Crime and punishment under the Normans

Transcription

1 Task 1 Revise your knowledge and understanding of crime and punishment in the late Saxon era. Fill in the gaps here, taking extra care over your spelling of key words. Law enforcement Saxons relied on the help of the local... to help catch criminals. When a crime was committed, witnesses would raise the... and... by shouting (for example) Stop! Thief! Everyone in the village then had to stop what they were doing and help hunt down the suspect. If they didn t join in, people in the village could be.... Another example of community justice was the... - a group of around ten men aged about... and over who were collectively responsible for each other s good behaviour. Trials The first step to deciding if a suspect was... or innocent was to put him/her on trial. A... made up of men who knew both the accuser and the accused listened to evidence on each side. If a jury couldn t make its mind up, the suspect faced trial by.... This always took place in a... and was overseen by a priest because the judgement of... was used to determine guilt or.... There were different kinds of these trials. Trial by... iron was mostly used for men, who had to carry a red-hot iron fresh out of the fire for three paces. His wounds were bandaged up and checked after three days. If they the wounds were healing, God had decided he was..., but if they got infected God had shown the... guilt, and he would then be punished. Punishments The...was dying out by the time of the Norman Conquest and only still used in some parts of the North where the Danelaw applied. It had been perfectly legal to take... on a person who had killed or seriously injured a member of your family by killing or injuring a member of theirs. Another practice was still used to punish violence however a form of compensation known as the... The criminal had to pay the victim specific sums of money for different injuries.... carried the highest amount of..., and was more expensive if you killed someone important. Saxons did use... punishment, but only for the most serious of crimes.... against your lord or the king, as well as committing the same crime again, was punished by death Page 1 of 5

2 Task 2: changes and continuities under the Normans Work in groups for this task. Discuss each feature of Norman justice and make a team decision on how far it should go on the spectrum underneath. This calls for some very careful thinking you need to consider how much of a change each feature was, not just whether it changed or stayed the same. Make sure you have a fully completed version in your own notes. A - Trial by combat or battle was introduced alongside trial by ordeal. The accused had to fight their accuser in battle. The loser was executed, because the outcome of the battle showed God s judgement. B - As part of their reforms of the Church and the increased status of clergymen, the Normans introduced Church courts. This involved separate trials for priests and bishops, as well as more lenient punishments. C - The hue and cry and the tithing system seemed to be working well in local communities so William made no changes to it. D The language of the courts was changed. Norman French was spoken during court hearings, and the records of court cases were written in Latin. E - Although William effectively crushed several rebellions against him, he was still paranoid about the loyalty of the English with good reason! Murders of Norman nobles and officials became common as they imposed their authority over the Saxons. To try to stop this, William introduced the Murdrum fine: if a Norman was found murdered, the local area he was found in had to pay a hefty fine. F - The death penalty was used more often by William, mostly for serious crimes like murder, rape and treason, and for reoffenders. He also used mutilation as a punishment: loss of fingers, limbs, genitals and/or eyes. G - William loved hunting and wanted to make sure only he and his closest friends could enjoy this pastime. He made huge areas of land forest land (see Task 3) and barred anyone else hunting in them. The punishments for breaking the Forest Laws were severe: offenders had two fingers cut off and re-offenders were blinded. H - For more minor crimes, William ordered that fines should be paid as punishment. In the case of physical assault, the criminal still paid a fine, but this went to the king s officials rather than the victim or his/her family. I - At his coronation, William promised to rule England according to the laws of Edward the Confessor. For the most part, he did. Not many Saxon laws were changed and only a few new ones were introduced (but some of those were very significant!) Page 2 of 5

3 The change and continuity spectrum Add detailed notes to this spectrum to explain how far the Normans changed punishments. Big change Slightly different Exactly the same Page 3 of 5

4 Task 3: Forest Laws focus Box G in Task 2 gave you a brief outline of the Forest Laws. Use this information and the extra facts below to help you write a letter, from the point of view of a Saxon, complaining to a friend about the Forest Laws. If you re good at coming up with catchy slogans, you could also try creating a banner that you could hold at an anti-forest Laws protest (not that this would have been wise in Norman times!). The forests created by William were not all like what we would imagine a forest to be today. They were hunting grounds where animals like deer and wild boar lived. Some of William s forests did not even have any trees! Often William ordered that whole villages be torn down and moved to make hunting in the forests easier. Understandably this upset the locals considerably. The most extreme example was when one of the largest forests, the New Forest in Hampshire, was created and over 2,000 people were moved off the land. Another reason why the forests were so hated by the English was because some had relied on the forests to hunt animals for food if the harvest had not produced enough crops, or for firewood to heat their homes. Not everyone was moved off the forest lands, but the English were not allowed to own bows and arrows if they remained there. Specially-appointed forest officials helped uphold the Forest Laws and ensured that punishments for breaking them were carried out. Letter Dear Wulfstan I write to you from an entirely different village from last time. We were moved off the land in the New Forest because... These Forest Laws are very unjust! We are no longer allowed to... As much as we hate the laws, we dare not break them. If we do, the forest officals could.. The Forest Laws have made everyone even more scared of William and his Norman cronies. It shows that they... With all best wishes for a good harvest and God s blessing, Ethelbrid Page 4 of 5

5 Teaching notes You could provide the following word bank to help students in task 1: Word bank fined guilty hue tithing God innocence bloodfeud church ordeal suspect's innocent hot revenge murder compensation wergild treason community jury 12 capital cry Task 1 correct version: Law enforcement Saxons relied on the help of the local community to help catch criminals. When a crime was committed, witnesses would raise the hue and cry by shouting (for example) Stop! Thief! Everyone in the village then had to stop what they were doing and help hunt down the suspect. If they didn t join in, people in the village could be fined. Another example of community justice was the tithing - a group of around ten men aged about 12 and over who were collectively responsible for each other s good behaviour. Trials The first step to deciding if a suspect was guilty or innocent was to put him/her on trial. A jury made up of men who knew both the accuser and the accused listened to evidence on each side. If a jury couldn t make its mind up, the suspect faced trial by ordeal. This always took place in a church and was overseen by a priest because the judgement of God was used to determine guilt or innocence. There were different kinds of these trials. Trial by hot iron was mostly used for men, who had to carry a red-hot iron fresh out of the fire for three paces. His wounds were bandaged up and checked after three days. If they the wounds were healing, God had decided he was innocent, but if they got infected God had shown the suspect's guilt, and he would then be punished. Punishments The bloodfeud was dying out by the time of the Norman Conquest and only still used in some parts of the North where the Danelaw applied. It had been perfectly legal to take revenge on a person who had killed or seriously injured a member of your family by killing or injuring a member of theirs. Another practice was still used to punish violence however a form of compensation known as the wergild. The criminal had to pay the victim specific sums of money for different injuries. Murder carried the highest amount of compensation, and was more expensive if you killed someone important. Saxons did use capital punishment, but only for the most serious of crimes. Treason against your lord or the king, as well as committing the same crime again, was punished by death Page 5 of 5