Cruel Mind and Deadly Malice

Imagine hiring a man to kill off your enemy... and then pleading a defense that would allow you to walk out free. This week, we'll trace the story of a neighborly feud in Tudor England that left one man dead and an unbalanced man free, if not for the actions of a young woman in manipulating Parliament, the Privy Council, and even the Queen. Their responses would ultimately change the laws of England in order to prevent a man from getting away with murder.

Podcaster: Lesley

---

Further Reading

Baker, JH. “Benefit of Clergy in England and its Secularization 1450-1550” in "Ins Wasser geworfen und Ozeane durchquert": Festschrift für Knut Wolfgang Nörr. Mario Ascheri, Knut Wolfgang Nörr, eds. Berlin: 2003, pp.273-289

Bellamy, JG. “Benefit of Clergy in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries” Criminal Law and Society in Late Medieval and Tudor England, St Martin’s Press: 1984, pp. 115-164

Hanawalt, Barbara. Crime and Conflict in English Communities, 1300-1348. Harvard University: 1979

Kesselring, Krista. Mercy and Authority in the Tudor State. Cambridge University Press: 2003

Shoemaker, Robert. Prosecution and Punishment: Petty Crime and the Law in London and Rural Middlesex, c 1660-1725. Cambridge University Press: 1991

Music: "Evening Melodrama" by Kevin MacLeod (www.incompetech.com)