History · Crime and Punishment in Britain
Crime and punishment in medieval England
Anglo-Saxon communities policing themselves, the Normans bending that system towards the king, the Church's courts and sanctuaries, and the growth of royal justice after 1200.
Lessons
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1
Crime and Punishment in Anglo-Saxon England
How a kingdom with no police force, no prisons and no professional judges kept order - and why the whole village was expected to do it.
7 terms -
2
Crime and Punishment in Norman England
What William the Conqueror kept, what he changed, and how much 1066 really altered the way England dealt with crime.
7 terms -
3
The Role of the Church in Crime and Punishment
Church courts, sanctuary, benefit of clergy and the end of trial by ordeal - how the Church shaped medieval justice, and why kings were not always happy about…
7 terms -
4
Crime and Punishment in the Later Middle Ages
How the king's government took on more of the work of justice after 1200, and how new laws followed the Black Death and the Lollards.
7 terms
Downloads
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- Crime and Punishment in Anglo-Saxon England.pptx Built from the lesson script on 23 September 2026. View
- Crime and Punishment in Anglo-Saxon England - 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
- Crime and Punishment in Anglo-Saxon England - Exam Questions.docx Built from the lesson script on 23 September 2026. View
- Crime and Punishment in Norman England.pptx Built from the lesson script on 23 September 2026. View
- Crime and Punishment in Norman England - 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
- Crime and Punishment in Norman England - Exam Questions.docx Built from the lesson script on 23 September 2026. View
- The Role of the Church in Crime and Punishment.pptx Built from the lesson script on 23 September 2026. View
- The Role of the Church in Crime and 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
- The Role of the Church in Crime and Punishment - Exam Questions.docx Built from the lesson script on 23 September 2026. View
- Crime and Punishment in the Later Middle Ages.pptx Built from the lesson script on 23 September 2026. View
- Crime and Punishment in the Later Middle Ages - 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
- Crime and Punishment in the Later Middle Ages - Exam Questions.docx Built from the lesson script on 23 September 2026. View
Key terms in this chapter
All 28, gathered from every lesson.
- Tithing
- A group of ten men over twelve who were responsible for each other's behaviour.
- Hue and cry
- The duty of every villager to chase a suspect once the alarm was raised.
- Wergild
- "Man price": compensation paid to a victim's family, set by the victim's rank.
- Trial by ordeal
- A religious test asking God to show whether the accused was guilty.
- Oath-helpers
- Men who swore to the good character of the accused.
- King's Peace
- The idea that the king was responsible for keeping order across his kingdom.
- Reeve
- A local royal official; the shire-reeve became the sheriff.
- Forest Laws
- Laws making hunting and gathering wood on royal land a crime.
- Poaching
- Illegally hunting animals on land that belonged to someone else.
- Social crime
- A crime most people do not think is really wrong, such as poaching.
- Murdrum fine
- A fine on a whole hundred if a Norman was murdered and the killer not found.
- Trial by combat
- The accuser and accused fought to decide guilt.
- Feudal system
- Land held from the king in return for loyalty and service.
- Assize of Clarendon
- Henry II's law of 1166 that strengthened royal justice.
- Church courts
- Courts run by the Church for clergy and moral crimes; never gave the death penalty.
- Sanctuary
- Protection given to an accused person who took refuge in a church.
- Abjuring the realm
- Leaving England for ever instead of facing trial.
- Benefit of clergy
- The right of clergy to be tried in Church courts.
- Neck verse
- Psalm 51, read to prove you were clergy and escape hanging.
- Excommunication
- Being cut off from the Church - believed to mean going to Hell.
- Fourth Lateran Council
- The Church meeting of 1215 that ended priests' part in trial by ordeal.
- Coroner
- An official who investigated suspicious deaths, from 1194.
- Justice of the Peace (JP)
- A local landowner appointed to keep order and try minor cases, from 1361.
- Statute of Labourers
- A 1351 law capping wages after the Black Death.
- Treason Act
- A 1351 law defining high treason.
- Heresy
- Holding religious beliefs that go against the Church's teaching.
- Lollards
- Followers of John Wycliffe who challenged the Church.
- Assizes
- Courts where travelling royal judges heard serious cases.