The renaissance was a violent era where royalty ruled and crimes were rampant and their punishments harsh, even an insult could result in death. The masses lived in fear of being accused of false crimes, while paranoid royals chopped off people's heads. Although the renaissance granted many beautiful things, such as an advancement in the artistic world the criminal justice system was not as refined. Royalty lived on the backs of their citizens and any rebellion was quickly disbanded. While the common folk struggled to survive, royals got away with any crime imaginable.
During the renaissance there were two types of crimes. There were crimes against property and crimes against persons.(Brackett). The paranoia of the royals would up getting many killed. The royalty of the renaissance was
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Depending on the severity of the crime the punishment scaled with it.(Brackett) For example, the punishment for heresy was burning at the stake.("Crime and Punishment in Elizabethan England.") The punishment for being a traitor was especially brutal, traitors were hanged, but let down before they died then disemboweled and their intestines were either thrown into a fire or boiled, then their limbs were chopped off, and to finish it out they were beheaded and their head displayed on a pike at the city gates.("Crime and Punishment in Elizabethan England.") Although these executions although gruesome many came to watch these public killings. The executions were also used to show how the authorities had power over the rest of the people.("Crime and Punishment in Elizabethan England.") Although not all punishments resulted in death, they were harsh. Torture; one of the many punishments, was used for many purposes, but required the approval of a monarch.("Crime and Punishment in Elizabethan England.") Although the renaissance was a time where art boomed, there was quite a lot of crimes, punishments, and death to go with
In the Elizabethan Era, many crimes were similar to today, but there were also some that have dissipated today. In the upper class, composed of the nobles, were mostly accused of crimes that involved religion and government. This included, but was not limited to: alchemy, high treason, blasphemy, and witchcraft. Alchemy is the magic power of turning things of little value into valuable items, closely related to witchcraft. On the other side of the social spectrum, lower class people usually committed crimes out of utter desperation. Commoners would often have to beg for food and money just to make it through. However, begging was taken very seriously at the time and a very punishable crime. Other punishable crimes could include adultery and being in debt to another individual (Law and Punishment- Travel Through Elizabethan England). Obviously common crimes like theft, murder, and assault were taken very serious...
In February, 1587, Queen Elizabeth had ordered her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scotts, to her execution to eliminate all possibilities of any threats to her throne. This event would reflect the relentless violence and unforgiving punishments of the judicial system in Elizabethan Era. Criminals during Queen Elizabeth’s reign in England, known as the Elizabethan Era, were subject to harsh, violent punishments for their crimes. England was separated into two social classes, which were the nobility, and the commoners. Within each class, the punishments were defined by the class and type of crime that had been committed. Under the Tudor rule, the punishments dating back to the middle ages were revived. Such gruesome punishments were carried out to strike fear into the hearts of the English citizens and lower crime rate. There were a wide range of crimes that a person could be prosecuted for, and even included the act of witchcraft and alchemy. Of course, today the American court system would find prosecutions of witchcraft and alchemy ridiculous. However, in the Elizabethan Era, people accused of even the most petty of crimes would be immediately placed in prison to await their sentences, often resulting in death. Public executions were a common practice, and were often a form of entertainment for a crowd of spectators. Often considered as the “Golden Age” in English history, England’s court systems became an essential part of society because cruel punishments were severe enough to strike fear into English citizens as well as demonstrating the influence and power of Queen Elizabeth’s rule.
Criminals were not dealt with in private. They were displayed in towns and the middle of the marketplace for all the people to see. Many were witnessed by hundreds of people. Commoners treated punishment days as “exciting” days out("Elizabethan Crime and Punishment" 1). The crowds of people who gathered for the public punishments and executions could be considered twisted individuals. They relished these days. For example, theft resulted in public hanging for all of the people to watch. Often times crimes were falsely accused and the crowds knew it, but nothing could be done. Small crimes, such as stealing bird eggs would result in a death sentence. It was the terrible price starving people had to pay because the government made begging illegal("Elizabethan Crime and Punishment" 1). Many crimes resulted in brutal beatings. Beatings and executions were definitely not an issue, the only question was the type of beating a person would get or how they a would be executed("Elizabethan Crime and Punishment" 1). A lot of times the Upper class was exempt from punishment unless it was a serious crime. Unfortunately, the Commoners did not get that valuable treatment because they were almost always in trouble. With any evidence of relationships with evil spirits condemned a person to death by hanging, burning, or drowning. More punishments included: beheading, pressing, and the drunkard's cloak. The drunkard’s cloak was basically a big barrel
"During the Elizabethan era, crimes of treason and offenses against the state were treated with the same severity that murder is today” (Beyer 1). Some crimes in the Elizabethan era wouldn’t even be considered crimes today. Punishments were not extreme. Minor crimes such as begging would result in public beatings until they ran to the town’s border. If any simple crimes were repeated, they would be sent to jail, or possibly hanged.
Capital punishment, also referred to as the death penalty, is the judicially ordered execution of a prisoner as a punishment for a serious crime, often called a capital offence or a capital crime. In those jurisdictions that practice capital punishment, its use is usually restricted to a small number of criminal offences, principally, treason and murder, that is, the deliberate premeditated killing of another person. In the early 18th and 19th century the death penalty was inflicted in many ways. Some ways were, crucifixion, boiling in oil, drawing and quartering, impalement, beheading, burning alive, crushing, tearing asunder, stoning and drowning. In the late 19th century the types of punishments were limited and only a few of them remained permissible by law.
The techniques used when prosecuting a criminal in the Renaissance time period were much different than the ones used today. The investigations that were held were made judicially to get the best results (Brackett). This has influenced the way we perform investigations today. If they found
Renaissance society was made up of 3 estates. The first estate is clergy, the second is nobility also called Renaissance men and the third is commoners. 85% of commoners were peasants and the other 15% were townspeople. There were 2 writers during the Renaissance who outline the way certain people should be. Machiavelli wrote “The Prince” which told how to get and hold political power. Castiglione wrote the “Book of Courtiers” which describes the perfect Renaissance noble. In Renaissance society marriages were arranged to strengthen political ties. The woman’s family paid the dowry and the men controlled the business and family. Children were only adults when their father went to the court and freed them. Renaissan...
The Renaissance began after Europe began recovering from the Black Death. Anyone who had survived was just happy to be alive and started focusing more on material things, rather than religious ones. Another reason the focus shifted from religious thoughts was because of the Great Schism. People began second guessing their rulers and religious leaders and became more secular. One important city involved in the Renaissance was Florence, which would come to be known as the cultural center of the Renaissance. Florence was located in Tuscany and was ruled by merchants originally, but was later taken over by a wealthy family known as the Medicis. Later, however, the economy began to decline, which made the people turn to a man known as Savonarola. Savonarola, however, was an extremely strict ruler and did not allow such things as gambling or painting. He then went on to criticize the Pope and was sentenced to death for heresy. The Medici family then gained back control. These power struggles within Italy would lead to better trade which would help lead to people having a new, better way of life.
Many common crimes from the early Medieval period, known as the Dark Ages, included adultery, intentional murder, robbery and kidnapping. People were even punished harshly for trivial crimes such as stealing a loaf of bread. . This was considered a serious offence in this time period. These crimes were mainly executed people who had no job. So they resorted to these crimes to get
This Renaissance happened right after the Black Death, from 1400-1600, starting in the city of Florence. It was a rebirth of classical learning and a rediscovery of ancient Greece and Rome. As the Renaissance artists look back at the past they reject the education and religious thought of the Middle Ages. They considered the Middle Ages to be a Dark Age. They did, however,
The Renaissance was a period that bridged the gap between the medieval times for chivalry to the more sophisticated, modern advancements of a new world. The Renaissance brought the change of a new government after the Hundred Years War. With France and England the dispute over who is the rightful owner of the throne, brought the change of a monarchy into the modernistic type of government. This monarchy essentially made the family of a select few the rulers for generations. Other systems that help the king and queen were established. since the king and queen could not rule solely by themselves without some sort of a power struggle, system that help evice the throne were established, for instance parliament, and the house of commons. Similar
"Today's system, where imprisonment is a common penalty for most crimes, is a historical newcomer." Many crimes during 1718 and 1776 were punishable by death. This was usually done by hanging, sometimes by stoning, breaking on the rack and burning at the stake. Towards the end of the 1700's people realized that cruel punishment did little to reduce crime and their society was changing the population grew and people started to move around more frequently. There had to be a search for new punishments. "New punishments were to rely heavily on new ideas imported from Europe in the writing of such social thinkers of the Enlightenment as the baron de Montesquieu, Voltaire, Thomas Pain and Cesare Beccaria". These thinkers came to believe that criminals could be rehabilitated."
Anything that was slightly considered a bad thing of that time was considered a crime. Even writers of the Medieval era would write about the crimes of that era. Geoffrey Chaucer wrote
The lesson is situated in the fourth week, and is the eleventh and second last lesson in the unit outline.
The Renaissance was the age of the merchants and because of the merchants the economies and culture rose. The Renaissance is remembered by many people for the works of Michelangelo, Da Vinci, and Raphael. What many people do not know about the Renaissance is that the textile industry was more famous and profitable than the painter industry. Florence was the place to get any of your goods because of its location. Merchants went to Florence to sell their unique goods, buy, sell, or make cloth, and attend the guilds.