Anglo-Saxon and Norman justice

Historians sort crimes into three groups:

Most crime in medieval England was petty theft, often of food or animals, by people who were poor.

Poaching is hunting animals, such as deer or rabbits, on land where you have no right to hunt.

It is an example of a social crime: something that is against the law, but that many people do not think is really wrong. Poor families who poached to feed themselves were often protected by their neighbours, who would not report them.

Significance: social crimes show that what counts as a crime is decided by those who make the laws, and does not always match what ordinary people think.

There was no police force. Law enforcement depended on the local community:

• Tithings: groups of about ten men, aged 12 and over, 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.
• The hue and cry: anyone who saw a crime had to raise the alarm, and everyone in the area had to chase the suspect.

Cases were heard in local courts. For serious crimes, the king's officials, such as the sheriff, became involved.

Significance: this worked because communities were small, and everyone knew each other.

When a court could not decide whether someone was guilty, it could leave the decision to God, through trial by ordeal. The ordeals were run by priests:

• Hot iron: the accused carried a red-hot iron bar a few paces. The hand was bandaged; if it was healing cleanly after three days, they were innocent.
• Hot water: the accused picked a stone out of boiling water, and the hand was judged in the same way.
• Cold water: the accused was lowered into blessed water. Sinking meant innocent; floating meant guilty.

Significance: the ordeal shows how much people believed that God would show the truth.

Anglo-Saxon punishments aimed to deter others and to make up for the harm done:

• Wergild: for many crimes, including murder, the criminal paid compensation to the victim's family. The amount depended on the victim's rank.
• Fines, for less serious crimes.
• Corporal punishment, such as the stocks, whipping or mutilation.
• Capital punishment (execution), for the most serious crimes, such as treason.

Change: the wergild ended after the Norman Conquest. The Normans saw crime as an offence against the king's peace, so fines were now paid to the king rather than to the victim.

William I kept much of the Anglo-Saxon system, but made changes that protected Normans and royal power:

• The Forest Laws: large areas became royal forest. Hunting, cutting wood or grazing animals there without permission became crimes, punished harshly. Poaching became a far more common crime.
• The murdrum fine: if a Norman was murdered and the killer was not found, the whole area had to pay a large fine.
• Trial by combat: the Normans brought this new kind of trial, in which the accuser and the accused fought.

Significance: these laws show the Normans' authority, and their fear of the English. The Forest Laws were deeply resented.