Crime and Punishment in Tudor England

From Alchemists to Zealots

April Taylor

• Publisher: Pen and Sword History
• Year: 2023
• ISBN:
  9781399071673
• Topic: Storia
• Subtopic: Storia britannica

Crime and Punishment in Tudor England tells the story of the enactment of law and its penalties from Henry VII to Elizabeth I.The sixteenth century was remarkable in many ways. In England, it was the century of theTudor Dynasty. It heralded the Reformation, William Shakespeare, the first appearance ofbottled beer in London pubs, Sir Francis Drake, and the Renaissance. Oh, and the SpanishArmadas—all five of them! Yes, five armadas and all failures. It was a watershed century for crime and punishment. Henry VII's paranoia about theloyalty of the nobility led to military-trained vagrants causing mayhem and murder. HenryVIII's Reformation meant executions of those refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy.State-controlled religion—summed up through the five reigns as Roman Catholic; Anglo-Catholic; Protestant; Roman Catholic, and Sort of Protestant but I don't mind so long as youswear the Oath of Supremacy—became an increasingly complex, not to say confusing, issuefor ordinary people. Although primary sources are rare and sometimes incomplete, the life of criminals and thepunishments meted out to them still fascinates. Read about John Daniell and how he tried toblackmail the Earl of Essex; the Stafford insurrection of 1486, the first serious opposition tothe new king; the activities of con-man extraordinaire, Gregory Wisdom, and many more. Crime and punishment didn't start with the Tudors and this book summarizes judicialpractices built on tradition from the Roman occupation. It covers often gory details—whathappens to the body when it is beheaded, burned, boiled, or hanged? Arranged in alphabeticalorder of crimes, it recounts tales of blackmail, infanticide, kidnapping, heresy, and sumptuarylaws. Told with occasional low-key humor, the book also includes Tavern Talk, snippets ofquirky information. Dip into it at your pleasure.