Early-Modern

Britain

c.1500-1750

This period of history is usually defined by the conflicts involving religion and the monarchy.

The Tudor period,

1485-1603, was a lot more peaceful than the previous century which was wracked with civil war. However there were still large-scale rebellions and threats of foreign invasion.

The biggest change is the Reformation - the change from Catholic to Protestant beliefs under the reign of Henry VIII.

The two criminals above would be faced with an

afternoon of catching rotten vegetables with their

faces as they are pilloried in the.....pillory for

'pretended fortune telling' This punishment was meant to humiliate the offenders, although sometimes their ears or tongues may be nailed to the wood and  occasionally left there!

Timeline

Early-Modern

How have these changed? Crime, Protest, Punishment and Policing.

What happened in?

Early-Modern

c.1500-1750

Kett's Rebellion, Pilgrimage of Grace, Gunpowder Plot, Vagabonds, Poaching, Smuggling, Highwaymen, Witchcraft, Corporal Punishment, Bloody Code........more

Industrial Britain

c.1750-1900

Theft and robbery, Poverty, Police, Transportation, Prisons, Luddites, Swing Riots, Tolpuddle, Rebecca, Chartism, Prison Reformers, Dock Strike........more

Twentieth Century

1900-2000

Suffrage Movement, Conscientious Objectors, General Strike, Hanging, Youth Detention, Fingerprinting, DNA, Surveillance, Drug Crime, Hooliganism, Community Service, Race Crime.........more

Who were?

Robert Aske, Matthew Hopkins, Jonathan Wild, Dick Turpin, John Howard, Elizabeth Fry, Derek Bentley........more

Why did attitudes to crime and punishment change?

 Growth of population and towns: over the next 300 years, England’s population - especially in towns - increased greatly.

 Social and economic developments: From the sixteenth century, the larger landowners and wealthy merchants became extremely rich. The woollen trade was a big factor.

 Property and power: as the wealth of landowners and merchants increased, they began to want a bigger say in the running of the country. They were also concerned to control crime and protect their property from the poor.

 The spread of ideas: political and religious ideas were able to spread more quickly. Printing was invented, and an increase in the numbers of people who could read, meant important ideas reached down to the lower classes as well as those who traditionally wielded power.

 Improvements in travel: the use of coaches and wider possession of horses also helped  to spread ideas more widely and more quickly. There were many reports about the growth of crime.

 Attitudes about crime and poverty: the upper and middle classes were also worried by the fact that, since the Middle Ages, feudal restrictions on travel for ordinary people had been lifted.

next.....Links between Crime and Poverty