Explanations 
Flashcards 
StudySmarter AI 
Notes 
Study Plans 
Study Sets 
Exams 
Magazine 
Find a job 
Mobile App 
Jump to a key chapter
Common punishments in the Middle Ages
The Normans tended to favour harsher punishments more often than the Anglo-Saxons did. The purpose of punishment was deterrence during both periods, so let's take a look at how the Normans and Anglo-Saxons punished the same crimes.
| Crime | Anglo-Saxon Punishment | Norman Punishment |
| Injury | A fine called botgild which you paid to the victim | The Normans combined these two fines into a single system called murdrum - a fine which you paid to the King. In cases of murder, the murderer was then also usually executed |
| Murder | A fine called weregild which you paid to the victim's family | |
| Witchcraft | Execution | Execution |
| Adultery | Some form of public humiliation such as being pilloried | Also public humiliation, but there would be a religious element to the punishment, such as having to publicly repent in church and be subject to religious shunning |
| Drunkenness | A fine or public humiliation | Also a fine or public humiliation, but again the Normans rested more heavily on the religious implications of an offence, and you'd often have to publicly confess your sins |
Types of medieval punishments under Anglo-Saxons and Normans
The purpose of punishment was deterrence. As the methods of crime detection were so basic, the idea was that people needed to be prevented from committing crimes in the first place. This is what led to punishments being so harsh in the limited cases where people were caught. The Church also played an important role in trials and setting punishments.
Under the Normans, punishment continued largely as it had done under the Anglo-Saxons, albeit with an increase in the number of capital offences. Breaking the newly introduced Forest Laws often had severe consequences, including capital punishment. Corporal and capital punishment, as well as public shaming, continued fairly unchanged.
The most common types medieval punishments include:
imprisonment
death
mutilation
whipping
fines
Fig. 2 Painting of a Royal Forest
Influence of the Church
The influence of the Church grew under the Normans. Under the Anglo-Saxons, a church could be a place of sanctuary for a criminal - if they got to the church before being apprehended, they were safe for a period of time and couldn't be tried or punished. Under the Normans, this influence became more noticeable with the establishment of church courts.
The Church maintained that the clergy (ordained members of the church) could only be tried in church courts, which had much less severe punishments and did not impose the death penalty. This was known as benefit of clergy. Church courts were also given jurisdiction to try so-called "moral crimes" such as adultery, and the power to punish them.
While benefit of clergy only protected ordained members of the church, over time it came to be that pretty much any literate man that could have a sufficient connection to claim benefit of clergy.
You proved your clerical status simply by reading from the Latin Bible, opening the door for literate people to claim benefit of clergy. This meant that they often escaped harsher punishments and could not be given the death penalty.
Under the Normans, the Anglo-Saxon systems of wergild and botgild were abolished and replaced with murdrum. This was essentially the same principle as wergild and botgild, but instead of paying fines to the victim or their family, fines were paid to the King. This was a fundraising tactic, as the Normans needed to raise as much money as possible after the incredibly expensive invasion of England in 1066.
Other Norman developments
While prisons remained a place of detention before trial, the Normans built many castles and abbeys. These had dungeons and prisons where disorderly staff and monks could be held and punished. They were a step towards what we recognise as prisons today.
Under the Normans, the influence of the King and the Church over how crimes were punished grew and laws became more centralised, rather than always relying on the Lord of the Land to try and punish crimes locally, although this was still an essential feature of the Norman justice system.
Medieval capital punishment
Obviously, the more serious the crime, the harsher the punishment. Medival capital punishment was carried out in different forms of execution such as hanging, quartering, or burning. The most common form of execution in Britain was hanging, which was done in public right up until 1868. The most serious crimes included treason and arson. Arson was particularly serious because most infrastructure was made from very flammable materials such as wood and thatch. This meant that any fire was likely to spread very quickly and could easily get out of control. Therefore, it was almost always a capital offence.
A capital offence is an offence that attracts the death penalty. The number of capital offences was actually relatively low under the Anglo-Saxons but increased dramatically right up until the 1800s when its use became confined to the most serious offences, such as murder.
In early Anglo-Saxon times, murder was not usually officially punished. Instead, a victim's family had the right to avenge death with death and kill the perpetrator. This led to generation-long blood feuds which the Anglo-Saxons wanted to end. They, therefore, introduced a new system called wergild, to which we will return later.
Poaching was when people would hunt or forage from land they didn't own and didn't have permission to hunt on. Under the feudal system, all land was owned by someone and if it wasn't, it was owned by the Crown. This meant that people needed permission and to pay for licenses to hunt or take firewood, for example. Doing so without permission was a serious offence and often led to execution.
Medival punishment for theft
Corporal punishment was the halfway house between a low-level penalty, such as a fine or public humiliation, and execution. It was usually used for repeat offenders of mid-range crimes, such as theft. This could be anything from public lashes to having a hand or foot cut off.
Theft was a relatively easy crime to commit due to the nature of Anglo-Saxon housing. Large houses had grand estates with forests where criminals could hide and once they had escaped, identifying them was an almost impossible task. This is why methods of punishment were so harsh. A thief caught more than once was sure to be maimed - in part to mark him out to the community as a known thief, and in part to prevent him from being able to commit further crimes.
Other forms of medieval punishment
Low-level crimes such as public drunkenness or disorderly conduct were usually dealt with by public humiliation. This could be time in the pillory or in the stocks. The length of time you had to spend there would correspond to the seriousness of the offence and could last from an hour to a day. Sometimes people were sentenced to be publicly shamed several times in a week or a month for an offence.
Fig. 1 Medieval pillory
The pillory was what we often mislabel as the stocks. The stocks were designed to lock up a criminal's feet, whereas the pillory was for the hands and neck. The pillory would also be set at an awkward height to cause back pain while the criminal was locked up in them. Usually, the stocks or the pillory were raised on a platform to make them more visible and the public would jeer and throw rubbish at the criminal.
Sometimes, a criminal was shamed by having their hands tied to the back of a horse cart and being led through the city before being placed in the pillory or publicly flogged.
As mentioned above, the Anglo-Saxons punished murder under the wergild system. This was a system of fines that the criminal had to pay to the victim's family and the amount depended on the victim's social status - the higher the status, the greater the fine. There was also a fines system for causing bodily injury, called botgild. The amounts varied depending on the seriousness of the injury, as well as cosmetic and economic consequences for the victim.
Anglo-Saxons did not have prisons in the sense that we have them today. A jail was somewhere you were locked up before trial, rather than a place of punishment.
Punishment in the later Middle Ages
The Church and the King continued to have a huge influence over which crimes attracted which punishments. The real differences were how criminals were tried in the courts. Some would say that trial by ordeal was punishment enough!
One new development was the emergence in the late Norman period and into the Later Middle Ages of burning at the stake. This was a punishment usually reserved for religious offences such as heresy and blasphemy. It would also become the method of execution of women for treason. Men who committed treason would be hanged, drawn and quartered, which required them to be naked. However, women were burned at the stake to "preserve their modesty", as they would not have to be stripped naked to be burned.
The church remained a place of sanctuary and church courts strongly resisted attempts to reign in their influence.
Trial by ordeal was a method of trial by which the accused person would have to do a task ("ordeal") and achieve an almost-impossible outcome in order to prove their innocence. One example was ordeal by burning, where the accused would have to walk three paces holding a white-hot iron bar, and if the wounds showed signs of healing in three days, they were innocent.
Heresy is a wide-ranging term that basically means going against the Church and its teachings. It usually came about by people publicly denouncing the Church or its teachings.
Blasphemy was the offence of specifically speaking ab out God in an insulting or crass way.
Fig. 3 Ordeal by Water
Medieval Punishments - Key takeaways
- There were four main kinds of punishment in the medieval period - fines, humiliation, corporal punishment and execution.
- Execution was not as widely used as is often thought, but it was certainly a key pillar of the various justice systems of the middle ages.
- Under the Anglo-Saxons, the most serious crimes were treason and arson, which were almost always punished by death.
- Murder and injury were punished with fines called wergild and botgild. The amounts depended on the social status of the victim of murder, or the severity of their injury.
- Under the Normans, punishments largely continued unchanged, but fines were now paid to the King. The number of capital offences increased, but church courts were established, which never handed out the death penalty.
- Church courts were available to anyone who could claim benefit of clergy. This came to mean anyone who could read a verse from the Bible, and so was in theory available to all literate men.
- Into the Late Middle Ages, burning at the stake became a more common method of execution, usually used for religious crimes, and for women so they didn't have to be hanged, drawn and quartered.
Learn faster with the 0 flashcards about Medieval Punishments
Sign up for free to gain access to all our flashcards.
Frequently Asked Questions about Medieval Punishments
What were the punishments in medieval times?
Punishments were usually harsh - maiming and execution were common, but public humiliation and fines were also used as well.
Why were medieval punishments so harsh?
Because methods of detecting crime were so primitive, criminals often got away with it unless they were caught red-handed. The aim of punishments was to make an example of the people who were caught to put other people off committing crimes.
What was the punishment for witchcraft in medieval times?
Usually being burned at the stake, although in the Later Middle Ages, being hanged drawn and quartered was developed. This was only used for men though; women were still burned.
How was rape punished in medieval England?
You may be surprised to know that sexual offences, especially rape were dealt with harshly. Blinding and castration and even hanging were used to punish sex offenders. The victim may even have been offered the opportunity to perform the punishment on the offender themselves.
How were debtors punished in medieval Britain?
Debtor’s Prisons have been a common feature of debt law since the 1400s - people who have been unable to pay their debts have been forced to live in these prisons until they, or their families, pay the debt due. There was also a social stigma, in no small part due to the role of the Church and views on how people got themselves into debt in the first place.
About StudySmarter
StudySmarter is a globally recognized educational technology company, offering a holistic learning platform designed for students of all ages and educational levels. Our platform provides learning support for a wide range of subjects, including STEM, Social Sciences, and Languages and also helps students to successfully master various tests and exams worldwide, such as GCSE, A Level, SAT, ACT, Abitur, and more. We offer an extensive library of learning materials, including interactive flashcards, comprehensive textbook solutions, and detailed explanations. The cutting-edge technology and tools we provide help students create their own learning materials. StudySmarter’s content is not only expert-verified but also regularly updated to ensure accuracy and relevance.
Learn more