The Legal System in Anglo-Saxon England (Edexcel GCSE History)

How did Law Enforcement in Anglo-Saxon Times Work? - Summary

Anglo-Saxon Monarchs and the Law

• The king made all the laws in England

  • It was one of his important powers

  • The king's laws helped to keep peace in England

• The people expected the king to bring justice to Anglo-Saxon society

  • The king should treat everyone in the same social class equally in issues with the law

  • Different social classes would have dissimilar legal treatment

• Crimes against the king's peace were serious crimes in Anglo-Saxon England

  • A person who robbed a traveller would receive a harsh punishment

Blood Feuds and Wergild

What was a blood feud?

• Blood feuds were a revenge system in Anglo-Saxon society

  • If a family killed a member of another family, the victim's family had the right to murder someone in the murderer's family

  • This is a cycle that continued for decades

A flow diagram showing how Anglo-Saxon blood feuds were a vicious cycle

Why were blood feuds an issue in Anglo-Saxon society?

• Blood feuds could continue for generations

  • Blood feuds could almost wipe out entire families

• Blood feuds affected whole communities

  • Blood feuds could draw in other families

  • Violence could spread across towns and villages

The solution to blood feuds - the Wergild

• Edward the Confessor attempted to resolve the issue of blood feuds by introducing the Wergild

  • The murderer's family had to pay compensation to the victim's family

    • A ceorl's family received 20 shillings

    • A thegn's family received 1,200 shillings

    • An earl or an archbishop's family received 3,600 shillings

  • The compensation meant blood feuds were unaffordable to many families

    • One shilling is worth roughly £100 today

    • It showed that, within classes, the legal system treated everyone the same. However, it demonstrated how important class was to Anglo-Saxon society

Hue and Cry

• A hue and cry was the community's effort to hunt down a criminal

  • Each member of the tithing had to support the effort to find the criminal

  • If a member of the tithing refused, they had to pay a fine

Collective responsibility

• The hue and cry showed the emphasis on collective responsibility in Anglo-Saxon England

  • Collective responsibility means that law and order was everyone's duty

• The men of the tithing had to enforce the good behaviour of the ten households

  • For example, a person who refused to join the fyrd would bring punishment to the whole village

  • To avoid punishment, the men of the village forced people to follow the law