The Church and crime

In the early 13th century, the Church was one of the most powerful institutions in England. It had its own Church courts, which tried members of the clergy and dealt with moral and religious offences.

Church courts never sentenced anyone to death. Their punishments were usually penance: prayer, fasting or a pilgrimage.

Significance: the Church shaped how crime was dealt with, sometimes making justice milder, and sometimes letting criminals escape it.

Anyone who was a member of the clergy could claim benefit of clergy: the right to be tried in a Church court rather than a royal court. This could save their life, because Church courts did not use the death penalty.

To prove they were clergy, the accused had to read a passage from the Bible in Latin, usually from Psalm 51. Because it could save them from hanging, it became known as the 'neck verse'. Some criminals simply learned it by heart.

Significance: benefit of clergy was widely abused, which made the system seem unfair.

A person accused of a crime could run to a church and claim sanctuary: protection on holy ground. No one could arrest them there.

After 40 days, they had to choose: face trial, or swear to leave England for ever. Leaving meant walking straight to a port and taking the first ship.

Significance: sanctuary saved people from revenge and gave them time, but it also helped some criminals escape justice. It showed that the Church's authority could override the king's.

Trials by ordeal were run by priests, because they asked God to show the truth.

In 1215, the Fourth Lateran Council, a great meeting of the Church called by Pope Innocent III, banned priests from taking part in ordeals.

Causes: Church leaders had come to doubt the ordeal. Its results could be uncertain or manipulated, and many felt it was wrong to demand that God perform a miracle on command.

Consequence: without priests, the ordeal could not continue. English courts replaced it with trial by jury, in which local people decided guilt.

Significance: a decision by the Church led to a lasting change in English justice.