High justice in fifteenth-century Normandy: the prosecution of Sandrin Bourel
James R. Sweeney
By the fifteenth century seigneurial exercise of high justice had become less common because growth royal jurisdiction. The ancient and wealthy Benedictine nunnery Montivilliers retained right to only during octave Holy Cross. In 1493 Sandrin Bourel, a young man who twice before been imprisoned for theft, was apprehended in act stealing from bourgeois Montivilliers. As crime occurred Cross abbey claimed A special tribunal created prosecute him. After having tortured, Bourel found guilty hanged. documents generated by this event provide basis case study application criminal procedure at close middle ages. condemned man's confession, rich biographical detail, gives us profile petty thief vagabond on margin society. financial account abbey's receiver-general detail total cost prosecution single medieval criminal.
Journal of Medieval History