Crime and Punishment of the Medieval Period

Paper Summary:

During the medieval period, order was assembled through an established, organized code called secular law, in which church and state worked hand in hand to create stability within a community. This paper explains how medieval secular law branched from a mixture of Roman and Germanic barbarian law and interwove with the Christian doctrine. This secular law had been handed down from one illiterate generation to another in the collective consciousness of the community. The possession of the right to dispense law and justice did not necessarily restrain self-interest, nor did it promote in the possessor any interest in behaving accordingly. Vengeance was often the only remedy known to secular law and was regularly enacted, often out of proportion to the original transgression.

From the Paper:

"Medieval Europe has been greatly dramatized by our modern culture, celebrating and exploring these centuries with a critical sense of awe. On the one hand we now portray the Medieval era as a romantically simple time, and on the other hand as a brutish time of ignorance and cruelty. Both of these stereotypes do have some basis in fact. The Medieval period was characterized by lives that were, as Hobbes would say, "nasty, brutish, and short," but there was an overarching sense of sublime artistic merit to the cruelties of this period. Some of the most fascinating events of the era are in the field of crime and punishment."

More papers on Crime and Punishment of the Medieval Period:

• Essay # 24353 : "Witch Hunts of the Medieval Period"
• Analytical Essay # 39588 : "Aspects of the Medieval World View"
• Research Paper # 65182 : "Crime and Punishment in Colonial America"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: