Unsafe Practice and Dangerous Play: Accidental Deaths with Weapons in English Coroner Reports of the Sixteenth Century

Mark Geldof

doi:10.36950/

Articles

Vol. 12 No. 2 (2024)

Unsafe Practice and Dangerous Play: Accidental Deaths with Weapons in English Coroner Reports of the Sixteenth Century

Mark Geldof^▸^▾

Article

Submitted: December 12, 2022
Published: 2026-05-11

Abstract

The records of English legal history are recognised as a major source of study for the materiality of everyday life. Public inquiries into the circumstances of accidental deaths, recorded in the reports of coroners’ juries and collected by the central court of King’s Bench, are particularly valuable for scholars of armed violence, martial training, and sport. This article presents and discusses several case studies from the extant coroners’ rolls, collected as part of a larger project on Tudor period accidents. The selections here concern the use or misuse of various personal arms resulting in death in sixteenth-century England.

References

London, The National Archives, KB 9 (Court of King’s Bench: Crown Side: Indictments Files, Oyer and Terminer Files and Information Files)
Butler, Sara M., ‘Local Concerns: Suicide and Jury Behaviour in Medieval England’, History Compass, 4.5 (2006), pp. 820–35
Feldman, Bronson, Hamlet Himself (iUniverse, 2010)
Gunn, Steven, ‘Archery Practice in Early Tudor England’, Past & Present, 209.1 (2010), pp. 53–81
——, ‘Sixteenth-century English accident inquests. [Data Collection] Colchester, Essex: UK Data Archive’, <https://reshare.ukdataservice.ac.uk/852155/> [accessed 21 May 2025]
Gunn, Steven, and Tomasz Gromelski, An Accidental History of Tudor England: From Daily Life to Sudden Death (John Murray, 2025)
——, ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls: Accidental Deaths in Tudor England’, The Lancet, 380 (2012), pp. 1222–23
——, ‘Firearms Accidents in Sixteenth-Century England’, Arms & Armour, 20.2 (2023), pp. 149–59
Hunnisett, R. F., The Medieval Coroner, Cambridge Studies in English Legal History (Cambridge University Press, 1961)
King, Pamela, and Richard Beadle (eds), York Mystery Plays (Oxford University Press, 1999)
Nelson, Alan H., Monstrous Adversary: The Life of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, Liverpool English Texts and Studies, 40 (Liverpool University Press, 2003)
Nichols, F. M. (ed.), Britton: An English Translation and Notes (John Byrne & co., 1901)
Post, J. B., ‘Crime in Later Medieval England: Some Historiographical Limitations’, Continuity and Change, 2.2 (2008), pp. 211–24
Sayles, G. O. (ed.), Select Cases in the Court of King’s Bench Under Edward I: Vol. III, Selden Society, 58 (Bernard Quaritch, 1939)
Stone, Lawrence, The Crisis of the Aristocracy, 1558-1641 (Oxford University Press, 1965)
Sutton, Teresa, ‘The Deodand and Responsibility for Death’, The Journal of Legal History, 18.3 (1997), pp. 44–55
Waldman, John, Hafted Weapons in Medieval and Renaissance Europe: The Evolution of European Staff Weapons Between 1200 and 1650, History of Warfare, 31 (Brill, 2005)

Keywords

accidents
primary sources
england
law
arms

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Geldof, M. (2026). Unsafe Practice and Dangerous Play: Accidental Deaths with Weapons in English Coroner Reports of the Sixteenth Century. Acta Periodica Duellatorum, 12(2), 19-27. https://doi.org/10.36950/

[1] London, The National Archives, KB 9 (Court of King’s Bench: Crown Side: Indictments Files, Oyer and Terminer Files and Information Files)

[2] Butler, Sara M., ‘Local Concerns: Suicide and Jury Behaviour in Medieval England’, History Compass, 4.5 (2006), pp. 820–35

[3] Feldman, Bronson, Hamlet Himself (iUniverse, 2010)

[4] Gunn, Steven, ‘Archery Practice in Early Tudor England’, Past & Present, 209.1 (2010), pp. 53–81

[5] ——, ‘Sixteenth-century English accident inquests. [Data Collection] Colchester, Essex: UK Data Archive’, <https://reshare.ukdataservice.ac.uk/852155/> [accessed 21 May 2025]

[6] Gunn, Steven, and Tomasz Gromelski, An Accidental History of Tudor England: From Daily Life to Sudden Death (John Murray, 2025)

[7] ——, ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls: Accidental Deaths in Tudor England’, The Lancet, 380 (2012), pp. 1222–23

[8] ——, ‘Firearms Accidents in Sixteenth-Century England’, Arms & Armour, 20.2 (2023), pp. 149–59

[9] Hunnisett, R. F., The Medieval Coroner, Cambridge Studies in English Legal History (Cambridge University Press, 1961)

[10] King, Pamela, and Richard Beadle (eds), York Mystery Plays (Oxford University Press, 1999)

[11] Nelson, Alan H., Monstrous Adversary: The Life of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, Liverpool English Texts and Studies, 40 (Liverpool University Press, 2003)

[12] Nichols, F. M. (ed.), Britton: An English Translation and Notes (John Byrne & co., 1901)

[13] Post, J. B., ‘Crime in Later Medieval England: Some Historiographical Limitations’, Continuity and Change, 2.2 (2008), pp. 211–24

[14] Sayles, G. O. (ed.), Select Cases in the Court of King’s Bench Under Edward I: Vol. III, Selden Society, 58 (Bernard Quaritch, 1939)

[15] Stone, Lawrence, The Crisis of the Aristocracy, 1558-1641 (Oxford University Press, 1965)

[16] Sutton, Teresa, ‘The Deodand and Responsibility for Death’, The Journal of Legal History, 18.3 (1997), pp. 44–55

[17] Waldman, John, Hafted Weapons in Medieval and Renaissance Europe: The Evolution of European Staff Weapons Between 1200 and 1650, History of Warfare, 31 (Brill, 2005)