Can someone pls give me feedback on my crime and punishment 16 mark q?

‘William I’s Forest Laws were the most significant changes to crime after the Norman Conquest’
How far do you agree? Explain your answer.
You may use the following in your answer:
Murdrum fine
Church courts
You must also use information of your own
I agree to a certain extent that William I’s Forest Laws were the most significant changes to crime after the Norman Conquest because the introduction of Forest Laws changed the nature of crime. Hunting or logging without ‘Hunting Rights’ was considered socially acceptable because it was necessary to survive. Due to people needing to have fire wood and animals for food. This meant that William’s Forest Laws were deemed as unfair and cruel, causing the King to become unpopular amongst the general public (lower classes). This was significant because it decreased his power and decreased and undermined his authority. Therefore, William I’s Forest Laws were significant to a certain extent because they devalued the word of law causing a change in attitudes.

I agree to a small extent with the statement as Rebellions had a larger impact on the nature of crime. In order to resist the Norman conquest the people of East Anglia and York rebelled against the king. As a response the king used the army to quash the rebellion through devastation of land. Causing the death of 1000 people by starvation. The use of extreme measures such as this and other forms of the death penalty, caused discontent and changed the nature of crime by making it more violent. This shows that William took crime seriously and the use of violence was significant in attitudes to crime later on. Contrastingly Forest laws didn’t cause as large an impact because people were able to purchase ‘Hunting Rights’ to escape the law however rebels didn’t get treatment that allowed them to carry out rebellions legally. Therefore Rebellions had a more significant impact on the changing nature of crime because they didn’t allow for exceptions like the Forest laws did.

Moreover I agree to a certain extent because the introduction of the Murdrum fine criminalised murder to a larger extent for murder against normans creating an imbalance. This created a legal hierarchy changing the crimes that were acceptable for each level of society. Furthermore the government received money from the crime causing money to become an incentive for conviction rather than justice. This shows that the Murdrum fine was more important because it changed the ethics of crime conviction. However I only agree to a certain extent because Forest Laws also changed the ethics by requiring ‘hunting rights’.

In conclusion I agree with the statement to a small extent. Most importantly because rebellions had a large impact on crime as they caused a lack of respect of law enforcement. While Forest Laws were significant in their impact of the word of law rebellions and the Murdrum fine were much more impactful as they changed the ethics of law and created a legal hierarchy.



Thanks- also ngl my friend and I spend way too long on this. Probably won't be able to replicate in the exam

Hey! A-level history student here. Just want to say that I didn’t study this topic at GCSE so can’t give any feedback on what you’ve written content-wise but i defo can based on the essay in general!

The first thing i would say is try elevating your language e.g. instead of saying “this meant that” say “consequently”. Also try extending your sentences rather than writing really short ones- connectives are your best friends !

Also try lengthening your conclusion as this is the main way you get your evaluation marks!

I think my main criticism is that you have given loads of evidence to support the view in the question but have then concluded that you only agree to a small extent. You need to further develop your reasoning against the view. If you are going to argue against, do one paragraph for the view vs two paragraphs against rather than the other way around!

Hope this is helpful!

Thanks so much for this! I've already sat the exam but I will use these tips for another one. What A level history course do you do? I'm planning on doing 'Dictators and Imperialists'.