Elizabethan Period

Elizabethan England and Elizabethan Crime and Punishment - not a happy subject. Violent times. Crimes were met with violent, cruel punishments. Many punishments and executions were witnessed by many hundreds of people. Facts about the different Crime and Punishment of the Nobility, Upper Classes and Lower Classes.





Elizabethan Executions
Elizabethan England and Elizabethan Executions. The Death Penalty was definitely not an issue during the Elizabethan era, the only question was what form of execution did the person in question deserve. Executions by beheading were considered the least brutal of execution methods and were accorded to important State prisoners or people of noble birth. The most dreadful punishment of being Hung, Drawn and Quartered was a barbaric form of execution was reserved for the most hated prisoners who had usually been convicted of treason.





Elizabethan Tortures
Elizabethan Tortures were excruciatingly painful and violent. Various means of tortures were use to extract confessions for crime. The Rack, the Scavenger's Daughter, the Collar, the Iron Maiden, Branding Irons, the Wheel and Thumbscrews were all excrutiating methods of Elizabethan tortures.


Religion - Protestants, Catholics and Jews
The two major religions in Elizabethan England were the Catholic and Protestant religions. The convictions and beliefs in these different religions were so strong that they led to the executions of many adherents to both of these Elizabethan religions. What were the differences between the Catholic and Protestant religion and beliefs in Elizabethan England? How were the Jews perceived in England during the Elizabethan era. How were Catholics and Jews treated in the Elizabethan era?



The Poor Law
Society in Elizabethan England was changing and the number of poor people living in abject poverty was increasing. A series of laws was introduced by the English Parliament in 1563, 1572, 1576, 1597 culminating in the 1601 Poor Law designed to make provision for the poor. The poor were divided into three categories - the 'Deserving Poor', the 'Deserving Unemployed' and 'Undeserving Poor' - those who turned to a life of crime or had become beggars.

Elizabethan Laws
The section covers Tudor and Elizabethan Laws passed during the 1500's. Important dates and details of Laws which effected the everyday lives of Elizabethans in England including the 1559 Second Act of Supremacy the 1574 Sumptuary Laws called the 'Statutes of Apparel' and the 1601 Poor Law.