Crime and Punishment

Debate Sheet

Saxon Law

Summary of Society and Law

 

The basic social hierarchy of the Anglo-Saxons is based on a Feudalistic government. There is the king and the noble family, which is determined, based on birth.  Like in other similar governments, the king is the highest power with the ultimate authority over all relevant matters.  After the king is the Eorl, now known as an Earl who could essentially be compared to a combination of a governor/senator, and presided over a subsection of the king’s lands with his slaves. The middle class was divided into three main classes of freemen, also known as ceorls: The geneatas, a peasant aristocracy who paid rent to their overlord, the kotsetlas, common man, and the geburs, or lower middle class, often times farmers. All ceorls had the right and duty to serve in the fyrd, which was the Anglo-Saxon military. Ceorls won promotion through economic prosperity or military service. If a ceorl possessed five hides of land, he became entitled to the rights of a thane, but could not be elevated to the position of thane or eolderman. At the lowest end of the social strata was the slave or bondsmen, also known as the theow. Although they were slaves or bondsmen, they were entitled to certain provisions, such as grain. The slaves were allowed to own property and could earn money in their spare time which allowed them to buy their freedom. When times were difficult people sold themselves into slavery to ensure they were provisioned.

 

The Anglo-Saxon society was founded during the course of 200 years from the 5^th to the 7^th century. During this period of time, German barbaric tribes called the Angles migrated from the east into what is modern day United Kingdom. Meanwhile the Saxons, a tribe native to the Scottish Isles made its way to the same region. A combination of these two cultures yielded the warring, and brutal Anglo-Saxon way of life.

 

The Anglo-Saxon economy was based solely around trade. Although money was minted, it was regarded rather as a treasure than an actually currency. The Anglo-Saxons traded mostly through out northern Europe and Scandinavia, by way of boat. Often times marketplaces located on rivers proved to be most successful. The primary bargaining tools of the Anglo-Saxons were their jewelry and pottery. Wool and leather, along with clothes also gained much of their profit. Though they traded for income, many of it also came from their pillaging and raiding expeditions. As in 19^th century America, slavery also played an important part in the economy. The slaves where captured prisoners from other villages and during warfare, and did much of the menial work in terms of construction and agriculture.

 

The Anglo-Saxon government in its true form is Feudalistic. In the early days of the Anglo Saxons it could really best be described as an oligarchy, with multiple leaders running multiple small tribes. However, after these tribes unified to form the Anglo-Saxon society, this concept slightly changed, becoming multiple feudalistic governments or a heptarchy. There were 7 kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon lands. Each kingdom was ruled by a king, a title which was solely hereditary. The king presided over all in his kingdom, and thus served as both the judicial and executive branch of power. Law-making was based also on the king, with the first and third sets of Anglo-Saxons laws being written entirely by kings, the second being the Domesday Book. After the king, usually a son of the previous king, their was the ruling nobility called the eolderman. The land of each kingdom was further divided into “hundreds” about 300 square miles. Each hundred had a “hundred eolder” who actually did the government work. He was responsible for administration, justice, and supplying military troops, as well as, leading its forces. The office was not hereditary, but by the tenth century the office was selected from among a few outstanding families. Other than that, the only supremacy one person had over another was slave ownership. Slaves were bound to their owners, usually thanes and other members of the middle to upper-class, and could buy their freedom, and in effect gain some rights.

 

The treatment of the social classes was completely based on your ranking amongst the social hierarchy. The king and eoldermen were treated with the highest of admiration and respect by all those below them. The hundred eolder was respected by those within their community over which the hundred eolder presided and governed. Amongst the lowest of the upper-class was the thane, who could elevate himself to eolderman by good deeds, but was generally an assistant in ruling to the hundred eolder who ruled in his area. The clergy were amongst the level of thanes, but were treated different, with more admiration as they were people of god. In the middle class, the coerls and the geneats were generally the common man and had to pay respects to those above them, where as the lower middle class, the geburs, were treated almost as the peasantry although they often times had much more money. The lower class, the slaves and bondmen, were completely shunned by the rest of society, sometimes to the point where they were treated as animals rather than people. Even if a slave was able to buy his freedom back, they rarely gained anymore respect as coerls amongst the people.

 

Anglo-Saxon law, as opposed to some other systems, actually has more than 1 legal doctrine. As the Anglo-Saxon law takes its initial roots from Kentish law, the first book that is often associated with their law is the Textus Roffensis, the manuscript of the Kentish laws. The second and probably most famous of all the books is the Domesday Book. This book includes the convention between the English and the Welsh Dunsaetas, the law of the Northumbrian priests, the customs of the North people, and the fragments of local customs. The third and fourth final book of the law is the collection known as Pseudo-leges Canutithe laws of Edward the Confessor, of Henry I, and the great compilation of the Quadripartitus, then of a number of short notices and extracts like the fragments on the "wedding of a wife," on oaths, on ordeals, on the king's peace, on rural customs, the treatises on the reeve and on the judge. Also, many charters are parts of the law system.

 

Though some people regard the Anglo-Saxons as being fairly barbaric in nature, they did however have a fairly complex court system. The initial case had to be brought before the hundred court as the plaintiff presenting a crime as being committed, and calling up the defendant, or perpetrator, to plead his innocence. The hundred court would either approve a case as worthy or unworthy, in which case it was dismissed. A worthy case would then have an appointed time, for which not showing up would cause an instant loss of case. The basic principle of the law was that 'denial is always stronger than accusation', so, in most cases, the defendant would be allowed to bring forward an oath to prove his innocence. Sometimes a defendant was deemed unworthy to an oath, in which case he was sentenced instantly. Trial by ordeal was only commenced when the defendant plead his innocence even after his oaths. The trial by ordeal consisted of trial by water or trial by iron. Trial by cold water involved being thrown in a lake; innocent float, guilty sink. Trial by hot water involved retrieving a rock out of boiling water. In the ordeal of iron, the accused had to carry a glowing iron bar nine feet. In both of these, the accused’s hand was bandaged, and if the wound was healing cleanly, without decomposing after three days, he was obviously innocent. Most cases however passed very quickly, and often involved no ordeal.

 

Anglo-Saxon England had no jails or prison officers - so the only options were fines, mutilation, or death. Fines were the usual penalty, and the law codes often list the amount to be paid. Even manslaughter could be covered by a fine if there were justifying circumstances, or if the victim were a slave. Compensation was paid to the victim or the victim's family, while a fine was also paid to the king's reeve. If the guilty man did not pay his fine, and if his family refused or was unable to pay, he was declared an outlaw: anyone could kill him, and anyone who helped him could receive a heavy fine or worse. Some crimes were known as bootless crimes, for which no compensation could be offered: arson, house-breaking, open theft, obvious murder, and treachery to one's lord were all bootless. The only punishment was death and forfeit of property to the king, though the Church advocated mutilation, as this gave the guilty man a chance to apologize for his crime in this world and thus save his soul. In some cases, a criminal could be pardoned if he or his family and friends could raise the price of his bail. Death was usually by hanging, though beheading and drowning are also used. Another form of sentence was slavery, which usually resulted when it was obvious that an offender had no chance of paying off all his fines and compensation. Slavery was usually for a set period of time and at the end of it the guilty man was declared innocent - though the period of time was often very long.

 

The typical legal matters of the Anglo-Saxons were mainly petty crimes such as stealing or violating some local law. In most cases manslaughter was fairly common as well, and was not considered a major offense. However, amongst the most serious of crimes were treachery to the king, and of course murder. Serving in the army of a different kingdom was punishable by death. Some other common crimes amongst the Anglo-Saxons were actually arson, the violation of certain marriage laws, and vandalization.

 

Based on the legal system of the Anglo-Saxons, I would say that overall they were very particular to the concept of being true to one’s country. A lot of the laws dealt with amongst them concerned public services to your kingdom and generally staying loyal and respectful of your king and other such high-standing public officials. Anglo-Saxon law is most often associated with the barbaric trial-by-ordeal standards that they have become famous for, but when you consider that less than 2% of their cases led to that, then I would conclude that torture was not their method. However, due to the fact that they had no detainment techniques at all, their law was very swift and often fairly unjust as the punishments ranged in fines, mutilation, and death. Their law does show that they did believe in at least some form of fair trial, often times giving you the option of proving innocence.

 

 

Anglo-Saxon work cited

 

http://www.uta.edu/english/tim/courses/4301f98/oct12.html General information on different aspects of society

http://hs.houstonisd.org/DavisHS/webpages/English%20Dept/AngloSaxon/angloSaxon.htm Also general information

http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/medieval/saxlaw.htm Anglo-Saxon law

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/560-975dooms.html Also Anglo-Saxon law

http://www.regia.org/misc/law.htm Primary source of information for all things relating with the crime, laws, court, and punishment

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Saxon_law Law

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/domesday.htm Information regarding the Domesday book

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/MEDTsaxons.htm History of the Anglo-Saxons

http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/mcdonald.domesday Economy of Anglo-Saxons

http://members.tripod.com/~midgley/anglosaxons.html Information regarding all aspects, mostly social hierarchy

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/anglosaxons/index.shtml Some Anglo-Saxon culture

http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Medieval_Studies/anglos.html General information