Read More_
Crimdee during the Elizabethan Age was a serious issue. However, due to the different classes, the lower class received severe punishment such as death. The nobles did also commit crime, but it was mostly in secret. One famous execution of an noble is Anne Boleyn related to the Tutor Family. She was "accused" of incest, with craft, and adultery. Only several hundred people saw the killing which proves the secrecy of nobles' executions.
|
During the Elizabethan Age, punishment was severe and the chances of peoples' acquit of the "crime" was slim to none. The trials were meant so that it was in the favor of the prosecutors. Most of the commoners' crime resulted in death unless you were a beggar. Beggars were almost beaten to the brink of death, and sometimes they were. Also, they would serve prison and if they continued to beg, they were executed. Some of the most common crimes were theft, prostitution, dice coggers (Gamblers), debtors, etc. Some on the punishments they received were hanging, whipping, branding, duck and stools, and etc. Some torture methods were designed strictly for a specific gender like the duck and stool. The duck and stool was made mostly for women who were doing "witch craft", prostitution, and for being a nasty rude lady. Sometimes men would receive this punishment, but rarely it will happen. As for the duck and stool, the accuser would sit at a chair tied to an end of a catapult arm and be dipped into the freezing water. If you floated while being dipped, you were considered a friend with the devil and if you drowned, you were innocent. Either way you still died.
|
"The greatest and most grievous punishment used in England for such as offend against the State is drawing from the prison to the place of execution upon an hurdle or sled, where they are hanged till they be half dead, and then taken down, and quartered alive; after that, their members and bowels are cut from their bodies, and thrown into a fire, provided near hand and within their own sight, even for the same purpose." -Anonymous
The Bubonic Plague was also in the time of the Elizabethan Era, thus making traveling even more difficult. Actors and street performers were highly looked down at and they were considered as bad as the beggars. It was a crime to enter the kingdom without license and most of the time, they weren't allowed to enter. The performers were also seen as a potential threat of carrying the Bubonic Plague. Somehow acting and the plays that were played became more famous and the group of performers were then sponsored by the rich and the nobility. By being sponsored, their status rose a little and they weren't accused much of theft.
|
Interesting Facts:
-There are none |
"ElizabethanCrime and Punishment." Elizabethan Crime and Punishment.
Web. 6 May 2015.
"Anne Boleyn The Tudors Facts & Biography Of Information." English History. 6 Feb. 2015.
Web. 6 May 2015.
Web. 6 May 2015.
"Anne Boleyn The Tudors Facts & Biography Of Information." English History. 6 Feb. 2015.
Web. 6 May 2015.