Editing Murdrum

{{Short description|Historical English crime}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

'''Murdrum''' was the crime of murdering someone in a secret manner in medieval [[English law]].<ref>[https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/murdrum Merriam-Webster dictionary]</ref>

==Origins==
It was introduced into [[Anglo-Saxon law]] by the [[Danelaw|Danes]]. It is distinguished from simple [[homicide]]. In the [[Law codes of Cnut|laws of Cnut]] an unknown man who was killed was presumed to be a Dane, and the [[vill]] or [[tithing]] was compelled to pay 40 [[Mark (currency)|marks]] for his death.{{cn|date=April 2024}}

After the [[Norman Conquest]] of 1066, the law was revived to protect the [[Anglo-Normans]]. The origins of the Norman law are described in the 12th-century [[Dialogus de Scaccario]]:<ref>{{citation | editor-last = Johnson | editor-first = Charles | editor-link = Charles Johnson (historian) | title = De Necessariis Observantiis Scaccarii Dialogus qui vulgo dicitur Dialogus de Scaccario | publisher = Thomas Nelson & Sons | year = 1950 | place = London | pages = 52–53 | language = English | oclc = 63081916}} quoted in {{citation | last = Warren | first = W. L. | author-link = W. L. Warren | title = The Governance of Norman and Angevin England, 1086–1272 | publisher = Stanford University Press | series = The Governance of England | volume = 2 | year = 1987 | place = Stanford, CA, US | url = https://archive.org/details/governanceofnorm0000warr_y8g2 | url-access=registration | isbn = 0-8047-1307-3 | page = 60}}.</ref>

{{Blockquote|In the period immediately following the Conquest what were left of the conquered English lay in ambush for the distrusted and hated Normans and murdered them secretly in woods and unfrequented places as opportunity offered. Now when the kings and their ministers had for some years inflicted the most severe penalties on the English without effect, it was finally decided that the [[Hundred (county division)|hundred]] in which a Norman was found killed, without his slayer being known or revealing his identity by flight, should be [[mulct]]ed in a large sum ... according to the locality of the murder and the commonness of the crime.}}

In later years, the Anglo-Normans became indistinguishable from the native English. Nevertheless, the murdrum was retained as the most effective law against secret murder (as opposed to open murder that could be handled by the [[hue and cry]]) no matter the victim's ethnicity.{{Sfn|Warren|1987|p=60}}

== Exemptions and abolition ==
When King [[Henry I of England|Henry I]] granted tax liberties to [[Norman and medieval London|London]] in 1133, he exempted the city from taxes such as [[Scot and lot|scot]], [[danegeld]], and murdrum.<ref>[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1133Hank1tax.html Henry I, King of England: Grant of Tax Liberties to London, 1133], Medieval Sourcebook, Fordham University</ref> [[Richard I of England]] exempted the [[Knights Templar]] from being charged with murdrum and ''[[Latrocinium]]'' amongst other privileges. The murdrum was abolished in the reign of [[Edward III of England|Edward III]].{{cn|date=April 2024}}

==See also==
* [[Frankpledge]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book|title=[[England and the Continent in the Tenth Century|England and the Continent in the Tenth Century:Studies in Honour of Wilhelm Levison (1876-1947)]]|publisher=Brepols|year=2010|editor-first=David|editor-last=Rollason|editor2-first=Conrad|editor2-last=Leyser|editor3-first=Hannah|editor3-last=Williams|first=David|last=Pratt|chapter=Written Law and Communication of Authority in Tenth-Century England|pages=342–343|isbn=9782503532080}}

[[Category:Murder]]


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