These talks share research on medieval legal records by Dr Rhiannon Sandy and Dr Stephanie Brown from their respective case-studies of Bridgwater and York.

Our first talk by Rhiannon is on apprenticeship records. Although the practice of apprenticeship in medieval England has received increasing academic attention in recent decades, most research focuses on London. Most modern expectations of apprenticeship are based on ‘custom and usage’ of London, but London practices were not necessarily the norm. The majority of surviving indentures concern apprenticeships elsewhere in England. This paper considers the reality of apprenticeship, using a collection of surviving indentures from Bridgwater. Although few historians have made use of indentures as a source, this paper highlights how they illuminate facets of everyday social and economic activity which are lost in legal and administrative records.

Our second talk by Stephanie is on court rolls. In medieval England homicide was a capital crime. The only punishment available was death. Therefore, the expectation is that hangings were frequent and a routine experience for medieval townsfolk. However, there has been limited quantitative analysis of medieval executions. Using trail records from York Castle gaol, this paper shows that, in reality, capital sentences for homicide were rare. This paper argues that there was a mismatch between legal and social responses to homicide. In contrast to the harsh legal position, the court rolls show very high acquittal rates. It is evident that medieval jurors often felt that the punishment did not fit the crime.

Our speakers

Dr Rhiannon Sandy holds a doctorate from Swansea University where she currently holds an honorary research post at Swansea. Her thesis considered the development of apprenticeship indentures and the practice of apprenticeship in England between 1250 and 1500. This research was aided by a generous postgraduate bursary from the Economic History Society. Dr Sandy is currently preparing her thesis for publication, and plans to undertake further research on apprenticeship as a means of socialisation and economic integration.

Dr Stephanie Brown is the Economic History Society’s Power Fellow at the Institute of Historical Research. She is a historian of crime and criminal justice. Dr Brown completed her PhD and MPhil in Medieval History at the University of Cambridge. She holds a BA in History and Medieval Studies from Swansea University. Her current research explores the dynamics of prosecution and examines the constructions, and deconstructions, of homicide in fourteenth-century England.