Table Of ContentCrime and Conflict
in English Communities
1300-1348
Crime and Conflict
in English Communities
1300-1348
Barbara A. Hanawalt
Harvard University Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts
and London, England 1979
Copyright © 1979 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
Publication of this book has been aided by a grant from the Andrew W.
Mellon Foundation
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Hanawalt, Barbara
Crime and Conflict in English Communities,
1300-1348
Bibliography:
Includes index.
1. Crime and criminals—England—History—Sources.
2. Criminal statistics—England. 3. Great Britain
—History—14th century. I. Title.
HV6949.E5H35 364'.942 79-1211
ISBN 0-674-17580-8
Preface
I undertook this study with the same aims as any crime writer; I
wanted to know who committed the crimes. But I was not content
with knowing about a few flashy cases or well-known villains. I
wanted to know about the participation of ordinary people in criminal
activities. I set out to discover what types of crimes villagers
committed, what goods they stole, the seasons and techniques of their
crimes, the identity of the victims and the accused and their
interrelationships, and the motivations for the crimes. The fourteenth
century was full of calamities that might have influenced the pattern
of crime: the Great Famine of 1315-1317, the Hundred Years' War, the
Black Death, the alleged torture of Edward II and the coup d'état of
Edward III, and the Peasant Revolt of 1381. I also sought to
investigate how the dynamics of interpersonal relations within the
family and the village community influenced the participants in
criminal actions. And, finally, I would have liked to have found the
historical Robin Hood.
In the course of my research, I have met a number of enjoyable and
helpful people and have read a great deal of fine history. My first debt
of gratitude is to the many historians who have found the fourteenth
century as fascinating as I do and who have written excellent studies
on the administrative, legal, political, economic, and social history of
the period. It is because of this extensive background literature that I
was able to write a book about the social history of crime in late
medieval England. Sylvia L. Thrupp merits special thanks for having
proposed the topic to me. It proved to be such a stimulating subject
that I went on doing research and writing on it through the dis
couragements of periods of underemployment and unemployment. I
v
Preface
feel especially fortunate in having had encouragement from my
undergraduate professors, Peter Charanis and Margaret Hastings, as
well as my graduate professor in pursuing social history when it was
not yet fashionable. The staff of the Public Record Office in London
was very courteous in the years I worked there. C. A. F. Meekings
was especially generous in explaining the gaol delivery rolls to me and
allowing me to use his own unpublished guide to the rolls. (I have
retained the English spelling for "gaol" rather than Americanizing it :o
"jail.") J. Ambrose Raftis made an enormous contribution to my
study by permitting me to use the Ramsey Abbey village recon
stitution materials in the Regional Data Bank at the Pontifical Institute
of Medieval Studies in Toronto. Being able to trace a group of sus
pects and victims in their village setting changed my whole perception
of fourteenth-century crime. I felt that I could understand the
participants in crime as human beings and not just as numbers.
I am very grateful to the people who helped me to make sense of the
criminal statistics I compiled and who read my manuscript. Alan
Abrahamse aided me throughout the project with advice on its
quantitative aspects. Thomas Browder and Annette Koren helped me
to computerize the data. I was fortunate to have their aid. Three
criminologists gave me good insights into the final analysis of my
results: James Short, Austin T. Turk, and Sheldon Messinger. I very
much appreciate the criticisms that Charles Tilly gave me on the
completed manuscript and also those of my inspiring colleague,
Norman J. G. Pounds, who also provided the map.
I am grateful for permission to reprint here material that I originally
presented in the following journal articles: "Economic Influences on
the Pattern of Crime in England, 1300-1348," American Journal of
Legal History 18 (1974): 281-297; "The Peasant Family and Crime in
Fourteenth-Century England," The Journal of British Studies 13
(1974): 1-18; "Community Conflict and Social Control: Crime and
Justice in the Ramsey Abbey Villages," Medieval Studies 39 (1977):
402-423; "Violent Death in Fourteenth- and Early Fifteenth-Century
England," Comparative Studies in Society and History 18 (July 1978):
297-320.
I was aided in the completion of the project by a number o:
fellowships and grants that permitted me to travel to England anc
Toronto, to microfilm gaol delivery rolls and coroners' rolls, and tc
study criminology. The Woodrow Wilson Foundation, the University
of Michigan, and the American Association of University Women all
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Preface
helped me to do the initial years of research and writing in London. A
Penrose Fund grant from the American Philosophical Society permit
ted me to make a subsequent trip to the Public Record Office to order
microfilm. J. Ambrose Raftis kindly helped along my research in
Toronto through his Canada Council Grant. The American Council
of Learned Societies awarded me a study fellowship for a year so that I
could study criminology and quantitative methods. Indiana
University was very generous in aiding the completion of the project
with a grant-in-aid for research and unlimited computer time. These
fellowships and grants were all deeply appreciated not only for the
financial support but also for the confidence that they showed in my
research.
Writing a book is often elating and often discouraging; it could not
be accomplished without a number of good friends and family to help
the author along. My debts to friends are too numerous to list; I only
hope that I have returned some of the comfort and support they have
given to me. John and Vicky Bradley, close friends and neighbors in
London, provided me with a cheerful place to stay and good conver
sation while I was doing research. Both my parents encouraged my
studies and contributed to my intellectual appreciation for my subject
matter. My interest in the social dynamics of rural villages stems from
time spent during my childhood in my father's birthplace in
Pennsylvania. My interest in medieval English history I owe to my
mother. Pearl Basset Hanawalt, who read me books on medieval sub
jects and told me about my medieval English ancestors. The most
appropriate dedication of the book is to my mother and to these
ancestors. My forebears helped to people the book both as judges and
as criminals.
Contents
1 Introduction 1
2 The Social and Judicial Context of Fourteenth-
Century Crime
19
3 The Crimes: Definitions, Patterns, and Tech
niques 64
4 The Suspects
114
5 The Relationship between the Victim and the
Accused
151
6 Criminal Associations and Professional Crime
184
7 External Influences on the Pattern of Crime 222
8 The Impact of Crime on Fourteenth-Century
Rural Society
261
Appendix A. The Problem of Missing Deliveries
275
Appendix B. Influence of the Determining Powers
of the Keepers of the Peace on the Volume of
Cases in Gaol Delivery
278
Appendix C. Influences of Changes in Law En
forcement Procedures on the Volume of
Cases in Gaol Delivery
281
Appendix D. Judicial Lag
284
Notes
285
Bibliography
325
Index
345
