Methods of Punishment Flashcards
What was the purpose if punishment in the medieval era ?
Retribution
Humiliation
Who would a person be judged by in the Medieval era?
Jury of men - Hearsay
What were the ordeals in the medieval era ?
Trails If the jury could not decide
What was the ordeal by Blessed Bread ?
- priest prayed over a piece of bread
- act of prayer would cause the accused to choke on the bread if they were lying
- choke = guilty
What was the ordeal by Hot iron ?
- accused picked up a red-hot metal weight
- If their burns became infected = guilty
What is ordeal by cold water ?
- The accused was lowered into a river or pond
- Floated = guilty
What was ordeal by hot water ?
- accused put their hand in boiling water
- If their burns became infected = guilty.
What was wergild ?
- a fine paid to compensate victims
What were common types of punishments used in the medieval era ?
- Whipping or flogging
- Stocks and Pillory
- Mutilation
- Execution
- Imprisonment
What was whipping or flogging used for in the Medieval era ?
- punish minor offences
- not going to church, petty theft , begging.
What was stocks and pillory used for in the Medieval era ?
- public punishment for less important crimes
- swearing or being drunk in public.
What was mutilation used for in the Medieval era ?
- Theft or regular offending
- Forest Laws = illegal hunters could have some of their fingers cut off.
What was execution used for in the Medieval era ?
- The most serious crimes
- Heresy = burned alive
- Treason = hanged until near death and then cut into pieces.
What was imprisonment used for in the Medieval era ?
- holding debtors or people waiting for their trial.
How were Vagabonds treated in the early modern era ?
- 1495 - put into the stocks for 3 days
- 1531 - whipped and sent back to the parish of their birth
- 1547 - branded with a V on their forehead(repeat = execution)
- 1601 - Poor Law meant whipping and house of correction
When was public capital punishment abolished ?
1868
Where was a common place of public execution in the early modern era ?
- Tyburn, London
When was being burnt at the stake abolished ?
1790
Who were beheadings reserved for in the Medieval era ?
- Royalty and Nobility
- Mary Queen of Scots - 1587.
How were commoners executed in the early modern era ?
Hung drawn and quartered
What forms of corporal punishment were continued from the early modern era ?
- Stocks and Pillory
- Flogging
What was the punishment of transportation?
- convicts were sent to the British colonies to work instead of being executed.
How did the punishment of transportation become common ?
- Transportation Act 1717
What was the transportation used for in the industrial era ?
- people found guilty of theft
- protestors such as luddites
When did transportation to Australia begin ?
- 1787
- 11 ships, 736 convicts
What were hulks ?
- A decommissioned ship used as a gaol when prisons were overcrowded.