중세 말 영국에서의 범죄발생과 사회질서 유지-강도사건을 중심으로-

Abstract

Robbery, the act of a surprise attack on both the victim's person and plunder of his/her property, was one of the most common crimes in medieval England. The purpose of this article is to examine several matters related to robbery in the early fourteenth century England. Especially I search for correlation between Great Famine of 1315-1317 and robbers and their conviction rates in Yorkshire in northern part and Norfolk in south-eastern part in England. According to common law, robbers was punished by death because he/she was a felon. As the result of inquiry of materials - Wakefield Court Rolls and Norfolk Gaol Delivery Rolls - for study of robbery, I can find that theory and practice might differ. According to Wakefield Court Rolls, conviction rates of suspected robbers was relatively low in Yorkshire. Because Yorkshire was sparsely settled and had few wealthy travelers. But It was very high in Norfolk. Because Norfolk's geographical location on the treacherous sandbars of the Wash gave her felons a speciality in robbery. Robbers robbed victims of horse, household goods, cloths, money in the both regions. Women occasionally were part of gangs, but their role was not only the principals but also accomplices. Especially a great number of clergy was participated in robbery. I think that the most crucial factor influencing the low conviction rates of suspected robbers was the system of approver and benefit of clergy. The convictions for clergy did not rise out of proportion to the increased guilty verdicts of laity in 1315-1316 years. I think that this is derived from the clerical benefits and the system of approver. The conviction rates of suspected robbers was relatively high in Norfolk in the Great Famine period, so it was harmful to maintain social order in Norfolk in the early 14th century.