TEXT: Crimes, Punishments, Constabulary & Courts in the early Renaissance 
   
  Crime 
  Definition 
  Punishment 
  Remarks 
  Summary 
  Offences 
  a crime in some common law jurisdictions that can be proceeded against summarily, without the right to a jury trial and/or indictment (required for an indictable offence). 
  Public 
  drunkenness 
  obvious display of intoxicated incompetence or behaviour disruptive/obnoxious to public order 
  Village lock-up > 
  Drunkard’s Cloak > 
  Pilloried 
   
  Creating a 
  disturbance at 
  church 
  Talking in church during mass 
  Fined 
   
  Virginity fraud 
  women marrying despite being deflowered virgins 
  Pilloried 
   
  Sumptuary law 
  Regulations were numerous and varied. Violations included breaches of a strict dress codes, gluttony 
  & alcoholism 
  Pilloried 
   
  Being a common 
  scold 
  Type of public nuisance where a scold (bad-tempered woman) broke the public peace by habitually 
  arguing and quarrelling with her neighbours 
  Pilloried 
   
  Disturbing the 
  peace 
  unsettling of proper order in a public space through one’s actions, e.g. starting a fight that didn’t spill 
  blood (victims still has 4 or more Wounds), couples who argued violently in public, etc. 
  Stocks > Fined 
   
  Outraging public 
  decency 
  (Lewdness) 
  Committing such immoral acts as mixed bathing, exhibitionism, a woman entertaining 3 men in her 
  house after midnight, etc. 
  Fined > Pilloried 
   
  Inciting riotous 
  behaviour 
  to punish Agitators, Gossips and Shrews 
  Branked 
  To curb women’s tongues that talk too idle 
  Conspiracy to 
  defraud 
  Cheating in its many forms: 
   
  a baker purposely might not measure the bread ingredients properly or a butcher’s scales might 
  be tampered with 
   
  a horse trader might put garlic in the animal’s nose to make the horse appear "lively" (in a frantic 
  state) but the buyer would soon realize he’d been cheated when the horse fell ill or died shortly 
  after the sale 
   
  simply a dice cogger (a cheat or deceiver especially at dice) 
  Stocks > Fined > 
  Pilloried 
   
  Misdemeanours 
  comprises every species of crime, which occasioned at common law the forfeiture of lands or goods. 
   
   
  Loitering 
  the act of remaining in a particular public place for a protracted time without any apparent lawful 
  purpose 
  Fined or Stocks > 
  Pilloried > Incarceration 
   
  Malicious 
  mischief 
  the wanton or reckless damage, defacement or destruction of property (aka "breaking up his walls or 
  doors"). Those who pillaged and plundered. More commonly known today as "Vandalism". 
  Stocks > Fined > 
  Pilloried 
  Penalties depended on the severity of the 
  damage inflicted. 
  Being a common 
  nightwalker 
  Being out in the streets at night (9pm until sunrise) without legitimate business. 
  Stocks > Fined > 
  Pilloried 
  Night watchmen patrolled the streets and were 
  expected to examine all suspicious characters. 
  Slander 
  Oral form of defamation consisting of false statements about a person which would damage that 
  person’s reputation, 
  Fined > Branked > 
  Pilloried 
  Calling someone "a fox" or stiff fine for calling 
  someone "a harlot" resulted in a fair fine 
  Affray 
  Starting a fight that left the victim bloodied. Where slightly bloodied corresponds to heavily wounded 
  (2-3W) and badly bloodied to severely wounded (1-2W). 
  Fined or Stocks > 
  Pilloried > Branding 
  with "F" 
  The mark of "F" signified Fraymaker. 
  Petty larceny 
  items less than 12 pence (a shilling), e.g. a loaf of bread, stealing a bird’s egg 
  Pilloried > Branding 
  with "T" 
  The mark of "T" signified Thief. 
  Blasphemy 
  Anyone who takes a god’s name in vain. 
  Fined > Pilloried > 
  Branding with a "B" > 
  The mark of "B" signified Blasphemer. 
  
  Pilgrimage 
  Prostitution 
  Attitudes vary considerably from banned to tolerated and even licensed. 
  Fined or Pilloried > 
  Branding with a "P" > 
  Impaling 
  Repeat offenders risked slow and painful death 
  via the Judas Cradle (tall thin stool topped with 
  a large pyramidal spike). 
  Fornication 
  Sex outside of marriage 
  Pilloried & Pilgrimage 
  Repeat offenders risked castration 
  Vagrancy 
  vagabonds, idle and suspect persons living suspiciously, i.e. "person who has no land, no master, and 
  no legitimate trade or source of income so who wanders from place to place, often in poverty" 
  Stocks > Pilloried > 
  Branding > Conscripted 
  beggars who are old and incapable of working 
  receive a beggar’s licence, i.e. anyone else 
  caught begging was convicted of being a 
  vagrant 
  Libel 
  Written form of defamation consisting of false  statements about a person which would damage that 
  person’s reputation 
  Fined > Ears nailed to 
  Pilloried > Cropping 
   
  Conductus 
  (receiving) 
  the suspect has bought, been given, or acquired stolen goods 
  Fined > Stocks > 
  Pilloried 
  Historical equivalent of "receiving stolen goods" 
  Poaching 
  illegally hunted in royal parks 
  Fined > Cropping > 
  Sewn into a deerskin 
  and then hunted down 
  by ferocious dogs > 
  Blinding 
   
  Debt evasion 
  Failure to repay a debt 
  Incarceration 
  Imprisonment in a debtor’s jail which was often a single, large cell until their families paid their debt. Debt prisoners often died of 
  diseases contracted from other debt prisoners. Conditions included starvation and abuse from other prisoners. If the father of a 
  family was imprisoned for debt, the family business often suffered while the mother and children fell into poverty. Unable to pay 
  the debt, the father often remained in debtors’ prison for many years. Some debt prisoners were released to become serfs or 
  indentured servants (debt bondage) until they paid off their debt in labour. 
  Ravishment 
  Sexual violation of a victim, known today as "rape". It also includes attempted rape as little distinction 
  was made during this period. 
  Incarceration + 
  compensation to the 
  victim > Castration > 
  Burning 
  Surprisingly moderate offence compared to 
  modern societies 
  Battery 
  Starting a fight that left the victim grievously wounded 
  Fined > Pilloried > 
  Incarceration 
  Grievously wounded = 0 Wounds or less 
  (critical) 
  Trespassing 
  entering a property without the owner’s consent. 
  Fined + Incarceration 
  if the criminal was unable to pay the fine then 
  he spent longer in jail 
  Felonies 
  characterised by offences against the person 
   
   
  Grand larceny 
  theft of more than 1 shilling & often included cut-pursing 
  Branding with "T" > 
  Mutilated: hand cut-off 
  > Hanging 
  The mark of "T" signified Thief. 
  Livestock theft 
  theft of domesticated animals. Note that Horses were most valuable, followed by Cattle and then 
  Sheep. 
  Pilloried > Branding 
  with "T" > Galley slave 
  The mark of "T" signified Thief. 
  Burglary (aka as 
  "Rustling" or 
  "Duffing") 
  breaking and entering the house of another in the night time (1/2 hour after sunset & 1/2 hour before 
  sunrise) with intent to commit a felony therein 
  Mutilation: hand cut-off 
  > Hanging 
   
  Smuggling 
  illegal transportation of objects, information or people. While often non-violent, this crime became a 
  felony as state coffers became increasingly dependent on tariffs (high rates of duty varied from 20-
  60%). 
  Fined + Hard Labour > 
  Fined + Incarceration 
  To calculate fines, consider "to pay an amount of 
  money equal to four times the value of the 
  goods themselves" 
  Perjury (aka 
  "forswearing") 
  the intentional act of swearing a false oath or of falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether 
  spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding 
  Mutilated: hand cut-off 
  + Penance > Hanging 
  Oaths would be sworn on relics (religious 
  artefacts). 
  Aiding and 
  abetting 
  those who are party to a crime, i.e. those helping criminals 
  Incarceration 
   
  
  Harbouring an 
  outlaw, fugitive 
  serf or criminal 
  providing shelter for those "on the run" 
  Incarceration + further 
  penalty 
  Imprisonment lasted "until those they receive is 
  captured at which they are liable to same 
  penalty as fugitive". Only exceptions were 
  churches & monasteries that had the privilege 
  of sheltering fugitives in sanctuary for 42 days. 
  Manslaughter 
  Death by misadventure 
  Fined & Branding with 
  "M" 
  The mark of "M" signified Manslaughterer 
  Voyeurism 
  (aka "Peeping 
  tom") 
  practice of spying on people engaged in intimate behaviours, such as undressing, sexual activity, or 
  other actions usually considered to be of a private nature 
  Mutilation: both eyes 
  put-out 
   
  Desertion 
  any soldier, man of arms or archer which, having mustered, departeth from his captain within his term 
  without repaying the King’s wages 
  Fined > Branding with 
  "D" & Transportation 
  The mark of "D" signified Deserter. 
  Abduction 
  unlawful taking away or transportation of a man against that person’s will, usually to hold the person 
  unlawfully. 
  Incarceration + 
  compensation > 
  Banishment > Hanging 
  This crime was usually committed for ransom or 
  in furtherance of another crime 
  Capital Offences 
  Execution could be avoided by petitioning for a royal pardon (about 100 were issued every year). Rarely a capital sentence could be commuted to a more clement punishment, e.g. 
  Immurement. 
  Dereliction of 
  duties (aka 
  "Fleeing justice") 
  failure to attend court (ignoring a summons), flight from arrest (when charged with a crime), custody 
  or jumping bail 
  Outlawry > Bounty* 
  Suspects were convicted in absentia. 
  Resisting arrest 
  threatening, struggling against or striking a keeper of the peace while being arrested 
  Hanging 
  making it lawful to destroy felons who resist 
  Infanticide 
  Deliberately killing one’s own child 
  Ducking upon cucking-
  stool into the water 
   
  Suicide 
  the act of intentionally taking’s one’s own life 
  Staking 
  frequently carried in despair, often due to a 
  mental disorder, alcoholism and/or stress 
  factors such as debt, antagonistic relationships 
  and bullying 
  Adultery 
  couple engaged in sexual intercourse outside of their respective marriages 
  Buried alive 
   
  Robbery 
  the violent taking of any money or goods from the person of another, putting him in fear, be the value 
  thereof above or under 1 shilling 
  Gibbeting 
  Highway robbery took place outside and in a 
  public place such as a street or highway by a 
  thief (sometimes on horseback) 
  Piracy 
  Robbery on the high seas 
  Gibbeting 
   
  Incest 
  sexual activity between family members or close relatives 
  Impalement 
   
  Sodomy 
  Buggery of humans or beasts 
  Dismemberment 
   
  Abduction 
  unlawful taking away or transportation of a man against that person’s will, usually to hold the person 
  unlawfully 
  Dismemberment 
  Abductions were usually undertaken for 
  ransom or in furtherance of another crime 
  Murder 
  no distinction made between premeditated murder and homicide 
  Weregild (fine) > 
  Hanging 
  Women convicted of murder were strangled 
  and then burnt 
  Counterfeiting 
  Minting fake coins or forging promissory notes (bills of credit) 
  Boiling 
   
  Arson 
  Deliberate burning of a building 
  Burning 
   
  Heresy 
  opinion of doctrine at variance with the orthodox or accepted doctrine of a church or religious system
   
  Burning 
   
  Sorcery 
  Gross Misconduct, Traitorous Acts, and most of all for Defaming the Good Orders of the Colleges of 
  Magic 
  Pacification 
  Investigated, arrested, tortured (for confession) 
  & executed by Witch-Hunters. 
  Witchcraft 
  those deceived by the Dark Gods (customary among pagans), who believes in these forbidden deities 
  and supplicate to them 
  Brutal torturing & 
  Burning 
  suspects allegedly often knew alchemy and/or 
  demon summoning thanks to magical books 
  Sedition 
  an intention to bring into hatred or contempt, or to excite disaffection against the person of His 
  Imperial Majesty, his heirs or successors 
  Breaking wheel  
   
  High treason 
  plotting against the monarchy (state) Whereas petty treason which is treason against a lawful superior 
  Drawing & quartering 
   
  * Bounties were set according to the gravity crime (10-20 GC for misdemeanours, 30-50 GC for felonies & 60-100 GC for capital offences) 
   
  
  Punishment 
  Description 
  Village lock-up 
  Small but dedicated building that was used for the temporary (usually overnight) detention of unruly (usually drunk) people in rural parts. Often built of stone with a single door and 
  a narrow slit window. 
  Fined 
  Criminal must pay a fine or face being Pillory and/or Imprisoned. 
  Small fine 
  3-8 shillings for minor trespass 
  Fair fine 
  12-30 shillings for repeat offenders or minor misdemeanours. Failing that, half a dozen lashes 
  Stiff fine 
  2-5 GC for gross misdemeanour, e.g. affray, petty larceny, grave slander or a dozen lashes 
  Heavy fine 
  8-20 GC for repeated misdemeanours or petty felonies, e.g. battery, night-stalker, ravishment, blasphemy or 2 dozen lashes 
  Massive fine 
  25-50 GC for gross felony, e.g. murder of a slave, murder of a churl, grand larceny? smuggling? evasion of duty? or 3 dozen lashes 
  Branked  
  The offender (usually a woman) had a cage-like contraption placed on her head. A metal strip on the "BRANK" fit into the mouth and was either sharpened to a point or covered with 
  spikes so that any movement of the tongue was certain to cause severe injuries to the mouth 
  Stocks 
  A device which partially immobilises the criminal by clamping his feet with large, wooden boards. Not only is this physically painful but it also offers a form of social humiliation 
  (often setup at marketplaces or crossroads) and even entertainment to the public who often took the opportunity to pelt the criminal with rotten food, mud, offal, excrement or dead 
  animals. Detention lasted from a few hours to a few days. 
  Drunkard’s Cloak 
  Criminal is required to wear a barrel (holes were cut on the sides for the person’s hands and head, causing it to become like a heavy, awkward shirt) as he was led through the town so 
  villagers might jeer at him 
  Pilloried (Flogging) 
  A device mounted on a post that partially immobilises the criminal by clamping his hands and head with large, hinged, wooden boards. The victim’s back was then flogged with a 
  whip before allowing the public a few hours to mock, taunt & abuse the criminal. A half dozen lashes (each lash inflicts 0.5W to the back) for trespasses, dozen for repeat offenders, 2 
  dozen (death possible) for misdemeanours and 3 dozen (death likely) for felonies. 
  Cropping 
  The removal of a criminal’s ear with a blade (2D6W to the head). Cropping was also a secondary punishment to having criminals’ ears nailed to the pillory (with the intention that 
  their body movements would tear them off), In the case of Thomas Barrie (1538), he spent a whole day with his ears nailed to the pillory in Newbury, England, before having them cut 
  off to release him. 
  Branding 
  The marking of a criminal by burning his skin with a red hot iron which combines physical punishment (6+D6W?) with public humiliation (usually the breast but sometimes under 
  the left armpit or even the forehead). 
  Penance 
  A system of rituals to atone for temporal punishment due to sins, e.g. pilgrimage where the graver the crime, the greater the pilgrimage 
  Ducking 
  It was a chair attached to a large lever system which stablised the seat so that it would remain upright with the offender strapped in. The chair was then lowered into the water any 
  number of times. Sometimes the offender would drown from the time spent under water. 
   
  Criminal tied with ropes, pushed into a river (never a lake – the water has to be able to ‘wash away’ the sinner) 
   
  If the criminal got washed onto the shore alive, he would be exiled 
   
  Extra punishment: sewn into a sack with living animals (cats, dogs, snakes) 
  Hard Labour 
  Criminal is condemned to several years forced work quarrying (Middenheim Mining Colony and Penitentiary), building roads (chain gangs), city walls or labouring on the docks, 
  often "grinders" (men walking inside a crane) 
  Staking 
  buried in the field with a stake driven through their bodies 
  Incarceration 
  Criminal is imprisoned for a term befitting the crime, either 1d10 years or life. 
  Weregild (blood 
  money) 
  Large fine if victim was a slave & Massive fine if victim was a churl 
  Mutilation 
  An appendage is cut from the criminal, ranging from a finger to a hand or even an arm, depending on severity and nature of the crime. Note that amputation was such a common 
  punishment that people who had accidentally lost body parts would carry certified notes to assure people that they were not criminals. 
  Castration 
  This often involved the total removal of all the male genitalia. This incurred great danger of death due to bleeding or infection and, in some states, was seen as the same as a death 
  sentence. Removal of only the testicles had much less risk, 
  
  Banishment (Exile) 
  PC is banished from the area with orders never to return, upon fear of death. This punishment is served 
  only to local residents; re-roll for vagrants. 
  Conscription 
  in times of war, this constituted service in the Imperial army, in a penal battalion. These are mainly comprised of convicts but also soldiers with serious disciplinary problems. 
  Although service is limited to 3 months, few survive that long due to meagre equipment, meagre rations, ruthless objectives and reckless leadership. During times of peace, conscripts 
  were instead required to provide labour for other activities of the state (see Hard Labour). 
  Transportation 
  to a penal colony, e.g. Leopoldheim and Sudenberg in Southlands or Skeggi and Port Reaver in Lustria 
  Outlawry 
  the suspect is declared an outlaw. The "Writ of Outlawry" made the pronouncement Caput gerat lupinum ("Let his be a wolf’s head", literally "May he bear a wolfish head"). Outlaws 
  were banished and lost all their legal rights. Anyone could freely steal their property or could even kill them. 
   
   
  Execution 
  criminal is hanged, beheaded, burned or immured. Fate Points may be used to evade execution 
  Hanging 
  criminal was hanged by the neck till he be dead, and then cut down and buried (contrary to Gibbeting where his corpses would rot for weeks for all to see) 
  Gibbeting 
   
  Slow death through strangulation (not breaking of the neck!) 
   
  Dead body was not buried but let hand to rot 
   
  Extra punishment by using a chain instead of a rope (chain does not tighten) 
   
  Extra punishment by burning a small pile of wood under the criminal 
   
  Corpse left dangling for weeks till it rotted and as a warning to others 
  Immurement 
  a form of imprisonment, usually for life, in which a person is, for example, locked within an enclosed space and all possible exits turned into impassable walls. This includes instances 
  where people have been enclosed in extremely tight confinement, such as within a coffin. When used as a means of execution, the prisoner is simply left to die from starvation or 
  dehydration. This is distinct from being buried alive, in which the victim typically dies of asphyxiation. 
  Impaling 
  This was performed with either a red-hot poker or a large stake being thrust through the rectum, sometimes coming out the criminal’s mouth. It was customary to leave them on 
  public display 
  Burning 
  condemned is bound to a large wooden stake atop a huge wood pile 
  Boiling 
  A criminal was placed in a large cauldron and literally boiled alive 
  Buried alive 
   
  The two adulterers would be tied together 
   
  Hole in the earth is layered with thorny bushes 
   
  After the hole is closed, a stake would be driven in the earth and subsequently through the two adulterers 
  Dismemberment 
  The accused had his four limbs tied to four horses and then the horses were made to run in four different directions, resulting in the person being pulled apart 
  Pacification 
  type of Aethyric gelding - a cutting away of the part of the soul capable of seeing and casting magic 
  Breaking wheel  
  a torture device used for public execution by breaking the criminal’s bones/bludgeoning him to death.  
  Drawing & 
  quartering 
  hanged till half dead, dragged face downward through the streets by a horse’s tail, drawn (disembowelled) & quartered (cut into 4 pieces) then buried in different parts of town. This 
  meant that when Judgment Day came, they would not be able to rise whole, and therefore would be denied entrance to Paradise. 1) Burning with red hot pliers 2) Peeling off the skin 
  in stripes 3) Hot tar on the soles of the feet 4) Quartering (or sometimes pulling out the guts) 5) Hanging of the four pieces at the gallows 
   
  Sources 
  Chapter 6 of the WFRP Companion 
  http://www.tomecek.com/jay/CrimeandPunishment.html 
  http://home.arcor.de/mustangace/sca_class_punishment.htm 
  http://www.livescience.com/927-medieval-justice-medieval.html 
  http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/medieval_law_and_order.htm 
  http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/punishment.htm 
  http://www.englandsmedievalfestival.com/medieval/Visitors-info/history/crimes-and-punishments.html 
  http://www.buzzle.com/articles/crime-and-punishment-in-the-middle-ages.html 
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Warhammer/Fantasy Roleplay/4e (C7)/Cato Contribution/Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay/2nd Edition/Homebrew & Fan Material/Domukan/Crimes Punishments across Middles Ages Renaissance.pdf