to read a verse from Psalm 51 in the Bible. In medieval England it was only priests and churchmen who could read. However, non-churchmen were able to get around this by learning a verse from the Bible, which they would recite. This became known as the ‘neck verse’ because it often saved people’s neck from the hangman’s noose. People did this as punishments given by church courts were generally more lenient than those given by other courts as the church wanted to give people the chance to reform.

Question 29

What is the significance of the benefit of the clergy?

Answer 29

It illustrates how the justice system in medieval society was not equal - it provided a way for people to be treated differently. Notably, benfit of clergy was not available to women as women couldn’t be priests.

Question 30

Influence of the church: Sanctuary

Answer 30

Sanctuary was protection from the law and was offered by some important churches only. A person could claim sanctuary by going to one of these churhes. The priest would report the crime but noone was allowed to arrest the accused. The accussed could either agree to go to court or swear an oath agreeing to leave the country.

Question 31

What is the significance of the sanctuary?

Answer 31

They showed how the church operated an alternative justice system outside the control of other authorities.

Question 32

Influence of the church: Trial by Ordeal

Answer 32

In cases where a persons guilt or innocence could not be decided by a court, the Church used a trial by ordeal. Various methods were used but the outcome of all these trials was seen as God’s judgement on the guilt or innocence of the accused. In 1215, the Pope ordered his priests to stop administering these trials and they quickly ended.