1 00:00:37,851 --> 00:00:39,648 (Low whistle ) 2 00:00:42,322 --> 00:00:45,018 oh, why, it's the sheriff. 3 00:00:45,058 --> 00:00:47,925 seems you have not shaved this morning. 4 00:00:57,671 --> 00:01:03,234 curses, Robin, once again you've made a fool of me and my wicked schemes. 5 00:01:03,276 --> 00:01:05,836 (Terry ) In the lawless world of the Middle Ages, 6 00:01:05,879 --> 00:01:07,972 a poor man,s only hope of justice 7 00:01:08,014 --> 00:01:12,678 lay with those bold men living lives of freedom in the forest, 8 00:01:12,719 --> 00:01:16,655 the legendary outlaws of medieval England. 9 00:01:18,592 --> 00:01:21,322 Heroes who bestrode the Greenwood 10 00:01:21,361 --> 00:01:24,819 fearlessly wearing only tights and little short tunics 11 00:01:24,865 --> 00:01:26,730 that hardly covered their bottoms, 12 00:01:26,767 --> 00:01:30,828 the medieval outlaw has come to represent freedom and justice 13 00:01:30,871 --> 00:01:32,896 for the common man. 14 00:01:32,939 --> 00:01:36,705 But were there really outlaws like Robin Hood in medieval England? 15 00:01:36,743 --> 00:01:40,543 And if not, why do we think there were? 16 00:01:40,580 --> 00:01:41,808 And another thing. 17 00:01:41,848 --> 00:01:45,113 Was the law so out of reach for ordinary people? 18 00:01:45,152 --> 00:01:48,383 And did the forest merely represent freedom? 19 00:01:48,422 --> 00:01:53,416 And of course the key question, did outlaws never wear trousers? 20 00:01:57,097 --> 00:02:02,729 My investigation into medieval law and order starts on the trail of a real life 21 00:02:02,769 --> 00:02:04,930 14th-century outlaw gang 22 00:02:04,971 --> 00:02:09,101 in the tranquil village of Teigh in Rutland. 23 00:02:09,142 --> 00:02:11,042 sweet, isn't it? 24 00:02:11,077 --> 00:02:13,773 one afternoon in 1340, however, 25 00:02:13,814 --> 00:02:17,750 the peace and quiet of this little village was shattered 26 00:02:17,784 --> 00:02:20,685 by a dramatic shoot-out. 27 00:02:24,691 --> 00:02:29,321 A group of armed men laid siege to this church. 28 00:02:29,362 --> 00:02:31,728 After a ferocious battle, the rector, 29 00:02:31,765 --> 00:02:34,256 whose place of worship it had been for twenty years, 30 00:02:34,301 --> 00:02:37,668 was dragged outside into the street and beheaded. 31 00:02:39,840 --> 00:02:43,435 But the situation wasn't quite what it might seem. 32 00:02:43,477 --> 00:02:48,847 The gang of armed men who slew the man of God weren't the outlaws. 33 00:02:48,882 --> 00:02:51,373 They were supposed to represent law and order. 34 00:02:51,418 --> 00:02:54,410 It was the rector who was the outlaw. 35 00:02:54,454 --> 00:02:56,786 His name was Richard Folville 36 00:02:56,823 --> 00:03:00,281 and he was a member of that notorious gang of outlaws, 37 00:03:00,327 --> 00:03:02,921 the Folvilles. 38 00:03:04,731 --> 00:03:08,428 A generation after their deaths, the Folvilles were celebrated 39 00:03:08,468 --> 00:03:11,266 as the kind of outlaws who righted wrongs. 40 00:03:11,304 --> 00:03:15,673 one chronicle tells how they took the law into their own hands 41 00:03:15,709 --> 00:03:20,510 and rode out to right injustice by force of arms. 42 00:03:20,547 --> 00:03:24,711 The Folvilles' laws became a synonym for justified robbery. 43 00:03:24,751 --> 00:03:28,619 so were the Folvilles the real-life Robin Hoods? 44 00:03:29,890 --> 00:03:32,188 Well it'd be nice if they were but... 45 00:03:32,225 --> 00:03:34,523 I'm afraid not. 46 00:03:34,561 --> 00:03:36,756 The Folvilles were aristocratic brothers 47 00:03:36,796 --> 00:03:40,755 whose father was the lord of the manor of Ashby-Folville. 48 00:03:40,800 --> 00:03:45,237 But why were the sons of nobility turning to crime? 49 00:03:45,272 --> 00:03:48,935 When old John de Folville died in 1310, 50 00:03:48,975 --> 00:03:51,443 he left his entire estate to his eldest son, 51 00:03:51,478 --> 00:03:53,503 which is what you did in those days. 52 00:03:53,547 --> 00:03:57,244 The younger sons were supposed to go to into the church or join the army. 53 00:03:57,284 --> 00:04:01,482 In the Folvilles' case, however, there were another six brothers. 54 00:04:01,521 --> 00:04:04,046 Enough to take a third alternative - 55 00:04:04,090 --> 00:04:07,526 form a gang and embark on a life of crime. 56 00:04:10,764 --> 00:04:14,427 According to local legend, this stone with its cross 57 00:04:14,467 --> 00:04:18,335 marks the spot where the Folvilles began their career as outlaws. 58 00:04:18,371 --> 00:04:22,034 For it was here that they helped murder a local bigwig. 59 00:04:25,245 --> 00:04:28,237 But you couldn't become an outlaw just like that. 60 00:04:28,281 --> 00:04:32,877 There were various requirements the Folvilles would have had to fulfill. 61 00:04:32,919 --> 00:04:35,251 The chief qualification for becoming an outlaw 62 00:04:35,288 --> 00:04:39,418 was failure to turn up for trial on three successive occasions. 63 00:04:39,459 --> 00:04:44,556 The Folvilles passed this test with flying colors. 64 00:04:44,598 --> 00:04:49,035 It meant that from now on they could practice as fully qualified outlaws, 65 00:04:49,069 --> 00:04:51,731 pursuing their trade of assault and robbery, 66 00:04:51,771 --> 00:04:55,036 extortion and kidnapping to fill their own pockets. 67 00:04:55,075 --> 00:04:57,976 And they weren,t the only gangs of upper-crust gentlemen 68 00:04:58,011 --> 00:05:00,036 who terrorized the country. 69 00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:03,516 There was sir William cheddleton,s gang in shropshire, 70 00:05:03,550 --> 00:05:05,575 sir Gilbert Middleton,s in Durham, 71 00:05:05,619 --> 00:05:07,587 and sir Henry Leybourn,s in Kent, 72 00:05:07,621 --> 00:05:12,149 not to mention the cogerel gang who sometimes joined forces with the Folvilles. 73 00:05:16,262 --> 00:05:19,629 These aristocratic gangs weren't robbing from the rich 74 00:05:19,666 --> 00:05:20,963 to give to the poor. 75 00:05:21,001 --> 00:05:22,764 They were career criminals. 76 00:05:22,802 --> 00:05:25,930 With a network of spies and informers 77 00:05:25,972 --> 00:05:28,998 and with political connections. 78 00:05:31,978 --> 00:05:34,776 John Bromyard, the Dominican friar and preacher, 79 00:05:34,814 --> 00:05:37,715 complained that England was more crime-ridden 80 00:05:37,751 --> 00:05:39,048 than any other country, 81 00:05:39,085 --> 00:05:41,451 mainly because of the gentry turning to crime 82 00:05:41,488 --> 00:05:44,685 or employing thugs to do their robbing for them. 83 00:05:48,662 --> 00:05:54,259 so if the outlaws actually were the bad guys, where does that leave their traditional foe... 84 00:05:54,300 --> 00:05:55,961 the sheriff? 85 00:05:56,002 --> 00:05:58,402 The wicked sheriff. 86 00:05:58,438 --> 00:06:00,167 Well done. 87 00:06:00,206 --> 00:06:04,438 You're finally learning how to treat these animals. 88 00:06:07,480 --> 00:06:11,473 Here in sherwood forest the old melodrama is still being played out, 89 00:06:11,518 --> 00:06:13,918 to the delight of audiences. 90 00:06:13,953 --> 00:06:16,148 Isn't he tall?. 91 00:06:16,189 --> 00:06:17,918 Don't you think he's tall?. 92 00:06:17,957 --> 00:06:21,017 Now undoubtedly, there were sheriffs who abused their power. 93 00:06:21,061 --> 00:06:22,892 One sheriff of Nottingham for example 94 00:06:22,929 --> 00:06:26,160 even ran a mafia-style operation in the 14th century, 95 00:06:26,199 --> 00:06:30,568 which involved his wife, clerk... and chaplain. 96 00:06:30,603 --> 00:06:34,699 But wicked sheriffs were the exception rather than the rule. 97 00:06:34,741 --> 00:06:36,732 I am disappointed to have to tell you 98 00:06:36,776 --> 00:06:38,835 the vast majority of sheriffs 99 00:06:38,878 --> 00:06:42,336 were pen-pushing bureaucrats overloaded with work 100 00:06:42,382 --> 00:06:45,545 constantly grappling with a stream of writs 101 00:06:45,585 --> 00:06:49,043 from litigious peasants or orders from central government. 102 00:06:49,089 --> 00:06:51,956 They were the one-man county councils of their day. 103 00:06:51,991 --> 00:06:57,623 We'll teach him some manners. 104 00:06:59,999 --> 00:07:02,729 Torturing peasants and oppressing the poor? 105 00:07:02,769 --> 00:07:06,102 Most sheriffs were too busy organizing the home guard 106 00:07:06,139 --> 00:07:10,371 or tracking down regional cheeses for the royal household, 107 00:07:10,410 --> 00:07:12,935 or a decent set of hunting dogs for the king. 108 00:07:14,447 --> 00:07:16,779 (Terry ) We like to think of the story of the outlaw 109 00:07:16,816 --> 00:07:19,341 as a black and white tale of goodies and baddies. 110 00:07:19,385 --> 00:07:22,013 The reality was less clear cut. 111 00:07:23,223 --> 00:07:26,989 During the Middle Ages the very notion of what an outlaw was changed dramatically 112 00:07:27,026 --> 00:07:30,860 and so did the legal system the outlaws sought to avoid. 113 00:07:34,901 --> 00:07:37,995 In Anglo-saxon England, people had been accustomed 114 00:07:38,037 --> 00:07:40,267 to administering the law themselves, 115 00:07:40,306 --> 00:07:42,137 a sort of neighborhood watch. 116 00:07:42,175 --> 00:07:46,669 But with this big difference - you could make money out of it. 117 00:07:49,415 --> 00:07:53,283 You see, the Anglo-saxons weren't particularly bothered about punishments. 118 00:07:53,319 --> 00:07:57,278 What interested them was victim compensation. 119 00:07:57,323 --> 00:07:59,348 And there was a strict tariff. 120 00:08:00,660 --> 00:08:03,561 If the nose be mutilated, six shillings. 121 00:08:03,596 --> 00:08:06,156 If an ear be struck off, twelve shillings. 122 00:08:06,199 --> 00:08:07,928 Fifty shillings for an eye, 123 00:08:07,967 --> 00:08:09,935 fifty shillings for a foot, 124 00:08:09,969 --> 00:08:12,904 and ten shillings for the big toe. 125 00:08:12,939 --> 00:08:15,499 For each of the four front teeth, six shillings. 126 00:08:15,542 --> 00:08:18,602 For the tooth which stands next to them, four shillings. 127 00:08:18,645 --> 00:08:21,808 For that which stands next to that, three shillings. 128 00:08:21,848 --> 00:08:24,715 And then afterwards, for each, a shilling. 129 00:08:26,219 --> 00:08:28,414 Quick punch in the face could mean a windfall. 130 00:08:28,454 --> 00:08:31,787 This has to be my lucky day. 131 00:08:31,825 --> 00:08:34,521 Back then to be declared an outlaw 132 00:08:34,561 --> 00:08:37,496 was a fearful thing indeed. 133 00:08:37,530 --> 00:08:40,931 people then lived in small, self-regulating communities, 134 00:08:40,967 --> 00:08:43,902 and to be excluded was like being sent into exile. 135 00:08:43,937 --> 00:08:47,065 Worse, an outlaw was a wolf's head, 136 00:08:47,106 --> 00:08:49,404 someone who could be killed on sight. 137 00:08:49,442 --> 00:08:54,675 They were forced to live a life on the run, outside normal society. 138 00:08:55,782 --> 00:08:59,377 But in 1o66, England became an occupied nation. 139 00:08:59,419 --> 00:09:02,013 A legal system that depended on the cooperation 140 00:09:02,055 --> 00:09:05,923 of the conquered with their conquerors was simply not going to work. 141 00:09:05,959 --> 00:09:09,019 so the Normans introduced certain legal refinements 142 00:09:09,062 --> 00:09:11,223 such as collective punishment 143 00:09:11,264 --> 00:09:13,095 and trial by battle. 144 00:09:13,132 --> 00:09:17,364 Now a trial by battle may conjure up images of noble duels 145 00:09:17,403 --> 00:09:20,429 fought at dawn between expert swordsmen, 146 00:09:20,473 --> 00:09:22,907 but the reality was often a lot more mundane, 147 00:09:22,942 --> 00:09:25,240 if not downright comical. 148 00:09:25,278 --> 00:09:30,238 Take for example the case of Thomas Whitehorn and James Fisher. 149 00:09:30,283 --> 00:09:32,342 Well, they certainly met at dawn, 150 00:09:32,385 --> 00:09:35,081 but the weapons the authorities provided them with 151 00:09:35,121 --> 00:09:36,986 were not swords. 152 00:09:37,023 --> 00:09:38,991 Each was given a ram's horn. 153 00:09:39,025 --> 00:09:41,755 They did their best to kill each other with these 154 00:09:41,794 --> 00:09:44,422 but after a few blows the ram's horns broke 155 00:09:44,464 --> 00:09:48,867 and the pair were reduced to trying to bite each other to death. 156 00:09:48,902 --> 00:09:51,962 Here's a contemporary account of what went on. 157 00:09:52,005 --> 00:09:53,632 ''Whitehorn got Fisher on the ground 158 00:09:53,673 --> 00:09:57,074 ''and then bit him by the member causing him to cry out.'' 159 00:09:57,110 --> 00:09:58,805 (Moaning) 160 00:09:58,845 --> 00:10:01,279 ''But Fisher bounced back and got his teeth round Whitehorn's nose 161 00:10:01,314 --> 00:10:04,511 ''and poked his thumb into his eye.'' 162 00:10:04,550 --> 00:10:09,578 Well, Whitehorn cried for mercy, confessed all and was duly hanged. 163 00:10:09,622 --> 00:10:13,183 Fisher for reasons best known to himself left town 164 00:10:13,226 --> 00:10:16,218 and became a hermit. 165 00:10:17,196 --> 00:10:20,359 If that was Norman justice, the Normans could keep it. 166 00:10:20,400 --> 00:10:22,493 Well, that,s what many Anglo-saxons seemed to think. 167 00:10:22,535 --> 00:10:26,631 And they chose to be outlawed rather than stand trial. 168 00:10:27,941 --> 00:10:31,138 By 115o the whole legal system had collapsed 169 00:10:31,177 --> 00:10:34,010 so Henry II totally reinvented it, 170 00:10:34,047 --> 00:10:36,880 developing a legal process unique to England 171 00:10:36,916 --> 00:10:40,352 which put power back in the hands of the local community. 172 00:10:40,386 --> 00:10:44,015 Trial by jury. But not as we know it. 173 00:10:45,425 --> 00:10:49,020 Medieval jurors weren't chosen for their impartiality, 174 00:10:49,062 --> 00:10:50,859 but on the contrary, they were chosen 175 00:10:50,897 --> 00:10:53,764 because they knew the people involved in the case. 176 00:10:53,800 --> 00:10:58,134 In 1344, for example, one of the Folvilles, Alice, 177 00:10:58,171 --> 00:11:04,167 was acquitted in the king's bench by a jury specially imported from here, 178 00:11:04,210 --> 00:11:06,940 her home village of Teigh. 179 00:11:09,682 --> 00:11:13,049 England wasn,t lawless, it was the reverseI 180 00:11:13,086 --> 00:11:17,887 There were too many laws governing every little detail of life. 181 00:11:17,924 --> 00:11:21,655 But people quickly learned how to use the law to their advantage. 182 00:11:21,694 --> 00:11:24,561 The common man had no need for Robin Hood to fight his corner, 183 00:11:24,597 --> 00:11:26,963 he had lawyers to do it for him. 184 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:31,061 And the records of these proceedings, some 7oo years old, 185 00:11:31,104 --> 00:11:33,698 make fascinating reading. 186 00:11:34,841 --> 00:11:36,638 How would you compare 187 00:11:36,676 --> 00:11:40,043 people's access to the law in the Middle Ages with people today? 188 00:11:40,079 --> 00:11:42,047 They were extremely litigious. 189 00:11:42,081 --> 00:11:44,515 If you can think of modern-day America 190 00:11:44,550 --> 00:11:50,386 and medieval society was using the law and aware of the law. 191 00:11:50,423 --> 00:11:52,254 Was the law expensive? Did it cost a lot? 192 00:11:52,291 --> 00:11:56,728 For poor people there was a... primitive form of legal aid. 193 00:11:56,763 --> 00:11:58,424 You could also retain a lawyer 194 00:11:58,464 --> 00:12:00,694 by giving him goods in kind. 195 00:12:00,733 --> 00:12:02,928 We have a document here which shows us 196 00:12:02,969 --> 00:12:04,766 that this particular person 197 00:12:04,804 --> 00:12:09,332 retained an attorney paying him in ''fromage et beurre''. 198 00:12:09,375 --> 00:12:11,935 - cheese and butter. - cheese and butter. 199 00:12:11,978 --> 00:12:14,446 Try that nowadays you might get short shrift. 200 00:12:15,481 --> 00:12:18,712 The royal court was the medieval equivalent of the Old Bailey. 201 00:12:18,751 --> 00:12:20,844 No matter how small the case, 202 00:12:20,887 --> 00:12:24,721 they,re all solemnly recorded in meticulous detail. 203 00:12:24,757 --> 00:12:28,124 This is the rolls for the court of common pleas. 204 00:12:28,161 --> 00:12:32,188 All the cases for the year in that court in London. 205 00:12:32,231 --> 00:12:34,597 This particular one is fairly long and involved. 206 00:12:34,634 --> 00:12:39,196 Richard oring from Exeter has brought this case all the way to London 207 00:12:39,238 --> 00:12:42,571 and he alleges that the defendant Henry Hull 208 00:12:42,608 --> 00:12:46,567 has used force and violence, ''vi et armis''. 209 00:12:46,612 --> 00:12:50,981 He came into his garden with swords, bows and arrows. 210 00:12:51,017 --> 00:12:53,508 You can imagine the picture of it, of this... 211 00:12:53,553 --> 00:12:54,986 - Dramatic scene. - Yes. 212 00:12:55,021 --> 00:12:57,888 Destroyed his...his grass 213 00:12:57,924 --> 00:13:01,826 and when it boils down to it, he lopped off some branches 214 00:13:01,861 --> 00:13:04,830 and basically gone round and collected his hedge clippings. 215 00:13:04,864 --> 00:13:07,264 - so it's a dispute about hedge clippings. - It is, yes. 216 00:13:09,469 --> 00:13:11,699 With people rushing to court 217 00:13:11,737 --> 00:13:14,570 to sue each other over hedge clippings, 218 00:13:14,607 --> 00:13:17,405 more and more people were failing to turn up to trial 219 00:13:17,443 --> 00:13:21,277 and consequently being outlawed for non-attendance. 220 00:13:21,314 --> 00:13:25,216 By the mid-14th century, almost everybody seems to get outlawed 221 00:13:25,251 --> 00:13:28,243 at some point in their lives. It was no big deal. 222 00:13:28,287 --> 00:13:30,915 It was a bit like having your credit card refused. 223 00:13:33,459 --> 00:13:36,690 As the threat of being outlawed diminished, 224 00:13:36,729 --> 00:13:40,165 it became harder to force people to stand trial. 225 00:13:40,199 --> 00:13:43,168 That,s why places like this were created. 226 00:13:43,202 --> 00:13:44,692 prison. 227 00:13:44,737 --> 00:13:46,898 Not as a place of punishment mind you, 228 00:13:46,939 --> 00:13:50,602 but as a means to force people to stand trial. 229 00:13:50,643 --> 00:13:55,273 Medieval prisons were privately owned and could be nice little earners. 230 00:13:55,314 --> 00:13:58,442 This one was built and owned by the Archbishop of York. 231 00:13:58,484 --> 00:14:00,975 And he made a packet out of it. 232 00:14:03,856 --> 00:14:05,790 Opened for business in 133o, 233 00:14:05,825 --> 00:14:07,850 the prison at Hexham in Northumberland 234 00:14:07,894 --> 00:14:12,126 was the first purpose-built prison in England. 235 00:14:12,165 --> 00:14:14,531 Believe it or not, you had to pay to get into prison 236 00:14:14,567 --> 00:14:16,125 as well as pay to get out. 237 00:14:16,169 --> 00:14:19,229 Jailers brewed their own beer and sold it to the inmates. 238 00:14:19,272 --> 00:14:21,467 They also had to pay for their bedding, their food, 239 00:14:21,507 --> 00:14:23,737 their fuel, and their lighting. 240 00:14:23,776 --> 00:14:27,542 prisoners without money were allowed out onto the streets to beg. 241 00:14:27,580 --> 00:14:31,414 Anything so long as the Archbishop got his cash. 242 00:14:33,786 --> 00:14:37,916 Here at Hexham there were different levels of comfort 243 00:14:37,957 --> 00:14:40,425 according to your wallet. 244 00:14:40,459 --> 00:14:43,895 The dungeon was for the penniless, no windows, 245 00:14:43,930 --> 00:14:46,831 fresh air or, I hesitate to tell you, 246 00:14:46,866 --> 00:14:49,630 toilet facilities. 247 00:14:49,669 --> 00:14:52,763 Whereas on the ground floor you did have a lavatory 248 00:14:52,805 --> 00:14:56,536 and on the first floor, you had a fireplace. 249 00:14:58,244 --> 00:15:00,769 or if you were really flush, you could live up here 250 00:15:00,813 --> 00:15:02,974 on the top floor with the jailer 251 00:15:03,015 --> 00:15:06,849 who had not only a lavatory, but two fireplaces. 252 00:15:12,425 --> 00:15:16,862 Trial by jury was curiously enough, voluntary. 253 00:15:16,896 --> 00:15:19,660 Mark you, if you refused to stand trial 254 00:15:19,699 --> 00:15:22,429 you'd be pressed between giant stones 255 00:15:22,468 --> 00:15:26,029 until you either agreed to stand or died. 256 00:15:26,072 --> 00:15:29,735 And throughout the Middle Ages, that was really the only torture 257 00:15:29,775 --> 00:15:32,903 that was used in England as part of the judicial system. 258 00:15:32,945 --> 00:15:36,073 It wasn't to get you to confess anything or punishment, 259 00:15:36,115 --> 00:15:39,642 it was simply to force prisoners to face trial. 260 00:15:40,219 --> 00:15:42,949 perhaps it,s no wonder a lot of people preferred 261 00:15:42,989 --> 00:15:45,981 to escape the system by being outlaws, 262 00:15:46,025 --> 00:15:49,984 especially those facing serious charges like murder. 263 00:15:50,029 --> 00:15:53,055 The idea of hiding out here in the Greenwood 264 00:15:53,099 --> 00:15:55,863 must have had its attraction. 265 00:15:56,969 --> 00:16:00,029 But don't go thinking being an outlaw wouldn't be all that bad 266 00:16:00,072 --> 00:16:04,566 because you could always live a carefree life in the freedom of the forest. 267 00:16:04,610 --> 00:16:10,640 The forest was in fact almost the reverse of everything we think. 268 00:16:10,683 --> 00:16:15,746 Even down to the fact that it didn't have to have trees in it. 269 00:16:15,788 --> 00:16:20,452 One of William,s first acts as conqueror was to create the New Forest. 270 00:16:20,493 --> 00:16:22,484 Well, I always imagined that meant he,d planted 271 00:16:22,528 --> 00:16:24,860 an awful lot of trees so people could enjoy 272 00:16:24,897 --> 00:16:26,626 a nice picnic and shade. 273 00:16:26,666 --> 00:16:29,032 But no. What it actually meant 274 00:16:29,068 --> 00:16:33,505 was that the king grabbed vast tracts of land including entire towns, 275 00:16:33,539 --> 00:16:36,337 to be his own private hunting park. 276 00:16:37,076 --> 00:16:39,874 To protect these parks, he imposed harsh laws 277 00:16:39,912 --> 00:16:41,880 known as Forest Law. 278 00:16:41,914 --> 00:16:45,680 A forest was simply wherever Forest Law applied. 279 00:16:48,254 --> 00:16:50,950 It was policed by an army of royal officials 280 00:16:50,990 --> 00:16:56,986 who ruthlessly enforced the Draconian penalties for poaching imposed by the king. 281 00:16:57,029 --> 00:16:58,553 The Earl of cardigan 282 00:16:58,597 --> 00:17:02,658 is the 31st hereditary warden of savernake Forest. 283 00:17:02,702 --> 00:17:06,695 His family have been patrolling these woods on the lookout for outlaws and poachers 284 00:17:06,739 --> 00:17:09,105 since the time of the conquest. 285 00:17:10,576 --> 00:17:14,103 Anybody of the local population ever found disturbing the king's deer 286 00:17:14,146 --> 00:17:15,977 was in for some horrendous punishment here. 287 00:17:16,015 --> 00:17:17,676 What sort of things would they do to them? 288 00:17:17,717 --> 00:17:20,948 I think the standard one was if you'd used your bow and arrow 289 00:17:20,986 --> 00:17:24,046 which presumably you had, to kill your deer or kill the king's deer 290 00:17:24,090 --> 00:17:26,684 and you'd drawn in your bow with your two fingers, 291 00:17:26,726 --> 00:17:29,354 in extreme cases you forfeited those two fingers 292 00:17:29,395 --> 00:17:32,728 so you could never again draw your bow on the king's deer. 293 00:17:32,765 --> 00:17:34,096 Hence the, er... 294 00:17:34,133 --> 00:17:36,124 That's apparently where the expression comes from. 295 00:17:36,168 --> 00:17:38,500 Apparently it was shown to the knights at Agincourt, 296 00:17:38,537 --> 00:17:42,735 English archers showed their two fingers to show they could still draw their bow strings. 297 00:17:42,775 --> 00:17:44,709 100 yards half-left under those trees. 298 00:17:44,744 --> 00:17:47,178 - straight in front where you're looking now. - oh, yes! 299 00:17:47,213 --> 00:17:49,511 William the conqueror was said to love stags 300 00:17:49,548 --> 00:17:51,539 as much as if he were their father. 301 00:17:51,584 --> 00:17:55,020 Henry I put poaching on a par with murder. 302 00:17:55,054 --> 00:18:00,924 Richard I set the penalty for killing deer as removal of eyes and testicles. 303 00:18:00,960 --> 00:18:03,952 If you owned a farm on the edge of the forest, 304 00:18:03,996 --> 00:18:07,488 and the king's deer came out and wiped out your crop that was your bad luck. 305 00:18:07,533 --> 00:18:09,967 You couldn't even fence the Royal deer out of your fields. 306 00:18:10,002 --> 00:18:11,629 You weren't even allowed to fence them out? 307 00:18:11,670 --> 00:18:13,900 No, in lots of ways the deer were rated... 308 00:18:13,939 --> 00:18:16,373 the deer of the forest had more rights and privileges 309 00:18:16,409 --> 00:18:18,206 than the locals who lived around it. 310 00:18:20,780 --> 00:18:25,683 Maybe that's one of the reasons why the Robin Hood stories were so popular. 311 00:18:25,718 --> 00:18:29,620 They celebrated a time before the conquest when the forests 312 00:18:29,655 --> 00:18:31,816 were a place of freedom. 313 00:18:31,857 --> 00:18:35,258 since the Normans, the forest has become a place of repression 314 00:18:35,294 --> 00:18:37,057 and brutal punishment. 315 00:18:37,096 --> 00:18:41,465 But once people had been free to hunt and gather wood here 316 00:18:41,500 --> 00:18:44,298 and that was never forgotten. 317 00:18:49,074 --> 00:18:52,703 Losing an eye for poaching deer or having a hand cut off 318 00:18:52,745 --> 00:18:55,543 may seem like pretty rough justice to us 319 00:18:55,581 --> 00:19:00,245 but mutilation was a fairly common penalty and for a very good reason. 320 00:19:01,720 --> 00:19:04,314 It was a way of not only punishing criminals 321 00:19:04,356 --> 00:19:08,986 but of identifying them in the days before photo ID cards. 322 00:19:09,028 --> 00:19:13,624 If you saw a man without an ear, it was a fair bet he was an ex-con. 323 00:19:13,666 --> 00:19:17,568 In the 13th century, a certain John Derouten lost his ear 324 00:19:17,603 --> 00:19:19,696 after being kicked by a horse 325 00:19:19,738 --> 00:19:22,935 so he insisted on carrying a certificate around with him 326 00:19:22,975 --> 00:19:27,878 stating that his earlessness was due entirely to medical causes. 327 00:19:29,381 --> 00:19:32,509 Outlaws and violent criminals who faced the death penalty 328 00:19:32,551 --> 00:19:34,314 had plenty to choose from. 329 00:19:34,353 --> 00:19:37,880 It all depended where they were to be executed. 330 00:19:39,325 --> 00:19:41,793 In Sandowne, you,d be buried alive. 331 00:19:41,827 --> 00:19:44,591 In Pevensey, you were thrown in the river at high tide. 332 00:19:44,630 --> 00:19:46,689 In Portsmouth, you were burned. 333 00:19:46,732 --> 00:19:48,097 And in Hastings... 334 00:19:48,133 --> 00:19:50,431 you,d be chucked off a cliff into the sea. 335 00:19:50,469 --> 00:19:53,563 (splash) 336 00:19:53,606 --> 00:19:56,131 Here in Halifax you'd find yourself 337 00:19:56,175 --> 00:19:59,372 at the cutting edge of execution technology. 338 00:19:59,411 --> 00:20:04,906 The city was the proud owner of a state-of-the-art guillotine. 339 00:20:04,950 --> 00:20:07,111 500 years before the Frenchman 340 00:20:07,152 --> 00:20:10,383 Monsieur Joseph Guillotine gave his name to it. 341 00:20:10,422 --> 00:20:12,356 Makes you wonder what they called it, you know, 342 00:20:12,391 --> 00:20:15,519 ''oh, we must execute him with that thing that has no name yet. 343 00:20:15,561 --> 00:20:16,755 ''What do you mean, the guillotine?'' 344 00:20:16,795 --> 00:20:18,319 ''shh! You can't call it that. 345 00:20:18,364 --> 00:20:20,889 ''Monsieur Guillotine has not given his name to it yet.'' 346 00:20:22,434 --> 00:20:25,870 Local residents often made reluctant executioners 347 00:20:25,905 --> 00:20:29,306 so the city would resort to poetic justice. 348 00:20:29,341 --> 00:20:33,038 If the thief had stolen a horse or cow, 349 00:20:33,078 --> 00:20:36,241 a rope would be attached to the animal and then connected 350 00:20:36,282 --> 00:20:38,580 to a pin supporting the blade. 351 00:20:38,617 --> 00:20:41,586 They'd then whip the animal, 352 00:20:41,620 --> 00:20:43,212 the pin would get pulled out 353 00:20:43,255 --> 00:20:46,224 and the thief would be executed by his own booty. 354 00:20:50,162 --> 00:20:54,258 Becoming an outlaw was one way of avoiding the cow-operated guillotine. 355 00:20:54,300 --> 00:20:56,291 But there was another alternative. 356 00:20:56,335 --> 00:21:00,829 y ou could always run like hell to your nearest sanctuary. 357 00:21:00,873 --> 00:21:04,468 A lot of people sought sanctuary in the town of Beverley 358 00:21:04,510 --> 00:21:06,273 and with good reason. 359 00:21:06,312 --> 00:21:09,645 Any criminal on the run was safe once he could reach 360 00:21:09,682 --> 00:21:12,082 that stone over there. 361 00:21:12,117 --> 00:21:15,780 You see the area of sanctuary around Beverley was enormous. 362 00:21:15,821 --> 00:21:19,985 It stretched in a circle two miles in radius from the city center, 363 00:21:20,025 --> 00:21:23,222 were all marked out by these sanctuary stones. 364 00:21:23,262 --> 00:21:25,856 once you reached here or could touch the stone 365 00:21:25,898 --> 00:21:27,832 you were safe from prosecution. 366 00:21:27,866 --> 00:21:29,925 In fact if I had been being pursued 367 00:21:29,969 --> 00:21:33,234 and my pursuer killed me while I was on this side of the stone, 368 00:21:33,272 --> 00:21:37,902 he'd have to pay the church a fine of eight pounds. 369 00:21:37,943 --> 00:21:41,504 Mind you, I suppose they'd have to be a few witnesses but... 370 00:21:41,547 --> 00:21:43,913 (Wind howling) 371 00:21:45,484 --> 00:21:50,649 Here in Beverley, the heart of the sanctuary was the Minster. 372 00:21:54,526 --> 00:21:57,290 All consecrated buildings offered sanctuary, 373 00:21:57,329 --> 00:21:59,263 a cooling-off period 374 00:21:59,298 --> 00:22:03,701 while the clergy attempted to arrange a peaceful conclusion. 375 00:22:03,736 --> 00:22:07,001 Generally you could only seek sanctuary for 4o days, 376 00:22:07,039 --> 00:22:09,564 but after that if no conclusion was arrived at 377 00:22:09,608 --> 00:22:13,009 you would have to leave the country. 378 00:22:13,045 --> 00:22:15,377 y ou,d be provided with a special outfit, 379 00:22:15,414 --> 00:22:16,881 carry a home-made wooden cross, 380 00:22:16,915 --> 00:22:19,076 have your thumb branded with the letter A, 381 00:22:19,118 --> 00:22:23,282 and then be told to hotfoot it to your nearest port. 382 00:22:23,322 --> 00:22:27,520 The amount of time given to reach the port was seemingly random. 383 00:22:27,559 --> 00:22:29,390 One sanctuary man was given three weeks 384 00:22:29,428 --> 00:22:31,020 to travel from Norwich to portsmouth, 385 00:22:31,063 --> 00:22:32,587 whereas another unlucky fellow, 386 00:22:32,631 --> 00:22:35,759 was given just four days for the same journey. 387 00:22:37,636 --> 00:22:40,332 once you'd reached the seaside you'd be expected to get 388 00:22:40,372 --> 00:22:42,499 the first ship out of England 389 00:22:42,541 --> 00:22:44,008 and for every day you didn't, 390 00:22:44,043 --> 00:22:46,637 you had to wade into the sea up to your knees 391 00:22:46,679 --> 00:22:49,079 as a sign of your willingness to go. 392 00:22:52,084 --> 00:22:55,986 It's the only known instance of paddling 393 00:22:56,021 --> 00:22:58,546 being used as a form of punishment. 394 00:23:04,730 --> 00:23:07,824 For the discriminating sanctuary seeker, however, 395 00:23:07,866 --> 00:23:10,164 the most attractive feature about Beverley 396 00:23:10,202 --> 00:23:13,069 was that it could offer you protection from prosecution 397 00:23:13,105 --> 00:23:16,302 not just for 4o days, but for life. 398 00:23:17,876 --> 00:23:22,836 To qualify for a permanent position as a sanctuary man, 399 00:23:22,881 --> 00:23:27,250 sanctuary seekers would have to make a full confession of their crime 400 00:23:27,286 --> 00:23:29,880 and have it recorded in a register 401 00:23:29,922 --> 00:23:33,323 which was kept here in the Minster at Beverley. 402 00:23:33,358 --> 00:23:37,055 I've got a transcript here and it makes fascinating reading. 403 00:23:37,096 --> 00:23:42,329 It seems that butchers were the most common perpetrators of violence. 404 00:23:42,367 --> 00:23:43,356 I can't think why... 405 00:23:45,604 --> 00:23:49,665 While the most frequent debtors were builders. 406 00:23:50,843 --> 00:23:53,539 so not much change there, then. 407 00:23:56,448 --> 00:23:59,645 The Minister is visible for miles around 408 00:23:59,685 --> 00:24:02,518 and you can imagine it as a beacon 409 00:24:02,554 --> 00:24:06,513 attracting all the thieves, murderers and criminals of England 410 00:24:06,558 --> 00:24:10,824 to come and enjoy the amenities of this delightful town. 411 00:24:12,131 --> 00:24:15,362 In London the situation got so out of control, 412 00:24:15,400 --> 00:24:19,131 parliament was petitioned over the way violent outlaws and criminals 413 00:24:19,171 --> 00:24:22,265 were using sanctuary as a legal hideout. 414 00:24:22,307 --> 00:24:26,403 By day they lie low and by night they venture out 415 00:24:26,445 --> 00:24:29,778 to commit their murders, robberies and felonies. 416 00:24:30,816 --> 00:24:34,149 But it wasn,t just the church that was harboring outlaws. 417 00:24:34,186 --> 00:24:38,054 so was that other great pillar of society, the gentry, 418 00:24:38,090 --> 00:24:40,456 some of whom were running crime syndicates 419 00:24:40,492 --> 00:24:42,824 from their castles. 420 00:24:44,429 --> 00:24:46,693 The truth is there was very little difference 421 00:24:46,732 --> 00:24:50,532 between the outlaws and the fighting men of the gentry 422 00:24:50,569 --> 00:24:52,059 and the aristocratic classes. 423 00:24:52,104 --> 00:24:54,163 In fact, very often, they were one and the same. 424 00:24:54,206 --> 00:24:56,640 The Folville gang, for example, 425 00:24:56,675 --> 00:25:02,011 were in cahoots with the nobleman who ran this gaff, Rockingham castle. 426 00:25:06,819 --> 00:25:08,218 Rockingham is in Northamptonshire. 427 00:25:08,253 --> 00:25:10,448 But it borders on three other counties, 428 00:25:10,489 --> 00:25:13,549 Leicestershire over there and Rutland over there 429 00:25:13,592 --> 00:25:16,322 and cambridgeshire over there. 430 00:25:16,361 --> 00:25:19,626 And it was here that sir Robert De vere entertained 431 00:25:19,665 --> 00:25:24,466 fugitives and outlaws from all four shires. 432 00:25:24,503 --> 00:25:28,439 sir Robert was meant to be the custodian of this royal castle 433 00:25:28,473 --> 00:25:30,202 and the keeper of the Royal Forest. 434 00:25:30,242 --> 00:25:34,702 And yet the whole place was a viper's nest of criminality. 435 00:25:34,746 --> 00:25:37,715 one contemporary wrote... 436 00:25:37,749 --> 00:25:40,513 ''sometimes 20 armed men, sometimes 30, 437 00:25:40,552 --> 00:25:42,213 ''come to De vere at the castle 438 00:25:42,254 --> 00:25:44,620 ''and they leave at dawn or during the night. 439 00:25:44,656 --> 00:25:47,420 ''He shuts the gate on the side facing the town 440 00:25:47,459 --> 00:25:51,122 ''so that they can leave secretly via a poston. 441 00:25:51,163 --> 00:25:53,256 ''Those bringing provisions to the castle 442 00:25:53,298 --> 00:25:56,893 ''are not allowed to enter, lest they should come to know 443 00:25:56,935 --> 00:25:59,233 ''those armed men.'' 444 00:25:59,271 --> 00:26:01,205 very hugamuga! 445 00:26:08,180 --> 00:26:12,014 No wonder parliament was repeatedly petitioned in the 14th century 446 00:26:12,050 --> 00:26:14,917 to stop these gentry gangs running wild. 447 00:26:14,953 --> 00:26:17,922 The Folvilles were a pretty rough lot. 448 00:26:17,956 --> 00:26:20,447 I mean, their leader Eustace had five murders 449 00:26:20,492 --> 00:26:23,984 and a rape to his name. And yet what happened to them? 450 00:26:24,029 --> 00:26:28,261 Did they hang on the gallows as they undoubtedly deserved? 451 00:26:32,704 --> 00:26:35,298 Well, not exactly. 452 00:26:35,340 --> 00:26:37,308 After 16 years of crime, 453 00:26:37,342 --> 00:26:39,776 all the surviving Folvilles were pardoned. 454 00:26:39,811 --> 00:26:43,212 And they died respectable men. 455 00:26:43,248 --> 00:26:48,447 sir Eustace here was even knighted for his good services to the crown. 456 00:26:49,288 --> 00:26:51,950 But how could a violent outlaw like Eustace, 457 00:26:51,990 --> 00:26:55,084 have become one of the king,s trusted knights? 458 00:26:55,127 --> 00:26:58,426 Well, pardoning outlaws in return for military service 459 00:26:58,463 --> 00:27:02,263 allowed the king to harness the skills of these violent men 460 00:27:02,301 --> 00:27:03,666 to his own ends. 461 00:27:03,702 --> 00:27:08,833 And in the absence of a standing army, the country came to depend on them. 462 00:27:08,874 --> 00:27:12,071 In societies where violent conflict was common, 463 00:27:12,110 --> 00:27:16,103 courage and aggressiveness were prized qualities in a man. 464 00:27:16,148 --> 00:27:19,379 But there was something special about England. 465 00:27:19,418 --> 00:27:23,184 In the rest of Europe, knights were aristocrats. 466 00:27:23,221 --> 00:27:25,155 Knighthood was inherited. 467 00:27:25,190 --> 00:27:29,650 But in England, just anyone could win a knighthood. 468 00:27:29,695 --> 00:27:33,426 The road to advancement meant being a warrior 469 00:27:33,465 --> 00:27:34,864 when there was a war on 470 00:27:34,900 --> 00:27:38,734 and perhaps a robber when there wasn't. 471 00:27:39,638 --> 00:27:41,128 sometime after his death, 472 00:27:41,173 --> 00:27:43,403 one of the chroniclers described Eustace 473 00:27:43,442 --> 00:27:45,706 not as a reformed murderer and rapist, 474 00:27:45,744 --> 00:27:48,474 but as a wild and daring man. 475 00:27:48,513 --> 00:27:52,643 The outlaw of reality had become one with the outlaw of legend. 476 00:27:52,684 --> 00:27:56,780 The story of Robin Hood wove together the myth 477 00:27:56,822 --> 00:27:58,790 of pre-conquest freedom 478 00:27:58,824 --> 00:28:03,022 together with the later myths of chivalry and knighthood. 479 00:28:03,061 --> 00:28:08,294 The English actually celebrated being a land of bold robbers. 480 00:28:13,472 --> 00:28:18,205 The story of the outlaw is not to be found on the periphery of English history. 481 00:28:18,243 --> 00:28:23,510 It lies close to the heart of what made England England. 482 00:28:34,259 --> 00:28:36,420 Next time on Terry Jones,s Medieval Lives, 483 00:28:36,461 --> 00:28:37,951 the king. 484 00:28:37,996 --> 00:28:41,591 Why a lot of the stuff we learnt at school about our medieval monarchs 485 00:28:41,633 --> 00:28:43,260 is not to be believed. 486 00:28:43,301 --> 00:28:46,532 Not even the names of the kings of England.