Crime and Punishment Research Task
Task 1: Topic 1
Question 1: Did England have a court system in the Middle Ages and how did it run?
In the Middle Ages there was a very strict court system. Unlike courts in modern times there were no lawyers or cases. Even the smallest of crimes like stealing a loaf of bread had brutal punishments. The court system was based on the Middle Ages feudal system. In figure 1, this is the Middle Ages feudal system, if decides who is higher up in the order. If two people were in court the higher person in the feudal system was always right (or telling the truth). The person who decided on the punishment was always very high in the feudal system like a lord or sometimes even the monarch. This was very unfair to pheasants or serfs. Anyone above in the feudal system could blame a pheasant
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The ordeal by fire was a way to prove the innocence of someone accused of committing a crime. In the ordeal the accused person is required to carry a boiling hot iron bar across a distance of 9 of your feet (depending on how big your foot size is). Next, the person’s hand is bandaged and is left for 3 days. After the 3 days the priest will come to look at the burnt area and if it is heal you are innocent and if it is not healed you are guilty. If you are guilty, you are imminently killed / executed. Figure 2 is a secondary source, a painting of a lady participating in the ordeal by fire. She is doing it for her husband who was killed. This form of ordeal was a complete waste of time. Firstly, anyone could say someone broke the law and make them do the ordeal. There was no step before it so anyone accused had to prove their innocence by doing this harsh punishment. Secondly, what you have done will not have an effect on how quickly the burn will heal. Therefore, the ordeal by fire was way to see how quickly you could heal and was basically