Medieval England Flashcards
What happened after the romans left England?
The British isles became an attractive option for European groups to invade and expand. The first major group to invade the British isles after the romans were the saxons followed by the vikings.These two peoples fought over territory for centuries until 1066 the Norman invasion took over the whole country.
Why did season society develop greatly?
The society grew in size and complexity. Mainly due to the fact initially saxons arrived in smaller tribal groups and settled where they found appropriate land. These smaller communities grew into small kingdoms,which grew into larger kingdoms.These kingdoms began to grow in strength and swallow each other up until eventually they had all merged to form one Saxon kingdom.
What were blood feuds in Saxon times?
If a person committed a crime against another then the victims family may have a blood feud with the criminals family. Revenge allowed.
Problems with a blood feud ?
If the victims family retaliated with something considered harsher than the original crime then the the family of the original criminal would feel the need to retaliate further to balance things out. This could go on for generations
What’s a wergild?
Literally translates to blood money.if you killed someone you owed a predetermined amount to their family as a wergild. If you only took out their eye you would still owe a wergild but it would be a smaller amount.
What’s the hew and cry?
If a member of the community saw a crime being committed they would cry out for others in the village to come to their aid and everyone was expected to help apprehend the criminal
What’s a tithing
Once a man reached 12 he was expected to join a tithing which was a group of 10 men who were all responsible for each others behaviour. If one committed a crime the others were responsible for bringing him to justice and if they didn’t and were caught the punishment would be given to all members of a tithing
What’s Saxon justice?
If a criminal was caught and needed to be brought to justice then they would be brought before the local lord at a kind of court known as ‘folkmoot’. The folkmoot was a meeting of the local lord and members of the local community who knew the accused and could make a judgement on their innocence or guilt. If they made a decision of guilty then the lord would decide upon an appropriate punishment. If the folkmoot could not reach a decision the accused would then have to undertake an ordeal
What’s trial by ordeal
This system essentially passed the judgement of innocence or guilt over to god. In the Saxon period there were four main ordeals that a person could be put through to allow God to either protect them (if innocent) or forsake them (if guilty)
What’s trial by fire (or hot iron)
The accused would hold a red hot iron bar and then have their wounds dressed. If after 3 days their wounds were healing it was considered that god had protected them and they were innocent, if their wounds were infected god had forsaken them
What’s trial by hot water?
The accused would retrieve an object from the bottom of a pot of boiling water. Their wounds were were then bound and inspected 3 days later
What’s trial by cold water?
The accused was thrown in a local pond or lake. The water represented purity,therefore the guilty would be rejected and would float; unfortunately the innocent would be accepted into the pure water and could well drawn
What’s trial by sacrament ( or blessed bread)
Mainly used for the clergy and involved the accused praying that if they were guilty they would choke on a slice of bread, they would then eat the bread and if they survived they were innocent
Why did saxons use punishments to deter criminals?
The only prisons they had were used simply to hold criminals before trial, not to reform them.
Other than execution how were major crimes punished?
Mutilation and limb removal
What were outlaws
If someone was accused of a crime but did not show up to answer for their crimes at the local court or folkmoot. This meant they were no longer protected by the laws of The land and could be murdered without reprisal
Why was the Saxon system fair?
The system of justice was the same for everyone
With the system of trial by ordeal everyone had the same chance of being protected by God.
Humiliation was used as a punishment so that losing a family member to execution did not disadvantage families
Why was the Saxon system unfair
Juries at the folkmoot were people who knew the accused and could be bias
Trial by ordeal was based on religious belief and not factual evidence
By using the tithings people could be punished for the crimes of another
Ordeals for the clergy were not as harsh as other ordeals for non-clergy
After the battle of Hastings in 1066 who became king of England
William duke of Normandy
What did William the conquerer do to gain control
Building castles, surveying the whole country in the domesday book and changing many of those in positions of power to loyal Norman lords.
William the conquerer introduced trial by combat,what was this?
The accused and accuser would fight to death or till one gave in. The loser considered forsakes by god and therefore guilty. However the people didn’t have to fight themselves but could pay someone to fight for them. This put Norman laws who had more access to money in a stronger position than the average Saxon
Murder fines?
Law stated if a Norman was killed and the killer could not be found it was considered to be ‘Murdrum’ so if killed was not found a hefty fine was given for the whole village to pay.
Forest laws?
Laws applied to woodland areas protected by William I. Saxons couldn’t hunt deer, carry a bow or chop wood. No poaching
Why were laws written in French?
To stop any of the old English/ Saxon lords from understanding or contributing to developments of new laws
What’s the harrying of the north
When William I first came to power in England there were a number of rebellions. He took decisive and harsh action. He would burn down villages to put his message across and kill livestock. This deter further rebellion.
Although new Norman laws were harsh, why did the day to day process of running the country not change much?
So transition of Saxon rulers to Norman rulers would be smooth
Before Henry II taking the throne, what was one of the biggest problems facing English justice?
The over mighty subject
What was the over mighty subject
When a baron or a sheriff who had become so powerful in their local area would ignore decisions made by the kings courts and get away with it.
What was the kings peace
Law that protected the area directly around the king or along the roads where the king was travelling. If a crime was committed in this area then the punishment was much harsher than usually would be.
What’s travelling justices
If you wanted king to hear your case then u could be waiting a long time to follow him around to get opportunity for him to hear u. Travelling justices people given power by king to hear cases and make judgments on his behalf. This was efficient
What’s county gaols?
First form of prisons used for punishment
What’s trial by jury
If u didn’t want to be judged by an ordeal then you could pay for a ‘writ’ a document that allowed you to be heard in the kings court and be tried by a 12 man jury.
Why did trial by jury come about
Henry II didn’t like the power church had in making legal judgements so he ended system in 1215
What’s a JP
Justice of peace were appointed 3-4 in each country. They had power to fine,bind and arrest people who disturbed peace. One of first active forms of policing authorised by king rather than people them selves
What’s a county coroner
People appointed to investigate suspicious deaths
What’s the benefit of the clergy
The right priests had to have any discretion tried by the church courts. Church courts seen as less harsh than king or manor courts
What did claiming sanctuary mean
If someone was being pursued for committing a crime and they made it to a church they could claim sanctuary to be protected from law until county coroner saw them.Upon their confession a criminal would be allowed to abjure which means leave country.
Medieval attitudes towards women were poor.what legal facts support this?
Women couldn’t marry without permission or divorce
Couldn’t own property , go into business
Couldn’t inherit land or property
Physical humiliation of Saxon times
Stocks
