Year 5 Curriculum Learning

Wednesday 8th July 2020 Medieval and Tudor periods

Today we will be looking at the medieval period which spans from the in 1066 up until the beginning of the Tudor period in 1485. We will then also look at changes in crime and punishment across the period when the Tudor family were in power. The Normans came from Normandy in the north-west of France. They were originally Vikings but settled down there after the French king gave them some land.

1066 is the year that William the Conqueror came over from Normandy and won the Battle of Hastings. This began the Norman rule in Britain. When the Normans invaded in 1066, they brought a new system of laws with them. While they had been in France, the Normans had taken on the laws of the French people around them. The Anglo-Saxon community-based system of crime prevention, such as the use of tithings, continued for some time after the Norman Conquest but changes were gradually introduced. Harsher punishments were more common and weregild (paying The Battle of Hastings compensation for your crime) was more or less abolished. Instead of weregild, people were mutilated (for example, by having their ears slit or their hands cut off), executed or fined for their crimes. However, instead of the money going back to the victim or the victim’s family, it would go to the king. The lord of the manor would be a judge at regular courts and many trials would have juries too. Trial by ordeal was ended around the year 1200. Criminals who had offended the public were either put in the stocks if you were a man or on the ducking stool if you were a woman. This was called a ‘shaming punishment’ as it humiliated the offender in front of his or her neighbours. The Norman kings set up large forests (including woodland, open land and farmland) where they could hunt for deer. Anyone living in the royal forests now had to have a licence to hunt animals or even gather firewood.

25 royal forests had been set up by 1087 and by the end of the medieval period there would be around 80. This covered around a third of . The New Forest is probably the most famous of these. The Church

Throughout the Middle Ages, the Church had its own courts. These tried crimes of a religious nature, such as blaspheming or failure to attend church. In order to get out of being tried by ordinary courts and risking execution, you could pretend to be a cleric by reciting a particular verse of the Bible in Latin.

This proved that you were educated and suggested you were a member of the Church. You could then be tried by the Church instead of the secular courts. The verse became known as ‘Neck Verse’ because it saved people from hanging. Anyone on the run from the law could claim sanctuary by going into a church. The pursuers could not follow you and you would then be safe. Once you had taken an oath, you were able to flee the country. This meant leaving your life behind but at least you escaped execution.

This picture shows Elizabeth Woodville claiming sanctuary for herself and her children at Westminster Abbey after her husband, King Edward IV, died suddenly. As her eldest son wasn’t yet old enough to be king, they were all in danger from others who wanted the throne for themselves. Towards the end of the medieval period, towns and communities were getting bigger, which made law and order more difficult. There was also the threat of the ‘over-mighty subject’. These were lords who used their power and wealth to terrorise local villages. The community-based crime prevention system was too weak to deal with this.

Towns and communities started appointing their own officials called constables, watchmen or beadles. Gradually, a new position was set up: the Justice of the Peace. JPs were rich and powerful members of the community who were appointed by the king and were in charge of controlling law and order. The creation of Justices of the Peace was the first time that law enforcement became the role of certain people instead of a job for the whole community. Tudor Crime and Punishment

After Henry Tudor won the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, the Tudor family ruled Britain until 1603. While the Tudors were in power, law and order remained largely the same. However, there were some specific crimes that related to religion.

During the reign of Henry VIII, England broke away from the Roman Catholic Church and King Henry became head of the . This caused a lot of problems as not everyone agreed that this was the right thing to do. One of the most controversial changes was the closing of all the monasteries. The Catholic monasteries were often used to help look after the poor. Once these were closed, there was no one else to look after them. The poor had to turn to crimes such as theft in order to feed themselves.

The Tudor kings and queens kept disagreeing about whether the country should be Catholic or Protestant. The religion of the country changed with the kings and queens.

Anyone who disagreed with the changes in the Church was charged with heresy and was burned at the stake. There were also lots of rebellions and many people were executed for treason. Task 1:

Use what you have learnt today and the information slide to fill in the blanks.

The Normans changed the way people were punished for ______but not how they were caught and tried in a court. ______was abolished, as was trial by ______. Now people could be fined but the money would go to the ______instead of to the ______. Forests were created so kings could hunt ______. If you lived in a forest you weren't allowed to gather ______or hunt ______. Forests covered about one ______of England in the later medieval period. Criminals could seek ______in a church and escape punishment. Crimes against the church, though, like ______, were judged in special church ______. Later in the medieval period, Justices of the ______were not elected by the local community, but appointed by the ______. They were part of a move towards central control over law and order. A system in which everyone was involved was giving way to one in which law enforcement was the job of certain people. The Tudor King ______VIII changed the religion of the country and so lots of people were executed for ______or ______. The punishment for ______was being burned at the ______. We would love to see your learning so remember to send it to: [email protected] Task 2: Decide which of the sentences below belong to the Norman and early medieval period and which belong to the late medieval and Tudor period. You might decide some belong to both! Tick the correct boxes.

Extra challenge: Write your own short paragraph to explain how crime and punishment changed over the medieval and Tudor periods. Information slide

Norman Law The Normans invaded from France in 1066 and took over the country. Anglo-Saxon law continued to be used, with men standing as tithingmen and members of the community chasing after criminals themselves. Weregild and trial by ordeal were abolished. People could still be fined but the money wouldn't go to the victim or their family, it would go to the king. People were shamed after some crimes now, for instance by being put in the stocks so people could throw rotten vegetables at them. Forest Law The Normans set up royal forests to hunt deer. The forests, which weren't all woods but had open land, farmed land and villages in them. By the end of the medieval period there would be about 80 forests covering a third of the area of England. It became illegal to gather firewood or hunt animals in these forests. The Church The Church had its own courts for dealing with religious crimes like blasphemy (being rude about God or the church). Punishments were usually less harsh than other courts. People could pretend to be churchmen by reciting a bit of the Bible. This meant they could be tried by the Church to escape execution. Ordinary criminals could claim sanctuary in a church and no one was allowed to go in and get them. Later Medieval Period Because the population was growing and the better-off people in the towns thought they should control everyone else, new jobs were created that were a bit like the police, but unpaid. They were called constables, beadles or watchmen and they were ordinary villagers or townspeople. The gentry and merchants also had a new job to do, as Justices of the Peace. These were appointed by the king. They held courts and gave out punishments to criminals. Tudor Period The system was the same as the medieval period, but there were some specific crimes that became a problem. Heresy became more common in the Tudor period because of King Henry VIII and his children changing the religion of the country. The punishment for heresy was being burned at the stake. Because of the changes in religion, there were also rebellions and many people were executed for treason. Answers