A Proposal to Enslave Petty Offenders (1621)
One person's plan to save petty criminals from the gallows and gaols...
View ArticleGunpowder, Peine forte et dure, and Medieval Penance
Posted by Sara M. Butler, 21 November 2017. During much of October, newspapers and twitter feeds across the UK were abuzz with news of the miniseries Gunpowder’s graphic depiction of death by peine...
View ArticleStar Chamber Stories: Felons’ Labours
The first of a set of stories drawn from the notorious Court of Star Chamber, this post highlights a case in which a sheriff was called to account for failing to execute women who ended up being...
View ArticleStar Chamber Stories: Using Criminal Law to Criminal Ends in Early Modern London
Mixing private profit with criminal justice can be dangerous, as seen in this 'most devilish, detestable, and dangerous combination and conspiracy' to charge a man with murder in order to profit from...
View ArticleSlavery and Cartwright’s Case before Somerset
Cited in James Somerset's famous 1772 trial, Cartwright's Case (1569) purportedly declared England's air too pure for slaves. But how was this case used before Somerset?
View ArticleThe Very Image of Justice? Star Chamber Records and the Art of Punishment
This post explores the kinds of punishments imposed by the Court of Star Chamber, focusing on one particularly unusual instance revealed through recently published records of judgement.
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Gaol Fever Stories
Posted by Krista J. Kesselring, 28 April 2020. Recent news reports on the high rates of COVID-19 infection amongst people living in prisons and other carceral facilities are sobering, to say the...
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Law Enforcement Officials and the Limits of Violence in Medieval England
Posted by Sara M. Butler, 18 August 2020. Towards the end of the fifteenth century, William Hemyng, a chaplain associated with Hereford cathedral, experienced a harrowing ordeal. Richard Rollesden,...
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Justice and (Mis)Fortune in the Wake of Wyatt’s Revolt
Posted by Krista J. Kesselring, 12 July 2021. In July of 2020, federal executions resumed in the United States. Now, a year later, the U.S. Attorney General has mandated a temporary moratorium on the...
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Gaol and Gaol-breaking in Early Modern Ireland
Posted by Coleman A. Dennehy, 13 March 2022 Whilst many aspects of the state as we would understand it today were more likely under-developed if they existed at all, the gaol was actually a reasonably...
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Women’s Executions in Early Modern England
Guest post by Jennifer Lodine-Chaffey, 9 August 2022. Critical attention to early modern execution narratives has focused primarily on men’s gallows speeches and their behavior on the scaffold,...
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Decriminalizing Heresy
Guest post by Hannah Wygiera, 31 August 2022. The boundaries between orthodoxy and heterodoxy changed repeatedly throughout the English Reformation. Despite changes to what constituted a heretical...
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Legal Records Jamboree: 3. Verdicts
Guest post by Daniel Gosling and Charlotte Smith, 16 October 2023. In June 2023, The National Archives (UK), generously supported by The Journal of Legal History/Taylor & Francis and British...
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