welcome to this crime and punishment rapid revision video looking at Anglo-Saxon punishments let's have a quick recap of who enforced the law in Saxon Society the enforcement of the law was done in line with the Saxon hierarchy local towns often Birds became centers of justice as well as of trade it was the king who decided the law and also in important cases he acted as the judge Earls ensured that the law was applied in their earldom as the king's representative he might also act as a judge important Lords were appointed as shes or sheriffs they prosecuted crimes collected taxes and fines and dished out punishments but the king's subjects had to obey the law if they did not they were punished so what forms did these punishments take one of the more obvious but also more extreme punishments was capital punishment capital punishment means killing someone found guilty of a crime it's also known as the death penalty sometimes people were executed by beheading with the bodies of such people sometimes found in execution cemeteries to prove it others would be publicly hanged showing the people that Justice had been carried out as had retribution for particularly serious crimes this could act as a deterrent crimes like treason against the king and arson which was viewed as destroying the property of the ruling classes could be met with execution a quick note on the word hanged as well in the past tense when referring to an execution we would say hanged rather than hung because the sentence is to be hanged to death in a similar but not quite such extreme vein we have corporal punishment corporal punishment is the harming or hurting of the body as a means of Justice this might include the cutting off of body parts these punishments were very visible and dangerous acting as a strong deterrent putting people off committing the crimes in the first place given the quality of Med at the time subsequent deaths from corporal punishment were common after wounds got infected such punishments might include the removal of a hand or foot or the gouging of one or both eyes harsh as this was it was considered lenient compared to the death penalty and a suitable punishment for crimes like theft an idea that was particularly common in the earlier Saxon period was the blood Feud however Royal rule had increased somewhat by the 11th century under the blood Feud there was a legal framework for revenge in England if a member of a family was murdered that family was legally entitled to murder a member of the perpetrator's family in Revenge and so on and so forth this meant bloody disputes could last for Generations the blood Feud was intended as a form of deterence really the consequences of a murder being potentially so long-lasting and devastating that it would put people off murdering their neighbors in the first place somewhat replacing blood feuds was the system of wear Guild think about a were wolf that's a man who turns into a wolf and it comes from the old English where means man Guild in this case means gold where there's blame there's a claim we Guild was a form of compensation for assaults and murders people would be fined for causing harm and disablement and fines for killing people here is a sample of we Guild fines an aing or Prince might be worth 1,500 Shillings a f 1,200 Shillings a chur or yman 100 shillings and a peasant only 40 Shillings here we can see the Saxon hierarchy in action again with the higher up you are in society meaning that you're worth more under the compensation system although this might seem like a license for rich people to murder people many of the fines for richer people really were crippling and they acted as a deterrent this was seen as preferable to the blood feuds that had come before where an ongoing cycle of violence and murders between families could ensue so let's have a look at our primary source which shows some of these wear Guild finds in an earlier video in this series we had a look at the textus rensus or the Rochester text this is an Old English codex filled with lots of laws and punishments from the reign of King aelbert here it is in Old English and here it is translated into Modern English the wear Guild findes in this aren't just for injuries but also for things like moral crimes as we're about to see these are the judgments which king aelbert set down in Augustine's day if one slays someone he should pay compensation with his own money or good property whichever so that's quite obviously wear Guild for killing somebody but here's an example of a moral crime which the church would often have a say in if a free man lies with the wife of another free man in other words adultery then he should give recompense with his were Guild and obtain another wife with his own money and bring her to the other man at his home all right aside from showing us some rather alarming and sexist Anglo-Saxon attitudes here we can see that this is designed to deter people from basically stealing other people's wives if seizing of the hair occurs 50 shatas which are early silver pennies as recompense so there's a fine for doing something quite minor like pulling someone's hair that was still considered serious enough an assault to Warrant a specific wear Guild how about something a bit more serious an actual wounding if exposure of a bone occurs one should compensate with three Shillings if cutting of the bone occurs four Shillings recompense so a slightly more serious fine for the slightly more serious wound this would have laid it out though and it would have meant that people felt that the law was being equal and fair and that was really important not only for the king's sense of being a just King but also for people respecting their Authority and believing that the King was in charge if you're interested in this Source I will attempt the old English at the end of the video but for now let's have a look at our next form of punishment another form of anglo-saxon Justice was humiliation usually for smaller crimes these could be punished by humiliation in either the stocks which were a clamp securing the ankles of a sitting criminal or the Piller a so-called catch neck securing the neck and wrists of a standing criminal both punished through public humiliation discomfort and pain criminals might be put in the stocks or Piller in the center of town for days at a time in all weathers local people might shout abuse or throw rubbish at the person being punished an unpopular person might find their punishment particularly severe as people took their Revenge on them and basically had a bit of fun at their expense so we're now going to have a look at the categories of punishment for different types of crime our first category is crimes against the person a very serious crime like murder might be met with wear Guild where the fine would fit the social standing of the person murdered unless of course you murdered one of your Social superiors where you might get an even harsher punishment like execution assault was also taken very seriously and a maming inome compensation might actually fit that although wear Guild was sometimes used for assaults as well a lower level crime like public disorder drunken brawling or fighting well that would be met with a bit of public humiliation in the form of the stocks or Piller then we have crimes against property arson remember was considered the deliberate destruction of the Lord's property and so was treated very severely hanging might be the suitable punishment for this coin forging was also considered a challenge to the king's Authority hand removal to vent you ever being able to do calling foraging again might be seen as a just reward and theft depend depending on the severity of the theft and what was stolen might result in fines in compensation or maming too but crimes against Authority were pretty much universally treated very harshly as they were seen to be a challenge to the entire social structure treason against the king or betraying your lord well anyone doing that could expect to be hanged our final points then capital punishment involved killing the convicted person often by hanging or beheading corporal punishment involved injuring or maing somebody by hurting or cutting off a body part blood feuds were a cycle of violence between families when someone had been murdered however they could lead to generational cycles of Revenge and last a very long time and so they were quite unpopular this made them a powerful deterrent though wear Guild though provided an alternative to this where a fine was paid as compensation to a victim's family rather than a legally sanctioned Revenge murder and humiliation was also an important factor this was often done in the stocks or Piller in public and might be used for lesser crimes like fighting that's effectively the end of this rapid revision video I hope it's been useful to you and if it has please do like the video and subscribe to the channel for more if there's anything that you're desperate for me to cover please do pop it in the comments below next up though I'll be doing a quick attempted reading of that section of the Texas refenes that we looked at earlier so if you're interested in hearing me try and mangle a bit of Old English that'll be coming up in a moment for a few seconds but for now thanks very much for watching and goodbye here's one of the original Pages here's the old English and here's the modern translation if you want to try and keep up this synon the doas the a bird cinga on ausa's W Gilda ye Freeman with free manners we y his we Guild ab and other wife and then that's as close as I'm I'm going to get I think thanks for watching goodbye