Crime and Punishment in the Middle Ages

An accused person held a red hot iron bar and walked three paces. His hand was then bandaged and left for three days. If the wound was getting better after three days, you were innocent. If the wound had clearly not got any better, you were guilty.

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An accused person was tied up and thrown into water. If you floated you are innocent of the crime you were accused of.

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Ordeal by combat was used by thieves who had been accused of something. They would fight in combat with their accuser. Whoever won was right. Whoever lost was usually dead at the end of the fight.

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Being accused of witchcraft in the Middle Ages meant being labeled as a heretic.  If accused of witchcraft, the accused was forced to confess, even if he was innocent, through brutal torture.  Then he was hanged or burnt alive for his crimes.

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If convicted, they would be put in the stocks or tied to the pillory, or they would have to walk through the market dragging a ‘stone of shame’. Members of the public were allowed to shout insults and pelt them with rotten fruit, sometimes even with excrement.

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