Medieval Crime & Punishment

C001e310 seeable

Taught by Tiffany Vann Sprecher

Tiffany D. Vann Sprecher, Ph.D. is assistant professor of History at Kingsborough Community College. Her current research explores vigilante justice in late medieval France. She has written on priests, midwives, government regulation, crime and punishment in the late medieval and early modern period.  

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What do picking up a red-hot iron, sticking your hand in a cauldron of boiling water, and sinking in a pool of icy water have in common? They were all ways to prove your innocence before a judge in the Middle Ages.

This class will give a whirlwind tour of crime and punishment from the years 500-1500. We’ll talk about how the law was enforced in a society without police or prisons as we know them today. We'll also discuss why it made sense to people at the time to dress a pig in human clothing and bring him before a judge to be tried for murder.

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