Law and Order
Y7 History
There were no police for 100s of years,
so how was law and order kept?
Towns and villages each voted for a constable who
was in post for 1 year.
He was expected to ‘keep the peace’ during daylight
hours.
He was only part–time. He did not get paid and was
expected to keep up his regular job.
Do you see any problems with that?
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The Watch – in towns
People were expected to join the watch. This meant
they took turns in staying up all night to make sure
the town was a safe place to be.
Again it was unpaid and no-one liked that job very
much either!
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The Hue and Cry
If anyone in the village is attacked or sees a
stranger that they think is acting suspiciously
they must raise the -
HUE AND CRY
This means that all the men in the village
must stop what they are doing when they
hear the hue and cry and join in the
chase.Anyone who does not join in the hue
and cry will be brought to the manorial court
and fined.
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Tithings
There are no policemen to keep law and
order in our village.The law says that all men
in the village have to be organised into a
group of ten which is called a -
TITHING
The men in the tithing are supposed to make
sure they all behave properly. If one of the
tithing breaks the law the rest have to say
who the culprit is. If they don't they will all
be punished.
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• None of these methods was very effective and a lot of
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criminals were never caught. This was probably because
people were not very keen on working in their spare time and
the system was not very well organised.
But if you were caught, law and order was very severe in
Medieval England. It was believed that people would only
learn how to behave properly if they were frightened that
something would happen to them if they broke the law.
Even the 'smallest‘ offences often had serious problems
People who were caught, had to through three ordeals to see
if they were guilty:
 Ordeal by fire.
 Ordeal by water.
 Ordeal by combat
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The 3 ordeals
• Ordeal by fire. A person accused of
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committing a crime held a red hot iron
bar and walked three steps. His hand
was then bandaged and left for three
days.
If after three days the hand looked
better then the person was innocent,
if the wound was not better then they
were guilty.
Ordeal by water. An accused person was tied up and
thrown into water. If they floated then they were guilty of
the crime they committed but if they sank then they were
innocent.
Ordeal by combat. This was used by noblemen who had
been accused of something. They would fight in combat
with the person who accused them. Whoever lost was
usually dead at the end of the fight.
It was believed that only God knew if a person was guilty
or not, and so he would let the person who was innocent
survive!
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However …
• King Henry II did not think that the ordeals were a good way
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to decide if somebody was innocent or guilty.
In 1154 he did three things that brought peace to England.
1. He pulled down illegal castles and brought back the
laws of Henry I.
2. He got rid of the three ordeals and replaced them with
a trial.
3. Made judges go around the country and make sure
that the law was working.
In 1215, the Pope decided that priests in England must not
help with ordeals. As a result, ordeals were replaced by trials
by juries.
To start with, these were not popular with the people as they
felt that their neighbours might have a grudge against them
and use the opportunity of a trial to get their revenge – as
you will see.
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There were 3 types of court
• Manorial courts: these were local village courts that
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made sure the feudal system ran smoothly. They
were headed by the lord of the manor or his steward
and held 4 times a year.
They decided who should take over land when
someone died, they gave permission for marriages,
they dealt with episodes of drunkenness, animals
tramping crops, squabbles between villeins and with
disputes over work.
They usually had juries – more about that later.
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There were 3 types of court
• Originally they were called Royal Courts, in
which judges would be sent out by the king.
When they became established, they were
called assizes, and the judge would cover a
particular part of the country called his circuit,
would visited each court regularly.
• Again 12 local people would be picked to be
jurors.
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There were 3 types of court
• Finally (and as we shall see in a week or 2 very
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controversially), were the Church Courts.
They were used when a priest or any church official broke
the law – and as the church was so central to life of the
regular people, about 1 in 6 people were officials in some
way or another!
Their punishments were much more lenient than the Kings
Courts. For example, there was no death penalty, so even for
murder, the worst thing that could be done was
excommunication (this meant they were forced from the
church and according to the beliefs at the time, could not
therefore enter Heaven).
As you can imagine this was not popular with the rest of the
population who could be severely punished for the least little
thing!
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Punishment
• There were very few prisons in Mediaeval Times
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because people didn't like the idea of having to
provide criminals with food or guards because they
needed all their resources for themselves. Some
town constables had a small jail for imprisoning
criminals, but small crimes were often punished by
fines.
It was also common for punishments to take place
in public to serve as a warning to others of what
would happen if they were caught doing the same
crime as the person being punished.
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Punishment
• If you sold rotten food to your
customers, you might be made to
smell it while it was burned under
your nose, or you might be
dragged through the streets on a
cart while your customers threw
rubbish at you. If you stole
something, then you might have
your hand cut off to stop you from
doing it again.
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• For cheating a customer,
you could be placed in the
stocks (which held your
legs) or you might be put
in the pillory (which held
your head and hands)
while people threw rotten
food at you.
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Punishment
• Women who nagged their
husbands were ducked in the
river or were made to wear a
scold's bridle (a mask or cage
with a piece of metal that pinned
the tongue down and stopped her
talking).
• There were much
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worse punishments
than these.
Do the following
exercise to find out
about a few of them.
Think carefully about
which crimes you
think deserve the
harshest
punishment.
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For more severe crimes- which
punishment goes with which crime?
• (i) hanging from a tree
• (a) murder
• (ii) eyes gouged out by the
• (b) treason –
victims family
crimes against the
• (iii) burned to death or hanged
king
• (iv) castration ( what is that?)
• (v) fined
• (c) rebellion
• (vi) hung, drawn and quartered
• (d) fighting
( hung until half death, have
your guts ripped out, beheaded
• (e) forgery
and then cut into 4 pieces and
• (f) attacking
all the parts put on spikes at the
someone
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town gate)
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You might think these were harsh
but …..
• …. these punishments probably seem really
nasty to you, but in fact they were quite kind
in comparison to what happened in the rest of
medieval Europe, where if you were found
guilty of murder, you could expect to have
your skin cut from your body or be crushed to
death with a wooden bar!
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But lesser crimes were dealt with
in the village
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The Manorial Court
The Court is usually held 4 times a year.
This is the court most ordinary people have
contact with.
It deals with those who had not made payments to
the Lord or done their work properly
Also it deals with arguments between villagers.
Serious crimes are tried in the King's court in York.
The Lord's Steward is in charge of the court. We
all have to attend or we are fined.
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The Manorial Court
12 villeins are chosen to be the Jury. It is their job
to talk to the accused and anyone else involved
and then present the evidence in court and if they
find the accused guilty to decide on the
punishment. Henry says it a rotten job. If the
Steward thinks you are being too lenient he can
punish you. If the accused think you are being too
harsh they hate you. You have to live in the same
village afterwards.
Punishments are usually fines or some type of
public disgrace, prison is very rare.
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Tithings
There are no policemen to keep law and
order in our village.The law says that all men
in the village have to be organised into a
group of ten which is called a -
TITHING
The men in the tithing are supposed to make
sure they all behave properly. If one of the
tithing breaks the law the rest have to say
who the culprit is. If they don't they will all
be punished.
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Public Disgrace
The ducking stool is mainly used as a
punishment for women who disobey
or constantly scold their husbands to
remind them of their place. You are
bound hand and foot to the stool and
lowered in to the pond as many a
three times. The men all laugh, but
when Agnes Smart was ducked she
was kept under so long that she was
unconscious when they brought her
up and she nearly died. The threat of
it makes me think how I act.
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Public Disgrace
The stocks are used for
disorderly
behaviour.
James Lighthead and
Roger
Strong
were
sentenced to 24 hours in
them at the last court for
being drunk and brawling
in the meadow. We threw
rotten fruit at them and
Roger's lip was badly
split.
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Extracts from the Manorial Court Records
These are the kinds of ‘crimes’ that
people were in court for
William Jordan, villein, for bad ploughing of the Lord's land.
Alex, Gilbert and Henry badly beat Rufus after an argument about firewood.
Henry Godswein refused to do the second Boon work of the autumn.
Robert's oxen wandered into the north field and damaged the Lord's barley.
Emma called the Hue and Cry when Maud struck her but it wasn’t carried out.
Agnes, who is poor, gave birth to a child when she was not married.
Alice Miller for brewing weak beer and selling it before it was officially tasted.
John Lane broke his stepmother's wrist with a stick in her own house.
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The value of money in Medieval times
Pre-Decimal money (before 1971) is referred to in the Wharram Percy records.
10s and 4d meant Ten Shillings and 4 pence.
Old pence as they are now called had the letter d. after them not a p.
There were 12d (old pence) in a shilling (5p today) and 20 shillings in a pound.
That made 240d (old pence) in a pound instead of 100p today.
The value, buying power, of money then can't be compared with today. The best
way to imagine how much money was worth is to look at the pay people received
then and how much things cost. Think of a fine as a number of days pay not 6d.
1s 4d to the slater for repairing the Manor House roof over 16 days, plus his food.
1s 3d to the thatcher for thatching the stable and dovecote over 20 days.
4d to the mason for mending the granary wall over 2 days.
Ken the Baker paid 3s 4d to the Lord for 6 months rent of one oven.
Villeins earnt hardly any money. Fines could be paid in produce.
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William Jordan for bad ploughing
of the Lord's land
fined 6d
(6 old pence)
Craftsmen's wages were about 1d
to 2d a day
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Alex, Gilbert and Henry badly beat
Rufus after an argument about
firewood.
Were all fined 6d and they had to
pay 12d damages to Rufus
between them.
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Henry Godswein refused to do the
second Boon work of the autumn.
Was fined 2 shillings.
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Robert Robert's oxen wandered
into the north field and damaged
the Lord's barley.
Was fined 6d.
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Emma called the Hue and Cry
when Maud struck her but it
wasn’t carried out.
The whole village was fined 2
shillings between them for not
taking up the hue and cry.
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Agnes, who is poor, gave birth to
a child when she was not married.
She was not given a fine because
she was poor.
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Alice Miller for brewing weak beer
and selling it before it was
officially tasted.
Was fined 2 shillings.
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John Lane broke his stepmother's
wrist with a stick in her own
house.
Was put into the stocks for 24
hours.
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