Crime and Punishment- Medieval England (1000-1500)

Some specific brutal methods of punishment would be used in this period.
Mutilation was where parts of the body would be removed based on the crim (example: the arm would be removed if they stole something.)
Tithings would be groups of 10 men (boys over the age of 12) who were responsible for taking one another to court. If they didn’t, all of them would be charged.
Hue and cry would be where the village (the hundred) would scream something if there was a thief, and the village would be forced to catch after the thief as it was against the law not to.
Wergild was a replacement for blood feuds, where a person would pay a fine to the other person if they had killed their family.
Pillory and Stocks were used if someone had committed a small crime such as stealing.
Trial by Jury was were a person would get a trial and get their punishment by a jury.
Trial by Ordeal was were someone would get judged whether they are innocent or not by god. Methods such as trial by cold water and trial by burning hot iron would be used, and would be later on be proved to be unreliable.
Botgild (body money) was where you would pay a certain fine based on the part of the body you hurt on another person.
Blood feuds were where if someone killed your whole family, you would be legally allowed to kill their family. This was soon abolished as it made families go in feuds for generations and generations, and so it soon got replaced with wergild.
These law enforcements might be thought as bloody and thoughtless as many of the punishments given were brutal and were given to the innocent, causing innocent people to die and many to be falsely accused and die due to the extent of pain these trials and punishments they gave.
When William 1st came and invaded after his victory at the Battle of Hastings against Harold Godwinson, he decided to change a lot of the rules in England and laws.
Trial by Combat was one of the newest trials William had invented. As William was a Norman, he was quite fond of religion and him himself was extremely religious. He kept all the trial by ordeals but made a new one, where god would give his strength to the innocent so they can defeat and kill the guilty. But quite obviously this method failed to do this as there was no guarantee whether the innocent was strong or not.
The Doomsday Book was also another thing that William had made. It had records of where everyone in the country lived, how much they owed in fines and how much money they had so he could wring the most money possible out the people to use for battles as well as for building more castles.
The Murdrum was a fine paid by the whole town if someone killed a Norman. William mainly made this rule for himself as he was scared that someone would kill him during his reign, and since the fine was so unbelievably high people wouldn’t even dare try to.
The Forest Laws were created by William as he wanted to keep the forests all to himself. People weren’t allowed to poach or chop down trees, but this rule would often be broken as many people used the forest.
A Deterrent was a punishment used to put people off doing a crime.
Retribution is a severe punishment, meant to match the severity of the crime.
Corporal punishment is a range of punishments which caused harm of pain to the body, including being beaten or having parts removed.
Capital punishment is the death penalty.
Motte and Bailey castles were castles which were usually located on top of a hill to keep watch of the village. The raised are of ground was called the motte and the walled courtyard was called the bailey.
The Harrying of the North was a campaign which William held where he tried to subjugate (take under control of) northern England.
During the Medieval times, there was many was you could escape punishment.
Sanctuary was where you were allowed to stay in a special place in the church for 40 days where they would be allowed to sleep on a bed and have food and water supplied by the church. After those 40 days, they would be allowed to choose whether they wanted to get trialled or exiled (sent away to a different country.)
During an exile, the person being exiled would have to wear on a white robe, holding a white cross before being taken onto a ship to be moved.
Benefit of the clergy was where someone would use being a fake clergy to get a lighter sentence. This is because clergy trials were a lot more simpler and less brutal, and clergymen would never get the death sentence. The court soon found out about people lying about being a clergy, and soon made people read a verse from the bible which is now known as the “neck verse”.
Trial by Ordeal was soon ended in 1215 as the Pope believed they were “bothering god” as they were using this method.
Clergy were educated and so often worked as clerks in baronial households. The Chancellor of England was always a clergyman.
The reason why the court made people read the neck verse is because only clergy could really be able to read at this time as they had got a right to education whereas most poor or freemen didn’t.
Henry 2nd had an argument with Thomas Beckett over who had more power, the king or the church. Thomas, being the Archbishop of Canterbury obviously said the church which soon ended up with him dying.
Coroners were introduced in this era to make a cause of death for victims that die mysteriously. Coroners are still a job today.
Justices of peace were put in places which were found “unruly” and were first introduced as knights of peace."
Trial by Ordeal would often be used if the jury didn’t know whether the suspect was guilty or not.