Thursday, August 4, 2011

What happened when a bishop broke the law in medieval times?

All clergy (including bishops) could claim 'benefit of clergy' if accused of any crime.This gave them the right to be tried by an ecclesiastical court rather than a criminal or Royal court.As ecclesiastical courts were run and staffed by other clergy,and as bishop was a high rank in the Church,'not guilty' was almost always going to be the verdict,whatever the crime and evidence,and whoever the accuser was.

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