Medieval Crime and Punishment

In the Middle Ages, both crimes and punishments varied tremendously. There were horse theft, land theft, breaking and entering, and fraud. Thieves, after stealing goods, would then also steal horses. Thieves were executed no matter the value of the stolen goods. When people were traveling or on pilgrimages, thieves would claim that land as their own. In many cases bakers would sell loaves of bread for more than what they actually weighed. The baker was …

…decapitation and hanging, mutilations were the most painful forms of punishment. Whereas the other two were fatal, and in which you didn't suffer much, mutilations were very painful, and most of the time the guilty survived the amputations. Henry I used this form of punishment and torture in 1124 when his moneyers, minters, were caught cheating him out of money. Bibliography Howarth, Sarah. Medieval Places. Brookfield, Connecticut: The Millhouse Press, 1991. "Law." World Book Encyclopedia. M (1996): 130-140.