Sanctuary

:This article is about the sanctuaries, for the band, see Sanctuary (band).

Sanctuary in medieval law

Sanctuary was also a right to be safe from arrest in the sanctuary of a church or temple, recognized by English law from the 4th to the 17th century.

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Right of asylum

Many ancient peoples, including the Egyptians, the Greeks, and the Hebrews, recognized a religious "right of asylum", protecting criminals (or those accused of crime) from legal action to some extent. This principle was adopted by the early Christian church, and various rules developed for what the person had to do to qualify for protection and just how much protection it was.

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In England, King Ethelbert made the first laws regulating sanctuary in about 600 A.D. By Norman times, there had come to be two kinds of sanctuary: All churches had the lower-level kind, but only the churches the king licensed had the broader version. There were at least twenty-two churches with charters for that kind of sanctuary, including Battle Abbey, Beverley (see image, right), Colchester, Durham, Hexham, Norwich, Ripon, Wells, Winchester Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, and York Minster.

Related Topics:
Ethelbert - Battle Abbey - Beverley - Winchester Cathedral - Westminster Abbey - York Minster

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Sometimes the criminal had to get to the church itself, to be protected, and might have to ring a certain bell there, or hold a certain ring or door-knocker, or sit on a certain chair ("frith-stool"), and some of these items survive at various churches. In other places, there was an area around the church or abbey, sometimes extending as much as one mile, and there would be stone "sanctuary crosses" marking the boundary of the area; some of those still exist today, too. Thus it could became a race between the felon and mediaeval law officers to the nearest sanctuary boundary, and could make the serving of justice a difficult proposition indeed.

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Church sanctuaries were regulated by common law. An asylum seeker was to confess his sins, surrender his weapons, and be placed under the supervision of the head of the church or abbey where he had fled. He then had forty days to make one of two choices: surrender to secular authorities and stand trial for the crimes against him, or confess his guilt and be sent into exile ("abjure the realm"), by the shortest route and never return without the king's permission. Anyone who did come back could be executed by the law and/or excommunicated by the Church.

Related Topics:
Exile - Excommunicated

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If the suspect chose to confess his guilt and abjure, he would do so in a public ceremony, usually at the gate of the church grounds. He would surrender his worldly goods to the church, and landed property to the crown. He then chose a port city from which to leave England and set out barefooted and bareheaded, carrying a wooden cross-staff as a symbol of his protection under the church. Theoretically he would stay to the main highway, reach the port and take the first ship out of England. However in practice, the fugitive could get a safe distance away, toss the cross-staff and take off and start a new life. But there was one problem: we can safely assume the friends and relatives of the victim knew of this ploy and would do everything in their power to make sure this did not happen; or indeed that the fugitive never reached his intended port of call, a victim of vigilante justice under the pretense of a fugitive who wandered too far off the main highway while trying to "escape".

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Knowing the grim options, some fugitives rejected both choices and opted for an escape from the asylum before the forty days were up. Others simply made no choice and did nothing; since it was illegal for the victims friends to break into an asylum, the church would deprive the fugitive of food and water until a choice was made.

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Henry VIII changed the rules of asylum, reducing to a short list the types of crimes which were allowed to claim asylum. The mediaeval system of asylum was finally abolished entirely by James I in 1623.

Related Topics:
Henry VIII - 1623

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Relating to political asylum

Main article: political asylum

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During the Wars of the Roses, when the Yorkists or Lancastrians would suddenly get the upper hand by winning a battle, some adherents of the losing side might find themselves surrounded by adherents of the other side and not able to get back to their own side, so they would rush to sanctuary at the nearest church until it was safe to come out. A prime example is Queen Elizabeth Woodville, consort of Edward IV of England:

Related Topics:
Wars of the Roses - Elizabeth Woodville - Edward IV of England

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In 1470, when the Lancastrians briefly restored Henry VI to the throne, Edward's queen was living in London with several young daughters. She moved with them into Westminster for sanctuary, living there in royal comfort until Edward was restored to the throne in 1471 and giving birth to their first son Edward during that time. When King Edward died in 1483, Elizabeth (who was highly unpopular with even the Yorkists and probably did need protection) took her five daughters and youngest son (Richard, Duke of York; Prince Edward had his own household by then) and again moved into sanctuary at Westminster. To be sure she had all the comforts of home, she brought so much furniture and so many chests that the workmen had to knock holes in some of the walls to get everything in fast enough to suit her.

Related Topics:
Henry VI - Westminster - Edward

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