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History · Crime and punishment in medieval England

Crime and Punishment in Anglo-Saxon England

How a kingdom with no police force, no prisons and no professional judges kept order - and why the whole village was expected to do it.

  • c1000-1066
  • 7 key terms
  • All boards
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Teacher resources

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Student handouts

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What Do You Already Think?

Answer before the lesson, then check your ideas at the end.

  • Who would catch a thief in a village with no police?

    The villagers themselves, through the hue and cry and the tithing.

  • How could a court decide guilt with no evidence?

    Oaths from respected neighbours, or trial by ordeal - letting God decide.

  • Were there prisons?

    Hardly any. Gaols held people awaiting trial; prison was not a punishment.

  • Who made the laws?

    The king, through written law codes, with local custom alongside.

Learning Objectives

  1. 1Identify crimes against the person, property and authority in Anglo-Saxon England.
  2. 2Explain how tithings, the hue and cry and the local courts kept order without a police force.
  3. 3Describe how guilt was decided, including oaths and trial by ordeal.
  4. 4Explain the aims of Anglo-Saxon punishments, including wergild.

Setting the Scene

Around 1000, England was a Christian kingdom of small villages where almost everyone knew everyone. The king kept the King's Peace by issuing law codes, but he had no police force and few officials. Law and order depended on the community: villagers were expected to catch, accuse and bring wrongdoers to court themselves.

  1. c1000 England is divided into shires, and each shire into hundreds, each with its own court.
  2. c1008 King Aethelred's law codes set out the duties of free men and the penalties for crime.
  3. c1020 King Cnut's law codes restate the tithing, the hue and cry and wergild.
  4. 1066 The Norman conquest - the end of the Anglo-Saxon system as a system of its own.

Types of Crime

Historians sort medieval crime into three kinds - the exam expects you to use them.

  • Crimes against the person

    Murder, assault, rape. Treated as harm done to a family, who expected compensation.

  • Crimes against property

    Theft, robbery, arson, poaching. Theft was by far the most common crime.

  • Crimes against authority

    Treason - betraying the king or your lord - and rebellion. The most serious crime of all.

  • Moral crimes

    Adultery, drunkenness, failing to attend church. Dealt with by the Church.

  • Why theft dominated

    Most people were poor farmers; a stolen animal or tools could ruin a family.

  • The King's Peace

    A crime was increasingly seen as a breach of the king's peace, not only harm to a victim.

Keeping Order Without a Police Force

Every free man was part of a system that made his neighbours responsible for him.

  • Tithings

    Groups of ten men over the age of twelve who were responsible for each other's behaviour. If one broke the law, the others had to bring him to court or pay a fine.

  • Hue and cry

    A victim or witness raised the alarm and every man in the village had to stop work and chase the suspect. A village that failed to join in could be fined.

  • The reeve

    The king's local official. The shire-reeve - later the sheriff - brought suspects to court and collected fines.

  • Collective responsibility

    Because the whole community paid if it failed, everyone had a reason to keep watch on everyone else.

From Crime to Court

Every stage depended on ordinary people, not officials.

  1. 1 Hue and cry

    The alarm is raised and the village chases the suspect.
  2. 2 Tithing answers

    If he escapes, his tithing must produce him at court or pay.
  3. 3 Court meets

    The hundred court (monthly) or shire court (twice a year) hears the accusation in the open.
  4. 4 Oath-helpers

    Respected men swear to the accused's good character - enough oaths could clear him.
  5. 5 Ordeal

    If oaths could not settle it, the case went to God through trial by ordeal.

How Offenders Were Punished

Punishment aimed at compensation and deterrence, not reform.

  • Wergild

    Used for: Murder and injury. Why: Compensation to the family, set by the victim's rank, to stop blood feuds

  • Fines

    Used for: Most minor crimes. Why: Paid to the victim, and increasingly to the king

  • Stocks and pillory

    Used for: Petty crimes. Why: Public humiliation as a warning to others

  • Mutilation

    Used for: Repeat offenders. Why: Cutting off a hand, ear or nose - a lasting mark and deterrent

  • Execution

    Used for: Treason, repeat theft. Why: Hanging, for crimes that threatened the king or the community

The Law in the King's Own Words

Even the king's written law works through the tithing and the hue and cry - Anglo-Saxon justice depended on the community rather than on royal officials.

And if anyone flees from the hue and cry, let him pay the wergild of the man he has slain, and let his tithing answer for him.

Adapted from the law code of King Cnut, c1020

Summary & Exam Focus

  • Theft was the most common crime; treason the most serious.
  • Order depended on the community: tithings, the hue and cry and local courts.
  • Where oaths could not decide guilt, trial by ordeal left it to God.
  • Punishments aimed at compensation (wergild) and deterrence, not prison.

Exam focus

Explain why the community played such an important role in law enforcement in Anglo-Saxon England. (12 marks) (12 marks)

Give at least three reasons, each explained with specific detail - and include one that goes beyond the stimulus points.

Key terms

The vocabulary this lesson expects you to use. Each one is linked from the first place it appears above.

Tithing
A group of ten men over twelve who were responsible for each other's behaviour.
Hue and cry
The duty of every villager to chase a suspect once the alarm was raised.
Wergild
"Man price": compensation paid to a victim's family, set by the victim's rank.
Trial by ordeal
A religious test asking God to show whether the accused was guilty.
Oath-helpers
Men who swore to the good character of the accused.
King's Peace
The idea that the king was responsible for keeping order across his kingdom.
Reeve
A local royal official; the shire-reeve became the sheriff.

Questions and answers

9 questions set on this lesson, with the mark schemes and model answers open.

1. Exam question Explain one way 4 marks Foundation

Explain one way in which the role of the community in law enforcement in Anglo-Saxon England was different from the role of the community in law enforcement in the period c1200-c1500.

Mark scheme — 4 marks available

  • A valid difference identified — 1-2 marks
  • Supported with specific knowledge of both periods — 3-4 marks

Model answer

In Anglo-Saxon England the community did almost all of the work of law enforcement itself: through tithings and the hue and cry, villagers caught suspects and were fined if they failed. After 1200 the community was still involved, but the king's officials took on more of the work - for example, coroners from 1194 investigated suspicious deaths, and Keepers of the Peace (later Justices of the Peace) were appointed to keep order in each area. So the difference is that responsibility shifted from the community towards royal officials.

2. Exam question Explain why 12 marks Stretch

Explain why the community played such an important role in law enforcement in Anglo-Saxon England. You may use the following in your answer: tithings; the hue and cry. You must also use information of your own.

Mark scheme — 12 marks available

  • Level 1 (1-3) — A simple or general answer
  • Level 2 (4-6) — Some explanation of one or more reasons, with some knowledge
  • Level 3 (7-9) — A developed explanation linked to the question, with accurate knowledge
  • Level 4 (10-12) — An analytical explanation of several reasons, with knowledge that goes beyond the stimulus points

Model answer

One reason was that there was no police force, and the king had very few officials. The reeve could not patrol every village, so the only people who could watch for crime were the villagers themselves. Tithings made this work: every man over twelve belonged to a group of ten who were responsible for each other, and if one broke the law the others had to bring him to court or pay a fine. That gave everyone a financial reason to keep watch. A second reason was that communities were small and close-knit. In a village where everyone knew everyone, a stranger or a thief was quickly noticed, which is why the hue and cry worked: once the alarm was raised, every man had to stop work and chase the suspect, and the whole village could be fined if it failed to join in. A third reason, beyond the stimulus, was the way trials worked. Courts met in the open in the hundred and the shire, and guilt was often decided by oath-helpers - neighbours who swore to the accused's good character. Justice therefore relied on local knowledge of who was trustworthy. Together these show that the community was not just helping the king's justice - it was the system.

3. Exam question How far do you agree? 16 marks Stretch

"The main aim of punishment in Anglo-Saxon England was to deter people from committing crime." How far do you agree? Explain your answer. You may use the following in your answer: the stocks and pillory; wergild. You must also use information of your own. (16 marks, plus 4 for spelling, punctuation, grammar and specialist terminology)

Mark scheme — 16 marks available

  • Level 1 (1-4) — A simple or generalised answer
  • Level 2 (5-8) — Some analysis, with a judgement that is asserted
  • Level 3 (9-12) — Analysis of both sides with accurate knowledge and a supported judgement
  • Level 4 (13-16) — Sustained analysis, knowledge beyond the stimulus, and a clear, justified judgement
  • SPaG (4) — Accurate spelling, punctuation and grammar, with specialist terms such as wergild and tithing

Model answer

On the one hand, many punishments were designed to deter. The stocks and pillory were used in public so that the whole community saw what happened to wrongdoers. Mutilation - cutting off a hand, nose or ear - left a permanent mark that warned others, and hanging for treason and repeat theft showed the price of the most serious crimes. On the other hand, other aims mattered as much or more. Wergild was compensation paid to the victim's family, set by the victim's rank; its main purpose was to prevent blood feuds by giving the family something other than revenge. Fines were also about paying back the victim and, increasingly, the king. Retribution mattered too: mutilation and execution were seen as a fitting punishment for the crime. Overall, deterrence was an important aim, especially for public punishments, but for the most serious everyday crime - violence between families - the main aim was compensation to keep the peace. The best answer recognises that the aim depended on the type of crime.

4. Multiple choice 1 mark Core

How many men were in an Anglo-Saxon tithing?

  1. A Five
  2. B Ten Correct
  3. C Twelve
  4. D Twenty

Why: Ten men over the age of twelve, each answerable for the conduct of the others.

5. Multiple choice 1 mark Core

What was wergild?

  1. A A fine paid to the Church
  2. B A trial decided by oaths
  3. C Compensation paid to a victim's family Correct
  4. D A tax to pay for the sheriff

Why: A "man price" paid to the victim's family, set by the victim's rank, which helped prevent blood feuds.

6. Multiple choice 1 mark Core

Which crime was seen as the most serious in Anglo-Saxon England?

  1. A Theft
  2. B Poaching
  3. C Arson
  4. D Treason Correct

Why: Treason - betraying the king or your lord - threatened the whole social order and was punished by death.

7. Multiple choice 1 mark Core

In trial by cold water, what meant the accused was innocent?

  1. A Sinking Correct
  2. B Floating
  3. C Swimming to the bank
  4. D Being pulled out by a priest

Why: Sinking meant the blessed water had accepted them; floating meant it had rejected them as guilty.

8. Multiple choice 1 mark Foundation

What happened if a village failed to join the hue and cry?

  1. A Nothing
  2. B The village could be fined Correct
  3. C The villagers were sent to prison
  4. D The reeve was punished instead

Why: The whole community could be fined, which is why everyone had a reason to help.

9. Multiple choice 1 mark Stretch

How often did a hundred court meet?

  1. A Once a week
  2. B Once a year
  3. C About once a month Correct
  4. D Only when the king visited

Why: Hundred courts met about once a month; shire courts met twice a year for more serious cases.