The Importance Of Crimes In Medieval Times

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

The medieval ages had very different methods of crime and punishment they were a lot more brutal and many punishments for the crimes where causes of death for many people who weren’t even guilty. Even very small crimes like gossiping in medieval times had very brutal punishments. So make sure you never even gossip. Some of the simplest crimes would end in the most brutal way such as Theft, Hersey (thinking or saying something agents the church), Gossiping, Treason (plotting against or planning to over throw or kill the monarchy). The punishment well they are like something out of your nightmares gossiping: You would have to wear a scold's bridle, which would sometimes cut you if you tried to talk or ‘gossip’. Theft:

Crime and Punishment in the Elizabethan era was very unusual and cruel when we look at it from today’s standards. Punishment was very harsh and most things they did back then was completely normal for them but by today it’s insane what they used to do to criminals. Speaking of which whom they counted as “criminals” was insane as well as their definition of a criminal. The crimes committed directly affected the type of punishment someone one would receive for committing such an act. Crimes and punishments to us now seem completely wrong and just plain strange.

The water trials were that the convicted were thrown into a running body of water, since it was believed that their evil deeds would reject the water, so they would float. They had a rope tied around their waste for those who sank, so they were able to be pulled out. In the case they floated, they were occasionally executed. Even if they did sink and were seen as innocent, it was not uncommon for accidental drowning’s to occur.

When a person was accused, they had a "term of grace" for thirty to forty days where they could voluntarily confess their sin and atone for that sin. After that grace period was used up, they had a trial and if the judges found the accused guilty of the offense, the person was imprisoned. The accused's trial occurred only in the presence of two disinterested priests and the defense was in the hands of a lawyer. Witnesses were sworn in and if one lied they would be seriously punished- death being a possibility. (Blotzer, 1910) If a person was found guilty at the trial they could be burned at the stake. (Madden, 2003) These trials were called auto-da-fé, or Act of Faith, and would happen in a public place such as the main square in a town. After

The Salem Witch Trials was a harsh time in Spring 1692. A time when young girls were accused of witchcraft. The Salem Witch Trials included harsh torturing methods for those accused of witchcraft. Torturing methods included swimming test, prayer test, touch test, witch cakes, witch marks, pricking and scratching test, incantations. These were some harsh punishments. Practicing witchcraft was considered a horrible crime on a scale with rape and murder. The 18th century Code of Hammurabi contained punishment against sorcery, and many medieval legal systems listed specific reasons for identifying, trying and even executing suspected witches and warlocks. Since finding proof of evil was no easy task, witch-hunters often went to some particular experiments in their journey to kill accused witches. From awful tortures and terrible dessert dishes to unwinnable trials by ordeal, find out more about unusual tests once used against evil misconduct.

Trial by hot Iron was one way to determine innocence in the Middle Ages, you had to undergo this trial to prove your innocence. In this trial the defendant would have to carry an iron that weighed one pound, after it was heated over fire and pulled out during a ritual prayer. He or she would carry the hot iron metal for 9 feet, measured by the own defendants foot size. Their hands are strapped at the end of the 9 feet. Then they would be examined after 3 days by a Priest.They were considered guilty if there hands weren't showing any progress of healing. If there hands were showing progress of healing he or she is innocent .If the crime of the accused was particularly bad such as betrayal of a Lord or murder the iron would be 3 pounds. In the

EMBED QUOTE " The greatest and most grievous punishment used in England […] where they are hanged till they be half dead, and then takes down, and quartered alive; after that, their members and bowels are cut from their bodies, and thrown into a fire, provided near hand and within their own sight, even for the same purpose."(JIIOJIIHIJLJ). This shows how severe their punishments. there were many punishments that hsfkasdhjgfljsagfdjhs. The drunkard's cloak was a popular punishment for public drunkenness. It is where a person is to wear a barrel with holes cut out for their arms and head and would like a shirt. They are forced to walk around town and be publicly humiliated. The scold's bridle is a punishment for women who gossiped or were dishonest and it was a cage-like contraption that was worn on the head that would cause injury if they talked. The ducking stool was also a device to punish women and it was a stool attached to a log that would immerse the woman into the water. Other punishments that were used during this time was hanging, burning, the pillory, whipping, branding, cutting off various body parts, pressing,

The process of arrest and prosecution during this time is different than today. Someone who committed a crime got sent to prison or jail until trial, not for a sentence unless deemed necessary, they did not have the capacity to hold inmates for long periods of time, but they still had jails and prisons. During this time, people hardly got sentenced to prison time. The convicts received fines for small offenses and physical punishments for big offenses. (“Crime and Punishment in Elizabethan England.”) There was little judicial procedure, only exchange of documents between lawyers. There were no witnesses and oral arguments, also judges were not trained to be judges during this time. (Brackett)

In Europe, there was a social panic that encapsulated a time that was filled with a heightened craze and belief in witches. As many as one million individuals were executed for witchcraft in Europe between the 13th and 19th century, with most of the trials occurring during the 16th and 17th century (Oster, pg. 215). As citizens began to be accused of witchcraft, there was initially no way of forcing the crime to be confessed. To find out information regarding who and why their citizens were becoming witches, interrogators employed the use of torture to gain information to help stifle witches and their accomplices. Though interrogators implemented torture to, in their opinion, help maintain safety in their community, torture created an atmosphere of false accusations and hate that not only brutally terrorized citizens, but also destroyed lives and tore families apart. Torture helped sustain witch trials over a long period due to the spectacle it brought to communities. In terms of finding answers, torture forced the accused to make ridiculous confessions about themselves and others, that never occurred. Once confessions were made, officials in these communities believed that their harmful practices were therefore justified, and repeated time and again.

After reading Chapter 3 in our book. The two patterns of criminal activity and violence I would like to compare that took place in England during this period are blood feud’s and Trial by Ordeal. Crime control was built on Kindred grouping an individual’s relatives because if they were injured by another group they had their own supporters. Their supports could bail them out of trouble by paying compensation to the other member in which they killed or hurt families. If a member gets expelled from group they are deprived from being protected and this gives the sheriff permission to injure, or kill the expelled individual through the practice of outlawry. Rather than being called an outlaw, the person is named an adjurer. An individual who withdraws somberly, which involved him wearing a white robe and cross and being subjected to all types of persecutions, an abjurer was not permitted to remain in a

On the other hand in the accused is actually innocent, they are able to gain a proper chance to gain enough oath helpers. In the absence of oath helpers, the accused was able to prove their innocence by trial by ordeal. ‘Trials by Ordeal’ worked by subjecting the accused to perform an unpleasant and highly dangerous test. The ordeal would usually be life or death. Examples of a ‘trial by ordeal’ are ‘Trial by Fire’, ‘Trial by Hot iron’ and ‘Trial by Water’. The trial by is when the defendant is in a fetal position and thrown into water. If the accused sank and drowned they were innocent but if they floated they were presumed guilty.In many of the ordeals the only way to prove your innocence was also by dying. In figure 1 a woman is undergoing the ‘trial by water’ with her hands and legs securely tied up. This shows how the middle ages used the term guilty until proven

At this time there were a lot of death sentences and they could be for the most simple of crimes. Such as saying you hate the king. Most of the time they tortured confessions out of them, because executions were not allowed without a confession. Although they confessed to the crime, most of the time they were innocent. Being tortured for a confessions was very painful.

    Crimes against God or the church increased vastly during the Middle Ages due to all of the controversy going on during this time period. One of the biggest factors that lead to this form of crime was The Great Schism. The Great Schism was the division of the western and eastern christians causing there to be one pope in Rome and another in France. This produced a lot of confusion and distrust within the church causing some to lose their loyalty. Crimes could range from lying to the church all the up to heresy. Crimes against the king held some of the biggest punishments there were. The king represented the nation and anybody willing to betray the country was directly

Some tortures included strapping the accused's feet in a pair of metal boots and then filling the boots with boiling hot oil. The accused were often whipped for their purification, sometimes they were left out in the open for hours after having been whipped while the torturers went out to lunch. They had to hang there and wait until they returned and often they received additional torture after their wait just to be certain they had been purified. Tortures were so extreme that many people took their practices underground to avoid the Inquisition.