History · Crime and Punishment in Britain
Crime and punishment in early modern England
Religious upheaval, new crimes of heresy, treason, vagabondage and witchcraft, and how Tudor and Stuart authorities punished those who threatened order.
Lessons
Ticks are remembered on this device only.
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1
Religious Change and Crime
How the Reformation turned religious belief into a question of loyalty to the monarch - and made new crimes out of it.
7 terms -
2
Heresy and its Punishment
Why believing the wrong thing could lead to the stake in Tudor England, and how the crime of heresy changed as the official religion changed.
6 terms -
3
Vagabondage
Why being poor and on the road became a crime in Tudor England, and how the authorities tried to tell the "deserving" poor from the "undeserving".
7 terms -
4
Witchcraft and the Witch-Hunts of 1645-47
How witchcraft became a crime punishable by death, and why Matthew Hopkins was able to lead England's worst witch-hunt during the Civil War.
7 terms -
5
The Gunpowder Plot, 1605
The Catholic plot to blow up James I and Parliament, why the plotters were punished so severely, and what it meant for Catholics afterwards.
6 terms
Downloads
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- Religious Change and Crime.pptx Built from the lesson script on 23 September 2026. View
- Religious Change and Crime - Completed Notes.docx The full notes for the lesson, every gap filled in - to check against, or to revise from. Built from the lesson script on 23 September 2026. View
- Religious Change and Crime - Exam Questions.docx Built from the lesson script on 23 September 2026. View
- Heresy and its Punishment.pptx Built from the lesson script on 23 September 2026. View
- Heresy and its Punishment - Completed Notes.docx The full notes for the lesson, every gap filled in - to check against, or to revise from. Built from the lesson script on 23 September 2026. View
- Heresy and its Punishment - Exam Questions.docx Built from the lesson script on 23 September 2026. View
- Vagabondage.pptx Built from the lesson script on 23 September 2026. View
- Vagabondage - Completed Notes.docx The full notes for the lesson, every gap filled in - to check against, or to revise from. Built from the lesson script on 23 September 2026. View
- Vagabondage - Exam Questions.docx Built from the lesson script on 23 September 2026. View
- Witchcraft and the Witch-Hunts of 1645-47.pptx Built from the lesson script on 23 September 2026. View
- Witchcraft and the Witch-Hunts of 1645-47 - Completed Notes.docx The full notes for the lesson, every gap filled in - to check against, or to revise from. Built from the lesson script on 23 September 2026. View
- Witchcraft and the Witch-Hunts of 1645-47 - Exam Questions.docx Built from the lesson script on 23 September 2026. View
- The Gunpowder Plot 1605.pptx Built from the lesson script on 23 September 2026. View
- The Gunpowder Plot 1605 - Completed Notes.docx The full notes for the lesson, every gap filled in - to check against, or to revise from. Built from the lesson script on 23 September 2026. View
- The Gunpowder Plot 1605 - Exam Questions.docx Built from the lesson script on 23 September 2026. View
Key terms in this chapter
All 33, gathered from every lesson.
- Reformation
- The break from the Catholic Church that created Protestant churches.
- Act of Supremacy
- Henry VIII's 1534 law making the monarch Head of the Church of England.
- Recusant
- A Catholic who refused to attend Church of England services.
- Excommunication
- Being expelled from the Catholic Church by the Pope.
- Treason
- Betraying or threatening the monarch.
- Heresy
- Holding beliefs that go against the official religion.
- Act of Uniformity
- Elizabeth's 1559 law setting out how everyone had to worship.
- Heresy
- Holding religious beliefs that go against the official teaching of the Church.
- Heretic
- A person found guilty of heresy.
- Recant
- To take back your beliefs publicly.
- Martyr
- Someone who dies for their beliefs.
- Burning at the stake
- The punishment for heresy: death by fire in public.
- Book of Martyrs
- John Foxe's 1563 account of Protestants burned under Mary I.
- Vagabond
- A poor, able-bodied person who wandered from place to place without work.
- Vagrancy
- The crime of being a vagabond.
- Enclosure
- Fencing off common land, often for sheep farming.
- Dissolution of the monasteries
- Henry VIII's closure of the monasteries, 1536-41.
- House of correction
- A place where vagrants were made to work.
- Poor rate
- A local tax to support the deserving poor.
- Counterfeit crank
- A beggar who pretended to be ill to get money.
- Witchcraft
- Using supernatural power, believed to come from the Devil, to cause harm.
- Witchcraft Act
- Laws of 1542, 1563 and 1604 that made witchcraft a crime.
- Familiar
- An animal believed to be a witch's helper from the Devil.
- Devil's mark
- A mark on the body believed to show a pact with the Devil.
- Swimming test
- Throwing a suspect into water: floating meant guilt.
- Puritan
- A strict Protestant who wanted a simpler, purer Church.
- Witchfinder General
- The title Matthew Hopkins gave himself.
- Gunpowder Plot
- The 1605 Catholic plan to blow up James I and Parliament.
- High treason
- Plotting to harm or overthrow the monarch.
- Hanged, drawn and quartered
- The punishment for treason: hanged, cut open and cut into four.
- Monteagle letter
- The anonymous warning that led to the plot's discovery.
- Popish Recusants Act
- The 1606 law that increased restrictions on Catholics.
- Oath of allegiance
- A promise of loyalty to the king that Catholics had to swear.