ABSTRACT
Thus punishment in the medieval and early modern state was a direct function of concern by elites for political and social stability. It also represented a clear endorsement of the dominant religious and political beliefs of the day. There were elements of a ‘moral panic’ in the reactions of state authority to religious diversity in the period. Of course, there were fundamental challenges to religious orthodoxy, and it is not the intention here to relegate the Reformation to a moral panic. However, it is equally clear that politicoreligious authority at this time was exceptionally sensitive to any group or movement that seemed to constitute an alternative faith, new intellectual paradigm or political threat. As in all the cases we consider in this chapter, the correlation between the actual, as opposed to the perceived, threat is variable, but the impact on penal policy is consistently demonstrated.
