Introduction

In this seminar we will examine the various staff involved with policing and justice. These staff include: constables/police, scribes, lawyers, inquisitors, elected community officials, coroners, judges, and executioners. We will divide into groups looking at the staff in England, the German states, Holland, the Italian states, and Russia.

Seminar Questions

What were the similarities and differences in policing and judicial staff across early modern Europe? [Focus on staff such as: constables/police, scribes, lawyers, inquisitors, elected community officials, coroners, judges, and executioners]

Required Reading

Each group should read the relevant items below for the state(s) they are investigating:

Baker, J. H., An Introduction to English Legal History, 5th ed. (Oxford, 2019), Chapter Ten.

Beattie, J. M., Policing and Punishment in London, 1660-1750: Urban Crime and the Limits of Terror (Oxford 2001), Chapters Two, Three, Four, and Five.

Boes, Maria R., Crime and Punishment in Early Modern Germany: Courts and Adjudicatory Practices in Frankfurt am Main, 1562-1696 (Farnham, 2013), Chapters Two and Three.

Dean, Trevor, 'Police Forces in Medieval Italy: Bologna, 1340-1480', Social History 44 (2019), 151-172

Fosi, Irene, Papal Justice: Subjects and Courts in the Papal State, 1500-1750, trans. Thomas V. Cohen (Washington, DC, 2011), Chapters One, Two, and Three.

Gaskill, Malcolm, Crime and Mentalities in Early Modern England (Cambridge, 2000), Chapter Seven.

Heijden, Manon van der, Women and Crime in Early Modern Holland, trans. David McKay (Leiden, 2016), Chapter Two.

Ingram, Martin, Carnal Knowledge: Regulating Sex in England, 1470-1600 (Cambridge, 2017), Chapter Eleven.

Kollmann, Nancy Shields, Crime and Punishment in Early Modern Russia (Cambridge, 2015), Chapters Two, Three, and Eight.

Walker, Garthine, Crime, Gender and Social Order in Early Modern England (Cambridge, 2003), Chapter Six.

Further Reading

Dalton, Michael, The Countrey Justice (London, 1618) [This manual was used by English justices of the peace. It offers advice on a wide range of issues including levying customs, highways, prisons, riots, soldiers, murder, felonies, rogues, vagabonds, and high treason]

Gray, Drew D., Crime, Policing and Punishment in England, 1660-1914 (London, 2016), Chapters Nine and Ten.