The Exercise of Criminal Justice in Medieval Towns: A Comparison of English and Polish Jurisdiction Submitted by Katarzyna Wójcik to the University of Exeter as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Law In June 2019 This thesis is available for Library use on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. I certify that all material in this thesis which is not my own work has been identified and that no material has previously been submitted and approved for the award of a degree by this or any other University. Signature: ………………………………………………………….. 2 Abstract The thesis offers a new vision of medieval criminal justice and for the first time identifies the significant common elements in the exercise of criminal law regulations in selected fourteenth-century towns in two contrasting countries in late medieval Europe, England and Poland. These elements include principles of cooperation and control between royal and local powers in the establishment and exercise of legal proceedings. These are also among the main determinants of the developing status and agency of medieval European urban communities including their executive powers. Through a comparative analysis of the local practice that comprised criminal justice in both nations’ systems of law, this thesis marks new ground in the study of international features of criminal law proceedings in the period. It also contributes to a wider understanding of local mechanisms of control and the extent to which towns nevertheless relied upon the enforcement power of central royal authorities. Focusing on towns like Bristol, Exeter, Norwich, York, Wrocław and Kraków, this study explores the importance of local legal regulation in each town’s development, their aspirations to control their own administrative and legal processes and the limits to their level of autonomy. The thesis examines the individual stages of how local criminal law was exercised in towns of both countries, by demonstrating from various legal documents that formed parts of royal grants, privileges and charters, the roles of executive bodies directly involved in implementing local laws. The results reveal that despite political, territorial and monarchical differences that existed between the countries and their separate systems of law, there were certain common elements that arguably provide an international character for the application of local criminal justice. The thesis expands upon existing knowledge and scholarship about the essential role of corporal punishments in municipal legal proceedings, including how these were appropriate to each criminal and their specific crime. It also identifies a new approach towards the main factors affecting the active pursuit of criminal justice in England and Poland, especially their impact upon a general understanding of medieval European law enforcement procedures. 3 4 Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................. 3 Contents ............................................................................................................ 5 List of Illustrations ........................................................................................... 7 Acknowledgements ........................................................................................ 11 Chapter 1. Introduction .................................................................................. 13 1.1 The aims of the research........................................................................ 17 1.2 Structure of the thesis ............................................................................ 18 1.3 The selection of towns for this study ...................................................... 26 1.4 The chronological selection of the research material ............................. 29 1.5 The territorial scope of the research ....................................................... 31 1.6 Contribution to the existing research on medieval criminal justice ......... 33 Chapter 2. The development of medieval urban jurisdiction and towns’ legal status. ..................................................................................................... 37 2.1 The foundation documents and their role in local legal practice ............. 41 2.1.1 Polish lands ..................................................................................... 41 2.1.2 England ........................................................................................... 49 2.1.3 Conclusion ...................................................................................... 57 2.2 Topography of the selected English towns ............................................. 59 2.2.1 Special forms of trade control ......................................................... 72 2.2.2 Conclusion ...................................................................................... 75 2.3 Topography of the Polish urban areas ................................................... 77 2.4 Chapter conclusion ................................................................................ 86 Chapter 3. The expansion of justice in towns: a comparative analysis .... 89 3.1 Local crime ............................................................................................. 90 3.2 Status of outlaws .................................................................................. 108 3.3 Hue and cry .......................................................................................... 118 3.4 Sanctuaries .......................................................................................... 127 3.5 Chapter conclusion .............................................................................. 139 Chapter 4. Municipal officers and their role in maintaining law and order in towns. ............................................................................................................ 141 4.1 The sheriff and the woźny sądowy ....................................................... 141 4.1.1 The sheriff’s office in England ....................................................... 141 4.1.2 The office of woźny sądowy in Poland .......................................... 151 5 4.1.3 Conclusion .................................................................................... 159 4.2 The coroner’s inquest ........................................................................... 161 4.2.1 Conclusion .................................................................................... 172 4.3 The first police forces in fourteenth-century England and Poland ........ 175 4.4 Chapter conclusion .............................................................................. 184 Chapter 5. Local prisons and prisoners in the selected towns in England and Poland .................................................................................................... 187 5.1 Introduction .......................................................................................... 187 5.2 Creation and location of the first town prisons ...................................... 188 5.3 The size and number of the functioning municipal prisons ................... 198 5.4 The local officials and their role in the prison system ........................... 215 5.5 Church prisons ..................................................................................... 224 5.6 Chapter conclusion .............................................................................. 229 Chapter 6. Local judgment of criminal acts in selected medieval towns of England and Poland. .................................................................................... 233 6.1 Local punishment ................................................................................. 234 6.1.1 Conclusion .................................................................................... 246 6.2 The town servants and their direct involvement in execution procedures ................................................................................................................... 248 6.3 Places and means of execution of judgments in the selected towns .... 262 6.3.1 Conclusion .................................................................................... 280 6.4 Chapter conclusion .............................................................................. 285 7. Conclusion ................................................................................................ 288 Bibliography ................................................................................................. 294 6 List of Illustrations Figures Figure 1: A copy of a surviving document issued by Duke Bolko of Silesia in 1361, confirming the sale of the hereditary Vogt of Jelenia Góra and the rights of the municipal judiciary to Dorothea, wife of Hannus von Schyldaw (from Wojanów), and her sister Agnes, wife of Nitsche von Waldycz, the hereditary Vogt of Jelenia Góra. ........................................................................................ 48 Figure 2: A map of Exeter in 1563. ................................................................... 61 Figure 3: A map of York by John Speed, Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine, 1611/1612. ......................................................................................... 66 Figure 4: A view of Norwich from the west by John Speed, Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine, 1611/1612.