Commons
Trials are simple and often swift. The accused is brought forward and the charges read. Witnesses to the crime speak. If he has any witnesses or compurgators who will vouch for him they speak, and if enough of them speak well then the criminal might get free. If he is guilty, the sheriff or hundred bailiff states the traditional punishment, which is immediately carried out. Following are some crimes and punishments for commoners.
- Petty theft: fine and return of property
- Theft: hand cut off
- Poaching: ears cut off
- Murder: strangled and burnt
- Ignoring public duty, petty social wrongs: public humiliation in stocks
- Heresy (Roman Church only): burned alive
- Repeat offenders: non-lethal public torture
- Breaking and entering: hanging
- Insult to the power of a lord: public display in a cage
- Treason: hanged, drawn, and quartered—an action too grisly to describe here; body parts are later displayed on the city wall over gates
Nobles
Once decided, punishment is imposed. This also is often entirely arbitrary, if the king wishes so; otherwise it more or less follows this pattern.
Following are the levels of punishment, from least to most.
- Summary dismissal (especially if pressed by a commoner)
- Token amercement (fine)
- Significant fine
- Escheatment (an escheat is when the crown takes the land back)
- Loss of title
- Debasement
- Death
Capital Crimes
Capital crimes are the king’s business, and he (or his judges) must approve of every writ of execution. The right of infangentheof provides an exception—a thief caught red-handed with the goods can be condemned to death and hung at the nearest gallows. Lawlessness is widespread, and the king is content to let his warlords execute this merciless act.
Common Justice
In addition to the judgment of the royal courts, the commoners may volunteer or be ordered to undergo some other methods of proving their innocence.
In the ordeal of fire, the accused must hold onto a red hot piece of iron. When his hand is unwrapped in a week, if it is infected then he is guilty. Innocence is denoted by it being uninfected or, particularly, unburned.
Dunking is another popular method. The accused is tied up and put into a sack, then thrown into some water. If he drowns he was guilty.
The King's Ire
The king has a royal privilege to be angry for any or no reason — the royal ire. This is testament to the absolutism of the Pendragon line. There is logic to it, since he can do whatever he wants, either good or bad. Nor ought anyone expect to know why a king acts, what he knows, or how he feels — that’s the job of his favorites.
When the king is angry, he creates consequences, and can turn all of power against anyone in his kingdom. It may be real anger for an insult or breaking a vow, or it may be said to be one thing but really be another. Victims of his anger may use every defense they have within the law, but they never expect to really know why, what, or who provoked it.
The expression of his anger includes one or more of these increasingly severe steps:
- Formal distraint: The sheriff (with his levy and local knights if necessary) will capture and impound all the livestock on the offender’s estate.
- Destroy chattels: Anyone may take anything that the offender owns which can be moved (called chattel). In this circumstance “destroy” might mean “confiscate and keep.”
- Slight the castle: To “slight” means to destroy sufficiently to make the defenses useless.
- Loose officials and neighbors: Lords are invited to engage in private war against the offender.
- Licensed jacquerie: The peasants of the offender are encouraged to revolt, destroy, run away, or to join other lords.
- Disseizin: The king cancels the offender’s seizin — the right to hold his properties.
- Seize person: The offender is to be an outlaw, and everyone in the kingdom is required to arrest and hold him if possible.