What were punishments in the Middle Ages?

Answer 1

AnswerDeath penalty, imprisonment life or temporary, tortures were the common ways to panish a civilian for not complying to the state or authority's rules. AnswerThe general modern ideas of medieval justice and punishment can be generalized as being misunderstandings of the facts.

There were a lot of kingdoms in the middle ages, and the middle ages lasted a long time. There was a lot of variation in justice, even within a kingdom. In the Kingdom of the Franks, for example, there were two justice systems, one, in German, with memorized laws, for the North, and the other, in Latin, with written laws, for the South. And in Spain, Visigothic people were subject to Visigothic law and the conquered peoples, descendants of Spanish of Roman times, were subject to Roman law. Furthermore, everyone was subject to Church law (except Jews, who may have been subject to Jewish law, and therefore not prosecuted for charging interest on loans), and in many places a person could ask to be tried in a Church court because such courts were more lenient and the Church prisons had better food (not everyone qualified - you had to be literate).

The laws of the Lombards, Franks, and other Germanic tribes are very interesting examples of what early medieval law was like. For example, there was the concept of blood money or weregeld. A person found guilty of killing someone was fined blood money, which went to that person's heirs. In the case of the serf, the money minimal compared to what it was for members of higher ranks; a landless Welshman was worth 80 shillings. In the case of a freeman, the money might be 200 shillings. Killing a member of the clergy resulted in a fine of 300 shillings, or 400 shillings if he was killed while reading mass, and a member of the nobility was could cost the killer 1200 shillings. In Mercia, if you killed the king, you could be fined 15,000 shillings for his heir and 15,000 for the country. The Saxons charged half as much for a woman of a given rank. The Alamanni charged twice as much for a woman of a given rank.

The money that was paid went partly toward court costs, but mostly to the victim. If the crime was theft, the stolen property was returned along with the part of the fine. If a criminal could not pay, he could be made a slave, and in such a case would likely be given to the victim or the victim's family as compensation.

The weregeld was, of course, not the only form of punishment. Later, other forms of punishment could range from public humiliation to torture and execution. The punishments for rape are an example of how the change went. Early on, rape was punished with a fine, which was approximately equal to the weregeld for a serf. Later, like murder and treason, it became a capital crime. In the 13th century, laws provided that the victims family had the right to perform the execution, presumably with the right to make it as spectacular and nasty as they wished. English laws of the 14th century gave the victim the right to mutilate the attacker in whatever manner she chose, including castration and blinding.

Without question, imprisonment, torture, and execution were done. In some periods they were common, and there were people who studied long and hard the questions of how to make another person suffer as much pain as possible while keeping him alive as long as possible to suffer the pain. The Church, however, acted to try to reduce the amount of torture, banning it repeatedly in various ways.

Prison was usually for people being held for trial and for people considered dangerous. In many places, criminals were either exiled or confined to their own neighborhoods. Violation could lead to death or slavery.

But lest we get carried away with the idea that the times were brutal, another thing to bear in mind is that medieval people had the concept of sanctuary. A person who was in trouble from whatever source could hide in the sanctuary of various places specified under the law. We still have court records regarding monastic organizations, such as the one at the Manor of God Begot, which still stands in Winchester. These recognized sanctuary under the law, even to felons, and they said specifically that even agents of the king could not remove people from that sanctuary. The punishment for doing so would most probably have been excommunication for both the agents and the king himself. Other such places existed in many places, and there are records of queens going to them to get away from their husbands, the kings, and living in them successfully.

The Church had its own courts and its own punishments, not only for ecclesiastical purpose, but also for secular. Perhaps the most important form of punishment imposed by the Church was excommunication. It was something that might not have bothered lowly people all that much if they were not religious. But it often meant that all obligations to the excommunicated person were cancelled, and anyone who aided the person might also be excommunicated. To a king this could mean all oaths of loyalty or support were cancelled, and all treaties were terminated. Anyone who want to do so and had the ability could get rid of the king with the Church's blessing, and if he enriched himself in the process, then that was just fine.

In general, the intent of medieval punishments was aimed at something other than revenge. In secular courts, it was aimed at compensation for the victim, and in Church courts it was additionally aimed at aiding in a process of self examination, confession, and penance. This did not mean things were made easy, but it meant there was a rational that was different from, and possibly arguably superior to, what is used today.

Not all people were unmerciful, and not all punishment was unjust.

There are links below for Weregeld and Early Germanic law.

Answer 2

Medieval punishments varied according to the country, sometimes the county, and the legal code. Laws varied widely.

Early in the Middle Ages, law was based on a combination of Roman and Germanic legal systems, both with treated theft as a crime punishable by a fine. The fine could be anywhere from three to ten times the value of the thing stolen. If the guilty person could not pay the fine, he could be sold into slavery to pay it, and could wind up being a possession of the victim. But the emphasis of early Germanic law was on fair compensation to the victim, rather than revenge.

Trial in the manorial court would include lesser infractions, and stealing could be one of these, depending on what was stolen and other circumstances. The manorial court was made up of officers and other people who lived on the manor, and the jury was charged not only with finding the truth of a charge, but also determining a punishment. In such a system, punishments could vary widely depending on how people felt about the accused.

People who had benefit of clergy, which meant practically anyone who could read, were allowed, in many places, to appeal for an ecclesiastical trial rather than secular. The Church trials had punishments intended to save the soul of the guilty, and so they included time to repent, confess, and make restitution to the victim.

Prison was not often used as a punishment. Rather, they were intended to hold prisoners awaiting trial, in cases where there was some expectation the prisoner would try to escape, or to hold people believed to be dangerous. The laws of England seem to imply that some counties did not have any jails at all.

Draconian punishments were made in some places, and these could include cutting off a person's hand. But such punishments seem not to have been as common as some people would like to think.

Answer 3

Punishments varied with time and place. The laws of King Alfred the Great punished theft with a fine of three times the value of the thing stolen. If the thing stolen belonged to the king, the the fine was nine times the value.

There is a link below.