Elizabethan era Assignment

Classes

Upper Class
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Courtier - A person who attends a royal court as a companion or

adviser to the king or queen.
Clergymen - A male priest or minister of a Christian church.
Nobility - The group of people belonging to the noble class in a country,
esp. those with a
hereditary or honorary title.

Lower Class (Commoners)

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Every one else

Crimes
Commoners
Many crimes committed by the poor were because of desperation and
poverty.
The most common crimes were:

Theft
Begging
Adultery
Forgers -The action of forging or producing a copy of a document,
signature, banknote, or work of art.
Fraud -Wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or
personal gain ex Cheat
Debtors

Nobility

High Treason: This is when you betray your country by perhaps

helping your countries enemy.
Blasphemy: This is showing disrespect for religion, God and sacred
things.
Spying: Obtaining secret information about the government and
passing it on to enemies.
Murder: Killing someone.

Alchemy: Trying to change base metals into gold and discover a life
prolonging elixir.

Punishment
Nobility
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The worst punishment was Hung, Drawn and Quartered.

They would be taken from the prison to the place of execution upon a
hurdle or sled
Where they are hanged till they be half dead and then taken down and
quartered alive
After that their members and bowels are removed from their bodies
and are thrown into a fire within their own sight.

By Burning
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Other punishment included execution by burning and beheading.

Being burnt at the stake was a slow painful death.
Sometimes the executioner would show mercy by placing gunpowder
at the base of the stakes.
The only other way to die quickly was to suffocate in the smoke.

By Beheading
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Death by the axe was terrifying.

Sometimes it would take several blows before the head was finally cut
off.
Consciousness remains for at least 8 seconds after beheading.
The head was shown to the crowd and then placed on stakes and
displayed on places such as London Bridge.

Commoners

Hanging - They Were hanged to death

Pillory- Also, the stocks were similar to the pillory in that a part of the body
was locked between two slabs of wood, but in the case of the stocks the feet
were locked in the device instead of the hands and feet. The stocks were a
proposed method of punishment for drunkenness in a 1605 Act. The offender
would be fined to five shillings or six hours in the stock
Whipping - One that theres not much to say about is the whipping post. Its
basically, as the name says a wooden post that the person was strapped to
and whipped for the number of times needed for the correct punishment. This
method was used during the reign of Henry VIII and then continued through
the time of Queen Elizabeth.
Ducking stools - One more worth mentioning was the ducking stool. Like
the brank, it was a punishment for women whose speech was considered too

brash and brazen or too free. The ducking stool was a wooden chair attached
to a large lever. The lever allowed the chair to be raised or lowered without
the tipping of the chair, making it parallel to the ground at all times. The chair
was then lowered into the water, dunking the accused woman under the
water. Based on the level of the offense and the cruelty of the deciding
person the woman could be "ducked" any number of times, and in some
cases of extreme measures. The woman could drown from the time spent
under water. Some of the ducking stools were mobile and could be taken to
the water's edge at anytime.
The brank- Another weird punishment was the brank, also known as the
bride's scold. The brank was a punishment for women who gossiped or spoke
too freely. It was a large iron "cage" placed on the head of the offender. There
was a metal strip on the brank that fit into the mouth and was either
sharpened to a point or covered with spikes so that ANY movement of the
tongue would more than likely cause severe injuries to the mouth. The
woman was then led through the streets of town by a chain. Then she was
usually tied to a whipping post or pillory to stand in view of the cruel and
verbally abusive public.

BEGGING WAS A SERIOUS ELIZABETHAN CRIME - POOR BEGGARS

The Tudor and Elizabethan governments made begging a crime and therefore illegal
and 'poor beggars' and as their punishment they would be beaten until they
reached the stones that marked the town parish boundary. The beatings given as
punishment were bloody and merciless and those who were caught continually
begging could be sent to prison and even hanged as their punishment.

The watch
Back in Elizabethan times there was no police force, instead they had The
Watch. These were armed civilians under control of a sheriff or constable.
They were the first layer of Law and Order, their duty was to keep peace. If
they saw someone misbehaving they had the right to arrest the person and
send them to the magistrate (minor judicial officer) they were very cocky and
that is why they were feared and disliked

The Courts
The Elizabethan court is definitely not a place you would want to be if you were
being accused of a crime. This was especially the case if you were being accused of
a harsh crime such as treason. Unlike today where we have numerous rules and
regulations which state we are unable to torture people, this was not the case
during the Elizabethan period. There were 4 court systems. National Court, this had
a monarch (the Queen) and many of her assistants as the jury. Crimes include
treason, murder, and arson. Church Court, the judge was the Pope of the Church,
and the bishops would also help him. Crimes include marrying a close relative or not
attending church on Sunday. Regional/Village Courts, the sheriff or constable was in
charge of these. Crimes include every day village offenses.

Comparison

First of all there is no difference in classes, all the human beings are
punished under same rules.

Punishments may vary from country to country.

In Canada a judge sentences a person after they have been found guilty of a
crime the same as being convicted of the crime).[1] After a determination is
made about the facts being relied on for sentencing, and hearing from both
the Crown and the defense about what the appropriate sentence should be,
the judge must pick from a number of different sentencing options found in
the Criminal Code of Canada, based on a number of factors. Some offences
have a minimum sentence, and there may also be a maximum sentence
depending on the nature of the offence.

The maximum determinate sentence is a life sentence with a 25 year parole

ineligibility period.

There are also options for an indeterminate sentence. - the prison term
imposed after conviction for a crime which does not state a specific period of
time or release date, but just a range of time, such as "five-to-ten years". It is
one side of a continuing debate as to whether it is better to make sentences
absolute (subject to reduction for good behavior) without reference to
potential rehabilitation, modification or review in the future.

There is no death penalty in Canada.

Citation
Notes
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http://www.antiquaprintgallery.com/ekmps/shops/richben90/images/jap
an-convivial-party-of-lower-class-japanese-1880-64676-p.jpg
"Elizabethan Era.. N.p... Web. 1 May 2013.
<http://www.noblesandcourtiers.org/elizabethan-crime-andpunishment.htm>.
"Crime and Punishment in England." . N.p.. Web. 1 May 2013.
<http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/punishment.htm>.
. Elizabethan Crime. N.p.. Web. 1 May 2013.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabethan_era>.
"Criminal Sentencing Canada." . WikiMedia. Web. 22 May 2013.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_sentencing_in_Canada>.

Pictures
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Crime and law. N.d. Graphic. Google ImagesWeb. 1 May 2013.

<http://www.google.ca/imgres?
safe=active&hl=en&biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=isch&tbnid=6ucyHI2JrK
743M:&imgrefurl=http://questgarden.com/56/72/4/071205162450/proc
ess.htm&docid=ZtBV02EqD11cdM&imgurl=http://questgarden.com/56/
72/4/071205162450/images/Hanging.jpg&w=201&h=234&ei=lhicUbLj
BpKt4APlsoGIBw&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:1,s:0,i:84&iact=rc&dur=317
&page=1&tbnh=171&tbnw=146&start=0&ndsp=20&tx=41&ty=99>.
Crime and law. N.d. Photograph. Google ImagesWeb. 1 May 2013.
<http://www.google.ca/imgres?
safe=active&hl=en&biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=isch&tbnid=SMudhS0a
f0eGEM:&imgrefurl=http://www.crimeculture.com/earlyunderworlds/Co
ntents/Links.html&docid=e1FVm_mLS16dHM&imgurl=http://www.crim
eculture.com/earlyunderworlds/Images/Sadstocks.gif&w=463&h=406&
ei=lhicUbLjBpKt4APlsoGIBw&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:4,s:0,i:93&iact=r
c&dur=406&page=1&tbnh=171&tbnw=195&start=0&ndsp=20&tx=1
57&ty=108>.
The Watch. N.d. Photograph. Google ImagesWeb. 1 May 2013.
<http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/r/riot_police.asp>.