Thank you very much to everyone who submitted an entry to Competition AH1, based on Professor Hannah Skoda’s lecture on Medieval Crime and Punishment. Below you can read some of the winning entries, as selected by our team of markers.
Lily’s winning entry
Crime and Punishment in the Middle Ages
What was the purpose of punishment?
The purpose of punishment was to set an example. By carrying out severe punishments in
public, it warned others not to commit crimes or risk facing the same fate. It was used to
control potential criminals and stop them before they committed a crime.
How violent were the Middle Ages?
Although the Middle Ages were violent at times, it was usually with purpose. People were not constantly beating each other in the street and violence was used to teach a lesson and intimidate people. The Middle Ages weren’t as lawless as many people see them as, but the violence was extremely brutal when it was used, such as being hung, strung and quartered or being boiled alive.
What does crime tell us about community and relationships in the Middle Ages?
Committing a crime against an individual was the same as committing a crime against their community. Everyone was affected by it, directly or indirectly. The relationship with their community was one of the strongest things people had in the Middle Ages. The community rallied behind those who were victims of crime to make sure the criminal was punished, showing the strength of the relationship between neighbours. Committing a crime could get people thrown out of their community as if they had betrayed them, showing how seriously people in the Middle Ages dealt with crime.
Lorna’s winning entry
What was the purpose of punishment?
Punishment is necessary to hold an offender responsible, but to also act as a deterrent for others. By providing people with a negative consequence for their actions, we are setting an expectation to uphold and are showing the rest of society that certain immortalities are not acceptable. Punishment aims to reduce the number of crimes committed not just by the offender, but by wider communities also.
How violent were the Middle Ages?
Our society perceives the Middle Ages as ridden with violence. This belief likely comes from the media, as a considerable amount of how history is portrayed stems from childhood programmes or books. It must also be considered that our knowledge of medieval times is based upon sources written at the time, which do not give a true depiction of societal views on violence. Authors are likely to publish details that will be enjoyed and easily consumed by readers ahead of their time, and so will be more hesitant to share dormant aspects of society. Whilst medieval people undoubtably showed extreme violence towards victims, they may not have exercised it to the extent we initially believed.
What does crime tell us about community and relationships in the Middle Ages?
The obvious explanation for why the Middle Ages suffered more crime is because they lacked a community. Alternatively, more crime does not necessarily correlate with a weaker sense of community, but rather shows that their societies were built upon different foundations to ours. Whilst crime is seemingly influenced by limited connections between individuals, statistics arguably present the opposite case, as a significant aspect of crime both today and hundreds of years ago is crimes of passion. Whilst the Middle Ages appear to be consumed by impulsive violence and spontaneity in crime, an understanding of communities would need to come from more extensive research into the motives of offenders. The knowledge of vague statistics does not consider that, ultimately, some crimes are committed because there is greater sense of community, not a lesser one.