Plentiful Changes In Medieval Europe

The delivery of punishment has changed significantly over the centuries. Up until the 19th century in England, imprisonment was not regarded as a punishment, it was merely used while the offender waited to be sentenced to their ‘real’ punishment (Bull, 2010; Hirst, 1998). Corporal punishment such as flogging, branding and mutilation, death by hanging, and transportation to other continents such as America and Australia were common punitive measures through the ages, until well into the 1800’s (Newburn, 2003). Although these extreme penalties are no longer acceptable or practised by criminal courts in England or Australia, in some ways, the past has

Changes are an important part of history, and a natural part of life. In the case of geography throughout history, the world has made many changes to its borders and who has grievances with one another. From the High Middle Ages of olden Europe, to the twentieth century, change has occurred. These changes have unified and broken ties between countries and regions time and time again throughout history. There are many forces that push toward and against unity throughout time. The world map became what is today because of both unity and division marking change in the past.

In the 1300's an Italian scholar named Petrarch came up with the name "Dark Age" to describe the time Europe was going through during the Middle Ages in 500AD-1500AD. Throughout the Middle Ages Europe was going through some rough times, but there were also moments of growth. For example the Black Death was a time of darkness but there were positive times like when universities were built. Although the dark ages were looked at as a negative occurrence, more events show a sign of growth.

According to Clear, Cole, and Reisig, (2013, p. 28 & 29) during the middle ages various forms of punishments were imposed on the body of the offender. Authority of government grew, and the criminal law system became more fully developed. Other forms of sanctions were applied due to the rise of trade, the breakdown of feudal order, the emergence of a middle class. In Europe before the 1800s fines and five punishments were common: galley slavery, imprisonment, transportation, corporal punishment and death. Each

Around the years of 1450, Europe had been cut off the Silk Roads. This soon lead to a period of time in which Europe follwed the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. Life was poor and hard for most people and the church was truly the only place for help.

The immense sickness wasn’t the only thing dark about Europe’s Middle Ages. The monarchs were cruel and unruly to their subjects while enforcing brutality upon their land and citizens. The laws enforced by these kings and queens were nothing short of diabolical, for there was no set list of limitations and rules meaning that the monarchs could punish anyone for anything, even if that meant simply disturbing the king. The executions of the ‘accused’ were public to the citizens, and were “a pitiless affair” (McGlynn). The kings ruled with an iron fist as their methods of justice were murderous as executions “sent out a message of warning and deterrence” and “offered the ultimate guarantee against repeat offenders”. The message monarchs tried to send while carelessly shedding blood was that they desired to make a statement, and scare citizens into not committing crimes, for they would know the gruesome consequences. If not death, the “standard, mandatory sentence” of all accused peoples was mutilation of “eyes, noses, ears, hands, feet and testicles”. To sum it all up, punishment in the Middle Ages was much more unforgiving than in this modern day of age; being burned at the stake or beheaded by the guillotine are still some of the most spine-tingling punishments to this day. In all of the depressing fog of the Middle Ages, could there truly have been a beneficial factor?

This article’s purpose is to express the danger of breaking the law in England. Most of the punishments of our time are deemed cruel and unusual. The death penalty can no longer be enacted in cases of theft or highway robbery. The following paragraphs will describe the various instruments of punishment (torture) of the period.

Certain actions that threatened the social order were considered crimes, and the person that completed that action needed to be punished (Elizabethan World Reference). If a citizen of Europe practiced a certain kind of religion that Queen Elizabeth did not approve of, they were burnt to the stake. Being burnt to death was one of the most painful deaths (Alchin). It took a long time to completely die, so the criminal were still alive while being burnt (Alchin). If they were lucky, they would suffocate from the smoke instead of having to live through being burnt (Alchin). Another more serious crime, treason, was punishable by hanging (Harrison). If someone were to betray their country, they would be hung (Harrison). This death took a matter of seconds and was not as painful as being burnt. Many subjects would jump before time so that their necks would break and they died very quickly (Harrison). Another form of torture was boiling (Parry). It is as bad as it sounds. If a citizen of Europe poisoned someone, they were to be boiled to death (Parry). This was another way to die that caused lots of pain. Even stealers were punished were hardly. Many had their right hand cut off so they could not steal anymore, and there was not medicine so the wound usually became infected and resulted in the death of the convict (Lestikow). All these forms of

The Middle Ages was one of the most bloodiest times because of the torture tactics that were used as forms of severe punishments, handed down to citizens for a majority of crimes such as murder, theft, kidnapping and even trivial crimes like gossiping, sorcery, and heresy. Lack of education along with impunity caused excessive amounts of crime during the Middle Ages, making many of the lower class citizens resort to stealing. Multiple forms of torture were enforced to keep the community in a state of fear that would keep citizens thinking that they might end up being the next victim. The middle age punishments for crimes were precursors to today's law enforcement and prison system. With no police to regulate citizens on the daily keeping order and peace was in the hands of the community.

Crimes that were more serious than others were held in a King’s court. The accused person had to face trial by ordeal to determine whether they were guilty or not. Punishments were feared during the Middle Ages because “the only way to keep order was to make sure that people were scared of the punishments given” (http://www.historyonthenet.com). Crime and punishment are another reason why the Middle Ages should be called the Dark Age because of how feared the punishments were and how unfair the determination of whether the accused is guilty or

The early modern world was impacted with a lot of change. From agriculture beginnings and producing only what was needed to survive within communities, the world had changes that would transform the world’s economy forever. Changes started to occur in the European states, England in particular, the Atlantic economies and South Asia (India). The new found ways to enlarge these power hungry countries became their priority. This helped emerge new ideas and concepts that define our economy today. International trade and exchange of goods between countries had a great impact then as it does now. Countries depend on these ideas in order to be wealthier and powerful. There were a lot of problems that occurred about commerce when it was carried out by certain countries like slavery, and overly dominant empires. There were also many political and religious groups that supported these methods of commerce, since they were beneficial for them. The realities of commerce in

The Christian religions rise to supremacy in the middle ages was the result of several factors. Christians had long been persecuted by the Roman Empire because the Romans felt that Christianity challenged and offended the Greco-Roman Gods and the Christians were prone to revolt against Roman rule. Christianity survived because it had many teachings that appealed to the downtrodden in Roman society, these teachings being that even though they were suffering they would gain equality and possibly superiority in the next life, Christianity gave them hope.

During the Medieval Kingdoms, people experienced political, social, economic changes in their world due to the lack of centralized government. Some people even went on to seek other sources of stability and protection, because they did not feel comfortable in their own kingdom. One political change in the Middle Ages was feudalism. Social changes began to appear when trade became more popular and religion and culture began to spread along the trade routes. Agriculture lead to an economic change within the Kingdom.

The Medieval Ages that descended upon the Europeans following the deconstruction and devolution of the formerly grand institutions of the Roman Empire left a world darkened to the eyes of history. The world lost touch with simple concepts to a modern history student of writing, economy, culture, and government—the mainstay of that which we cannot see ourselves without—civilization. What was left of Europe was a state of chaos. In all other periods of human history I have studied there were similarities among them from which I could draw conclusions upon the condition of the respective times. The Text helped to give order to the progression of European history from the ancient to the modern drawing

The transition of Medieval to Modern happened over a long period of time. The middle ages marked a dark time in Europe’s history, and the people were anxious to get out. The Renaissance began, and art emerged to create a brighter society. During the Reformation, the country shifted away from the Roman Catholic Church, and many Protestant religions emerged. The Scientific Revolution also marked a change in medical to modern by creating new ways to look at the world and mathematics. The Age of Discovery marked yet another change in Medical to modern Europe when new technologies emerged in order to navigate around the world. Along with many other rulers, King Louis XIV changed France into a country looking to expand, which differed from