Welcome to Litsy!

This was a very interesting read. Laws from the medieval period, abolished laws, and some still in effect today in England are discussed in this book. Many of them ridiculous, some terrible (horrific). You can look back on them and have a big sigh of relief that they aren‘t in effect anymore 🤣

In medieval times drunkards were made to walk around town wearing wooden barrels with holes for their heads and arms. This was called a ‘drunkards‘s cloak‘ and was designed to shame the culprit into sobriety. Before the 1604 Act introduced fines, the stocks were a standard punishment for drunkards. In 1500, Cardinal Wolsey, then a priest in Limington, near Yeovil, was put in the stocks for drunkenness.

That Wolsey—Henry the VIII‘s Wolsey!

Swans have held a unique position in English law since medieval times, having been royal birds since 1186, and the only bird that can be ‘estray‘—if they are found on common land or open water they belong to the Crown as a prerogative right. The swan‘s royal status was enshrined in statute with the Act of Swans in 1482.

Watch the annual ‘swan upping‘ on the Thames here: https://youtu.be/5MQ_GyEoUiE

Since Saxon times every church had to provide a safe haven for 40 days, after which the fugitive had to of ‘abjure the realm‘—make their way to a seaport ‘with a wooden cross in their hands, barefoot and bareheaded, and their coats only‘. when he reached the port, if no ship was ready to take him, he had to wade out into the sea up to his knees every day to show he was serious about leaving until he found passage.

In Anglo-Saxon times, suspected perjurers were subjected to be ‘corsned‘, being forced to swallow consecrated barley cake, in the belief that a lying mouth would choke on it.
Later, powdered eagle stone—a form of iron ore— was sprinkled on dry bread to see whether the accused could swallow it. Abolished in 1261, after the 4th Lateran Council declared it the work of the Devil.

Fascinating!

Trial by ordeal was common in medieval times. The accused would be forced to carry a red hot piece of metal set a distance—usually the length of the nave of a church—or walk blindfolded over a bed of coal. If they emerged unscathed, or the wounds healed quickly, they would be found not guilty. Trial by ordeal was banned by the Pope in 1215, though it took some time before the ban was implemented in England.

In Saxon times, conveyancing was done by handing over a twig or some turf— in Scotland ‘earth and stone‘ was the means used to transfer the ownership of property—which must‘ve worked out considerably cheaper than today‘s arrangements.