c1000-1066 Law Enforcement in Anglo Saxon England | Crime & Punishment | GCSE History Revision

It’s c1000 and the way crimes are viewed is, unsurprisingly, based on Anglo-Saxon ideas about both justice and how society should be organised. The most notable of these beliefs are: that the role of the community in policing the behaviour of others is very important, that God is the final judge of guilt or innocence and that the status and position of different groups should be clear in the law.
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Revision Notes:
How crimes were viewed was based on Anglo-Saxon ideas about justice and how society should be organised
They believed:
The role of the local community in policing the behaviour of others was very important
That god was the final judge of innocence or guilt
The status and position of different groups should be clear in law
The role of the community in enforcing the law
They believed it was the victim’s responsibility to seek justice
But also that the community should play a part in delivering justice
Being loyal to your community was seen as a duty
By the 10th cent English shires were divided into smaller areas called hundreds
Each hundred was divided into 10 tithings
All the men (aged 12+) in a tithing were responsible for the behaviour of all the others
One man from each hundred and one man from each tithing had to meet regularly with the king’s shire reeve (sheriff)
Their role was to prevent crime, particularly cattle theft, in their communities
When chasing a cattle thief a ‘hundredsman’ was entitled to take two ‘tithingmen’ with him
These developments made the community increasingly important in Saxon law enforcement
The community as a whole was also responsible for tracking down those suspected of crimes
Anyone who witnessed a crime could raise a ‘hue and cry’ (a shout for help)
Everyone who heard was expected to help chase and capture the suspects
Taking Oaths
Saxon justice relied heavily on religion when deciding guilt
Oaths were an important way of proving innocence
Hearings took place in public and the accused could swear their innocence under oath
They could also call upon others in the community to support their claims as ‘oath helpers'
In most cases the accused walked free
Whilst it may seem ineffective, in small, tight-knit communities it would be very hard for a criminal to get away with a repeat offence
If they were a repeat offender or had been caught red-handed, they weren’t given the option of swearing an oath of innocence
Trial by Ordeal
In cases where there wasn’t enough evidence to prove a person was guilty, the church had an important role
The accused could be tried by the church authorities in a ‘trial by ordeal'
It was a test of guilt in the eyes of god
Inc trial by hot iron, hot water or cold water
Trial by hot iron/water: heat used to burn one of the accused’s hands which was then bandaged, if healed well then god judged them to be innocent
Cold water: accused thrown into water with their arms tied - if u floated u were guilty, sank innocent and were hauled up again
This was because the water ‘accepted’ the innocent person as pure, whilst the guilty had been ‘rejected’ by it
Christian thinking also had an influence on Saxon ideas about some punishments
For some crimes, inc petty theft, the church advised maiming
The belief was that, unlike execution, this type of punishment gave the criminal time to seek forgiveness from God
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IMAGE ATTRIBUTIONS
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"West Stow Anglo-Saxon village" by Midnightblueowl, licensed under CC-BY 3.0
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Attribution: Jeff Tomlinson
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Attribution: Jo Turner
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Attribution: Keith Evans
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Attribution: Peter Jordan
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*The information for this video was sourced from the Pearson Crime & Punishment GCSE history textbook & it is based around the specification for the the Pearson Edexcel 9-1 GCSE History