c1000 - c1500

What is a crime against the person? Provide examples.

Harm or threat to an individuals physical safety. For example, murder, assault and kidnapping.

What type of crime is murder?

Crime against the person.

What was the most serious crime against the person in Anglo Saxon England?

Murder.

What is a crime against property? Provide examples.

Theft, damage or destruction of belongings. For example, theft, burglary and arson.

What type of crime is arson?

Crime against the property.

What is a crime against the authority?

Crimes that defied or challenged the king’s rule or laws passed by royal courts.

What was the most serious crime against the authority in Anglo Saxon England?

Treason.

What type of crime is treason?

Crime against the authority.

What was the social hierarchy in Anglo-Saxon England?

King, Earls/Nobility, Yeoman, Peasants/Serfs and Slaves.

Who was at the top of the hierarchy in Anglo-Saxon England?

The king.

Who was at the bottom of the hierarchy in Anglo-Saxon England?

Peasants/Serfs + Slaves.

Majority of people in Anglo-Saxon England were ___.

Peasants/Serfs.

Was law enforcement in Anglo-Saxon England centralised or decentralised? Why?

Decentralised because the king, nobility, church and local communities shared responsibility for justice.

What was the role of the king in Anglo-Saxon England?

• Created new laws through codes of law that reflected societal needs. Codes of law could also strengthen or modify old laws that were ineffective.

• Maintained the ‘king’s peace’, ensuring law and order across the kingdom.

• Acted as the ultimate figure of justice.

What did the king aim to maintain in Anglo-Saxon England?

King’s peace.

Who made new laws in Anglo-Saxon England?

The king.

What was the role of the nobility in Anglo-Saxon England?

• Enforced laws locally in their own territories.

• Oversee local courts and ensure that the king’s royal law was upheld.

• Advise the king when new laws were being made.

Who enforced laws locally in Anglo-Saxon England?

The nobility.

How was Anglo-Saxon England divided?

Shires, hundreds and tithings.

Did the majority of people in Anglo-Saxon England live in towns or rural communities?

Rural communities.

How can we describe villages in Anglo- Saxon England?

Tight knit communities.

Many people in Anglo-Saxon England lived in rural communities. What did this mean for crime and law enforcement?

This formed close, tight knit communities, meaning that crime rate was low and law was enforced through a sense of duty to the community and collective responsibility.

What percentage of people lived in small, rural communities in Anglo-Saxon England?

90%.

In Anglo-Saxon England, what was each shire divided into?

Hundreds.

In Anglo-Saxon England, what was each hundred divided into?

10 tithings.

How many households made up a tithing?

10.

Who administered the law in each shire?

Shire reeves.

What was the role of shire reeves?

They enforced law and brought criminals to justice in their shires by taking them to court.

Who did the tithing men meet with to take criminals to court?

Shire reeve.

If someone witnessed or was victim to a crime in Anglo-Saxon England, what did they have to do?

Raise a hue and cry.

What happened if the hundred failed to raise a hue and cry or someone refused to help?

Fine to the entire community as a collective punishment.

What is a tithing?

A group of 10 households responsible for one another.

Why did tithings in Anglo-Saxon England create collective responsibility in law enforcement?

If one member committed a crime, it was the duty of the group to bring him to justice or face penalties like fines.

How did law enforcement in Anglo-Saxon England emphasise collective responsibility for community safety?

• In tithings, if one member committed a crime, it was the duty of the group to bring him to justice or face penalties like fines.

• In the hue and cry, all able bodied men in the community had to drop everything that the were doing to join the chase or faced fines.

What is collective responsibility?

An entire group holding accountability for the actions of an individual.

Which two trials were used in Anglo Saxon England?

Trial by ordeal and jury.

What was trial by ordeal?

A trial used to determine someone’s innocence based on the belief that divine intervention would reveal if someone was guilty or innocent.

Which trials were included in trial by ordeal?

Trial by water, hot water, fire and consecrated bread.

Explain how trial by water worked.

The accused was thrown into blessed water by a priest. Sinking indicated innocence as the hold water accepted them; floating suggested guilt.

If someone sank in trial by water, would this mean they were innocent or guilty?

Innocent.

If someone floated in trial by water, would this mean they were innocent or guilty?

Guilty.

Explain how trial by fire worked.

Carrying a hot iron a certain distance. Clean healing of wounds within a set period of time implied innocence.

Explain how trial by hot water worked.

The hand was placed in boiling water and then bandaged for a few days. If the wounds were healed cleanly, they were innocent.

Explain how trial by consecrated bread worked.

Clergy members had to swallow blessed bread. Difficulty swallowing or choking indicated guilt.

Which trial by ordeal did clergy members often have to do?

Trial by consecrated bread.

Was a trial by jury or a trial by ordeal a last resort in Anglo-Saxon England?

Trial by ordeal.

What was included in trial by jury?

• Juries consisted of local men who knew the people involved.

• Accused gave sworn testimony and jury decided the outcome based on reputation, local knowledge and familiarity with the case.

What were the different types of courts in Anglo-Saxon England?

• Royal courts for the most serious crimes.

• Shire courts for lesser crimes.

• Hundred courts for petty crimes.

• Church courts for moral crimes.

When was someone taken to court?

If they didn’t admit to the crime or were not caught red handed.

What did oath helpers rely on in Anglo-Saxon England?

It relied on social standing and trust rather than evidence.

If a crime was more serious, were more or less oath helpers required in court?

More.

Give an example of how reputation and social standing was important in Anglo-Saxon legal proceedings.

Oath helpers or compurgators were used instead of evidence to prove someone’s innocence.

If the jury couldn’t reach a decision at the trial by jury, what would happen?

It moved to trial by ordeal.

What was a trial by local jury based on in Anglo-Saxon England?

Local knowledge and sworn testimony.

What were the key factors of punishment in Anglo-Saxon England?

Retribution, deterrence and compensation.

What was the most common form of punishment in Anglo-Saxon England?

Fines.

What did the amount of fines depend on in Anglo-Saxon England?

Status of those involved and severity of the crime.

What was wergild?

Compensation paid to the family of a murder victim. The amount depended on the victim’s rank.

What did Wergild aim to prevent?

Blood feuds.

What was introduced to prevent blood feuds?

Wergild.

What was the punishment for murder in Anglo-Saxon England?

Paying wergild.

Give examples of corporal punishment in Anglo-Saxon England?

Whipping, mutilation (e.g. hand removal), branding or branding.

What type of punishment was branding?

Corporal.

What type of punishment was flogging?

Corporal.

What type of punishment was hanging?

Capital.

How would coin forging often be punished in Anglo-Saxon England?

Maiming - hand removed.

Was capital or corporal punishment often used as a form of retribution in Anglo-Saxon England?

Capital.

How would arson often be punished in Anglo-Saxon England?

Hanging.

How would crimes against the authority often be punished in Anglo-Saxon England?

Capital punishment like hanging.

How would treason be punished in Anglo-Saxon England?

Capital punishment.

Give an example of a humiliation punishment in Anglo-Saxon England.

Stocks and pillories.

How would public disorder or assault be punished in Anglo-Saxon England?

Stocks/pillories.

What is the term for when the punishment fits the crime? 

Retribution.

What is the term for trying to change/reform a criminals habits? 

Rehabilitation.

What is the term for when a punishment is a warning to others of the consequence for committing a crime? 

Deterrence.

When did Norman England begin?

1066.

Where did most people live in Norman England?

Villages.

Why did the Normans change law enforcement in England?

The Normans needed to establish control and consolidate William’s leadership on a resistant Anglo-Saxon population.

Did the king have centralised or decentralised power in Norman England?

Centralised.

Did the king have more influence over the law in Anglo-Saxon or Norman Engalnd?

Norman.

Explain how William I centralised the legal power in England?

• Under Anglo-Saxon authority, local lords had power and authority over their own lands but William shifted this power to the crown, ensuring that the king had the final say in legal matters to help standardise laws across the kingdom.

• The feudal system required all nobles to swear an oath of allegiance directly to him, ensuring loyalty and obedience whilst centralising the power under the king. The kings was at the very top, giving him ultimate power.

• Motte and bailey castles secured his control and defended against rebellion. Normans also lived here to protect them and impose law and order, acting as a permanent reminder of the new power.

• All money was paid directly to the king unlike Wergild.

What was the king’s mund?

A concept where any crime against an individual was a direct challenge to the king’s authority, not just against an individual.

Which hierarchy did William the Conqueror introduce?

Feudal system.

What system did the Normans implement to establish strict hierarchical structure of land ownership?

Feudal system.

Which new laws/fines did the Normans introduce?

Murdrum fine, forest laws and curfew law.

What was the murdrum fine?

If a Norman was murdered and the killer was not found, the community within the hundred where the body was found paid a heavy penalty prioritising Norman safety.

Why was the murdrum fine introduced?

After the Norman conquest, there was a fear that Anglo-Saxons would murder Normans so it protected Norman’s from revenge or attack from Anglo-Saxons.

Who had to pay the Murdrum fine?

The hundred.

Which group were seen as superior under the Murdrum fine?

Normans.

What was included in the curfew law?

Bells signalled bedtime; all fires and candles had to be extinguished, preventing secret meetings and potential plots against the Normans.

What did the curfew law aim to prevent?

Secret meetings and potential plots against the Normans.

What did William do to large areas of the English countryside?

Made them into royal forests.

What was royal forest land before William controlled it?

Common land.

What was included in the forest law?

Around 30% of England became royal forest and hunting reserves which William, Normans and those who purchased hunting rights could use. This banned locals from hunting, foraging or collecting wood.

Who could use the hunting grounds created in the Forest Laws?

William I, Norman nobility and those who purchased hunting rights.

Which law made poaching a serious crime?

Forest Laws.

Roughly how much of England became royal forest under William’s forest laws?

30%.

Who was responsible for enforcing forest laws?

Foresters.

What was the crime of breaking the forest laws called?

Poaching.

What did poaching make it a crime to do?

Collect firewood, hunt, forage or graze animals on royal land.