saxon crime prevention info sheet
Blood Feud
The Anglo Saxons were farmers who believed in being loyal. This led to a basic system of justice, based on revenge. Early Saxon Kings allowed the victims of crime to punish criminals themselves. If someone was murdered, the family had the right to track down and kill the murderer. This right was known as Blood feud. Early Saxon Kings used Blood feud because they came from a warrior class where violence was acceptable and they didn’t consider it their job to settle arguments between families. Also, kings couldn’t pay for a police force because they didn’t raise regular taxes. Blood feud was meant to be so fierce it would deter people from committing crime. But Blood feud led to more bloodshed. It often meant that families banded together to take revenge for an attack. This then led to another attack which then became a cycle of violence. Blood feud wasn’t workable in the long run. It relied on people wanting to use violence, and some wanted a peaceful solution.
Tithings
There was no police force in Saxon England. By the tenth century, they had set up a different kind of self-help system known as a tithing. Tithings were based on loyalty. A tithing was a group of ten people. All males over the age of twelve had to belong to a tithing. Anyone accused of a crime had to pay a sum of money to the head of the tithing. If one member of the tithing broke the law, the others had to bring him to court, or pay a fine. The idea behind tithings was to stop crime by making people responsible for each other. This was a form of collective responsibility. This was much more effective than blood feud because people didn’t want to let their family and community down – and they didn’t want to pay a fine for someone else’s crime. This meant they would make sure the men in their tithing obeyed the law. This helped reduce crime.
The Hue and Cry
The Saxons had another system of policing called the hue and cry, this was simply a larger version of tithings. If the victim of a crime, raised ‘the hue and cry’ by calling out for help, the entire village had to down tools and join in the hunt to find the criminal. If they didn’t the whole village had to pay a hefty fine given by the local manor court. The Saxons were used to protecting each other in this way. The hue and cry seems quite sensible. It wasn’t just the victim of the crime who had to find the lawbreaker. The whole village had to be involved. This made the chances of being caught much higher.
Trial by jury
If someone was accused of a crime, the local village would decide if the accused was guilty or innocent. They used a form of trial by jury. The jury was made up of men from the village who knew both the accuser and the accused. The victim would summon the accused to appear in court. If he didn’t appear, he lost the case and paid compensation to the victim. If he failed to pay, he was declared an outlaw. This meant he no longer had the protection of the king’s laws. Anyone could legally attack him or kill him. Both the accuser and the accused told their version of events to the jury. It was then up to the jury to decide who was telling the truth. If no eye witness saw the crime take place, the jury had to use their experience of the people concerned to decide on innocence or guilt. If the jury felt that the accuser was more honest than the accused, they swore an oath that the accused was guilty. This oath taking was called compurgation.
Trials by Ordeal
There were times when the jury could not decide if the accused was guilty or innocent. If this was the case the solution was to let God decide. Therefore the accused faced a trial by ordeal. There were four different types of ordeal. All trials except trial by cold water took place inside a church. Before each trial a careful religious ritual was followed. The accused would have to fast for three days beforehand. As each trial began the priest would read a religious passage.
Trial by hot iron
This was usually taken by women. The accused had to carry a piece of red hot iron for three metres. Her hand was then bandaged and unwrapped three days later. If the wound was not healing without festering everyone would know that God was saying she was guilty. But if the wound was healing cleanly God had found her innocent.
Trial by hot water
This was usually taken by men. The accused put his hand into boiling water to pick up an object, sometimes a ring, and lift it out. The arm was then bandaged. Three days later the bandage was taken off. If the wound was healing cleanly the person was innocent.
Trial by cold water
This was also taken by men. The accused was lowered into the water (either a river or a pond as close to church as possible) on the end of a rope. The rope was knotted above the waist. If the person sank and the knot went below the surface of the water, the person was innocent because the ‘pure water’ had been willing to let this innocent person beneath its surface. However, if he and the knot floated he was guilty because the water was rejecting him.
Trial by ‘blessed’ bread
This was taken by priests. The priest first had to pray, asking that he be choked by the bread if he lied. Then he had to eat a piece of consecrated (blessed) bread. If he choked on the bread he was guilty.
Wergild
By about 700AD fewer kings with more power took control and England was divided into a smaller number of kingdoms. They understood the importance of making sure their laws were obeyed. They ended the violence of Blood feud, and introduced a more peaceful alternative, the wergild. This was a system of fines, paid to the victim of crime in the form of compensation. Wergild was paid if someone was murdered, or if someone was injured in a physical assault. The chance of further violence was much less likely and violent attacks dropped. Saxon laws became very detailed about the fines criminals had to pay.
The wergild for killing a noble was 300 shillings; while the fine for a free peasant was much lower.
Execution
Some crimes were seen as so serious that they carried the death penalty, for example treason against the king and betraying your lord. As you know, Saxon society was based on loyalty. Acting against the king, or betraying your lord was breaking this tie of loyalty. For the law to work well, and for kings to protect their people, they knew that everyone had to be loyal to one another. The death penalty was meant to show people the importance of loyalty.
Mutilation
Reoffenders were also punished harshly if they were caught. Punishment for regular offenders included mutilation, for example cutting off a hand, ear or nose or ‘putting out’ the eyes.
Prisons
Prisons were rarely used in Saxon England because they were expensive. Gaolers would have to be paid, prisons built and prisoners would have to be fed. This was impossible at a time when kings only collected taxes for wars. Prisons were only used for holding the accused before trial. This ensured that serious criminals didn’t escape. It meant they were much more likely to face justice.