Week 2 - Tudor Crime and Punishment

LO: To understand how the closing of monasteries influenced crime in Tudor Britain and to investigate how criminals were punished in the Tudor period.

Crime and Punishment in Tudor times - BBC Bitesize

Lesson 1: How did the closing of the monasteries affect crime in Tudor Britain?

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  • Quick quiz or image prompt: What was a monastery? What did it do for people?

  • Ask: What might happen if all monasteries suddenly closed?

Main Activity (20 mins):

  • Teacher explains the Dissolution of the Monasteries and how it removed shelter, charity, and support for the poor.

  • Cause and effect card activity: Pupils match causes (e.g. no food, no shelter, wandering poor) with effects (e.g. theft, begging, vagrancy).

  • Pupils create a simple cause-and-effect flow chart in pairs or small groups.

Plenary (10 mins):

  • Discuss: Was it fair to punish people who became poor because of this?

  • Pupils write one sentence answering: How did the closure of monasteries lead to more crime?

Lesson 2: How were criminals punished in Tudor Britain?

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  • Matching warm-up: Crime on one side, punishment on the other. Pupils guess and then check answers as a class.

Main Activity (20 mins):

  • Teacher shares examples of Tudor punishments (e.g. stocks, pillory, whipping, hanging, branding, burning).

  • Pupils create a “Tudor Punishment Guide” (booklet or poster) with images and short descriptions.

    • Challenge: Add a “Was it fair?” emoji rating or thumbs up/down and explanation.

  • Include discussion of public punishments as deterrents.

Plenary (10 mins):

  • Group discussion: Which punishment do you think was the most unfair? Why?

  • Exit question: What do Tudor punishments tell us about how society was ruled?

Lesson 3: How do we know about crime and punishment in Tudor Britain?

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  • Show a source (e.g. drawing of public execution or a woodcut). Ask: What can you spot? What do you think is happening?

Main Activity (20 mins):

  • Source investigation carousel:

    • Pupils rotate between 3–4 stations with different sources (e.g. court record, diary entry, woodcut image, lawbook extract).

    • At each station, they answer 2-3 guiding questions: What does this show? What can we learn from it? Can we trust it?

  • After rotation, class shares findings. Teacher discusses reliability and types of sources.

Plenary (10 mins):

  • Pupils complete: We know about Tudor crime and punishment because...

  • Group discussion: Why is it important to look at different types of sources?