Early Modern Crime & Punishment Flashcards
All 26 cards in this deck
What was heresy?
Holding religious beliefs that differed from the official religion of the country. It was a crime against authority because it challenged the authority of the Church.
True or false? The nature of theft changed greatly in the years c1500–c1700.
False. Theft continued in much the same form — pickpocketing, robbery and burglary of money and personal possessions.
What was vagabondage?
Wandering from place to place without work, begging or stealing. It was defined as a crime in the sixteenth century because 'masterless men' were outside the normal controls of society.
Give one reason witchcraft was defined as a crime in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Religious change and political unrest made people fear challenges to authority, so laws were passed treating witchcraft as a crime against authority.
Who were town watchmen in early modern England?
Unpaid men from the local community who patrolled towns at night, raising the alarm and handing suspects to the parish constable.
True or false? Corporal and capital punishment continued to be used throughout the years c1500–c1700.
True. Punishments such as the stocks, the pillory, whipping and public hanging continued, and were carried out in public to deter others.
Roughly how many crimes carried the death penalty under the Bloody Code by 1688?
About 50; the number of capital crimes grew sharply from the late seventeenth century, intended to deter crime.
What was transportation, and when did it begin?
Sending convicts overseas to work in the colonies; from c1610 criminals were transported to North America and the West Indies, where labour was needed.
What was the Gunpowder Plot (1605)?
A plot by a group of Catholics to blow up the Houses of Parliament at the State Opening on 5 November 1605, killing James I and replacing him with a Catholic monarch.
Who led the Gunpowder Plot of 1605?
Robert Catesby, a Catholic gentleman who recruited the other plotters.
Who was Guy Fawkes?
One of the Gunpowder plotters, an explosives expert, caught guarding 36 barrels of gunpowder in the cellars beneath the House of Lords on 5 November 1605.
What crime were the Gunpowder Plotters convicted of, and how were they punished?
High treason; the eight plotters tried in January 1606 were hanged, drawn and quartered in public (Catesby and others had been killed resisting arrest).
Who was Matthew Hopkins?
A self-appointed 'Witchfinder General' who led witch-hunts in East Anglia in 1645–47, paid by local communities to find witches.
Give one reason the witch-hunts of 1645–47 were so intense.
The English Civil War caused religious and political instability, and accusations of witchcraft were a way of asserting control.
Name two methods Matthew Hopkins used to prove someone was a witch.
Searching the body for the Devil's mark and pricking it with a needle; also the swimming test and sleep deprivation to force confessions.
True or false? People convicted of witchcraft in England in 1645–47 were burned at the stake.
False. Those convicted of witchcraft in England were hanged, usually in public.
How did the 1547 Vagrancy Act punish able-bodied people without work?
They could be branded with a 'V' and enslaved for two years. The law proved impossible to enforce and was soon repealed.
How did the 1601 Poor Law treat the 'deserving' and 'undeserving' poor differently?
The deserving poor (such as the old and disabled) received help from their parish; the undeserving poor (those fit to work) could be whipped or sent to a house of correction.
Which monarch first made witchcraft punishable by death, and in what year?
Henry VIII, in 1542. James I's Witchcraft Act of 1604 later extended the death penalty to anyone who called up evil spirits.
What was the role of a town constable in early modern England?
An officer appointed by the town authorities who oversaw the night watchmen and could arrest suspects and bring them before a Justice of the Peace.
How was the Gunpowder Plot discovered?
In late October 1605 Lord Monteagle received an anonymous letter warning him to stay away from the State Opening. He passed it to Robert Cecil, whose search of the cellars found Fawkes on 5 November.
Give one reason the Gunpowder Plotters were executed so brutally and in public.
To frighten other Catholics out of plotting against the Protestant king; with no police force, terrifying public punishment was the authorities' main way of deterring crime.
Who did the Gunpowder Plotters plan to put on the throne after killing James I?
His young daughter, Princess Elizabeth, who they hoped would be raised as a Catholic.
Roughly how many people were investigated and hanged as a result of Matthew Hopkins's witch-hunts?
About 300 people were investigated, and over 100 of them were hanged.
How did economic problems help cause the witch-hunts of 1645–47?
War and failed harvests left many people poor and hungry, and they searched for someone to blame, often accusing vulnerable neighbours of witchcraft.
How did James I's book Demonologie influence the witch-hunts?
Published in 1597, it argued that witches were real and explained how to detect and prosecute them. Its royal backing made witch-hunting respectable, and its ideas still shaped beliefs in the 1640s.