Bloody Assizes

The Bloody Assizes (English; "Bloody Assizes " ) were a series of hearings in September 1685 held in Dorchester, Dorset ( southern England ). They were a direct result of the failed takeover of the English throne by James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth.

This process chaired by the notorious George Jeffreys, seconded by the reigning English king James II, may be regarded as punitive without exaggeration. Within a short time at least 1300 procedures were terminated with guilty.

Convicted women were sold as slaves ( serfs ). The mildest punishment for men was death by the ax or the rope. Otherwise was provided drawing and quartering. This atrocity is still commemorated today in southern England as Bloody Assize.

The word Assize probably has its origin from the Old French assise ( session). Thus, it was within the jurisdiction of England ( Assize Court ) and France ( Cour d ' Assisses ) appointed a Court, who negotiated felony. Within this category was high treason as the hardest to punishing crime.