Medieval prison. A Brief History of Posthumous Punishments

N. I. Naryshkina - Associate Professor of the Department of Criminal Executive Law, Vladimir Law Institute of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia,

Candidate of Legal Sciences

In the Middle Ages, prisons became commonplace in the city-states of Italy. P. Spierenburg points out that the statutes of 37 of 81 Italian cities mentioned prisons (Italian: carceri).

A well-known researcher of the history of the formation and development of the institution of prisons and imprisonment in the cities of medieval Italy, G. Geltner, points out that, starting from the 12th century, in Venice, which was, in fact, a city-state, a fairly comprehensive prison system developed, including:

I. State prisons (Italian: casoni), located in each of the six districts (Italian: sestieri) of the city. The word "casa" literally translates from Italian as "house". Accordingly, we can say that these were houses of detention.

• 2. Debt prison, located next to the Rialto Bridge and intended to hold insolvent debtors. The Venetian Charter of 1242 stipulated that debtors should initially, for 30 days, be limited in freedom of movement to the central areas of Venice; they were prohibited from crossing the bridges that separated this area from other areas of the city. If debtors did not pay within the specified time or violated the boundaries of their stay and travel routes, they were subject to imprisonment. This restriction of spatial freedom was a kind of “open prison” and was intended, on the one hand, to prevent the debtor from escaping, on the other hand, it gave him a chance to earn or find the money he needed, and on the third, a situation in which which the debtor found himself in quickly became known to his neighbors, which could increase public pressure on him and force him to pay the debt, because the inability to repay the debt was considered a disgrace in the eyes of public opinion. In Venice, unlike many other European states, private arrests of debtors were legalized, but there was no private imprisonment. That is, the creditor could demand the arrest of the debtor or arrest him personally, but could not keep him in custody, for example, in his own home.
• 3. Prison cells that functioned in and around the Doge's Palace (Italian: Palazzo Ducale), starting in 1173. During the XIII-XIV centuries. Additional work was carried out inside the palace, as a result of which the places of imprisonment occupied the entire first floor of the southern wing of the palace, and several cells were equipped under the roof of the eastern wing for the imprisonment of female heretics who had previously been kept in nearby monasteries. The practice of monastic imprisonment of women was suspended in the 90s. XIII century due to the fact that many of them were prostitutes and invited their clients to the monasteries, which caused the indignation of the nuns. Somewhat later, the Venetian Council of Ten (Italian: Consiglio dei Died) - the governing body of the Venetian Republic, founded by decree of the Great Council in June 1310, decided to commission (or expand existing) cells on the top floor of the palace, which were used as a place of detention for persons under investigation.
• 4. Prison cells in monasteries. In general, imprisonment was practiced in the judicial practice of the church in relation to errant clergy, starting from the 4th century. This was a common occurrence before the creation of secular prisons. Monastic imprisonment was also applied to the laity, and this practice especially expanded from the 13th century thanks to the development of the Papal Inquisition, which often sentenced heretics to prison. Pope Boniface VIII formally introduced imprisonment into church law in 1298 as an appropriate punishment.

That is, medieval Venetian prisons served as places of detention, pre-trial detention, both for secular crimes and for crimes against the church, and were also intended to contain insolvent debtors and political opponents.

As for the organization of the activities of Venetian prisons, G. Geltner initially characterizes it as semi-improvised, corresponding to very limited legislation in this area, which, while providing for the grounds for imprisonment, paid little attention to the issues of the functioning of prisons and the determination of specific terms of imprisonment (up to the beginning XIV century). Since most of the Venetian places of detention were located in the Doge's Palace, it was much easier to attract palace guards to protect prisoners than to create independent structural units that ensured compliance with the requirements of the regime.

If guards were specifically appointed to supervise the behavior of a prisoner in custody, then the latter himself had to pay them a salary, as was done in 1275, when a certain Simone Steno, as an oathbreaker, was sentenced to pay a fine of 300 lire within 15 days. The Great Council (Italian: Maggior Consiglio) - the governing body of the Venetian Republic, which existed since 1172 - decided that in case of failure to pay the fine properly and on time, the convicted person should be imprisoned in the great prison (Italian: maior career) of the Doge's Palace in order to ensuring the payment of his debt with the imposition of the obligation to pay the salaries of the guards assigned to him, which can be regarded as an aggravating element of the imprisonment of the insolvent debtor.

The Doge and members of the Grand Council were required to inspect the prisons on a weekly basis, more for the purpose of monitoring the judicial expediency of detention than for the purpose of monitoring the conditions of the prisoners and the behavior of the guards. Later, in connection with the establishment of certain terms of imprisonment in regulatory legal acts, divided into urgent and life (eternal), an increase in the number of prison facilities, the growing interest of judges in the conditions of detention of prisoners in prisons, the growth of their well-being, including through charity, the system of monitoring the functioning of prisons has changed, and the mechanism for recruiting prison staff has been transformed.

So, shortly before 1250, the “lords of the night” (“lords of the night”, “lords of the night”) appeared - nobles elected from each of the six districts of Venice and monitoring what was happening in the city at night. From 1297, the “lords of the night” were required to visit prisoners weekly, which was previously the responsibility of the Doge and members of the Great Council, and in 1321 they were responsible for paying the salaries of the guards of the prisons, divided into upper and lower.

The statute of 1339 first mentions the position of chief or capitano of the lower prisons, along with whom the guards served. The prison staff numbered 6-8 people, and wages gradually increased from 4 to 5 liras per month. The position of notary was introduced into the staff of prisons only in 1343. In the upper prisons, mainly used by the Council of Ten for the detention of suspects and accused of crimes, the number of guards by 1398 was 6 people, one from each district of the city, with monthly salary of 13 liras.

The legal status of prisoners in medieval Venetian prisons was characterized by the following features:

• - the principle of separate detention of prisoners was observed:
  • a) men and women. Women's prisons were built in Venice starting in the 1360s;
  • b) sick (weak, insane) and healthy. In the 1320s. in Venice, the surgeon Ricobaldo treated prisoners for free, despite his poverty. In Venetian prisons by 1400, sick prisoners were usually placed in more comfortable cells, but were not released on health grounds;
  • c) convicted criminals, debtors and persons under investigation. They were to be housed on different floors of the Doge's Palace: the upper and lower prisons. But the separation was not always observed in practice, despite the efforts of judges who demanded in 1309 that criminals sentenced to imprisonment be kept separately. Despite legislative efforts, power, wealth, the influence of relatives, and not the severity of the crime committed, influenced placement in prisons;
• - prisoners were exempted from paying fees and charges for entry, exit and their detention in prisons, regardless of social status or grounds for detention;
• - prisoners were subjected to torture, which was actively practiced against them by the staff of Venetian prisons in the 13th-14th centuries;
• - the authorities of Venice, starting in 1442 (following Padua, Vincenza, Verona, Ravenna), appointed a public defender to prisoners, but in general legal assistance was available to prisoners throughout the late XIII-XV centuries;
• - Venetian authorities rarely released prisoners on religious holidays; some prisoners could regain their freedom by posting bail and providing an obligation to appear in court. They could also be released from prison in order to combat the over-limit of the special contingent. For example, to empty the overcrowded prisons of Venice in 1331, the Council of Ten ordered the release of all debtors who had been imprisoned for more than two years;
• - poor prisoners could receive food from the commune, begging for alms or charity;
• - the involvement of prisoners in labor in medieval Venetian prisons was very limited

In addition to the torment of torture, there were prisons in which victims of accusations of witchcraft were kept during the judicial investigation and also after conviction until the sentence was carried out. In these prisons, if they courageously endured the torture, new, no less terrible torments awaited them, sometimes lasting for whole years and leading them to a state of complete despair, often to suicide.

At that time, places of detention were generally disgusting, stinking holes, where cold, dampness, darkness, dirt, hunger, infectious diseases and the complete lack of any care for prisoners in a short time turned the unfortunate people who ended up there into cripples, into mental sick, into rotting corpses. But the prisons assigned to witches were even worse. Such prisons were built specifically for witches, with special devices designed to inflict the most severe torment on the unfortunate. In many places in Germany you can still find these prisons - Hexenttirme or Drudenhauser. Just being kept in these prisons was enough to completely shock and torment the innocent woman who ended up there and force her to confess to all sorts of crimes of which she was accused.

One of the contemporaries of that era describes the internal structure of these prisons as follows:

“Prisons are placed in thick, well-fortified towers or in basements. They contain several thick logs rotating around a vertical post or screw; There are holes made in these logs through which the prisoners' arms and legs can be inserted. To do this, the logs are unscrewed or moved apart, hands are placed in the holes between the upper logs, and the prisoners’ legs are placed in the holes between the lower logs; after which the logs are screwed, staked, or enclosed so closely that the prisoners cannot move their arms or legs. In some prisons there are wooden or iron crosses, to the ends of which the heads, arms and legs of the prisoners are tightly tied, so that they must constantly either lie down, or stand, or hang, depending on the position of the cross. Some prisons have thick iron strips with iron wrist bands at the ends to which the prisoners' hands are attached. Since the middle of these strips is attached to the wall with a chain, the prisoners are always in the same position.

Sometimes even heavier pieces of iron are attached to the legs, so that the prisoners can neither stretch their legs nor pull them towards themselves. Sometimes the walls have recesses of such a size that it is difficult to sit, stand or lie in them; prisoners there are locked with iron bars so that they cannot move.

Some prisons had deep pits lined with stone and opening upward with narrow openings and strong doors. In these pits, often 15, 20 and even 30 fathoms deep, prisoners were lowered on ropes and pulled up in the same way.

In many places prisoners suffer terribly from the cold and freeze their hands and feet, so that when released they remain crippled for life. Some are constantly in the dark, never see sunlight and cannot distinguish day from night. Without control of their members, they are in a constant state of stupor; they lie in their own sewage worse than any cattle, receive bad food, cannot sleep peacefully, tormented by worries, gloomy thoughts, evil dreams and all sorts of horrors. Since they cannot move their arms or legs, they are terribly bitten and tormented by lice, mice, rats and all sorts of other animals. Added to this were swearing, evil jokes and threats that the prisoners heard daily from their jailers and executioners.

And since all this lasted not only months, but also entire years, the people who entered prison cheerful, strong, patient and in full consciousness became in a very short time weak, decrepit, crippled, cowardly, and insane.”

In such prisons, which Malleus calls carceris squalores, witches sometimes languished for many years before they were brought in for interrogation and torture. Frantic, without strength, with their imagination upset by despair and melancholy, in fear and confusion, they were brought to trial before the inquisitors and confirmed all the accusations that were brought against them. If they persisted, they were again taken to prison and the severity of their detention was increased: they were tied up and shackled, their limbs were twisted so that they became numb, they were chained to the wall, etc., and in this state they were kept until the torture was resumed. The Bamberg inquisitors recommend as a good remedy for taming witches - “das gefaltet Stiiblein” (literally: a room in folds), which was specially built in the Bamberg prison for witches. It was a cell whose floor consisted of sharp poles with very narrow spaces between them. In the same Bamberg, one woman remained chained for three years. Malleus recommends, as a general rule, that stubborn witches be kept in prison for a full year before resuming torture.

It is not surprising that while in prison, many women fell into a frenzied state, into delirium, and they imagined that the devil was visiting them in prison, talking to them, giving them advice, instructions, having sexual intercourse with them, etc. About They later stated these visits during interrogations, and this served as new evidence of their guilt. Often the devil appeared in the person of jailers who committed brutal violence against young women prisoners. One 12-year-old girl was so abused that she was found half dead. This was explained as a visit from the devil. Other women fell into a state of insensitivity, moral and physical apathy and met the torment of torture with amazing indifference, which the judges explained by the participation of the devil, helping the witch to endure all the suffering without pain.

The consequence of the trial was punishment - punishment in any case, even if the tests of torture did not lead the accused to a confession and there was not sufficient evidence for a conviction. "Malleus malificarum" does not at all recognize acquittals and recommends keeping the witch in prison and waiting for new indications of her guilt or transferring the case to another authority. But even if a not guilty verdict followed and the defendant was released, her situation was so pitiful that many chose death and committed suicide. Mutilated from torture, with broken limbs, with illnesses from a long stay in a stinking prison, exhausted and tormented by the entire procedure of the judicial investigation she had endured, she was released as a suspect and could wait every minute for a new accusation and arrest. Often they were prohibited from entering the church, and if allowed, they were given a special place in the church, separated from others. Even in their own home, among their family, they had to be isolated and live in a separate room. Often these unfortunates were pushed away by their own family, who were afraid to take them back - for fear of incurring suspicion or because they were still considered to be in the power of the devil, although the court acquitted them. They were shunned as if they were plagued, and they had to live in isolation, in solitude, in poverty, moving from place to place, begging for alms. For the most part, such a life brought upon them new suspicions of witchcraft, and they again ended up in prison and torture, and this time they were no longer given freedom.

But acquittals were very rare. Most of the torture ended with a confession and the process was followed by execution. The convict was burned at the stake - alive or after strangulation or beheading. The latter type of execution was considered a mitigation of punishment.

In practice, it was accepted as a rule that only those witches who persisted and showed no signs of repentance were burned alive; mercy was shown to those who repented, and they were burned after preliminary strangulation or beheading. In this regard we find in the instructions of one court the following:

“In our time, although many witches, impudent and burdened with the weight of unbelief and in oblivion of God and the salvation of their souls, should be burned alive, almost all Christ-loving courts have accepted the merciful custom that those of the witches who refuse communication with evil spirits and with a repentant heart they again turn to God, should not be punished alive by means of slow fire, but, according to the customs and customs of the area, must first be either strangled, or beheaded by means of a sword, and their dead body, for fear of all others and as evidence good and correct administration of justice, thrown into the fire and reduced to ashes."

The court's verdict to commit the witch to burning at the stake was usually posted on the town hall for general information, outlining the details of the witch's crime that had emerged. Sometimes, due to special circumstances, a condemned witch was granted leniency, which, as indicated above, consisted in the fact that she was not burned alive, but was first killed with a sword, and only her corpse was burned at the stake. This favor was also announced specifically for everyone's information, and this announcement was called Gnadenzettel. Here is the text of one such Gnaden-zettel:

“Although the accused who appeared before the court, according to the verdict, was sentenced for her serious crimes and sins to the transition from life to death (vom Leben zum Tode) by means of fire, but our highly respected and gracious prince and lord of Bamberg, from special motives, wished to give her his great princely mercy, namely, that she should initially be transferred from life to death by means of the sword, and only then transformed by fire into ashes and dust, so that, however, the condemned for her numerous and grave crimes should first be cauterized with a red-hot iron, and then so that her right hand, with which she sinned terribly and unchristianly, would be cut off and then also be burned along with the body.”

The woman condemned to be burned at the stake was dragged to the place of execution, tied to a cart or to the tail of a horse, face down, through all the streets of the city. She was followed by armed police and clergy, accompanied by a crowd of people. Before the execution took place, the verdict was read. In some cases, the fire was lit small, with a small flame, in order to intensify the torment of slow death. Often, to intensify the execution, the condemned's hands were cut off before execution, or the executioner, during the execution of the sentence, tore pieces of meat from their body with heated tongs. The burning was more or less painful depending on whether the wind drove the suffocating smoke into the face of the man tied to the post or, on the contrary, drove away this smoke. In the latter case, the convict slowly burned, enduring terrible torment. Many had the moral strength to wait silently for the last heartbeat, others filled the air with heartbreaking cries. To muffle the screams of the unfortunate people, their tongues were tied and their mouths were gagged. The surrounding crowd heard only the crackling of a burning fire and the monotonous singing of the church choir - while the body of the unfortunate woman turned into ashes...

The Venetian nightingales were the flip side of the dances and iconic local carnivals; how at one time in Russia the Gulag was the terrible opposite side of enthusiasm, great construction projects and bravura marches...
That’s why I want to post this article too. Her source: http://index.org.ru.
The attached photos show the Doge's Palace; Bridge of Sighs; and finally, a real cell in a Venetian prison.

The beautiful Italian city of Venice is one of the most visited tourist destinations in Italy. You can spend hours walking along its narrow streets, traveling by boat along its canals (and if you have money, then hiring a gondola - this, it must be said, is not a cheap pleasure), drinking what is considered to be the best coffee in the world on St. Mark's Square, admiring palaces, called here “palazzos”, emerging directly from the water...
But there are also places of particular interest not only for ordinary tourists, but also for employees of the penitentiary department of any country. There are three famous medieval prisons in Venice - Piombi, Pozzi and Carceri.
The Doge's Palace (Palazzo) is the most famous and, without a doubt, the most beautiful palace in Venice. In the Middle Ages, it was here that the authorities of this city-state were located, it was here that the most important matters were decided, alliances were concluded, agreements were signed, and guilty citizens were condemned to death or eternal imprisonment.
On the façade of the Doge's Palace there are white columns arranged in an even row. But if you look closely, you can see two pink ones in the middle. This is the place where the Doges appeared before the inhabitants of Venice during ceremonial occasions, the main of which were carnivals and capital punishments. There is also a Hall of Torture (sala de Tormenti) in the Doge's Palace, where blocks attached to the ceiling are displayed, from which the victim was hung with his hands tied behind his back.
It must be said that denunciations became widespread in the Venetian Republic. Moreover, anonymous denunciations were not considered: the signature of the informer himself and two witnesses was required. In the basements of the palace there was a huge hall with documentation of Venetian citizens. Here you could find information on anyone. And at the right time this information was extracted, the person was arrested and ended up in the famous Venetian dungeons, where some time after the trial he was either executed or sentenced to imprisonment.
There were two prisons at the Doge's Palace: the underground prison of Pozzi and Piombi, a prison located under the very roof.
The underground prison got its name “Pozzi” because its cells were made of stone wells (pozzo in Italian).
The famous Italian adventurer Casanova also spent some time in this prison. This is how he describes these casemates in his memoirs: “In the Doge's Palace, there are nineteen terrible underground dungeons at the disposal of the state inquisitors; criminals who deserve to die are sent there. These nineteen underground prisons exactly resemble tombs, but are called Pozzi, wells, because there is always two feet of sea water, entering through the same barred opening, from which a little light enters the cells; These holes are only a square foot in size. The prisoner, if he does not prefer to stand knee-deep in salt water all day, must sit on the box, where his mattress lies and where at dawn they put water and a piece of bread for him; He needs to eat the bread right away, because if he hesitates, the fattest sea rats will snatch him out of his hands.”
Casanova was captured on July 26, 1755 on denunciation and charges of heresy and communication with spirits. However, the list of charges also included debauchery and fraud. Casanova successfully lightened the wallets of wealthy Venetians. To arrest him, the Inquisition sent forty soldiers led by the chief of the guard - the authorities were so afraid of his ability to fool anyone and immediately escape.
Almost nothing was visible in the prison cells, located in the semi-basements. Due to the high humidity, prison conditions in the Venetian prison were particularly harsh. Prisoners often got sick and died.
The prisoners sat on bread, water and... wine. Bread was purchased by weight, so bakers, to save money, added water to it, and the prison guards themselves diluted the wine with water.
It should also be noted that after serving the assigned prison term, prisoners, if they managed to survive, could leave the prison, but only after paying for their maintenance. Those who were unable to collect the specified amount of money remained in prison for an indefinite period of time. True, to help such poor people, a religious order was created in Venice, collecting donations for these prisoners.
It's easy to imagine all these horrors while wandering around the dungeon all alone. Here, if you're not used to it, you can even get lost. Some underground corridors seem to lead to the light, but upon arriving there, you find yourself right in the inner closed courtyard of the prison, from which there is no way out.
But the dungeons of the Pozzi prison are not the only place in the Doge's Palace where prisoners languished. There were also cells for prisoners in the attic of the Palace, under the very roof, covered with lead, hence their name Piombi, which means “lead” (piombo in Italian “lead”). These cells were not flooded with water, but its prisoners suffered in the summer from terrible heat, reaching up to 60 degrees, and in the winter from cold and dampness.
Piombi prison is also associated with the name of Casanova. The great adventurer and heartthrob, transferred to this “heavenly” prison from an underground prison, was the only one in its entire history who managed to escape from it.
After the famous adventurer was transferred from Pozzi to Piombi, he immediately began to prepare an escape plan. In total, he spent more than a year here. Finally, an escape plan was developed. First, he made a hole in the floor of his cell, located directly above one of the halls of the palace. Casanova planned to go down there on a holiday when no one would be there. But when everything was ready to escape, Casanova (what bad luck!) was unexpectedly transferred to another cell. And soon one of the guards discovered a hole in the floor of his old cell and was going to report this to his superiors. But Casanova manages to come to an agreement with the money-hungry jailer and hush up the matter. And although the escape failed, Casanova did not lose the will to freedom and immediately began to develop a new plan, which turned out to be more successful. A few months later, with the help of a prisoner from a neighboring cell, he made a hole in the roof of the palace, through a dormer window they made their way into one of the palace rooms and then, bypassing the guards, got out to freedom.
His escape is still something phenomenal: Casanova managed to escape from the most guarded dungeons, which were monitored not only by the Doge's guards, but also by the servants of the Council of Three - the terrible Venetian Inquisition.
Casanova left Piombi under almost mystical circumstances: at the sound of the midnight bell. This story, like the entire life story of the great adventurer, is described in all its colors in his memoirs, which are called “The Story of My Life.”
The real Giacomo Girolamo Casanova was an outstanding personality and, as historians note, much more interesting than all the legends about him combined. Secret agent, alchemist, magician, adventurer, writer, one of the most educated people of his time, Casanova was and remains a household name. However, love affairs, now primarily associated with his name, were far from the main hobby of Giacomo himself.
Casanova traveled a lot throughout Europe, personally knew Voltaire, Mozart, Goethe, not to mention the largest aristocrats and rulers of various countries, from Frederick the Great to the Russian autocrat, Empress Catherine II. According to one version of his biography (and there are many of them besides the one he proposed), Casanova was a secret agent in the service of France. It was this fact, and not at all another love affair or blasphemy, as is sometimes indicated, that brought Casanova to the Venetian prisons of Pozzi and Piombi. And twenty years after his phenomenal escape, he returned to Venice and became an agent of the very Inquisition from which he managed to so cleverly elude. Then he again did not please the authorities, fled again and settled in the Czech Republic, where he quietly and peacefully lived out his days as the personal librarian of Count Waldstein. There he died on June 4, 1798, not knowing that centuries later his name would still be known throughout the world.
But let's return to Venetian prisons.
When there was not enough space for the prisoners languishing in the cells of Pozzi and Piombi, a new prison was built next to the Doge's Palace, on the Schiavoni embankment. It was connected to the Palace by a bridge known as the Bridge of Sighs.
This Carceri prison (carceri in Italian means “prison”) is shrouded in legends and secrets, no less terrible than Piombi and Pozzi. It is reliably known that the great English poet Byron voluntarily spent the night in one of its cells in the hope of experiencing what the prisoners of Karcheri felt.
The conditions in this prison were hardly more comfortable than in the other two Venetian prisons: cramped cells, powerful bars, ubiquitous rats, dampness, disgusting food, torture.
The Karcheri prison served its functions until the end of the Second World War. Then it was closed and turned into a museum, where tourists enjoy visiting. To enter it, you need to pass through the famous, recently restored Bridge of Sighs, so named because it was from this bridge that prisoners could take a last look at freedom, see a piece of the sea, breathe the air of freedom, before perhaps saying goodbye to their loved ones forever and loved ones.

In 1440, in Nantes, the capital of the Duchy of Breton, the trial of Gilles de Rais, whom we know as Bluebeard, was underway. He was one of the most famous people of the 15th century, the richest man in Brittany, baron and marshal of France, and took part in the Hundred Years' War. They accused him of practicing alchemy and witchcraft, of making a pact with the devil, and of numerous murders of boys.

Having read the accusation before him, he was asked to confess everything in the presence of judges and witnesses. Gilles de Rais refused to confess and suggested that he be tested in court with a hot iron. The judges refused his request and suggested sending him to torture. Then Gilles de Rais confessed to all the crimes and was executed.

“On the one hand, this case is quite simple, since most medieval criminals confessed to their crimes in court even without the use of torture; it was enough to show them torture instruments. But for us it is very interesting because it, like a drop of water, reflects the contradictions that were characteristic of medieval judicial procedure.”

Olga Togoeva

The test that Gilles de Rais proposed belonged to the so-called accusatory procedure, or “God's court.” It arose in the early Middle Ages and until some time was accepted in all courts of Western Europe. Accusatory - because not a single case under it could begin without the presence of a plaintiff who took an oath that his accusation was true. In response, the accused had the right to propose a test, which was called an ordeal.

The ordeal may have looked like a cleansing oath that he was innocent, sworn on the Bible. If for some reason the accused could not take such an oath, he could offer the so-called one-sided ordeal, which was carried out using red-hot iron (the person held a red-hot bar of iron in his hand), cold water (the person had to drink a certain amount of cold water and not choke), the so-called swimming (a person was thrown into the water and watched whether he would drown or not) and so on. In addition, there was a two-way ordeal, when the accused challenged his accuser to a judicial duel, or they both nominated their representatives.

There were also specific ordeals that were called divine: for example, when a person was hanged, the rope broke, or the ladder was not there, or the prison doors miraculously opened, or some maiden stepped forward from the crowd and said: “I want this accused man to be my husband.” “, in this case, the judges were obliged to give her this criminal.

“The problem was that during all these ordeals, the judges acted only as witnesses to the highest will. The main judge was the Lord. It was he who let people know whether this or that person was guilty or innocent. The judges could only witness this. And of course, at some point this situation no longer suited them.”

Olga Togoeva

There are several reasons why changes began to occur in the judicial sphere: population growth, which resulted in the need for powerful judicial bodies, a change in the position of the ruler, and the low detection rate of crimes during the indictment procedure. In addition, by the 12th century, a huge number of heretical sects had formed in Western Europe, the members of which were impossible to fight through the accusatory procedure. Finally, in the 11th-12th centuries in Western Europe they actively began to recall Roman law, from which, as a result, the new procedure was borrowed.

It was called the Inquisition. Now the judge could initiate a case based on his own suspicions, and thus became the main opponent of the accused: he could conduct interrogation and use torture.

“The new procedure gave judges enormous powers, but it also contributed to the development of many other legal institutions. Lawyers, prosecutors, the development of records management, the development of the prisons themselves - all this was associated with the birth of a new inquisitorial procedure.”

Olga Togoeva

This transition from the accusatory to the inquisitorial procedure in modern legal history is called the inquisitorial revolution.

Of course, not everyone thought that the new procedure was good: for many, Christ still remained the supreme judge. This is precisely the position taken by Gilles de Rais, who proposed conducting an ordeal with a hot iron. But for his judges, the new procedure was already the norm. This incident demonstrates how tenacious the old legal norms were, despite the fact that the new procedure had already been officially introduced. 

Abstract

In 1429, during the Hundred Years' War, Joan of Arc appeared on the historical stage. She fought on the side of the French king Charles VII and conducted several successful military campaigns, but in 1430 she was captured by the Duke of Burgundy, and he sold her to the British.

She was tried in 1431 in Rouen, Normandy. At first, the judges tried to portray Jeanne as a witch, but they did not have enough information about her and her life. Then they tried to accuse her of heresy and began asking questions that only a person who had received a serious theological education could answer. Zhanna could neither read nor write, her knowledge of faith was extremely fragmentary, therefore, as soon as it came to the interpretation of Christian dogmas, she began to make mistakes. In particular, she said that in all her actions she submits directly to Jesus Christ, and not to the Church, which is located on Earth and is headed by the Pope. From the point of view of the theologians of the 15th century, this was pure heresy, and the clerk of the court wrote down his comment in the margins of the interrogation materials - “Deadly answer” (responsio mortifera). With this answer she signed her own death warrant.

“If Joan had been tried under the old indictment procedure, the judges would never have been able to sentence her to death because they would never have known how much her personal views diverged from the official position of the Church. But they used the inquisitorial procedure and were able to hear her own opinion on matters of faith, and therefore were able to draw up a verdict.”

Olga Togoeva

By the 12th century, Christian dogmas had been developed in Europe, which were not acceptable to the entire population of Western Europe. This led to the emergence of various heretical movements that challenged one or another of the dogmas: first of all, that the Pope is the head of the Christian church. In the 12th century, entire counties, duchies (especially in northern Italy and southern France) and even countries came under their control.
To persecute members of heretical sects, it was necessary to find out how people imagine religious issues, what they think about Christian dogmas, whether they often go to church, how they confess, and similar things.

“The old indictment procedure was unsuitable for such purposes simply because it did not require a confession from the accused.
And therefore, a transition was made to the inquisitorial procedure, borrowed from Roman law, in which the confession of the accused was the main evidence of his guilt. It is the church courts that are introducing such an investigation procedure for the first time.”

Olga Togoeva

First, the so-called episcopal inquisition was created. Each bishop had to monitor all deviations from the true faith in the area under his jurisdiction. To do this, twice a year he had to travel around all the cities of his diocese and confess to the parishioners.
In 1215, at the IV Lateran Council, it was decided that every Christian was obliged to confess once a year. This measure greatly helped the church courts, because it put the persecution of heresies practically on stream.

“This was not the end of the reformation of the Inquisition. The church authorities understood that the bishops were unable to cope with the mission entrusted to them and did not have time to track down all the heretics. And in connection with this, a real Inquisition was created, the one that we know from various sources: the mission of persecuting heresy was entrusted to two wandering orders - the Dominicans, to whom the Franciscans were given help. They were answerable only to the Pope."

Olga Togoeva

Meanwhile, it was not popular in all regions of Western Europe. In northern France, even church authorities considered the Inquisition's interference in their affairs unacceptable. The first inquisitor sent to German lands was killed by local residents. In Venice, inquisitors were used to persecute political traitors; in Naples, local authorities could not resolve disputes with the Pope and regularly expelled inquisitorial authorities from the city. In England, the influence of the Inquisition was also minimal.

The Inquisition reached its peak on the Iberian Peninsula. This happened in the 15th century, when Aragon and Castile united under the rule of Isabella and Ferdinand. It was headed by the confessor of Queen Torquemada. He remained in this post for 20 years and during this time he created a very strictly organized system with a central court in Madrid and local courts in different provinces, which were very strictly subordinate to each other and were in constant contact. During his life in Spain, according to rough estimates of modern historians, 9 thousand people were executed, and another 20 thousand fled from the Pyrenees to other countries.

In 1908, Pope Pius X renamed the inquisitorial department the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office, and in 1965 the Sacred Congregation was renamed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. 

Abstract

Reims is a special city in medieval French history. It was here, in the Reims Cathedral, that the archbishops crowned the French kings, and here, in the Abbey of Saint Remigius, an ampoule with holy oil was kept, with which the kings were anointed for their reign. This led to the fact that the abbey and the archbishop constantly argued about which of them was more important, including in questions of who could try whom, for what crimes and in what territory. The monks, especially interested in the constant discussion of this issue, constantly mentioned in the documents that they have certain attributes of the court, which means that they too can pass sentences and administer justice.

“They boasted immensely that they had a special meeting place - a beautiful and significant hall, where for a long time the elders and chatelaines of the abbey usually gathered. In the same way, the source of their pride was a good prison, locked with a padlock. Well, in addition to all this, the abbey also had a pillory, which was beautiful and significant, which gave their judicial power special weight. The only thing they didn’t have for complete happiness was the gallows, because the right to carry out death sentences in Reims belonged only to the archbishop.”

Olga Togoeva

We know very little about medieval prisons. We know, for example, that with the emergence of cities, city walls, towers and dungeons began to be used as prisons. In the court documents of Rouen, escapes of criminals through windows are often mentioned, and only in 1432 does a record appear that iron bars were installed in the prison and the idea was to put iron cages in the cells for criminals. This cage was made
in particular for Joan of Arc.

The royal prison in Paris was called the Chatelet. Imprisonment was paid: prisoners paid for bed, their own shackles and food; they were only entitled to water and bread for free. They tried to keep men and women in different rooms, but the prison was so overcrowded that the royal judges could not even separate accomplices in the same case into different cells; they were often also kept together.

We can learn something about the medieval prison from the memoirs of prisoners, the most famous of whom is the French poet Francois Villon, who was imprisoned at least twice and wrote the poem “A Question to the Prison Warden.”

“Villon’s words tell us nothing about how his cell was constructed. At best, we understand how bad it was for him to sit there: it was hard, scary for him; bad water, dampness. In general, disgusting conditions. And this translation from specific content into a rhetorical layer, into a description of one’s feelings - it is characteristic of almost any medieval source. Remembering the same monks from the Abbey of St. Remigius, we understand that they describe their prison, which they were so proud of, in exactly the same way. They do not write how it was built and in what building it was located. They only say that she was of good quality. That is, for them this was the most important thing.”

Olga Togoeva

A courthouse was a rarity in the Middle Ages. The trial took place in a wide variety of places, and not always under a roof. Often (especially in the early Middle Ages, but also later) the trial took place near some significant object - for example, a tree or stone, which was loaded with specific legal symbolism. In the Middle Ages, stones were the place where many nations took an oath. One of the earliest judicial councils, the Icelandic Althing, was first assembled in 930 on a stone - the Rock of Law. Wood, which we periodically see in medieval miniatures as an attribute of the court, was especially popular in France, Flanders and Germany. When united into one, they turned into a column of justice - a common option in Germany and Lorraine.

Then the place for court hearings began to be fenced off with the help of a wooden fence, and only the very last stage was the transfer of the court indoors: first to the ruler’s palace, with a separate room for judicial needs, and then to separate buildings called “auditorium” or “pavilion” " Typically, these buildings were two-story: on the ground floor there could be shopping arcades, the proceeds of which went to support the judiciary.

“However, in the Middle Ages there were very few such buildings.
And therefore, returning to the history of the monks from Reims, it must be said that they were very lucky that they had both a prison and a separate court building. Well, I think they somehow got over the fact that they missed the gallows.”

Olga Togoeva 

Abstract

In the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg there is a painting by an unknown artist, which depicts Christ at the Last Judgment with the upcoming Mary and John the Baptist, made in Northern Germany in the 15th century. We know that it was written for the city hall, that is, it hung in the courtroom behind the backs of the judges.

“Jesus Christ is the central figure of the legal metaphors of the Middle Ages. Almost all the symbolism of secular legal proceedings is referred to him, and thereby emphasizes the idea that secular legal proceedings are based on religious ideas.<...>Jesus Christ, administering the Last Judgment, is exactly the image that earthly judges need to be guided by in their daily judicial practice. Thus, Christ appears before us in the image of an ideal judge.”

Olga Togoeva

Quite a lot of such images of the crucifixion or Christ at the Last Judgment, intended for courts, have survived to this day, and they come from various parts of Western Europe.

In the painting from the Hermitage you can see symbols that make Christ an ideal judge. This is primarily a lily, which symbolizes mercy, and a sword, which symbolizes justice. But besides this, the painting depicts the instruments of the Passion of Christ: the crucifixion itself, as well as nails, a spear, a crown of thorns and a whip.

“These objects, when applied to the figure of Jesus Christ, do not symbolize him as an ideal judge. On the contrary, they remind the beholder of a completely different hypostasis of Christ - this is Christ as an ideal criminal. Thus, not only the metaphor of the court as an institution is connected with the figure of the Lord. The image of the Last Judgment should also remind us that the colleagues of the medieval judges who tried Christ made a mistake. This was the first miscarriage of justice in the history of Christian justice - the trial of Christ himself, an unjust sentence and execution."

Olga Togoeva

To understand this symbolism, a medieval theological concept called the doctrine of atonement is very important. It developed in Western Europe around the 8th century. Started to develop it in detail
in the 11th century, the outstanding English theologian Anselm of Canterbury. He wrote that since Adam, humanity, due to its sins, had come to such a state that only the sacrifice of Christ could provide people with another chance for salvation. In the 13th century, the doctrine of atonement received its logical conclusion in the works of the most authoritative medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas, who wrote that Christ voluntarily sacrificed himself to humanity and this sacrifice was necessary both for Christ himself and for all people.

“The following interesting conclusion followed from this doctrine: if Christ sacrificed himself for the sake of people, then people should not only always remember this and be grateful to him for it, but also behave in exactly the same way if they find themselves in the same situation. That is, if they stand trial, they must become the same ideal criminals as Christ was.”

Olga Togoeva

In connection with the development of this metaphor of Jesus Christ as an ideal criminal in medieval art, a very specific plot “Ecce homo” - “Behold the man” - is greatly developed. After Pilate’s trial, Christ is taken out onto the porch and presented to the people as a criminal with the words: “Look, behold, this is the man, this is the criminal whom we have condemned.”
In medieval images, this theme is very often present in two planes: Jesus Christ himself stands on the porch, and a level lower, on the ground, medieval criminals are put on public display. Thus, the biblical plan and the plan of medieval everyday life are combined in one picture.

Another plot that is being developed in medieval art is Golgotha, on which the gallows, scaffold, and any medieval instruments of punishment are side by side with the instruments of the Passion of Christ: this is the same spear, whip, crown of thorns, sponge and all other attributes that are familiar to us from Gospel.

The religious metaphors of secular medieval legal proceedings do not end there. The criminal himself is called a sinner in secular court documents: he commits not a crime, but a sin. The judge finds out on torture
about crimes committed in the same way as a priest learns during confession
from the sinner about his misdeeds. That is why both confession and torture are called “medicine.” Both the sinner and the criminal who has not repented or confessed to his crimes are symbolically perceived by ecclesiastical and secular authorities as dead.

And right before execution, before hanging a person or cutting off his head, his belongings are divided between the executioner and the jailer, just as Christ's belongings were divided under his crucifixion. 

Abstract

“Medieval justice knew a variety of punishments for crimes. Some of these punishments were borrowed from Antiquity, from Rome and even from Greece. Some were a product of medieval culture. But one thing remained absolutely unchanged: the entire system of punishments during this period was distinguished by exceptional entertainment, which in many respects was preserved later, already in the New and even in Contemporary times.”

Olga Togoeva

In 1610, François Ravaillac, the murderer of the French king Henry IV, was executed in Paris. Ravaillac was a regicide, and a whole ritual of punishments was developed for him, which were carried out sequentially on the same day. First of all, Ravaillac was sentenced to public repentance: he was paraded through the streets of Paris. Then his hand was cut off, with which he dealt the fatal blow. Then they tore his body with tongs and then quartered him. Eventually his remains were burned until not even bones remained of the man. The house in which Ravaillac was born was demolished and compensation was paid to its owner so that nothing would ever be built on the site. Ravaillac's parents were expelled from France, and other relatives had to change their surname so that it would not remain in people's memory.

The people of the Middle Ages did not have much entertainment, and they perceived a public execution as a performance by magicians or jugglers. The judiciary took advantage of this to some extent. For example, they never changed the place of execution and the route along which the criminal walked to it. When they heard the sounds of drums or trumpets or the voice of a herald, people knew exactly where to run.

The authorities needed to convey to ordinary members of society their idea of ​​crime and punishment, to show that this person was guilty of this crime and therefore was sentenced to this punishment. Therefore, in the Middle Ages, the principle of talion, borrowed from Roman law, lived for a very long time: for a crime, a punishment was imposed that maximally reproduced the crime itself. If a person committed theft, his hand was cut off. The same could have been done to the murderer. If a person was a counterfeiter, he was boiled alive in a cauldron, simulating the molten metal from which the person cast the coins. If a person blasphemed or insulted someone, his tongue could be cut out.

Ordinary Western Europeans were well aware of this relationship between crime and punishment. But in order to convey this information, the judges also used additional methods. In particular, very often explanatory signs were installed near the place of execution or execution - of course, intended only for those who could read. In addition, heralds could announce the crime. Heretics wore miters - headdresses made of parchment, on which the crime was written. Miters were also on the heads of John Hus and Joan of Arc.

Judicial officials found guilty of exceeding their official powers (usually imposing an unjust sentence resulting in a person being hanged) were subject to public repentance.

“In this case, the official had to personally, surrounded by a crowd, naked (as court documents tell us, but not in the sense that we mean in this word, but, say, barefoot, without a belt, without outerwear, in an undershirt or in underpants) walk to the gallows where the corpse of his victim hung, remove this corpse from the gallows, kiss him on the lips, hug him and carry him in his arms to the church, where he is present at the funeral service and then at the funeral of this innocently convicted victim. If the corpse was already in a state of complete decomposition, it was allowed to make a mannequin, with which all subsequent manipulations were carried out.”

Olga Togoeva

Public repentance was applied as a punishment for official crimes to other categories of the population: a representative of the nobility had to carry a live dog on his shoulders, a craftsman - a tool of his work, a peasant - some kind of agricultural implements, and priests very often carried a book in their hands.

Lovers were sentenced to run through the city streets with a rope tied to their genitals.

The execution of political criminals accused of treason and conspiracy could take up to several days: symbolically, it lasted forever. The criminal could not be buried; he had to disappear from the face of the earth. In some cases, the corpse had to decompose on the gallows and could not be removed. Sometimes the corpse was dismembered and hung on different gallows in different cities as a warning to city residents or visiting peasants.

Until the 18th century, noble people received different executions than commoners. This changed only during the French Revolution and after it, when the guillotine (which existed in various European countries already in the 16th century) began to be used everywhere. In addition, with the introduction of the guillotine, the death penalty turned into a completely mechanized procedure: the executioner was replaced by a machine. In the 19th century, this was supplemented by the understanding that execution by guillotine was painless.

The last public execution took place at Versailles in 1939. A week later, under public pressure, public executions came to a standstill. 

Abstract

“When we talk about the history of law and legal proceedings, no matter what era these discussions relate to, we mean that there is always some kind of transpersonal system of suppression and control that existed from the beginning. In fact, this is a deep misconception. This is not always applicable to the Middle Ages, and, in general, to modern history, and to modern history, because in all periods of society, situations occurred when people - ordinary people, not representatives of the authorities - considered it possible to interfere in the legal process." .

Olga Togoeva

An example is the famous love story of Abelard and Heloise. It happened in France in the 12th century. Abelard, one of the most prominent medieval thinkers, became famous for his theological works and public appearances while still a fairly young man. In 1117, when he was 38 years old, he met Heloise, a 17-year-old girl (her uncle Fulbert, a canon of the University of Paris, invited Abelard to be her teacher).

Eventually they became intimate and Eloise became pregnant. Abelard intended to continue his church career and had no right to marry, and they entered into a marriage, which all of Heloise’s relatives promised to keep secret. They did not keep the secret; Abelard’s unworthy behavior became known in Paris, and his path to the top of the church hierarchy was closed. However, Heloise did not live with Abelard and returned to her uncle's house. Her relatives considered this unacceptable, and at night they broke into Abelard’s house and forcibly castrated him: in his own words, “they mutilated those parts of my body with which I accomplished what they complained about.”

“On the one hand, they behaved incorrectly: according to unwritten norms, they could not castrate him, because officially he was her husband. On the other hand, we observe this very paradox of medieval legal culture, when ordinary people, not representatives of the judiciary, take matters into their own hands and commit lynching. Eloise's relatives took revenge not so much for the desecrated honor of the girl, but for the honor of the entire family, including their manhood. This is a very interesting phenomenon of medieval life, when the shame of a woman turns into damage to the men of her family.”

Olga Togoeva

We observe similar interference of ordinary people in legal proceedings in other areas of medieval life. Thus, the ordeals were contemplated not only by court officials, but also by spectators, who also witnessed the decision made by the Lord. There are known cases when people fought off a criminal who was being led to execution because they considered the sentence to be wrong. So, in 1406, in the French town of Saint-Quentin, a petty thief sentenced to execution on the way to the scaffold began shouting that he was a cleric. It was impossible to execute the clergy: they had to be tried by the church and they could only be sentenced to a prison term, so the gathered crowd recaptured this man from the court officials. In addition, outsiders could resolve a dispute between two conflicting parties or become witnesses at the conclusion of a peace treaty.

But most clearly, such cases of lynching manifest themselves in situations where the crime was committed on a sexual basis, that is, as in the case of Heloise and Abelard, it was about the honor of the family. A deceived husband could castrate his wife's lover and be pardoned: since his wife's crime offended his dignity, his actions were recognized as legal. If the neighbors believed that the husband was not punishing his wife and her lover as they should, the husband himself could bear the punishment: he was seated backwards on a donkey, so that he held the tail of the animal with his hands, and in this form he was rolled through the streets of the city . This custom existed throughout Western Europe and was never persecuted by the judicial authorities; they intervened only if the husband and wife got into a fight with their neighbors, not wanting to participate in the donkey ride. Then officials could intervene and fine the couple.

“Thus, we understand that in the Middle Ages not only the judicial authorities administered justice, but also the most ordinary citizens could perform a certain ritual, which was not described in any legal documents of a normative nature, but was illuminated by tradition, and this tradition has always prevailed in relations between the individual and the state."

Olga Togoeva  

General information

Prison institutions have existed in one way or another since ancient times, their maintenance was extremely expensive, so criminals were kept there mainly until they were sentenced to another punishment - execution, sent to build roads, to mines, to galleys, etc. However, over time, prison punishment becomes dominant. This became an indicator of both a certain wealth of society and the degree of its humanity (in comparison, of course, with the previously existing practice of capital punishment and self-harm). At the same time, even in the late Middle Ages, prisons did not have any specific goals or order of organization. The main task of such institutions, as well as their main element, was the extremely strict isolation of criminals (as well as those who were classified as such by the authorities).

Only fragmentary evidence has reached us about prisons of ancient times, so it is extremely problematic to talk about specific aspects of this activity of early societies. For example, the history of Egypt is associated with the first mentions of places of detention - special settlements for criminals performing hard physical work together with slaves. We know the history of penitentiary institutions as completely as possible from the practice of the Roman state.

The Roman state did not know imprisonment as a type of punishment; it did not have special institutions where persons unwanted by the authorities, those under investigation and trial, insolvent debtors and other guilty subjects were temporarily placed (as a rule, until their future fate was decided).

Among the Roman prisons, called punishment cells (fence, dungeon), we can name the oldest Mamertine prison located next to the forum with its underground part (Tullianum), which was often used for executing criminals. The prison itself was a narrow and long room with a vaulted ceiling, hewn out of the rock. The name of the Mamertine prison is associated with the names of the holy apostles Peter and Paul, who, while bound in this basement, converted their guards Processus and Martinian to Christianity, who later became martyrs.

The bodies of those executed with hooks were dragged into the Tiber along the descent from the Capitoline Hill, and this last road for many was popularly called the “Staircase of Sobs” or “Kolechnikov Staircase”.

From ancient times, near the Capitol, in the quarries there was also the Lautumia punishment cell. In addition, the largest estates (latifundia) had so-called ergastulums (worker's house, strait house) - premises in isolated buildings on the estate, acting as punishment cells for temporarily punished slaves and prisons for slaves who were doomed for some offenses to work in chains for life. Also, ergastulum was usually called a special prison for citizens, in which rich creditors locked up faulty debtors, using them for daily work. Hard labor in the mines was a severe punishment (up to 40 thousand slaves were employed in the Spanish silver mines alone). The convicted person was considered as an eternal slave of the state.

The penitentiary aspect of the fight against crime in Western European countries in the 11th—16th centuries.

The formation of Western European penitentiary policy and the system of special institutions for organizing punishment in the form of imprisonment was closely related to the vision of the picture of the universe by the Catholic Church and measures taken by the state to combat the deviant behavior of disadvantaged segments of the population (beggars and vagabonds). Therefore, it took place within the framework of the social function of initially public, and later state institutions.

In Western European countries, for a long time, prisons served only as a means of temporary detention of persons under investigation, debtors, beggars, vagabonds, incurable patients, crazy people, etc.

With a completely undeveloped state law enforcement system, only social support for the poor and disadvantaged segments of the population made it possible to somehow contain the tide of mercenary and violent crime, especially in famine years. Sometimes radical measures were taken to combat beggary and vagrancy. So, in the 13th century. in Genoa, during a food shortage, the entire mendicant element was put on several galleas (large galleys) and taken to Sardinia.

Formation of the prison system in England

The earliest prison system took shape was in England. The Clarendon Assize of 1166 enshrined the order for the construction of a special institution in each county. There were two types of prisons: count and immune.

The most common penitentiary system in England until the second half of the 19th century. There were county jails where sheriffs initially placed persons suspected and accused of committing felonies. A sheriff's assistant - a warden or a prison guard - was directly responsible for the functioning of a particular institution.

Over time, a sufficiently extensive system of prison institutions was created. Thus, along with royal prisons, similar institutions were available in the form of immune prisons for spiritual and secular aristocrats, prisons for cities and even individual communities, including rural ones, for the detention of criminals, debtors, as well as for petty offenders and “alien people and vagabonds” ( XIII century). Each court also had its own special prison facilities. At the same time, any non-immune prison was under royal jurisdiction, since it was nominally created at the royal court.

There were also special prisons. Thus, the Tower of London gained its fame due to its proximity to the residence of the British kings, as well as due to its strength and the presence of a garrison as a prison for state and other criminals especially dangerous to the authorities. The castles of Wallingford, Nottingham, Windsor and Winchester were often used for the same purposes.

Initially, there was no special procedure for keeping prisoners. Everyone was kept together: adult and juvenile criminals, men and women, hardened criminals and simply vagabonds, beggars and the sick. Some differences appeared only in connection with the solvency of a particular entity. During the reign of Henry II, on the basis of general orders of the crown, local sheriffs began to create instructions for the commandants of prison castles - prison provisions.

However, despite the creation of a fairly extensive system of prison institutions, the high cost of their maintenance led to the fact that in England until the end of the 18th century. the most severe and at the same time the most common punishment was hanging, including for theft of property worth over 40 shillings.

Organization of workhouses and correctional houses

A significant tightening of measures to influence the poor segments of the population characterized law enforcement practice in the countries of victorious Protestantism - England, Denmark, Sweden. “In these countries, the mere fact of poverty was enough to end up on the gallows.”

The first workhouses to provide work for vagabonds and beggars with a prison regime (tsuhthaus) were organized in 1595-1596. in Holland: for men - Rashuis and women - Spinhuis. The length of stay in these institutions was 8-12 years. In England, workhouses were created in 1610, in France - in 1612. Over time, the number of such institutions increased significantly. In addition to detained criminals, tramps and beggars, the prisons also housed the insane.

Zuchthaus gradually began to be created in the cities of the Hanseatic League: in Lübeck - in 1613, Bremen - in 1606, Hamburg - in 1620, Basel - in 1667, Breslau - in 1668, Frankfurt - in 1684 At the same time, the Thirty Years' War brought ruin to the cities, which led to the cessation of the activities of the Zukhthaus. Over time, their positive experience was completely forgotten.

The experience of the Dutch zuchthaus was developed by the activities of the workhouse in Ghent, which laid the foundation for the formation of the Flemish penal system. The educational approach was based on the idea that the cause of most crimes is idleness, the habit of which should be eradicated in each individual criminal. Constant work and learning a craft should be society's payment for the crime committed. In addition, the accumulation of some money at the time of release and the acquisition of labor skills for a further decent existence will also play a positive role in protecting society from a possible repetition of criminal excesses.

In 1529-1531. in France, beggars with aggressive intentions roamed the streets and even attacked the houses of wealthy citizens. In 1530, with the help of special detachments, beggars were caught and placed in a specially created prison.

However, the most brutal measures against beggars and vagabonds were used in England. For example, in accordance with the edict of Henry VIII, from 1531, both beggars and those who gave them alms were equally subject to corporal punishment (the first prohibition of giving alms was made back in 1349).

During the reign of Elizabeth I, reformatory and correctional houses began to be created to combat beggary. In 1557, a house of correction was opened in Bridwell with the strictest labor regime and prison discipline. Prisoners were involved in hard physical work in mines and bakeries. However, already in 1587 this idea discredited itself, since the creation of a correctional house did not solve the problem of vagrancy and beggary, and the joint work of those simply detained for begging and persons serving sentences for committing obvious crimes “killed in the first all instincts of kindness and eroded in the their consciousness of the boundaries between good and evil." We can say that correctional institutions have simply merged with prisons. A new surge in the activity of correctional and workhouses in England was associated with the economic boom of the mid-17th century.

The widespread use of forced labor of detained offenders was also typical for other countries. Thus, in French institutions for keeping “harmful” beggars—hospitals—prisoners worked from 5-6 a.m. until dusk. At the same time, men's labor was used in mines, breweries, sawmills, and women's and children's labor was used in shoemaking, sewing, spinning, making buttons, etc. Failure to meet the daily quota was strictly punished by a reduction in food standards and imprisonment. In the 18th century Beggars began to be punished with whips, sent to galleys or into exile in colonies (“across the seas”).

The appropriate material and later legal basis for imprisonment as a form of punishment was created only during the period of bourgeois changes.

The formation of penitentiary systems in New and Contemporary times

Imprisonment as a special correctional measure

The appearance of the term “penal system” is associated with the name of the Benedictian monk Jean Mabillon, who proposed a special system of measures for the correction of criminals. In his opinion, the salvation of a person who has fallen into the sin of crime, i.e. its correction can only be achieved through spiritual cleansing - prayer and repentance, as well as the maintenance (punishment) of sinful flesh in conditions of severe imprisonment.

Over time, certain provisions of this concept were embodied in various types of prison institutions created in Europe: correctional labor houses for children in Genoa and Rome (in 1653 and 1735) and for adult criminals in Milan (in 1766).

In England, the Law on the creation of penitentiaries was issued in 1778. It was supposed to place beggars and vagabonds, careless servants and workers, soldiers in such institutions for committing any not particularly serious offenses (and subsequently children, at the request of their parents, for disobedience and impudence). behavior). Here preference was given to forced labor, but in conditions of solitary confinement. The Parliamentary Bill of 1779 established the role of imprisonment in the form of deterrence, moral and religious re-education and training in a trade. However, the project did not go beyond the construction of one of the two prisons planned for the experiment.

Philadelphia Penitentiary System

Nevertheless, the idea of ​​penitentiaries received practical design in the form of the Philadelphia system in the USA, where in 1776 representatives of the religious sect of Quakers created the first penitentiary (from the Latin penitentiamus - repentant, correctional). It was a prison institution with a very strict regime and conditions for serving the sentence. According to the Quakers, crime is generated by apostasy, and therefore the criminal should be intimidated, forced to repent and reconciled with the Almighty. Therefore, the penitentiary was a prison with extremely strict solitary confinement. They were known to the administration only by their numbers: no name, no origin, no crime committed, no sentence. All convicts were shod in felt shoes. They were not entitled to visits or letters and parcels. Absolute silence and isolation from the outside world. Everything was replaced by the Bible. If you speak a word, you will be flogged; if you leave the cell, you will be wearing a mask. Hospital, bathhouse, walks - a series of solitary cells, courtyards. There are also single booths in the church.

The silent, strict solitary confinement was designed for “a person’s ability for endless improvement, to convince the believing soul that loneliness inevitably prompts repentance and will certainly return a person to goodness,” but in fact it only led to insanity and the inability of those released to navigate freedom.

The Philadelphia prison system was widely used in Germany, Denmark, Belgium, France and some other European countries. In some prisons, prisoners were forced to work - pedaling a huge drum, sometimes for ten hours a day. This meaningless, exhausting and humiliating activity was one of the elements of punishment. It is not surprising that in such conditions prisoners went crazy much more often than in other institutions (V. Stern).

Soon, solitary confinement was reduced to nine months, several exercise yards were expanded, yards for joint walks were created, and church boxes were abolished.

Oborn prison system

Already from the middle of the 18th century. processes of a noticeable softening of the criminal and penitentiary policies of European states began. As a result of a deep rethinking of the basic approaches to punishment, it gradually begins to lose the properties of state revenge itself and acquires the character of public protection.

Under these conditions, elements of the Oborn prison system (1820, USA) appeared, which was intended to somewhat weaken the negative properties of the Philadelphia system. So, by the middle of the 19th century. The isolation system was replaced by the “punishment cell,” which left somewhat more freedom for the prisoners.

In France, in 1850, penal colonies were opened for juvenile delinquents, who were to be “educated together in strict discipline and used for work in agriculture and related industries.” The main goal was to instill in the individual blind obedience to authority and discipline. An exemplary of such institutions was the colony in Mettre (founded in 1840). The main means of disciplinary action was placement in a punishment cell. In addition, hard physical labor in the training and education of juvenile delinquents was supplemented by physically exhausting games and exercises, as the belief was in effect: “Everything that causes fatigue helps to expel bad thoughts.”

Progressive punishment system

In the middle of the 19th century, along with the penitentiary system, some elements of the so-called progressive system of execution of punishment (undividedly dominant at present) appeared.

It originates from the English (brand or star) system, when in the 1840s. on Norfolk Island (near Australia), convicts were divided into classes and conditions were created for a gradual transition from a more difficult regime (in the quarries) to a lighter regime of detention (on the mainland - with the possibility of building a house, starting a family, farming, with the prospect of conditional early release). In this case, the criterion was the behavior of convicts and their attitude to work. Malicious violators were included in the penalty box, severe corporal punishment and additional shackles were applied to them.

For juvenile offenders, reformatories—correctional institutions—appear (New York State, 1876). The basis of their activities, like the punishment cell, was the idea that the cause of all vices is laziness and that work is the best medicine against them. Convicts between the ages of 16 and 30 were placed here for a relatively indefinite period, paying for their own maintenance from the sums they earned. The conditions of detention were as follows: a strict rule of silence; drill and other training according to military regulations. Upon parole, a probationary period of six months was established (with the possibility of extension for another six months or return to prison). “In the wild” the supervision of agents of the prison administration was established. The final decision on release was made by the administration of the reformatory.

As a result of the improvement of the stamp system, the so-called Irish progressive system appeared, the main difference of which was the stage of stay in a transitional prison with the possibility of parole.

The Irish system was extremely complex (the need for “minor” study, control, supervision) and cumbersome, and therefore gradually faded away. But it was subsequently re-adopted and is now in effect, for example, in France and Sweden. In the USSR, the idea was implemented in the creation of colony settlements in the mid-1970s.