posted 07-06-2005 02:05 PM            

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I'm writing a novel (1 of 4 actually) and need to know as much as poss about justice. ie if a high-ranking person was accused of murder, would he get a fair trial (in general/ever?)and if found guilty would it always have been hanging or was anything else used? What would the trial have been like? I'm thinking about the 14th century here, Europe. Any help much appreciated.

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posted 07-06-2005 02:28 PM         

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I don't know too much about capital punishment in the dark ages. what I do know is that there were several imaginative ways to execute people. I think that it was based on what you had done. most of the time for rich people death didn't seem as gruesome, a nice clean beheading was what i've heard about most. now if you were not as high class you got your death drawn out for as long as possible. what they would do is hang you until your half-dead then, they wind out your intestines, cut out your heart, then they divide your body into four pieces in what was known as quartering.

I have heard of instances where royalty was executed in unusual and painful ways. I remember one individual who had hot led poured into his rear. I'll do some searches about this to find more stuff. but you'll have plenty of different executions to choose from for your book.

posted 07-06-2005 02:42 PM            

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Um...I don't think noblemen got hanged. It was considered a shameful punishement. As far as I remember, decapitation was the punishement (by sword, not by axe)
And I think it depended on who the nobleman's friends were... I mean, if he had the rigth friends, you couldn't really prove he did it, now could you?

[This message has been edited by Maria (edited 07-06-2005).]

posted 07-07-2005 03:02 PM            

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I would suggest borrowing from your local library on of the series from The Oxford History of England. These are a great source of information. The one I have is 'Domesday Book to Magna Carta (1087-1216). They do cover all topics and would give you 'real' instances of history.
Checking in the one I have section XII. Justice and Finance. page 392 gives 'The Murder Fine'.
Some fascinating stuff in there, just a short section;
' A criminal could be brought to justice in one of two ways: by personal accustaion or 'appeal' as it was called, or by public indictment. By the first of these methods the injured party or his near relation or his Lord brought the charge and offered to prove it 'by his body', that is to say, in battle. Unless he was too old or unless he was maimed, he must be prepared to fight and fight to the death. It was often mortal, for one or the other of the combats was either slain in battle or, if he survived his defeat, was hanged or at least severely punished. It was very violent; if they break their weapons, a late account of a duel relates, they must fight with their hands, fists, nails, teeth, feet, and legs'

There is more, much more.
Check one out, you'll find them, intresting!
Peter

[This message has been edited by Peter (edited 07-07-2005).]

posted 07-07-2005 07:20 PM         

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It depends upon who you are.

I've seen some police officer get away with some crimes that the public can not.

This office was caught drunk driving and he got a promotion. I'm from the north east in the US, drunk driving is serious. You can loose your drivers liscence and or go to prison. The officer in question got a promotion.

It also depends upon how much money you have. To hire a good defense attourney, it's going to cost you a lot of money. Public defenders are overworked and underpayed.

Granted they system is not perfect, but it's still a lot better than others. But, then again, I am biased because of where I live.

posted 07-08-2005 03:37 AM            

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I think I already wrote about this case here in some other discussion, but I don't now where...

On may 1st, 1308, the german king Albrecht I. von Habsburg was murdered on a bridge at Windisch (today in Switzerland). The murderers, lead by his nephew Johann, flew west. A year later, during the revenge-war fouht by the house of habsburg, their castles and towns were destroyed and most of them were caught. One was the knight Rudolf von Wart. I don't know the details of his process which was held by the earl of Austria (which was from the house of Habsburg as well) in Brugg, the neighbour-town to Windisch. But the chronicles of the 14th century say that Rudolf was bound to the tail of a horse and pulled over the streets to Brugg. He then received his death-sentence and was 'knitted' on a wheel that was on the top of a pole. This broke all his legs and arms. After that he was just left there to die slowly...

posted 07-08-2005 02:08 PM            

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oooh, nasty. Thanks to all...Sort of spoils what I wanted to write, although my story is set in a fictional country (maybe a very barbaric one?)

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