Poaching in the royal forests was a dangerous game-
Forest law was severe in the 11th and 12th centuries with blinding and castration along with mutilation through chopping off of hands and feet, a possible, if not inevitable punishment of trespass against the venison.
But it wasn’t just fear of temporal punishment-
f that wasn’t enough-
Picture: A part of the Doom Painting at Blyth (on the edge of Sherwood Forest)-
Of course they only concerned with when the poaching encroached onto church land…
In 1253 an announcement was made by the bishops:
‘We arrayed with our pontificals. With candles burning in our hands, solemnly declare the sentence of cursing in all trespassers and breakers of the liberties of the church’ – After the invocation of the authority of the Blessed Virgin, the Apostles Peter and Paul, all the Apostles, Martyrs, Lord Edward the Confessor, St. Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury and Martyr, all the Confessors, Virgins and the Saints of God: and then proceeded: ‘we accurse and from the privileges of Holy Church we sequester and depart all those that from henceforth wittingly or maliciously deprive or despoil the Holy Church of their right…’
(Illingworth Butler 1946)
Leaving apart the question as to why all the virgins in the world seem to form part of the jury...
It would appear that alongside having suffered mutilation, castration, and general abuse for contravening the forest law-
Being as though the lands and woods and arable strips owned by the Archbishop of York, Abbots, Priors and various churches littered the landscape of the forest-
(Andy Gaunt, first published 11/11/2011)
Click here for more ‘Stories from the Forest’…
Community Archaeology Nottinghamshire, Community Archaeology Derbyshire, Community Archaeology Leicestershire, Community Archaeology East Midlands, Mercian Archaeological Services Community Archaeology for Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Sherwood Forest, Leicestershire and the East Midlands. Community Archaeology Nottinghamshire, Community Archaeology East Midlands, Community Archaeology Leicestershire. Archaeological
Mutilation and Damnation
Award Winners 2016
for "Engaging people in the heritage, history & archaeology of Sherwood Forest".
Some funders and partners:
World-
Mercian Archaeological Services CIC
Specialists in Community Archaeology, Public Involvement, Research & Training
Community Archaeology Nottinghamshire, Excavation, Research, Volunteering, Community Archaeology Derbyshire, Training, Social, Learning, Community Archaeology Leicestershire, Heritage, Involvement, Belonging, Knowledge sharing, Community Archaeology Lincolnshire, Topographic Survey, Talks and Presentations, Outreach, Archaeology Projects , Open Days, Schools, Finds Processing, Day Schools, Field Schools, Young People, Archaeology and History of Sherwood Forest, Pottery Research, Medieval, Roman, Prehistoric, Community Interest Company, Community Archaeology Nottinghamshire.
Community Archaeology in Nottinghamshire
Community Archaeology in Derbyshire
Community Archaeology in Leicestershire
Community Archaeology East Midlands
Community Archaeology in Lincolnshire
© Mercian Archaeological Services CIC 2013. Registered Business No. 08347842. All Rights Reserved.
The Future of Sherwood’s Past
Project page links:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
The Sherwood Forest
National Nature Reserve Archaeology Survey
-
Long term Research at
King John’s Palace:
Ancient Royal Heart of Sherwood Forest
-
The Sherwood Forest Archaeology Training Fieldschool
-
“Scirwuda-
Ghost and Shadow woods of Sherwood Forest Project
-
Investigating Thynghowe Viking
Meeting Site
-
Searching for the
The Battle of Hatfield
-
-
Fieldswork at St Edwin’s Chapel
-
St Mary’s Norton-
-
Mapping Medieval Sherwood Forest
-
The Sherwood Forest LiDAR
Project
-
Warsop Old Hall
Archaeological Project
-
The Sherwood Villages Project:
Settlement Development in the Forest
-
-
-
Researching Edward IIs fortification at Clipstone Peel
-
-
-
-
The Cistercians of Rufford Project:
Settlement Development, Dynamics and Desertion.
-
Sherwood Forest Environmental Survey
-
World War II in Sherwood Forest -
-
World War I in Sherwood Forest -
-
About Medieval Sherwood Forest
-
Robin Hood and Sherwood Forest
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Project page links:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
The Sherwood Forest
National Nature Reserve Archaeology Survey
-
Long term Research at
King John’s Palace:
Ancient Royal Heart of Sherwood Forest
-
The Sherwood Forest Archaeology Training Fieldschool
-
“Scirwuda-
Ghost and Shadow woods of Sherwood Forest Project
-
Investigating Thynghowe Viking
Meeting Site
-
Searching for the
The Battle of Hatfield
-
-
Fieldswork at St Edwin’s Chapel
-
St Mary’s Norton-
-
Mapping Medieval Sherwood Forest
-
The Sherwood Forest LiDAR
Project
-
Warsop Old Hall
Archaeological Project
-
The Sherwood Villages Project:
Settlement Development in the Forest
-
-
-
Researching Edward IIs fortification at Clipstone Peel
-
-
-
-
The Cistercians of Rufford Project:
Settlement Development, Dynamics and Desertion.
-
Sherwood Forest Environmental Survey
-
World War II in Sherwood Forest -
-
World War I in Sherwood Forest -
-
About Medieval Sherwood Forest
-
Robin Hood and Sherwood Forest
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-