They fought to the death or until one gave in- whoever gave in was later put to death. Tithings continued to be used by the Normans as an effective self-policing method for local communities. Hue and cry- this also continued under Norman rule.
As most people lived in small communities it made sense to have community-based systems of enforcing the law. The Church and Crime and Punishment. Church Courts. The Church claimed the right to try any churchman accused of a crime in its own courts. This would be presided over by the local bishop. Unlike ordinary courts, Church courts never sentenced people to death, no matter how serious the crime committed. Church courts also dealt with a range of moral offences including failure to attend church, drunkenness, adultery and playing football of a Sunday.
The Church court dealt mainly with moral crimes. Benefit of the clergy. This was when an accused person claimed the right to be tried in the more lenient Church courts. In theory, this right was intended only for priests. In practice, anyone loosely connected with the Church, such as church doorkeepers or gravediggers, used it to escape tougher punishments. To get around this problem, the Church used a test requiring the accused to read a verse from the Bible.
The idea was to weed out the non-churchmen who, unlike priests, were usually unable to read. If someone on the run from the law could reach a church, he or she could claim sanctuary. Once a criminal reached sanctuary, they were under the protection of the Church. To claim sanctuary, the criminal would grasp the sanctuary knocker on the church and hammer on the door to be let in. A church bell would then be rung to alert the townspeople that someone had claimed sanctuary.
Even the county sheriff could not remove them by force. The criminal then had 40 days to decide either to face trial or leave the country. Those choosing to leave had to make their way, barefoot and carrying a wooden cross, to the nearest port and board the first ship heading abroad. Trial by Ordeal. This had long been used to judge guilt or innocence in the eyes of God.
It was used when juries could not reach a verdict and was based on the legally unreliable idea that God would decide a case. As such, it was possible that some guilty men and women escaped punishment while some innocent people were found guilty. Pope Innocent III ended the practice in in an attempt to reform the church. Its ending illustrates Church authority affecting action in secular society. It was held at various intervals during the year, and all villagers had to attend or pay a fine.
All men were placed in groups of ten called a tithing. Each tithing had to make sure that no member of their group broke the law. If a member of a tithing broke a law then the other members had to make sure that he went to court. A jury of twelve men was chosen by the villagers. The jury had to collect evidence and decide whether the accused was guilty or not guilty and, if found guilty, what the medieval punishment should be.
Hanging would lead to death by strangulation, which often took several minutes. Other methods of execution included burning at the stake, which was the punishment for heresy. The method of execution for the crime of treason was beheading or hanging, drawing and quartering. Royalty were beheaded, usually with an axe. In the 16th and 17th centuries, people supported capital punishment as it fulfilled their desire for retribution, and also served as a deterrent to others.
Several methods of corporal punishment were also used in the 16th and 17th centuries. The stocks and pillory were commonly used to humiliate and inflict pain on convicts.
There were different types of trials and torture was also considered as a legitimate way to extract confessions from suspects. Accused persons had to go through different ordeals in order to prove their innocence from medieval crimes.
The History of Medieval Crime and punishment is filled with harsh punishments. The punishments were harsh because the overall system was influenced by the Church and such punishments were given in order to create fear in the hearts of the people and to keep them from committing crimes.
Punishments were mostly given through trials by ordeal in which the innocent and guilty both had to go through tough ordeals. In the 13th century AD trial by ordeal was replaced by trial by jury. There were different types of medieval crimes. Theft was very common as people were mostly poor, although stealing of valuable and less valuable items had different kinds of punishments.
Vagrancy was also considered a crime during the Middle Ages as it was against the law to be a homeless or a jobless person.
The gossip of women was also a type of crime. People not working hard, cheating on ones spouse and being drunk and disorderly were also considered to be punishable medieval crimes.
Murder was also a very common crime in medieval times, high treason, heresy and witchcraft were also the types of crime that had strict punishments. Different types of punishments were awarded for different types of crimes.
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