ABSTRACT
By far the greatest amount of space in the official records is occupied by those crimes and offences which are included under the heading of thefts. The cause lies in the general disposition to seize other people’s goods, which in times of economic necessity was often accompanied with violence, and this although, even after the introduction in 1532 of Charles V’s criminal code known as the ‘Carolina ‘, which modified the awful rigours of the old medieval legal system, the crime was still punished with the utmost severity. In cases, both before and after 1532, where the value of the stolen goods or wares exceeded a gulden, the penalty was death. In addition it must be remembered, in connection with this enactment, that in cases of theft the proceedings and investigations were continued almost without end, until under torture and mental torment every crime has been rehearsed, and each stolen article set down in the protocol. These enquiries as a rule occupy very many folios in the Achtbücher. So, in consonance with the underlying principles of the Carolina, which demanded the clearest 40 41insight into evil-doing, and a corresponding and appropriate punishment, the same course was adopted with debauched persons, and particularly with loose women charged with the capital offence of adultery. These creatures were forced by every means to disclose the names of all persons with whom in the course of their whole lives they had had sinful dealings, to count them up one by one, and in each case to enumerate the number of transgressions. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781351253642/075f4fbf-bf11-4cd3-8858-8c607544b07b/content/pg40_1.tif"/>
