This punishment meant beating a person across the backside with a bundle of twigs. Well, I suggest we take them at their word. I hear lieberals saying prison doesnât work â prison is inhuman â prisons are universities of crime! [See previous related threads linked below. In the 16th century, minor crimes were often punished by the pillory or the stocks. - Lara] Adultery and murder: The seedy side of 16th Century Cambridge University ... Offenders could be imprisoned or subjected to corporal punishment for major crimes or ⦠The pillory was a wooden frame on a pole with holes through which a person's head and hands were placed. The Puritans' attitude towards adultery has become most connected with the punishment of Hester Prynne in "The Scarlet Letter." Image Credit: August Schwerdfeger / ⦠Once a common punishment in schools it could also be imposed by the courts for minor offenses. Was it different for men and woman? Adultery and the Mitigation of Murder in English Lawâ, Law and History Review 34.1 (2016), 199-225,© Cambridge University Press. Thus a family of 8 would get $1,600 each and every year! Instead, people were held in prison until trial then some physical punishment was meted out. CRIME AND PUNISHMENT 1500-1600 Gossiping Petty Theft Gossiping (usually a women) punishment was a cage- like contraption placed on her head with a sharp pointed spike so any movement of the tongue caused severe pain to the mouth. Laws were arguably draconian by modern standards, but as Mitchel Roth points out in his book, "Crime and Punishment: A History of the Criminal Justice System," individuals often received a lighter punishment than the law prescribed. The harsher the punishment, the closer to the top. However, it was still used in prisons. The birch was last used in a British prison in 1962. During the colonial period (1600 â 1700) New England, Massachusetts was governed by the puritans. In the 16th century prison was seldom used as a punishment. Extracts reproduced here with permission.-Image: Guerinoâs Christ with the Woman Taken in Adultery (1621), a ⦠Killer Robert Weir faced this punishment in Edinburgh in 1600, as had Captain Calder in 1571 found guilty of murdering the Earl of Lennox. Question from Sasha - Punishment for adultery in 16th century Was adultery punishable by death in the 16th century, particularly in the time of King Henry VIII? The Godly punishments are the just ones. Specifically, for a queen? Punishment for white men committing adultery in Colonial Spanish America is not well documented, showing yet again the double standards common at the time. In the case of a rebellious son over the age of 16, for example, the prescribed punishment was death. Beheaded by the Halifax Gibbet A non-working replica of the Halifax Gibbet, the oldest guillotine in Europe. 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