Medieval Society By Haolin Wu

The Three Courts In Medieval times there were three courts. These were: The Village Courts: These courts dealt with minor things such as stealing a chicken or not selling quality things. The Manor Courts: These courts dealt with more serious things such as a man allowing someone to marry his daughter without the Lord’s permission. The King’s Courts: This was were the most severe cases were trialed. The King’s Court dealt with things such as heresy and threatening the monarch’s life.

Magna Carta In 1215 a document called the Magna Carta was created. King John was forced by his barons to sign it. He reluctantly did. This document meant that ordinary people could now be elected and the king could now call upon his lords to assist him. This was the foundation of the government we have now.

Types of torture In medieval culture, there were many types of torture. Some included: Trial by Ordeal Thumb Crusher (A utility that you put your thumbs into and then the screws crush your thumbs to pulp. Hanging Spike Chamber (A chamber where the victim steps into the chamber and spikes are stabbed into the body. The spikes are placed so that it wont stab the essential organs (e.g. heart). The stretcher (A wooden frame where the victim is placed on the frame and a man controls the pulling using a wheel.

Trial by Ordeal In medieval times if you weren’t part of the church you were considered an outcast. If you committed something really bad then the people would order you to be trialed by ordeal. Trial by ordeal is basically doing something that is impossible…unless God intervenes. You were innocent if God intervened but you were considered guilty if some miracle didn’t happen. Some examples of trial by ordeal are: Trial by fire: The victim had to walk through fire. After 3 days if their wound didn’t heal a lot then the monarch deemed him guilty. Trial by water: The victim was thrown into a lake and if they floated they were guilty but if they sunk they were innocent.

Public Humiliation Public Humiliation was a way in medieval times to punish people and teach them a lesson about what they’ve done wrong. Public Humiliation is probably worse than stocks or any other punishment because you feel embarrassed about having your face around the walls. There are different types of public humiliation. Some include: Stocks (People throw things at you e.g. rotten fruit, moldy bread).

Modern Humiliation Public Humiliation is still happening as we speak. Somewhere in England there is a board called ‘The Pillar of Shame’. This is where people of the community see who is doing the wrong thing and they can report he/she to the police if they see them breaking the law. For the lawbreakers, this is highly embarrassing. Most of them would rather do another sentence than see their face on the pillar.

Bibliography SOSE Alive 2 The video that Mr. Owenell shows us content/uploads/2009/12/magna- carta.jpg&imgrefurl= si2Sbc=&h=950&w=640&sz=134&hl=en&start=0&tbnid=agfFmDptC7yfTM:&tbnh=141&tbnw=118&prev= /images%3Fq%3Dmagna%2Bcarta%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox- a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en- US:official%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D565%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=231&vpy=78 &dur=1132&hovh=274&hovw=184&tx=90&ty=91&ei=WlNXTL-lCojvcIi- ub8M&page=1&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0