Crime and punishment, and how they have changed over the centuries, is one subject covered in GCSE History. One of the eras looked at is the Middle Ages.
In 1066 Anglo-Saxon England became Norman England and the High Middle Ages began. Forms of punishment used by the English for perpetrators of crime gradually faded. Trial by ordeal persisted until 1215, but features of the modern legal system, like juries and magistrates, began to appear. Yet still there was no police force.
See how much you know about crime and punishment in the Middle Ages by playing this quiz.
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With its origins in Anglo-Saxon times, trial by ordeal persisted well into the Middle Ages
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As there was no police force, the job of catching criminals on the run fell to local able-bodied men
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These matters would often today be regarded as private. But in the Middle Ages religious and family affairs could be issues for the law
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The 1327 statute, for example, was looking for "good and lawful men" in every county to fulfil this task
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Women who had committed a moral offence were almost always treated more harshly than equivalent men
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These courts dealt with matters such as local contracts and land tenure
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Similar myths gathered around his followers
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Some Islamic scholars disagreed with this interpretation of the Prophet's words - either in the Koran itself or the Hadith
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The sense of responsibility was very strong: these were local matters, to be resolved locally
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Tithe barns were erected to hold the produce collected
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