Zusammenfassung der Ressource
History: Crime & Punishment in 1450
- Different Types of Crime and How They were Punished -
Depending on How Serious They Were and How Common
- Fines, stocks and pillories were all used as punishments for
common and not serious crimes like selling poor quality goods
- They were also used with whipping for
rare and fairly serious crimes like assault
- Treason, very rare and EXTREMELY serious; was
punished by hanging, drawing and quartering
- Heresy (not following official beliefs of the Church),
rare and very serious; was punished by burning at
the stake
- Theft of money or goods worth more than 2 days wages or
more was common yet very serious and punishable by hanging
- Arson, rape and murder despite being rare were
just as serious and punished in the same way
- Fairly serious and common crimes like
blasphemy were punished by branding
- Those who made laws
were powerful or wealthy
- Crimes that threatened power or
wealth were considered serious
- Small villages had "manor courts" with a jury
of 12 men to decide if someone was guilty
- The worse the crime, the more
horrible the death penalty
- More serious crimes went to the "royal court" where trial by
jury could lead to someone being sentenced the death penalty
- "Church courts" dealt with Christians who committed crimes, often moral crimes like
adultery or not paying their tithes or ordinary people breaking official Church rules
- There were no police to
catch medieval criminals
- The community formed "tithings" (groups of 10 men) who were
responsible for each other
- If one of the men in a tithing committed a crime, the other 9 were responsible
for bringing that person to justice or paying a fine to the victim of the crime
- If a crime was committed, any bystanders who witnessed the crime were
expected to shout and chase the criminal, this process was known as the
"hue and cry"