Medieval Laws And Punishment

Erikson explains that to most English people of the 16th century, Puritans became an annoying sect of rebels. Overbearing and unrelenting, many detested the exaggeration of conventional values that the Puritans displayed. Feeling restricted by the formalities of the Church, Puritans quickly became deviant in the eyes of society. By moving to Massachusetts Bay, Puritans hoped to create their own ideas of what is “right” and “wrong”, much like any community attempting to set boundaries. However, problems arose when laws were to be mandated in a Biblical sense. God could not sit at a pulpit in a courtroom, so then how would a strictly religious group maintain itself? As Erikson states, “one of the surest ways to confirm an identity, for communities as well as individuals, is to find some way of measuring what one is not”. From this, they developed a keen sense of Devil distinction – that is, ways in which the Devil presented himself through the behaviors of individuals.

In the Elizabethan era, doing a crime was the worst mistake of all, depending on how big your crime was, people had to know that their lives were at risk. Every crime was big before, even “crimes of treason and offenses against the state were treated with that murder and rape today.”(Elizabethan Crime and Punishment) “Offenses such as manslaughter, robbery, rape, piracy and capital crimes entitled one to hanging, usually in the town square.” (Elizabethan crime and Punishment) During Queen Elizabeth’s time, the punishments were designed to fit the crime committed. A person may complain about the consequences of crimes one commits, but looking back at the Elizabethan times, punishments are far less brutal now than how they were then.

In order to determine what the law was in the Elizabethan Age for crime and punishment, you must research crime and punishment in that age, the laws and the acts. In the Elizabethan Age there were many different crimes. Each of those crimes had their own punishment or punishments. They were very strict about what they could and could not do in this age. If you have ever thought about planning a crime, you would have to really think about the punishment you would receive.

Puritans and reformers of seventeenth century England have been given a bad name for their part in history. This is primarily because they were working against the grain and trying to create change in world that saw change as a threat. The time period was turbulent and there was bound to be resistance in a world that was dominated by Catholics and those that had reformed to abide by their King’s law. The puritans of the time were considered extreme and rubbed people the wrong way because they wanted a world that abided by their morals and ethical codes. For this, they took the blame for the misery that many suffered during this age, but as we see in Fire from Heaven, this is not a fair assessment. The Puritans of this time wanted to improve the lives of the people and society as a whole through morality and purity.

Having extreme, agonizing, punishments was not out of the ordinary during the 17th century. The punishments and crimes were very unsystematic, and often times very foul. There were punishments that were as minor as carting,and there were punishments as severe as the death penalty.Throughout the 17th century there were a variety of punishments for different crimes that were commited.

Being under such strict laws and commandments, the Puritans had to repress a lot of their

The punishments for crime in the colonial times were harsh in some cases or humiliating. Some crimes like murder, treason, or piracy,(stealing from other boats) had people sentenced to death. Crimes that cost the price of humiliation were crimes such as being drunk or working or traveling on sunday.The specific way a criminal would be punished is that

The image below is a primary source of people being hung in the Middle Ages for murdering. The authors perspective is shown how he has drawn people hanging down while there are people watching them to show them not to do this. The viewpoint of the author is to say not to do this otherwise it will happen to you. The crowd around the punished people are there to show the seriousness of the punishments providing a warning and awareness of the consequences. It could lead to death and torture for the rest of their lives, this reflects to the authors point of view. Overall, Crimes and Punishments in the Middle Ages were very hard for people to escape. Authors presented a lot detail to show how life was strict back in the Middle Ages. Images that

Crime and punishment in victorian times was divergent than it is today. In victorian times , the sentencing and punishment was very stricted. The petty crimes were mostly likely sentenced to death and hung. For example, John Walker was convicted of stealing onions and was sentenced seven years for it. If anyone stole food from the grocery store in this era and got caught the store would most likely call law enforcement and give them a warning and let them go. That is very different than how they treated it in victorian times. Criminals in victorian times were treated different than they are treated today.

The Middle Ages in Europe, from 500 CE – 1500 CE, featured gory punishments, injustice and feudalistic laws designed to maintain order. The Medieval era experienced changes and continuities in law and order which has influenced the modern world. Changes and continuities were evident in punishments and power of the king. Punishments underwent significant developments during the Anglo-Saxon period times. Punishments evolved because "tribes grew in size and complexity" (MCGURK, 2006).

In their society the Puritans based their lives, beliefs, and communities on what they deemed as God's law and true word, the bible (Barger). Reading the bible was expected for the members of society, this included women and children, which was often unheard of (Foner 66) at that time. With their lives being restricted to the word of the bible this left very little leeway for anything other than what was deemed acceptable, and this rigid way of life was another straw that led to the eventual troubles and fervor that took over.

Puritan believers are taught to live a strict lifestyle and to adhere to the word of God. This is why the ramifications of sinful behavior are punished by God.

As probably studied in any law or history class, punishment in medieval times consisted of

The Puritans goal in New England was to create the perfect pure society where nobody sinned and God ruled completely. They attempted this by making laws about and regulating every aspect of life in the colony. To achieve this, the church needed to rule the colony. And if the church ruled the colony, only the real Puritans could be part of the church. They believed only a minority of the population pure enough to be a part of the church. In reality very few people were ever able to give enough evidence that they had completed their part. As a result, two-thirds of the population failed to qualify as church members. The Puritans enacted many laws to keep the non-Puritans living religious lives. They created an official whose only job was to check up on ten families daily to see if anything out of the ordinary was happening and to make sure everyone who was able went to church. Their idea was that everybody, even if they weren’t part of the church, should be very religious. Therefore they created their laws with principles based on the Old Testament. They dreamed of a society where everybody followed the laws and lived a peaceful, god-fearing existence. To make this dream realizable, the Puritans created severe penalties for breaking the laws. These ranged from whipping and being thrown in the stocks for minor offenses, to banishment and death by hanging for serious ones. To be a good Puritan one had to work hard all

Punishments were horrid during the Renaissance, so beware, if you are a scaredy cat stop right here- or get ready to scream from disgust, fear, or just because you feel like it. During the Renaissance, punishments had some sort of alliance to the crime. For example, according to Torture and Punishment, “The punishment for poisoning during this period was to be boiled to death. Mutilation and branding were also common. People often had their right hand cut off if they were caught stealing, and on certain occasions eyes were plucked out with hot pinchers and fingers were torn off.” If you can’t see the relation between these punishments, poisoning may feel like you’re burning, or you are choking. Therefore, boiling would be perfect (you are both