Crime and punishment Medieval Britain 1250 - 1500

Crime and punishment Medieval Britain 1250 - 1500

1. Law enforcers

   • Sherriff
     • Kings agent in each country
     • No pay but great status
     • Organises armed posse to search for criminals
     • Works closely with chief constable and coroner
   • Chief constable
     • 2 per hundred
     • Lasts 1 year
     • Local status
     • Every man 15 - 60 is ready to serve king if needed
   • Watchman
     • Patrol towns at night
     • Arrest suspicious strangers
     • Call hue and cry if I discover a crime
   • Ordinary person
     • Part of a tithing
       • 10 men
         • If one man breaks the law the others have to make sure he/she gets taken to court
     • Hue and cry when crime takes place
       • If we don't do it we get a huge fine
   • Parish constable
     • Arrest suspicious strangers
     • 1353 - men practise archery every sunday
     • Villagers respond properly to any crime
   • Coroner
     • Sudden deaths reported to me
     • View and measure the body
       • Record wounds
     • 4 per country
   • King
     • Keeping 'Kings peace'
     • Reviewing and deciding laws

2. Courts

   • Manor courts
     • Most crime
     • Held in manors
   • Church courts
     • Offences by priests
     • Sex outside marriage, homosexuality, failing to attend church and swearing
     • No juries
     • Priests heard evidence
   • Royal courts and country assizes
     • Most serious criminal cases
       • Stealing over 12D goods, treason rape and arson
     • Jury from criminals area
     • Royal judges from London would visit 3 times a year
   • Quarter sessions
     • 3 or 4 Justices of pesce
       • Unpaid but educated and wealthy
     • 4 times a year
     • Took over sheriffs court ditt
     • Jury of local people

3. Punishments

   • Fines
     • A noble disobeying the king
       • Very large fine
     • Gambling
     • Failing to raise hue and cry
   • Death
     • Hanging
       • Murder
       • Rape
       • Robbery
       • Burglary
       • Theft
     • Hung, drawn and quartered
       • High treason
         • Plotting to kill king
       • Counterfeiting gold and silver coind
     • Burned alive
       • Petty treason
         • Wife killing husband
       • Heresty
         • Belief in lollards
   • Inprisonment
     • Being in debt
     • Falsely accusing someone at a trial
     • A prisoner awaiting a trial might spend months In a gaol
       • Rough, unhealthy places
       • Gaolers unpaid
         • Earned living from prisoners
   • Public humiliation
     • Being a scold
       • Sat in public on cucking dtool
     • Selling faulty goods
     • A priest sleeping with another mans wife
       • Church shamed them
         • Confess sin outloud at main alter

4. Escaping punishment

   • Avoiding trials
     • Run
       • Join outlaw gang in Forest
     • Seek sanctuary
       • Church/cathedral
         • 40 days/nights
           • Confess crime to coroner, leave England forever
     • Have powerful friends
     • Refuse to plead
       • Sent to a gaol until they changed their mind
   • Avoid being condemned to death
     • Hope for friendly jury
   • Avoid being exocuted
     • Buy pardon from king
       • King eager for extra money
     • Join kings army
     • Pregnancy
       • Sentence changed to a fine
       • Claim Benefit of clergy
         • Read verse from bible
         • Some criminals memorised it
         • Priests
         • No woman - woman weren't priests
     • Become kings approver
       • Name 10 other men found guilty of serious crimes
         • Allowed to go into exile