Welcome to early modern England, a period of great turmoil and change between 1500 and 1700. This era was shaped by religious conflict, civil war, and growing poverty. In this deck, we'll explore how these pressures affected crime and punishment. We'll see what stayed the same from the medieval period, and examine the rise of new crimes like vagabondage and witchcraft. We'll also investigate changes in punishment, including the start of the Bloody Code and transportation to America, before diving into two famous case studies: the Gunpowder Plot and the witch-hunts of Matthew Hopkins.

First, let's consider continuity. Just like in the medieval period, the vast majority of crimes committed in early modern England were minor. Theft of food, tools, or money was the most common offence, followed by assaults and murder. For your exam, it's important to remember that while we focus on dramatic new crimes, the everyday reality for most courts was dealing with the same kinds of offences that had been common for centuries.

While petty crime continued as before, crimes against authority changed dramatically. This was driven by the religious upheaval known as the Reformation. When Henry the Eighth broke from the Catholic Church in the 1530s, heresy, which is speaking out against religious beliefs, was no longer just a crime against God. It became a crime against the monarch, who was now Head of the Church. This made it a form of treason.

The definition of heresy swung back and forth with each new monarch. Henry's son Edward was a strict Protestant, his daughter Mary was a fervent Catholic who burned nearly 300 Protestants for heresy, and Elizabeth the First was a moderate Protestant. Under Elizabeth, it became a treasonable offence to be a Catholic priest in England, showing how closely crime and religion were linked.