Crime+and+Punishment

Crime and punishment for the Vikings was very different to crime and punishment now. Punishments for the Vikings were very unreasonable and in many cases people were proven to be guilty of crimes they did not commit because the laws made it impossible for anyone to be proven innocent. Punishments were decided by a group of twelve men that had taken an oath. This group was called the 'Thing'. The 'Thing' is in some ways a lot like court as when you are taken to court you are proven to be innocent or guilty and you punishments are decided. The oath that the twelve men had to take was very serious to the Vikings and could not be taken back.

Disputes were sorted out by fighting, such as sword fighting. Anybody that was not a part of the fight could not interfere in any way. The fight ended when someone was severely injured or killed. If fights did not come to an end they could lead to family feuds. If the family feuds got out of hand the 'Thing' was called upon to help sort things out.

One of the very worse punishments for a Viking was to be declared an outlaw. Being declared an outlaw meant that you were vanished from your village, your weaponry would be taken away and no one was allowed to help you. The worst part of being declared an outlaw was that you no longer had any rights, meaning that enemies could come along at any time and kill you without being punished you could starve to death because no one had to sell you things.

Another way Vikings were punished was what they called 'trial by ordeal'. Trial by ordeal was a method of determining if a person was guilty or innocent by making the accused person of a crime take part in very horrible, unreasonable and dangerous tasks. Depending on what the horrible task was, if the person was successful they were usually innocent and if they were unsuccessful they were guilty.

Ordeal by fire was things like having to walk across red hot iron or having to hold a red hot iron bar in their hand for at least one minute. After the person had taken part in the very painful ordeal by fire their feet or hand would be covered up for three days. After the three days of their hand or feet being covered, depending if the feet or hand still had blisters and burns their innocence or guilt was decided. If the blisters and burns were still present on the feet or hand they were guilty and if the blisters and burns had healed they were innocent. This made it almost impossible for anyone to be proven innocent because for blisters and burns to heal as fast as they possibly can they could be exposed to the air.

Women that were being accused of a crime had a slightly different punishment as they had to place their hand in a boiling hot cauldron of water and attempt to pick up some rocks from the bottom of the cauldron.

Trial by water was only usually used for women that were thought to be witches. The suspected women were tied up, fully clothed and thrown in to a lake. Their innocence or guilt was decided depending if the women drowned or floated. If they floated they were proven to be witches, and taken to be burned. If they sunk and drowned they were not a witch. Of course if they had sunk and drowned they too were also dead. Every one then apologised to their friends and families.