The Nature of Violence in The Middle Ages An Alternative Perspective

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HISTORICAL RESEARCH
Vol. LXX No. 173
October 1997
The Nature of Violence in the Middle Ages:

an Alternative Perspective
Abstract
An alternative perspective on the nature of violence in the middle ages is
provided by the register of the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Cerisy-la-Fore t in
Normandy. Of particular interest are the detailed descriptions of assaults and
brawls. Although numerous, these were mainly petty and unpremeditated and,
as such, they serve to highlight the exceptional and often accidental nature of
homicide, and the absence of ingrained habits of violence in the form of the
feud. This contrasts with those studies which have taken such extreme forms of
violence to be the norms and which, as a result, may have overlooked the
mundane, everyday reality of violence.
T h e s t u d y o f violence in medieval Europe is by now a well-established

field of inquiry. Those historians involved in the study of violence in its
various forms have naturally attempted to go beyond specific questions
concerning status, gender and motive, to address the wider issue of the nature
and place of violence within medieval society. In this much attention has
been paid to the findings of studies of homicide based upon the records of
the English royal courts. Here dissatisfaction with the use of letters and
chronicleswith their bias towards the unusual and the sensationaltogether
with the terse nature of the records themselves has encouraged historians to
make extensive use of statistical analysis. In his study of homicide in the
thirteenth-century eyre rolls, Professor J. B. Given applied modern criminological methods and theory to the evidence, and consequently one of his
most important tasks was to establish a homicide rate expressed as n per
100,000 of population.1 The figures which emerged from this exercise led
Given to conclude that homicide was a frequent event in medieval England,
and that most individuals would have had some experience of it, if only as
spectators, during their lifetimes. This made homicide òne of the major
social phenomena of the age'.2 In seeking an explanation for this ubiquity,
Given argued that it was ultimately a reflection of changes within thirteenthcentury English society. In a society in flux, and in which old-established
methods of social control within family and community were breaking
1
2
J. B. Given, Society and Homicide in 13th-Century England (Stanford, Calif., 1977), pp. 3540.
Ibid., p. 40.
# Institute of Historical Research 1997.

Historical Research, vol. 70, no. 173 (October 1997)
Published by Blackwell Publishers Ltd, 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden MA 02148, USA.
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vio l e nce i n t h e m idd le a ge s
down, violence had become a mechanism for conflict resolution.3 Professor

B. A. Hanawalt has also sought to go beyond the raw data gleaned from her
study of early fourteenth-century gaol delivery and coroners' rolls, although
she largely eschewed attempts to set a homicide rate.4 Violencewhich often
led to homicideagain emerges as a normal part of everyday life, and an
accepted means for the resolution of disputes and the furtherance of
individual and family interests. Homicide was one manifestation of intracommunal tensions, and was born out of the general cheapening of life in
demographic terms, and the inability of the legal system to deal quickly and
effectively with disputes.5 In reaching these conclusions, both Given and
Hanawalt take homicide to be representative of contemporary levels of
violence, and view its understanding as a key which can be used to unlock
the door to a greater understanding of the fundamental characteristics of
medieval English society.
Questions concerning the reliability of the conclusions derived from
statistical analysis have recently begun to be raised, while the debate about
the significance of homicide itself has moved on.6 Dr. C. I. Hammer, while
setting a high and possibly inaccurate homicide rate for fourteenth-century
Oxford, nevertheless produces a more qualified picture of the impact of
violence within the city by suggesting that exposure to the risk of homicide
may have varied according to age, sex, social status and geographic location.7
Dr. P. C. Maddern has gone further in her study of violence in fifteenthcentury England by broadening the debate to include officially sanctioned
forms of violence and contemporary attitudes towards the use of violence
and to question the reality of the picture derived from the evidence. She
suggests that much of the `violence' revealed in the statistics was either a legal
fiction or low-key; she makes it clear too that the use of violence was seen as
an acceptable and necessary part of the functioning of society, whether
through the use of capital and corporal punishments or the chivalrous
pursuit of warfare.8 The question addressed is not so much whether medieval
society was intrinsically more violent than later periods, but whether the
attitudes to its use, and the range of sanctioned applications, were different.
The studies outlined above have limited themselves to a consideration of
the role of violence within an English context, but a much wider canvas has
been drawn by others. Professors John Bossy and Robert Muchembled wish,
for different reasons, to construct models which capture the quintessential
nature of medieval society in the Catholic west. On the one hand, John Bossy
Given, pp. 20012.
B. A. Hanawalt, Crime and Conflict in English Communities, 130048 (Cambridge, Mass., 1979).
5
Ibid., pp. 1737.
6
See P. C. Maddern, Violence and Social Order: East Anglia, 142242 (Oxford, 1992), pp. 20f, and E.
Powell, `Social research and the use of medieval criminal records', Michigan Law Rev., lxxix (19801),
96778.
7
C. I. Hammer, `Patterns of homicide in a medieval university town: 14th-century Oxford', Past
and Present, lxxviii (1978), 11f, 22f.
8
Maddern, pp. 17f, 22f.
3
4
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has been keen to define the particular role which the medieval church played
in the shaping of that society and to establish the changes which occurred in
the interaction between the two as a result of the Counter Reformation. On
the other, Robert Muchembled has sought to identify the changes wrought
on society by the development of a centralist state in France from the
sixteenth century onwards. Although ultimately pursuing different aims,
both nevertheless give a central place to the role of violence in the ordering
and defining of medieval society.
In a series of articles, and most recently in a general essay on the
contrasting natures of pre- and post-Reformation Catholicism, John Bossy
has presented a particular view of the role `traditional' Christianity played in
the ordering and functioning of medieval society.9 His views are grounded on
the premise that medieval society was in all its essentials a house divided
against itself. Ties of kin often proved stronger than those of community and
the practice of social amity had its counterpart in the form of institutionalized and socially divisive violence: the feud.10 In consequence, the wider
whole was in constant danger of being split asunder by the periodic eruptions
of the interests, jealousies and demands arising from kin-based loyalties. Into
this volatile and highly reactive mixture the Catholic church came as arbiter
and peacemaker, promoting a truly catholic unity. It sought to draw the sting
of institutionalized violence through the sacraments which possessed social as
well as sacred significance.11 The socially cohesive forces of amity and charity
were to be promoted through exogamy and the agency of the parish mass
which served to transcend the narrow self-interests of family.
Robert Muchembled too is a writer concerned with violence. Working
from a range of secondary sources which include Huizinga's study of later
medieval culture and society, Muchembled produces a psychological
explanation for the prevalence of violence within the medieval period.
Like Bossy, he stresses the centrality of the feud in any understanding of
violent behaviour, and this is used to support his view that the early modern
period marked a critical stage in the control and eventual suppression of
popular culture. Violence in the fifteenth century was, according to
Muchembled, characteristically unpremeditated and born ultimately from
emotional instability. Men were victims of extreme emotions and the
isolation and misery of their lives led to a fear of the òther' and consequently
to feuds between villages and even families.12 Underpinning this was the
9
J. Bossy, Christianity in the West, 14001700 (Oxford, 1985); idem, `The Counter-Reformation and
the people of Catholic Europe', Past and Present, xlvii (1970), 5170; idem, `Blood and baptism: kinship,
community and Christianity in western Europe from the 14th to the 17th centuries' in Sanctity and
Secularity: the Church and the World, ed. D. Baker (Studies in Church History, x, 1973), pp. 12943;
idem, `The social history of confession in the age of the Reformation', Trans. Royal Hist. Soc., 5th ser.,
xxv (1975), 2138.
10
Bossy, Christianity, p. 29f; idem, `Blood and baptism', p. 143f.
11
Idem, Christianity, pp. 6671; `Blood and baptism', pp. 13942.
12
R. Muchembled, Popular Culture and Elite Culture in France, 14001700, trans. L. Cochrane (Baton
Rouge, La., & London, 1985), pp. 302, 40, 45f.
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anxiety born of the individual's own mortality: death walked abroad stalking
the weak. An individual could gain transitory and illusory relief from this
dreadful self-knowledge by projecting the mantle of death on to his victim:
aggression was the offspring of fear.13 With the growth of the absolutist state
in France, these aggressions were either channelled on to new scapegoats such
as witches, or were marginalized as society became better regulated and
policed.14
Various debates have therefore grown up in historical circles which focus
on the question of the nature and significance of violence in medieval society.
Most take as a basic premise that medieval society was one characterized by
violence. This premise then requires an explanation or is used as the basis for
more wide-ranging theories concerning the nature of medieval society itself.
The focus has tended to fall on England, and on certain forms of violence:
homicide and the practice of feud. However, the emphasis upon these
particular manifestations of violence begs certain questions. How representative was homicide of the everyday experience of violence? Was medieval
society, in every instance and every place, one in which a fragile peace was
threatened by the barely contained blood-lust of the feud? Indeed, on a
general level it can be argued that the preoccupation with felonies`real'
crimesand particularly violent felonies, has produced a distorted picture of
the nature of crime in the medieval and other periods. Such a narrow focus
cannot take into account the banal and mundane offences encountered
within the records of local jurisdictions, or the non-violent nature of the
majority of offences within the records of the English royal courts. Similarly
homicide rates may heighten the impression of a fundamentally violent and
disordered society, if they are isolated from the `background count' of minor
assaults, brawls, legally sanctioned violence and defamations.
The interest in this article lies with violence other than homicide, and in
particular the patterns which emerge from the quantitative and qualitative
analysis of assault cases. For England, methodological considerations have
discouraged the study of this form of violence, at least in attempts to gauge
the levels of violence pertaining in medieval society. In both the medieval
and early modern periods the researcher is faced with not only the
incomplete nature of the records, which usually make it impossible to
follow an action through to its conclusion, but also the variety of meanings
which the term àssault' could hold in Common Law. These ranged from the
simple threat of violence at one extreme to rape and attempted murder at the
other. Furthermore those studies which have utilized data relating to assaults
from the records of local jurisdictions have done so with a different set of
questions in mind.15 Assaults and other forms of non-lethal violence,
Muchembled, pp. 32f.
Ibid, pp. 18795.
15
J. G. Bellamy, Crime and Public Order in England in the Later Middle Ages (1973), p. 37; Maddern,
pp. 22f.; J. A. Sharpe, Crime in 17th-century England: a county study (Cambridge, 1983), pp. 117f; A.
Soman, `Deviance and criminal justice in Western Europe, 13001800: an essay in structure', Criminal
Justice History: an International Annual, i (1980), 6.
13
14
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however, may prove to be more accurate indicators of both the quality of

violence within medieval society and the extent to which it could shape
individual lives. These matters can be explored most fully through continental evidence which tends to be fuller and more detailed, and one
particularly richand unexpectedsource is the register of the ecclesiastical
jurisdiction of the officiality of Cerisy-la-Fore t in the diocese of Bayeux.16
The officiality of Cerisy was the exempt jurisdiction of the Benedictine
abbey of Saint-Vigor. The register's chronological span is broad, with the
first item of business recorded in 1314 and the last in 1486. There are,
however, significant breaks in the text between these two dates. After 1348,
the record becomes confused and is largely incomplete. The regular
recording of court business is resumed in a consistent fashion only after
1371. A largely unbroken sequence is then maintained until 1414 when the
record again falls silent until 1451. After 1458, it ceases once more and is
revived only by a series of fragmentary recordings of business between 1471
and 1486. The function of the register underwent changes during the course
of the fourteenth century. Before the interruption in the mid fourteenth
century it served as a general record of both the civil and criminal business
of the court and the annual visitations conducted in the officiality. However,
from 1371 onwards, it was turned increasingly into a log of fines and
excommunications, although a number of indirect references show that the
official continued to hear civil actions and to conduct visitations.17 The
official exercised jurisdiction as the abbot's alter ego over Cerisy itself, the
villages of Deux-Jumeaux, Littry and Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer together with
the surrounding area. The area was a largely rural one with some industry
associated with the fulling of cloth, with markets certainly being held at
Cerisy and outside the officiality at Saint-Lo.18 A number of households
principally at Cerisycontained servants, some of whom were presented for
16
The manuscripts were deposited in the Archives De partementales de la Manche. H1407, a
manuscript of 87 folios bearing the title `Registrum curie officialis Cerasiensis', was published in
1880, while H1408, a small book of 12 folios, was published in 1935 (Registre de l'officialite de Cerisy,
13141457, ed. M. G. Dupont (Me moires de la Societe des Antiquaires de Normandie, 3e ser., x, Caen,
1880); Ùn fragment de registre de l'officialite de Cerisy (147486)', ed. P. Le Cacheux, Bull. Soc.
Antiquaires de Normandie, xliii (1935), 291315. All references to Dupont's edition are to paragraph
numbers unless shown otherwise.) Sections of later 15th- and early 16th-century register noted in
the edition of the later 15th-century fragments were never published and, like the other
manuscripts, did not survive the destruction of the archive in June 1944 (`Fragment', p. 294;
`Re pertoire des bibliothe ques et archives de la Manche', Revue du de partement de la Manche, iv (1962),
403, 410). Material from the register has been used to provide statistical comparisons with a study of
its sister peculiar of Montivilliers (J.-L. Dufresne, `La de linquance dans une re gion en guerre:
Harfleur-Montivilliers dans la premie re moitie du xvi sie cle', Actes du 105e congre s national des socie te s
savantes (Caen, 1980), tome ii, Questions d'histoire et de dialectologie Normande (Paris, 1984), pp. 82, 183 n.
22, 184 nn. 25, 27, 30, 185 n. 33).
17
A. J. Finch, `Crime and marriage in three late medieval ecclesiastical jurisdictions: Cerisy,
Rochester and Hereford' (unpublished University of York D.Phil thesis, 1988), pp. 22f.
18
Crops (Registre, 44, 104a, 147, 173d, 365e, 366h, 387b, 390, 392a, 394f); livestock and poultry (26b,
50c, 55, 134, 392k, 393d, h; `Fragment', p. 298); fulling (Registre, 259a, b); markets (3, 62a, 134, 158, 229bis,
270, 276c, 366a, 392h, 416i, k).
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immorality.19 A very rough estimate places the population in the region of

6,300, but as with all medieval statistics there must be a wide margin of
error present in this calculation.20 The number of hearths per villageon
which this calculation is basedmay prove to be a better indicator of the
relative sizes of Cerisy, Littry and Deux-Jumeaux. In this case Cerisy would
head the list with 212 hearths in the later fourteenth century, followed by
Littry with 160 and Deux-Jumeaux with fifty. It should, however, be noted
that these figures themselves were calculated indirectly from the amounts
paid on the hearths in the villages of Couvains and Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer.21
As with any other record of criminal activity, there must always be an
unquantified `dark figure' of crime: offences which went unreported or were
settled before another jurisdiction or by other means. At Cerisy, the official
did not exercise his jurisdiction over civil and criminal matters in isolation:
ecclesiastical and lay courts existed to challenge his authority. The king's
court at Bayeux and the seneschalsy of `Mondreville' (Mondrainville?) lay
beyond the area of the officiality, while the official of the bishop of Bayeux
controlled an external ecclesiastical jurisdiction which co-operated with the
Cerisy court on at least two occasions. However, attempts made to summon
individuals living within the peculiar to appear before the bishop's court
proved to be a source of occasional discord. Within the officiality, the court
of the seneschal of Cerisy formed a rival local, secular jurisdiction with its
own officers and a prison. Relations between the two courts were not always
harmonious.22
As with other ecclesiastical jurisdictions, the competence of the court at
Cerisy to deal with what would now be termed criminal offences resulted
from their falling into one of two categories: according to the nature of the
19
Registre, 25d, 131, 298c, 366h, 392k; `Fragment' p. 296. 8 female and 3 male servants were involved
in sexual offences between 1314 and 1346 (Registre, 25d, 43b, 73c, 96c, d, 133c, 138c, d, 168c, 199b).
Among these, a man was specifically described as famulo elemosine and a woman as construeria. In
addition to these, another woman was described as forestaria (25f). Other men who appear were a
public notary, a former clerk of the priory of Deux-Jumeaux, a lodger (locotore) and 2 foresters (60a,
72b, 96b, 117, 195). After 1371, 1 male and 3 female servants appear in connection with sexual
morality offences (298c, 366h, 387f; `Fragment', p. 302).
20
This figure is partly based on Dufresne's calculation of the number of households in Cerisy,
Littry and Deux-Jumeaux and on monne age (hearth tax) returns which survive for other parts of the
officiality between 1368 and 1419. (These may be found in M. Nortier, `Contribution a l'e tude de la
population de la Normandie au bas Moyen-Age (XIVeXVIe sie cles): Inventaire des roles de fouage
et d'aide. Premie re se rie: Roles de fouage paroissiaux de 1369 a 1419', Cahiers Le opold Delisle, xix
(1970), 192. A multiplier of 4.5 was employed to give a rough estimate of population size. One wellknown demographic historian of late medieval Normandy cautions against the use of hearth tax
returns to establish population sizes rather than population densities (G. Bois, The Crisis of Feudalism:
Economy and Society in eastern Normandy, c.13001550 (Cambridge, 1984), pp. 335, 379, 162 n. 52).
21
J.-L. Dufresne, `Les comportements amoureux d'apre s les registres de l'officialite de Cerisy
(xive-xve s.)', Bull. Phil. & Hist. du Comite des travaux historiques et scientifiques for 1973 (Caen, 1976), 132
and n. 5.
22
Registre, 106, 109a, 162, 207b, 218, 230, 309c, 383a, 384a: `Fragment', pp. 300, 313f. On one occasion
the individuals cited were in fact subject to the bishop's jurisdiction (Registre, 383r). Co-operation
occurred when a cattle thief was returned from the king's court at Bayeux, and when the bishop's
court heard an appeal from Cerisy in a marriage suit (Registre, 55, 175).
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offence (`ratione materiae') or the ecclesiastical status of those involved

(`ratione personae').23 Matters dealt with in the former category included
fornication and adultery, heresy and blasphemy. In the latter, the ecclesiastical status of individuals ensured that a range of offences usually dealt with
by secular jurisdictions could appear before an ecclesiastical court. Records of
ecclesiastical jurisdictions usually contain little material connected with
violence and those incidents which do appear are generally limited to attacks
on priests or the desecration of holy places. Moreover, such cases are usually
very much the minority when placed in the context of the overall business of
these jurisdictions. The court at Cerisy is unusual in having tried large
numbers of cases relating to physical violence, particularly in the period
following 1371 when actions involving violence, principally assaults, outnumber those for fornication and adulterythe usual staple of the church
courts (see Table 1). Only a handful of these examples of violence had any
connection with a priest or desecration.
Rape and matters relating to abortion and infanticide could be jurisdictionable before a church court, but the preponderance of cases relating to
other forms of physical violence at Cerisy can be best explained by the nature
of the court's constituency. While a few priests appear in connection with
physical violence, it is clerksmen in the lowest grade of holy orderswho
appear most often. Their presence at Cerisy does not make any findings
unrepresentative or, indeed, incompatible with those taken from studies of
secular jurisdictions. Clerks, although required to wear appropriate clerical
garb and to be tonsured, lived as laymen and were able to marry under most
circumstances. They were recruited in such numbers that they would have
been drawn from a wide range of occupations, and at Cerisy clerks can be
found working as craftsmen, servants or engaged in agriculture or stockkeeping.24 Men received the tonsure in order to escape royal taxation in
Normandy and also, no doubt, as a form of insurance against the harsh
penalties inflicted by the secular courts in criminal cases. Many of the
criminals and delinquents tried before the officiality of Bayeux were clerks,
and in later medieval Paris both bona fide and pseudo-clerks formed a distinct
23
The court at Cerisy also held the rights of secular haute justice, but the relevant registers were
destroyed with the rest of the archive (`Re pertoire', p. 403). The nearby abbey of Montivilliers in the
Caux region of Normandy retained a residual secular jurisdiction into the latter half of the 15th
century, although this could then only be exercised in respect of crimes committed during the
octave of the feast of the Holy Cross (J. R. Sweeney, `High justice in 15th-century Normandy: the
prosecution of Sandrin Bourel', Jour. Medieval Hist., x (1984), 295313). Likewise in Paris a number of
ecclesiastical institutions held rights of seigneurial jurisdiction. They tried many brawls with blood
as a result of this secular jurisdiction (B. Geremek, The Margins of Society in Late Medieval Paris, trans.
J. Birrell (Cambridge, 1987), pp. 5760).
24
The accounts of the bishop of Rouen show that 1,642 tonsures were performed between Dec.
1390 and June 1392, and in Normandy from 1409 to 1413, 14,484 men acquired clerical status. At
Montivilliers in the Caux region, 42 men received the tonsure in 1386 and the late 15th-century
fragment of register records the tonsuring of 36 men by the abbot of Cerisy on Easter Saturday 1476
(Geremek, p. 137 n. 8; L. R. Delsalle, `La fin du moyen-a ge' in Diocese de Rouen-Le Havre, ed. N. J.
Chaline (Histoire des dioce ses de France, v, Paris, 1976), p. 56; Dufresne, `La de linquance', p. 182 n. 14;
`Fragment', pp. 314f).
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criminal grouping. The material from Cerisy is further distinguished by the

full and detailed way in which the incidents are often described. The almost
tangible quality of many of the descriptions of the injuries inflicted on
victims allows a profile of violence to be built up: an opportunity largely
denied to students of homicide and assault in medieval England.
The principal emphasis in what follows will be upon the 323 assaults and
fights recorded between 1314 and 1458. The small size and fragmentary nature
of the later fifteenth-century material make it statistically suspect, and it has
been excluded from the calculations, although specific examples will be
drawn from it. The aim will be to study the material with a view to
establishing the characteristics of violence, the motives behind its use, the
geographical origins of those involved and attitudes to its punishment. The
results will then be compared with those derived from studies of English
homicide and the theoretical models relating to medieval society.
The details of individual cases of assault tend to vary at Cerisy.
Descriptions of assaults and fights from the mid and later fifteenth century
and (more importantly) the early fourteenth century are sparsely detailed in
comparison with those found between 1371 and 1414. By focusing on those
descriptions which survive between these two dates, it is nevertheless often
possible to gain a vivid insight into the extent and nature of the violence
employed. The clear pattern which emerges is one in which the violence was
generally of a mild nature, and far from life-threatening. The typical assault
or fight was conducted without recourse to weapons with one or two blows
to the face or body with the fist or sometimes with the foot. Assailants would
occasionally employ unusual methods of attack: victims were variously bitten,
scratched, jabbed in the face with the finger ends or taken by the ears or the
chin.25 The record is, however, punctuated by a series of incidents in which
serious injury was done to the victim or his life placed in danger. These
formed a hard core of violence involving serious mutilation (in one case
forcing the amputation of a man's forearm), or considerable loss of blood.26 In
some of these instances victims were incapacitated for long periods of time.27
Several incidents were also characterized by an obvious lack of restraint on
the part of the assailant: multiple blows were struck or a variety of potentially
lethal weapons used.28 In the early fourteenth century there were perhaps
four such cases; between 1317 and 1414 there may have been twenty-eight. In
the middle years of the fifteenth century seven of the thirty-three acts seem
to merit inclusion in this category.
Although overall the use of weapons was low, the proportion does vary
from one period to another. In the early fourteenth century, only two per
25
Registre, 348, 384e (biting); 365l (scratching); 366e (jabbing); 375i (taken by the ears); 339c, 363b,
367e, 390m (taken by the chin); 392g (taken by the forelock); 415c (pulled by the nose).
26
See for example, ibid., 232, 262a, 306.
27
See for example, ibid., 315, 366c, 389b.
28
See for example, ibid., 306, 346, 359b, 384o, 387i, 390k.
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cent of assaults and fights involved the use of a weapon, though the wide
disparity between this figure and those from later in the century tend to
make it suspect. Likewise, the figure of eight per cent for the period between
1474 and 1485 should be viewed with caution, given the small size and
incomplete nature of the sample. From 1371 until 1414, weapons were used
in a quarter of all assaults and fights. The mid fifteenth century saw an
increase to nearly forty per cent of the total.
Incidents in which weapons were employed were, as would be expected,
on the whole more serious in their consequences than those from which they
were absent. A disproportionate number of armed assaults and fights resulted
in bloodshed or serious andsometimespotentially lethal injury. One
particularly ferocious attack saw the successive use of a staff, a sword and
a dagger against the victim, in addition to the assailant's fists.29 The use of
edged weapons in particular increased the risks to a victim with seven of the
nineteen occasions on which they were employed resulting in serious injuries.
A slightly smaller proportion of blunt instruments produced similar results.
In fairness it should be noted that on several occasions weapons were used in
a restrained or purely intimidatory manner. One woman was threatened with
a knife, but its potential effects were demonstrated upon a piece of cloth
rather than on her person, while one assailant struck his victim across the
shoulders with the flat of his knife and another used his sheathed sword.30
This marked correlation between the presence of a weapon and the
severity of the injuries sustained by the victim is of interest when comparing
the types of weapons used at Cerisy with those employed in homicides in
England. In those cases where the murder weapon can be identified, edged
weapons predominate with knives being especially lethal. Staffs and other
blunt instruments come next, followed by unarmed attacks, though fists and
feet have been misleadingly placed in the category of blunt instruments by
Hanawalt.31 Within the officiality the proportions are reversed. The majority
of incidents did not involve the use of a weapon and where weapons were
used blunt instruments predominate. When added to the potentially fatal
consequences of several of the armed assaults this pattern demonstrates the
important role that the ready use of weaponsand lack of adequate medical
careplayed in increasing the probability that an armed attack would be
transformed into a homicide. The circumstances leading to the death of
Raoul le Juvencel show these factors at work. Raoul was knifed in the
stomach after he had intervened in an argument between two other men. He
was not killed outright, but died several days later, even though he had been
treated by a medicus who had sutured his lacerated bowel.32
Sexual assaults apart, gang attacks were not a typical feature of
Ibid., 408b.
Ibid., 389d, 390a, 394c.
31
Given, pp. 189f; Hammer, pp. 20f; B. A. Hanawalt, `Violent death in 14th- and early 15thcentury England', Comparative Studies in Society and History, xviii (1976), 319.
32
Registre, 308, 309c, d, e, h.
29
30
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masculine violence, and the overwhelming majority of male assailants acted

individually. Only twenty-two (seven per cent) of the 323 non-sexual
assaults and fights were group affairs. Forty-five (seventeen per cent)
men were involved out of a total of 274. This can be contrasted with
the pattern found amongst female assailants where group assaults account
for just over a third of the total and involved seven of the twenty female
assailants.33 Men were also able to draw upon a wider range of familial and
non-familial contacts for assistance, appearing with their fathers or brothers
on seven occasions and with non-relatives in a further eleven.34 A further
indication of the wider range of social contacts available to men is
demonstrated by those four cases in which men assaulted their victims
on behalf of a third party; in only one was it clear that this was done on
behalf of a member of the accused's close kin.35
In addition to details relating to the injuries inflicted on victims, the
Cerisy material also affords a rare opportunity to examine the regularity with
which individuals could expect to become involved in violence. This is an
opportunity which is largely denied to the student of homicide. Between
1314 and 1345, the majority of the accused attacked only once.36 Among these,
five were otherwise involved in violence, four as victimsone of whom also
participated in a fightand one as the leader of a gang rape.37 Among the
three men who attacked twice, one also took part in a fight.38 Jean l'Arquier,
the sole representative of the third category, committed an unspecified
number of assaults as well as other crimes and one rape.39 The mid fifteenthcentury period displays a pattern of involvement similar to this.40 A broadly
similar outline is presented between c.1369 and 1414; but important and
subtle changes can be discerned. Again, the majority of men appear once, but
their numbers have declined by ten per cent while an increased proportion
appear as victims or in fights.41 Those individuals who attacked twice have
33
In contrast 6 of the women attacked in the company of their husband or father, and the other
chose the company of one of her husband's relatives (Registre, 114a, 216, 348, 366d, 384f; `Fragment',
p. 299).
34
With a male relative: Registre, 77, 347, 366f 366p, q, 379, 389b, 392m; with a male non-relative:
ibid., 3, 149a, 235a, 339a, b, 366c, 384e, 393r, s, 394r, 410c; `Fragment', pp. 304f.
35
Registre, 392e, 394i, k (on behalf of a brother), m.
36
The number of individuals and their involvement in assaults is as follows: 1 assault, 32 (89%); 2
assaults, 3 (8%); more than 2 assaults, 1 (3%).
37
The 4 who appear as victims are Jean Bernard, Ricard Hequet, Pierre le Paumier and Henri le
Portier, who also became involved in a fight (Registre, 81a, 87a, c, 93b, 141, 148a, 166, 201). Ricard
Quesnel was involved in an attempted rape (ibid., 193, 205).
38
Ingerrand Douin, Guillaume de Nulley and Goret Trublart. The last was involved in the fight
(ibid., 84d, 107, 143c, 171a, 187, 188a).
39
Ibid., 3, 143c, 217.
40
Between 1451 and 1458, 2 of the 28 assailants attacked twice. Another man was otherwise
involved in violence (in a brawl in 1456). The former represent 7% of the total and the latter
individual 4%. None of those who were accused between 1474 and 1485 attacked twice. However,
one man was involved in two successive fights.
41
Frequency of appearance of male accused: 1 assault, 127 (79%); 2 assaults, 22 (14%); 3 assaults, 3
(2%); 4 or more assaults, 9 (6%). Assailants otherwise involved in violence according to the number of
assaults: 1 assault, 37; 2 assaults, 9; 3 assaults, 2; 4 or more assaults, 7.
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increased their share of the total and an added dimension is now present in
the significant minority of men who appear three times or more. These
changes reflect the growing preoccupation of the court with violence during
this period. In the early fourteenth century, the average recorded number of
assaults was roughly two per year. During the later period this had risen to
eight and was considerably higher in certain years. It is interesting to note
that a greater proportion of those who appear twice or more are to be found
in the early fifteenth century, when the annual increase in violence was
particularly marked. Yet even at a period of increased recording of violence
by the court, most men could expect to be involved only once in some act of
physical violence.
Much the same overall pattern is apparent amongst the victims. In the
earliest period, only nine per cent of victims were attacked more than once,
but between c.1369 to 1414 this figure had doubled. Similarly, a greater
proportion of those who fell victim to two or more assaults in this period
were otherwise involved in violence. Only one of the twenty-seven victims
recorded between 1451 and 1458 was attacked twice.42
Something too may be learned about attitudes to violence, principally on
the part of the court, but also occasionally as expressed by individuals. The
severity of an attack was one of the criteria on which the court based its
judgement, and fines tended to increase in relation to the number of blows
struck or the potentially fatal or debilitating effects of the violence. Thus, if a
victim was incapacitated, placed in danger of his life or suffered mutilating
injuries, the appropriate fine would be in the region of forty sous.43 The
effect which different degrees of violence could have upon the sums levied is
shown by three examples from the last decade of the fourteenth century. In
each of these the victims were thrown into the gutter, but the first victim
was taken by his chin as he lay on the ground, the second had his clothes torn
and the third was struck on the head with a staff. The fines imposed on the
That is Guillaume le Secourable (Registre, 410g, 416c). There are no examples between 1474 and
1485. The incidence of assaults on male victims between c.1369 and 1414 was: assaulted once, 123
(79%); assaulted twice, 25 (16%); assaulted 3 times, 5 (3%); assaulted 4 or more times, 3 (2%). Victims
otherwise involved in violence according to the frequency with which they were subjected to assault:
assaulted once, 35; assaulted twice, 14; assaulted 3 times, 4; assaulted 4 or more times, 3.
43
Fines in the Registre are in livres or livres tournois (l./l.t.), sous or sous tournois (s./s.t.), and
deniers (d.). 12 deniers were equivalent to 1 sou, and 20 sous to one livre. 1 franc d'or had an official
value of 20 sous tournois, but the rate varied sharply between 20s. and 36s. over the period 13601423
(P. Spufford, Handbook of Medieval Exchange (1986), pp. 191f.). One man, hired `pro serviendo', was to
receive 6l. for a whole year; another hired out his unspecified services for 15 l.t. for 1 year; a third
apprenticed himself out for 14 months as a wheelwright on condition of receiving 9 francs d'or, a
`good' woollen tunic and a pair of shoes (Registre, 236, 335, 253). For examples of fines for serious
violence see ibid., 363c (30s.: `percussit . . . usque et citra sanguinis effusionem, de quodam ferro equi
in supercillio occulti, taliter [quod] vulnus insecutum fuit'), 366p (40s.: àttroci verberatione et
enormi verberaverat de pedibus et punis super caput et aliis membris, ipsum ad terram
prosternendo, et cutellum suum super ipsum trahendo'), 392g (40s.: `percussit eum pluries de
pugno supra capud, et fecit eum cadere de supra suum equum'), 392p (40s.: ànimo malivolo et
crudeliter percussit Johannem l'Escuier de quodam poto stanni semel per capud in gena vel torca
usque ad effusionem sanguinis').
42
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260
assailants differed accordingly with ten sous being levied against the first,
fifteen sous against the second and twenty sous against the third.44 The
presence of blood was also important since the court was careful to note its
absence as well as its presence.45 Attacks in which it was shed were often, but
not invariably, met with a double fine. However, in a significant number, its
presence appears to have had no visible effect on the final outcome. A group
of fines which were imposed on a series of mild assaults in the second decade
of the fifteenth century illustrate these points. At that time, a slap to the face
(àlapa') was usually punished with a fine of five sous, or sometimes less,
while the striking of two blows of this nature raised the fine to 12s. 6d.46 On
one occasion when an alapa resulted in bloodshed, the assailant was punished
with a double fine, but on another, similar occasion, only the standard fine of
five sous was levied.47
The other important criterion which the court emphasized as lending
gravity to an offence was the ecclesiastical status of those involved. Attacks on
priests and other ecclesiastics were met with unusually large fines, which
appear to be out of proportion to the severity of violence involved: a failed
attempt to stab a priest brought the culprit a fine of sixty sous tournois; a man
who drew blood in an assault upon a priest was fined 100 sous tournois at a
period when a similar assault on a clerk brought at most twenty. Another man
was fined twenty sous for throwing a cup of wine in the face of the cantor of
the monastery, but a woman was fined only half this amount for breaking a jar
over a man's head.48 At the beginning of the fifteenth century a man who
struck the clerk of the priest of Deux-Jumeaux in the face by way of retaliation
was fined twenty sous. This was not only substantially more than the usual
penalty, but was five sous more than the fine imposed on the clerk.49 It is
unclear whether acts of violence committed against officers of the court
incurred similar consequences. Most of the examples of this kind are to be
found within the early fourteenth century sections of the register, where the
detail is less complete. They are, however, less than those other fines which
have survived from the same period. The court also punished priestly
delinquencies in this area with considerable severity, though the penalties
were never as severe as was the case when priests were the victims. In the late
fourteenth century a priest was fined twenty sous tournois and twenty sous for
Registre, 363b, 365i, k.
Ibid., 373f, 393i, 404a, 404c, 410a (àbsque sanguinis effusione'), 392l (ùsque ad effusionem
modicam'), 319, 350 (àd magnam effusionem sanguinis). At Avignon the presence of blood increased
the gravity of an offence and the severity of its punishment while at Manosques a distinction was
made between its presence or absence when civil damages were awarded (J. Chiffoleau, `La violence
au quotidien Avignon au xive sie cle d'apre s les registres de la cour temporelle', Me langes de l'Ecole
Franc ais de Rome. Moyen Age-temps modernes, xcii (1980), p. 354; R. Gosselin, `Honneur et violence a
Manosque' in Vie prive e et ordre public a la fin de Moyen-Age: Etudes sur Manosque, la Provence et le
Pie mont (12501450), ed. M. He bert (Aix-en-Provence, 1987), p. 55).
46
Registre, 392d, e, h, l (2s. 6d.), 394p (`duas alapas in gena').
47
Ibid., 392i (10s.: `de naso exivit sanguinis'), k (5s.: `naso exivit sanguinis in dentibus').
48
Ibid., 302a, 325 (see for example: 278 (20s.), 279 (20s.t.), 304 (10s.t.), 363q, 375d).
49
Ibid., 370b, c.
44
45
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261
laying hands on a man and a woman in two separate incidents.50 A clerk might
have expected to receive a penalty of five or ten sous under the circumstances.
In the later half of the next century a fine of fifteen sous was imposed on a
priest.51
The location of an incident could also contribute to its perceived gravity.
A priest who violated his own church in 1485 through an act of bloodshed
had to pay ten livres tournois, and a clerk who laid hands on one of his
fellows within the confines of the abbey was fined 100 sous tournois
considerably more than if the attack had taken place in the street.52 This
attack also took place on a market day which could itself have been an
aggravating factor. A man who struck another lightly on the chest while in
court (ìnfra metas jurisdictionis nostre') was fined ten sous.53 Other factors
could play a role. The nocturnal nature of an attack was likely to have been
of significance: a single blow to the head at night warranted a fine of twenty
sous, whereas similar attacks in the daytime were met with fines of a quarter
or a half of this.54 A man was imprisonedan unusual occurrence in the
context of crimes against the personafter he had assaulted a man to whom
he had given pledges of peace.55
Though of secondary importance to the actual fact of an act of violence by
or against a clerk, the underlying motive may still have had an effect on the
final punishment. An attack was likely to attract a stiffer penalty if it had
been premeditated. This was one of the factors which ensured that Yves
Anglici was fined sixty sous for ambushing Pierre Siart and striking him on
the head with a stone. The others had been the nocturnal nature of the
assault and Yves's initial perjury.56 However, if an aggressor acted under
undue provocation, or if his actions could in some way be justified, then the
fine might be reduced accordingly. A woman was fined two sous for slapping
a man who called her a whore; her victim retaliated in kind, but had to pay
five sous. Yves de Landes struck Yves Jamez with a tankard because Jamez
had slapped him. He succeeded in drawing blood but was fined the same
amount as Jamez.57 The disparity in the fines imposed on the participants in
other fights would suggest that the court recognized that different degrees of
culpability were involved. A man who threw a suspected thief out of a mill
was fined 2s. 6d., and another man who intervened to prevent a husband
Ibid., 332c, 333a.
`Fragment', p. 303. Other fines from this period were only higher if bloodshed had occurred,
and could be as low as 12d.
52
Registre, 270; `Fragment', pp. 310f. See for example Registre, 363b (10s.), 365i (20s.), 365k (15s.), 366f
(5s.). The abbey church at Cerisy was violated twice during the early 14th century, but the fines
involved were not recorded (ibid., 140b, 212a).
53
Ibid., 365f.
54
Ibid., 384g (5s.: `percuterat de manu per capud ipsius', 385b (`de nocte'), 392e (10s.: `semel de
pugno supra capud').
55
Ibid., 212b.
56
Ibid., 394l.
57
Ibid., 393a, l.
50
51
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262
beating his wife paid only two sous. Under ordinary circumstances the nature
of their assaults, in which the victims were thrown bodily to the ground,
would probably have earned them double this amount.58
Individual attitudes too can be discerned occasionally. In 1412 a witness to
an assault felt that the assailant was doing wrong by his actions and in the
same year another bystander considered, perhaps significantly, that an
assailant deserved to be beaten for what he was doing. In both cases, these
comments provoked violent reactions. When Robert des Cageux attempted
to provoke a fight at the house of Ranulph du Bourc, he was told by Jean de
Bapaume that he did wrong to speak and act in such a fashion. These words
only prompted Robert to strike him. Ranulph du Bourc, `seeing these things
and being saddened', told Robert that he was wrong to act in this way. His
objections were also met with violence. On another occasion, when Jean des
Cageux attempted to solicit help to attack Jean de Bapaume in the house of
the curate of Littry, his request fell on deaf ears. Those present said that they
wished his intended victim no harm.59 Not every act of physical violence was
condoned, and a violent response might be considered inappropriate under
certain circumstances or in a particular place.
Motive has been touched upon as a possible factor in determining the
court's response to an incident, and it is clearly of considerable interest
when considering wider questions relating to the characteristics of violence
within medieval society. One problem faced when examining questions of
motive is that the court was principally concerned with the fact of
violence, and with the social standing of those involved, rather than
considerations of motive. This is best shown by those cases in which
victims took immediate action to avenge an assault or were instrumental in
precipitating an attack upon themselves. In these cases all parties involved
were fined for their violent behaviour. Different amounts were levied on
each, in recognition of the varying degrees of culpability and intent, but
the court wasted little time in detailing the precise motives which might
lead to violence. Nevertheless a general distinction was recognized between
violence undertaken with malicious intent (ànimo malivolo') and violence
occasioned by anger (ànimo irato'), and more precise information is
occasionally revealed.
A complex of factors both recorded and unrecorded would have lain
behind any act of violence and it is difficult to reduce questions of motive to
raw statistics. Certain factors can be isolated. Arguments were the most
common recorded cause, accounting for twenty-six of the incidents. In half
of these some indication is given of the precise nature of the quarrel. These
ranged from a dispute over a wife's use of her husband's goods, to arguments
over quantities of wine (on two separate occasions), a piece of land, a sum of
money, the ownership of a hatchet and an arrow.60 An attempt to lead a man
58
59
60
Registre, 392b, g, 393l, 394f.

Ibid., 393c, f, 394k, r.
Ibid., 217, 392b, g, k, 393b, c.
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to a dance against his will degenerated into a fight.61 On two separate

occasions the desire of individuals to reside in the confraternity of SaintMaur against the wishes of others led to violence, as did a dispute over the
right to take the Holy Water around the houses in the parish of Littry.62
Other incidents reveal more in the way of circumstantial detail. Jean Pouchin
was digging in his orchard when Jean le Caruel came up and attempted to
cross a stile. Pouchin told him to get off his land and struck him with his hoe.
Guillaume Poullain was punched on the nose in an argument with Raoul le
Vavassour in a tavern. Raoul had been `moved to wrath' after Guillaume had
tried to drink at the same table. An argument arose between Yves Anglici
and Pierre Siart after Yves had thrown half a loaf of bread through the
window of Pierre's house. The matter did not end there for Yves went off in
search of a sword. He was obviously impatient since he did not go to his own
house, but went instead to the house of Robert l'Oesel and attempted to take
Robert's sword; Robert threw him out. Though thwarted for the minute,
Yves bided his time until nightfall when he ambushed Pierre in an alleyway.
Later in the year, Yves received a thrashing at the hands of his erstwhile
victim.63 Assailants might also act to further the interests of third parties with
one man acting on behalf of his brother, and three others for non-relatives.64
Provocation could take other forms. Attackers reacted to specific slights
upon their characters or sexual reputations, or to an unfavourable comparison with some animal or object in fourteen cases. One such assault led to
immediate retaliation on the part of the victim cum slanderer. In a further
four examples, unspecified ìnjurious words' led to violence. Another man
was struck after he had insulted his companion's singing. In another case, the
victim had been defending the good name of an absent party in the face of
repeated vituperations.65 Insults could take forms other than words: fights
broke out after one man had spat in another's face and after a man had
laughed at his companion.66 A further five assaults had some connection with
theft or property, and two assaults occurred as men were being led to
prison.67 Surprisingly only two of the accused argued that they had acted in
self defence. In 1321 Henri le Portier, who broke a man's arm with a
swordstroke, claimed that this was justifiable since he had acted to defend
himself. In the same year Jean Rogeri confessed to an assault, but insisted that
he had been defending himself. The court dismissed this defence and fined
him.68
Only a very small number of attacks can be shown to have been
premeditated. The four men who beset a house by night and the man
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
Ibid.,
Ibid.,
Ibid.,
Ibid.,
Ibid.,
Ibid.,
Ibid.,
Ibid.,
392d.
394e, f, p.
363d, 394l, n, q.
392e, 394i, k, m.
394p.
229bis, 392h, i.
93d, 165a, b, 235c, 241b, 365c, 393m, 394f.
87a, b.
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who went armed to another's door were acting with a degree of pre-planning
and foresight unusual in the context of ordinary assaults. On a few occasions
men deliberately sought out their victims. Ricard de Landes left his father's
house by night to seek out his chosen victim in the village. On another
occasion Yves de Landes assaulted Jean du Buisson as he was passing before
Yves's house at night. A degree of animosity seems to have existed between
the two families.69 Jean des Cageux came to the house of the curate of Littry
in search of Jean l'Escuier, alias de Bapaume. On entering the house, he
demanded to know where l'Escuier was so that he could `batter him'. An
exchange of words followed and a fight broke out after Jean had been
insulted by l'Escuier. A little before this l'Escuier had fallen victim to one of
Jean's sons Robert, who had come by night to a house where l'Escuier was
drinking in a group. Robert entered the house and beat with his staff on the
table where Jean was drinking, saying, in a suitably timeless phrase, Ìf anyone
moves, he's dead' (`S'il y a qui bouge il est mort'). He then asked if anyone
wanted to wrestle with him. Jean replied that Robert was wrong to talk and
act in such a fashion; Robert then punched him on the nose. The owner of
the house, Ranulph du Bourc, intervened, saying that Robert had done ill by
this; he was thrown into the fire for his pains.70 Alcohol was at least a
contributory factor in this and a number of other assaults.71
A small number of men werelike Ranulph du Bourcdrawn into
conflicts which were not of their making. One such intervention in an
argument over a sword led to the fatal stabbing of Raoul le Juvencel. The
others had less dramatic consequences. A spreading circle of violence first
enveloped Guillaume Syret, then Sanson Guiart and finally Jean Canonville.
The initial argument had been between Yves Guiart and Guillaume Syret
over a sum of money, during the course of which Guillaume had been
punched in the face. Sanson Guiart then told Yves that he deserved to be
beaten for this. Yves promptly punched Sanson about the head and chest and
turned upon Jean who had been watching these events in silence.72 In a
similar occurrence, Jean l'Escuier was drawn into the conflict between Sanson
de Burgh and Potin de Moultfreart after he had told Sanson that he was
wrong to beat Potin. A further two men intervened in domestic disputes with
violent results. Another man went to his son's aid and the wife of Pierre
Martin was assaulted when she went to her mother's assistance.73
Considerations of revenge motivated only a small number of the attacks.
Four victims took immediate retaliatory action against their attackers, often
Registre, 384g, k, 385b, c.
Ibid., 394k, r.
71
Taverns were the scenes of 2 assaults, in one of which drink clearly played a part (ibid., 392m,
394p). A man was also physically ejected from a tavern by its owner (ibid., 389a). The use of tankards
or other vessels filled with ale, mead or red wine as projectiles or as bludgeons would suggest that
intoxicating drink was an important element in a further 19 acts of violence (ibid., 359b, 363q, 366b,
366m, 384l, 385o, 387a, 389c, 390d, 390l 390o, 390p, 392p, 392p, 393b, 393l, 383b, 394k).
72
Ibid., 393c.
73
Ibid., 242, 384k, 387l, 393f, s.
69
70
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265
repaying with interest the blows that they had received; on another occasion
a man was fined for putting up limited resistance against his two attackers.74
In the later fifteenth century a man unwisely began a fight with two others.75
Other examples were of a more deliberate nature: Yves Anglici was not the
only man to receive a beating at the hands of an erstwhile victim. Philippe le
Pelous attacked Guillaume le Deen in May 1378 after Guillaume had
assaulted him in the previous December.76 In the middle of 1379, Jean
Riqueut and his two sons, Jean and Johennetus attacked Laurent de Alnetis.
In the following year, Jean senior and Jean junior were assaulted by Laurent.77
Ricard de Sallen took part in a gang attack in 1393 on a man who had
attacked him the year before.78 Guillaume le Guilleour threw a stone at a
man who had earlier tried to intimidate his sister and the attack by Yves
Anglici upon Cassin du Molin in 1457 may have been motivated by an
accidental injury to Yves's wife during a game.79 After his fight with Jean des
Cageux, Jean l'Escuier went out with two other men to seek revenge either
on Jean himself or any other member of his family who could be found. This
reliance upon self-help and family ties is most clearly demonstrated by the
conflict which arose between Jean de Tournie res and Jean des Cageux and his
sons during 1412. The cause of this was de Tournieres' assault on a bastard
son of Jean des Cageux. Shortly after this had taken place, Raoul and Robert
des Cageux came successively to de Tournieres seeking to avenge the injury
done to their half-brother. Jean dealt each a blow on the head with his staff.
Some time later Jean and Robert des Cageux dragged de Tournie res and
another man into their tavern. Jean des Cageux struck de Tournie res, saying
that he had done wrong to beat his sons in such a fashion. The innocent
companion received a blow from Robert.80 The court sought to discourage
such informal retaliation and generally fined all those concerned.
Other examples show that deep-seated tensions could exist between
individuals or families at certain times. Jean de Bapaume (alias l'Escuier)
was attacked twice in the same year by members of the des Cageux family. A
flurry of violence also occurred between members of the family du Buisson
and the family de Landes during 1406. Gaufrid and Sanson de Burgh both
attacked the same man during 1408 and Pierre le Guilleour was attacked by
men bearing the same surname in successive years. Gaufrid le Quoquet fell
victim to attacks by Jean Quinot in the July and August of the same year,
Etienne Hervey was also attacked twice by the same assailant.81 Most men
were unfortunate if they fell victim to two assaults in a year from different
assailants.
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
Ibid., 370b, 390k, l, 393l.

`Fragment', pp. 304f.
Registre, 319, 325.
Ibid., 347, 352b.
Ibid., 365m, 366d.
Ibid., 394g.
Ibid., 392m.
Ibid., 344c, 349, 384a, r, 389b.
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266
The findings from Cerisy provide an alternative perspective on violence

from that usually provided by the study of English homicide. They can also
be used to modify more general theories which have sought to locate
violence as one of the essentials of medieval society. Some parts of this
alternative perspective match the picture which has emerged from studies of
homicide, while others reinforce the very exceptional nature of homicide
when viewed within a wider context of violent behaviour. Assault within the
peculiar was male-dominateda characteristic of the findings of English
homicideand, as Hammer and Maddern have suggested, the regular use of
violence was limited to a particular group. However, although numerically
significant, most assaults were minor affairs and far from life-threatening.
Some did, however, reach a fever pitch on occasion, and the availability of
weapons and lack of adequate medical care increased the likelihood that such
attacks might cross the all-too-narrow threshold to homicide. The Cerisy
court nevertheless does not appear to have been unduly alarmed by most acts
of violence, so far as one can judge from the amounts levied in fines. It
reflected contemporary views by treating certain acts as more heinous than
others, particularly when they involved ecclesiastics, and it employed a tariff
of fines related to the severity and type of injuries inflicted. Rape and
homicide were, however, dealt with as serious offences, as was theft.82
Individual attitudes may also be discerned, although the evidence for these
is very fragmentary. Violence was not always viewed as a suitable response on
every occasion and in every place, although it was seen as an acceptable
method of punishment or retaliation.
The general theories espoused by Bossy and Muchembled can also be set
against these findings. They give particular weight to the significance of
violencein the form of feudin their theories of the ordering of medieval
society. The opinions of Muchembled on the causes of violent behaviour
within medieval society can be quickly dealt with. Whatever else may be said
for the view that absolutism is good for your mental health since it removes
anxiety, it sits ill with the material from Cerisy. While the polarity of
violence does echo Huizinga's view of a society characterized by extremes, it
is a distant echo. Most violence was mild and certainly not characterized by
fear. Such general psychological explanations seem to have little value in
explaining why a particular minority of individuals should show a lack of
restraint and indeed callousness when dealing with their victims. That their
behaviour was sometimes unrestrained and brutal is not in question, but the
factors which underlay such excesses are harder to fathom, and personal
motivation, experience and predilections must have played their part to an
unknown degree. Finally, Muchembled's contention that violence was
directed against the unknown, against the stranger, away from the isolated
self, appears weak given that violent crime was characteristically parochial at
Cerisy and in other areas.
82
Finch, pp. 215, 225f., 23840.
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Similarly, John Bossy's model of a society faced with the disruptive

influences of kin does not match the pattern of behaviour which emerges
from this jurisdiction. There is no evidence that feud was endemic within the
area or even that it was practised. The internecine violence and pre-emptive
strikes on kin implicit in the term are entirely absent from the record, as are
notions of revenge revolving around the perceived honour of a kin-group.
Far from drawing its source from long-standing and deep-seated enmity,
violence was characterized by spontaneity and lack of premeditation. Where
motives can be established they were often personal, petty and restricted to
an immediate slight or insult: grudge or revenge attacks are the exception
rather than the rule. The choice of weapons does little to dispel the air of
spontaneity which hangs over much of the violence.83 Knives and staffs
would have been carried by men as a matter of course, and other objects such
as stones and household utensils would have come readily to hand. This
impression is further reinforced by some of the unusual objects, such as a key
and a packet of letters, which were pressed into service as makeshift weapons,
and the case of the man who wished to pursue an argument further, but
found that he had left his sword at home.84 The majority of the assaults and
brawls showed a degree of restraint which was unlikely to have placed the
social fabric in jeopardy, though occasionally the violence encountered was
extreme. Furthermore most individuals appear to have been caught up only
once in a web of violence, either as aggressors or victims. Violence was
normally carried out on an individual rather than a collective level, among
men at least and outside the context of sexual assaults. Certain individuals or
family members appear more regularly, but they seem to represent a
particularly violent element in clerical society rather than evidence of
inter-familial conflict.
Such patterns indicate that homicide and feud are aspects of a more
complex phenomenon. The study of homicide and attempts to set a homicide
rate have been encouraged and limited by the nature of the sources and a
preoccupation with a particular set of crimes. What is lacking for England is
provided by Cerisy and other French jurisdictions. The evidence from Cerisy
emphasizes the exceptional and often accidental nature of homicide when
placed against a background of numerous, but mainly petty, acts of violence.
In terms of numbers violence was a pervasive phenomenon within the
officiality. However, it was often of such a mild nature that its actual effect
on the lives of those caught in its web would have been less than would be
assumed if only the raw statistics were available. The homicide of Raoul le
Juvencel was both a rarity and an event of note to judge by the speed with
which details of the fatal stabbing spread through the village and its
83
The categories of weapons employed were as follows: (Blunt Instruments) staffs (21); rods (3);
hurdles (1); faggots (1); tankards (11); cups (4); cussum (2); dishes (1); goblets (1); pots (1); stones (11);
candlesticks (2); jars (1); salt-cellars (1); books (1); letters (1); bows (1), half a loaf of bread (1); keys (1);
(Edged Weapons) swords (6); knives (5); daggers (3); badelarius (1); arrows (1); halberds (1); hatchets (2);
hoes (1); horse irons (1).
84
Registre, 363c (horse iron), 393f (book), 397c (packet of letters), 394l (sword), 410d (key).
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268
vicinity.85 Most individuals could expect to be caught up in violence only

once, but for some such as Raoul le Juvencel, events might conspire to make
this one time too many.
School of East Asian Studies, University of Sheffield
A. J. Finch
Table 1: Officiality of Cerisy: offences of interest, 13141486

Fornication
Adultery
Assaults
Fights
Blasphemy
Rape
a
b
c
13141346
13701414
14511458
14711486
(13141486)
315a
132
38
8
33
33
220b
24e
2
4
8
2
30
3
35
18
2
10
3
6
(374)
(169)
(298)
(38)
(43)
(8)
An additional charge of fornication arose out of a civil action for marriage.

Includes 5 assaults which occurred between c.1352 and 1370, but which cannot be dated accurately.
Includes 2 fights which occurred between c.1352 and 1370, but which cannot be dated accurately.
85
Registre, 309g, m, n, o; Finch, pp. 224f.

The Nature of Violence in The Middle Ages An Alternative Perspective

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3d 1/9/97 16:3 vk/amj

The Nature of Violence in the Middle Ages:

T h e s t u d y o f violence in medieval Europe is by now a well-established

# Institute of Historical Research 1997.

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vio l e nce i n t h e m idd le a ge s

down, violence had become a mechanism for conflict resolution.3 Professor

# Institute of Historical Research 1997.

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vio l e nce i n t h e m idd le a ges

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vio l e nce i n t h e m idd le a ges

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vio l e nce i n t h e m idd le a ge s

however, may prove to be more accurate indicators of both the quality of

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immorality.19 A very rough estimate places the population in the region of

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vio l e nce i n t h e m idd le a ges

offence (`ratione materiae') or the ecclesiastical status of those involved

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vio l e nce i n t h e m idd le a ges

criminal grouping. The material from Cerisy is further distinguished by the

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vio l e nce i n t h e m idd le a ges

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vio l e nce i n t h e m idd le a ge s

masculine violence, and the overwhelming majority of male assailants acted

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vio l e nce i n t h e m idd le a ge s

# Institute of Historical Research 1997.

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vio l e nce i n t h e m idd le a ge s

# Institute of Historical Research 1997.

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vio l e nce i n t h e m idd le a ge s

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vio l e nce i n t h e m idd le a ges

Registre, 392b, g, 393l, 394f.

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vio l e nce i n t h e m idd le a ges

to a dance against his will degenerated into a fight.61 On two separate

# Institute of Historical Research 1997.

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vio l e nce i n t h e m idd le a ge s

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vio l e nce i n t h e m idd le a ges

Ibid., 370b, 390k, l, 393l.

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