̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - murder

‘Murder map’ reveals medieval London’s meanest streets

fpjl2 — Wed, 28 Nov 2018 00:06:35 +0000

Stabbed by a lover with a fish-gutting knife. Beaten to death for littering with eel skins. Shot with an arrow during a student street brawl. Shanked by a sore loser after late-night backgammon.

These were just some of the ways to die violently in the city of London during the 14th century, as catalogued in the ‘Coroners’ Rolls’: the records of the medieval official tasked with documenting sudden and unnatural death – whether accident, suicide or homicide.

Now, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge criminologist Professor Manuel Eisner has plotted all cases of murder from the surviving rolls – covering nine of the years between 1300 and 1340 – onto a digital map of the old city to show for the first time the ‘hot spots’ of lethal violence in medieval London.

Building on work conducted by the historian Barbara Hannawalt over forty years ago, Eisner has also produced an analysis of the 142 homicides committed within the city’s boundaries to reveal not just locations but the days, times and favoured methods.

̽��ֱ��“murder map” of medieval London will be made publicly available on Wednesday on the website of the Violence Research Centre, which will also host a launch event today at the Institute of Criminology.

“Following notification of a violent death, the Coroner and Sheriffs would summon a jury from the local area to investigate, then record all the findings,” said Eisner.

“ ̽��ֱ��events described in the Coroners’ Rolls show weapons were never far away, male honour had to be protected, and conflicts easily got out of hand. They give us a detailed picture of how homicide was embedded in the rhythms of urban medieval life.”

“By digitally mapping these murder cases, we hope to create an accessible resource for the public to explore these remarkable records,” he said.

Eisner’s map allows people to filter the killings by year, weapon and crime scene, and has updated the language of each case description for modern audiences.

While the map shows murders occurred across the city, two main homicide ‘hot spots’ emerge, both commercial centres of the time. One was the stretch of Cheapside from St Mary-le-Bow church – the ‘bow bells’ of cockney legend – leading up to St Paul’s Cathedral.

̽��ֱ��other was further east: the triangle of Gracechurch, Lombard (then ‘Langbourn’) and Cornhill streets that radiate out from Leadenhall market, the history of which can be traced back to the 14th century.

̽��ֱ��majority of murders, some 68%, took place in London’s busy streets and markets, with 21% occurring in private residences. Religious buildings (six murders) may have been more dangerous than brothels (two murders).

As today, medieval homicide was a weekend activity, with almost a third (31%) of murders taking place on a Sunday. “Sunday was the day when people had time to engage in social activities, such as drinking and gaming, which would often trigger frictions that led to assault,” said Eisner.

Around 77% of the murders were committed between early evenings, “around the hour of vespers”, and the first hours after curfew. Daggers and swords dominate the list of murder weapons, used in 68% of all cases. Thick ‘quarter staff’ poles designed for close combat were used in 19% of cases.

Almost all (92%) perpetrators were men. In just four cases a woman was the only suspect. About a third of the cases had more than one suspect, with a number of killings involving brothers or servants helping masters.

Estimates for London populations in the 14th century range from 40,000 to 100,000. Assuming a city of 80,000, Eisner suggests that medieval London murder rates were about 15-20 times higher than we would expect to see in a contemporary UK town of equivalent size.

However, he argues that comparisons with modern society are problematic. “We have firearms, but we also have emergency services. It’s easier to kill but easier to save lives.”

In fact, death by murder could be a slow process in the 14th century. “Over 18% of victims survived at least a week after the initial trauma, probably dying eventually from infections or blood loss,” said Eisner.

One saddle-maker who had his fingers cut off by a rival died of his wounds – and consequently became a homicide victim – a full three weeks later.

While his work takes in everything from bullying prevention to youth crime, violence reduction across the centuries is a major research strand for Prof Eisner. He has studied long-term historical trends in homicide from 1000AD onwards.

“London in the decades before the Black Death had more homicides relative to the population than London in the 18th or 19th century,” added Eisner.

“ ̽��ֱ��trend in London is in line with the long-term decline of homicide found across cities in Western Europe, a decline that led to the pacified spaces that were essential for the rise of urban life and civility in Europe.”

First digital map of the murders recorded by the city's Coroner in early 1300s shows Cheapside and Cornhill were homicide ‘hot spots’, and Sundays held the highest risk of violent death for medieval Londoners.

̽��ֱ��events described in the Coroners’ Rolls show weapons were never far away, male honour had to be protected, and conflicts easily got out of hand

Manuel Eisner

Violence Research Centre

A screenshot of the 'murder map'

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Belief that honour killings are ‘justified’ still prevalent among Jordan’s next generation, study shows

tdk25 — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 23:01:36 +0000

A study into the attitude of teenagers in Jordan’s capital city of Amman reveals that almost half of boys and one in five girls believe that killing a daughter, sister or wife who has ‘dishonoured’ or shamed the family is justified. A third of all teenagers involved in the research advocated honour killing.

Importantly, the study found that these disturbing attitudes were not connected to religious beliefs. ̽��ֱ��research is published in the journal Aggressive Behavior.

Researchers surveyed over 850 students, and found that attitudes in support of honour killing are far more likely in adolescent boys with low education backgrounds.

After analysing the data, researchers concluded that religion and intensity of religious belief were not associated with support for honour killing. Instead, the main factors include patriarchal and traditional worldviews, emphasis placed on female ‘virtue’, and a more general belief that violence against others is morally justified.

̽��ֱ��researchers, from Cambridge ̽��ֱ��’s Institute of Criminology, say the study is one of the first to attempt to gauge cultural attitudes to honour killings in the region. To assess these attitudes they developed the honour killing attitudes (HKA) scale - devised specifically for this study.

̽��ֱ��study suggests a large proportion of teenagers in Jordan believe that killing a woman deemed to have ‘dishonoured’ her family is “morally right”, and the findings reveal “risk factors” for attitudes in support of the vigilante murder of women as justifiable punishment in instances of perceived dishonour.

“While we found the main demographic in support of HKA to be boys in traditional families with low levels of education, we noted substantial minorities of girls, well-educated and even irreligious teenagers who consider honour killing morally right, suggesting a persisting society-wide support for the tradition,” said Professor Manuel Eisner, who conducted the study with his Cambridge graduate student Lana Ghuneim.

“Any meaningful attempt to reduce attitudes in support of such practices requires a broader societal commitment, including coherent messages against honour-related violence from political and religious elites, and decisive action by the criminal justice system.”

̽��ֱ��researchers sampled a total of 856 ninth graders - average age of 15 - from a range of secondary schools across Amman - including private and state, mixed-sex and single gender.

Participants completed a questionnaire based on researchers’ newly-developed sliding scale of attitudes towards honour killing, asking teenagers to place themselves on the scale in relation to different situations where it may be justified to kill a person. ̽��ֱ��participants were not allowed to confer while they filled out the surveys.

In total, 33.4% of all respondents either “agreed” or “strongly agreed” with situations depicting honour killings. Boys were more than twice as likely to support honour killings: 46.1% of boys and 22.1% of girls agreed with at least two honour killing situations in the questionnaire.

61% of teenagers from the lowest level of educational background showed supportive attitudes towards honour killing, as opposed to only 21.1% where at least one family member has a university degree.

41.5% of teenagers with a large number of siblings endorsed at least two honour-killing situations, while this was only the case for 26.7% of teens from smaller families.

Jordan, like some other countries in the Middle East and Asia, has an old tradition of honour killings and a poor record when it comes to criminalising such violence against women. Right up until 2001, an article of the Jordanian Penal Code stated that a man who “catches his wife, or one of his female close relatives committing adultery with another, and he kills wounds or injures one or both of them, is exempt from any penalty.”

̽��ֱ��government of Jordan has increasingly criminalized honour killings, and in 2009 a special court for prosecuting honour crimes was established. Researchers were therefore able to examine the extent to which a change in attitudes could also be found amongst young people more generally.

While stricter legislation has been introduced - despite conservative fears - cultural support for violence against women who are seen as breaking norms has remained widespread - even as Jordan is considered by many to be “modern by Middle Eastern standards”, say researchers.

̽��ֱ��authors hope that their research will help governments to take firm action against attitudes that condone honour killing, and patriarchal violence against women more broadly.

New research into attitudes of 15-year-olds in Middle Eastern nation shows that the practice of brutal vigilante justice, predominantly against young women, for perceived slights against family ‘honour’ still holds sway for significant proportions of the adolescent population.

Any meaningful attempt to reduce attitudes in support of such practices requires a broader societal commitment

Manuel Eisner

Craig Finlay.

Jordanian women in Amman.

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