Criminal Justice System In The Middle Ages

The Criminal Justice System in the Middle Ages In the medieval ages, most medieval societies were monarchies. A Monarchy is a type of government system that is led under one ruler or leader most of the time know as the king, queen, or emperor. Many aspects of the political theory and practice was common to all societies. Two of the biggest influences on the government societies in the Medieval Ages were the cultural traditions and the religious beliefs. Adding all the aspects, cultural traditions and religious beliefs always seemed to underpinned the relationship between ruler and ruled. (Cavendish) The justice system has always been part of a society. Rulers of all kingdoms and territories would not like chaos, control
was one of the priorities. Having control meant having power among the ones that fall underneath a ruler. The mindset of humans is having control or power among people. Within the kingdom, the king is at the very top of wealth and class in the Medieval Ages. King’s did, in reality, what he pleased, but many of the king's decisions were based on religion and the influence of the church. Although the church had a say in everything, since everyone and the church believed that God sent the people of the church with authority given to them by God himself, the church put themselves in every class of the Medieval Times. In Matthew verse 22:21 it states, “They say unto him, caesar’s. Then saith he unto them, render therefore unto caesar the thing that are caesar's; and unto God the things that are God’s.” This was used to when arguing over a separation between divine and secular power. The crowning or ceremony of a new king was mixed in with religion. The church has always had a tremendous influence on a kingdom. By the doctrine of divine rights of kings, God awarded a monarch secular power and awarded the church with spiritual power, The Byzantine took up after the Roman Empire, their ideas or rule derived from their claim that their empire was a continuation of the ancient Roman Empire. The emperor's believe that they were Gods representation. The one idea or structure that was used the most in the Byzantine empire to have control and influence the power through out all streets and ruins was the use of religion. At the top was the emperor’s and the church leaders as they worked together to spread christianity in the empire and make eachothers power stronger. One major idea from the middle ages that was kept from the Roman Empire in what is known now as Britain is the idea of Christianity and how it was the single biggest influence in decisions made by the leader.
The only difference about the government is that the king and queen are not the only leader. The government in Britain has been modified to where there is a parlament. The tradition of a king and queen was kept but other people in different parts of the government has power to make laws to control the society. Britain has kept the idea of the Christianity rule although their power is not like what it use to be in the middle ages. Christianity in Britain is more of a how one chooses to live their life, a choice to be a christian unlike in the middle ages when one was forced to be the current religion of the land knowing it would switch when a new ruler controlled the
land. The word crime in Latin, crimen, means an offense punishable by law. Criminals back in the middle ages faced the threat of severe punishment, on average the punishment was by death. The law had such limited to no tolerance for crimes committed. The law was corrupt, the severity of the punishment was also based on what class the criminal was from and the level of your wealth. The one single biggest punishment for crime was death. Being put to death for committing a crime was normally in public which would be hangings or decapitation of the head. Germanic tribes law for crimes was retribution for killing to be taken in a private. The Germanic tribes brought an end to the western Roman empire bringing their own legal codes to northern europe. The Anglos, Saxons, and Franks law was that revenge for murder was not to be taken on by the criminal's relatives. Every crime was listed even up to a lost finger nail but again it goes back to the status of the victim. This is the oldest english law code written around 600 CE for King Ethelbert of Kent. King Ethelbert of Kent was the third king to hold imperium over other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. The Roman law on crime was punishment by the public.
The people would throw food at the criminal that was locked up in front of everyone on a stand. This type of punishment was one of the oldest punishment known to mankind, almost as old as the last three books of Moses in the Bible. Since this type of punishment was Roman the Byzantine Empire(thought to be the advanced empire of the ancient Roman empire) preserved this notion in eastern europe and by the christian church in the west. In years that followed, Roman legal traditions supplanted Germanic codes. Not long after the Germanic codes were supplanted the Romans changed back to the Roman law. The punishment of crime by the society again became the
norm. Most used and most known punishment by most empires in the Medieval Ages for a serious crime was death by hanging in public. Anglos, Saxons, Franks and a few others handled this matter in private manner. Smaller crimes were punished by mutilation,whipping, or branding with a hot iron. Mutilation is the chopping off of a hand or nose. Such punishments allowed the judges to recognize previous offenders. Around the Medieval Times, the people on really had one chance before a criminal was sentenced to death unless a serious crime was committed to be sentenced to death immediately. The government is much more different than the government we know today although some countries to an extent still use some of the traits from the Medieval Times to govern. Much has changed from then to know and the evolution is seen through the ages. This is the Medieval Times.