What happened if you spoke badly about the king in medieval times?

Answer 1

Since it was the king who controlled the law in most European countries, in theory royalty were beyond the law themselves, so they could not be punished . . . legally.

There were, however, other less legal means.

An example is king William II (Rufus), son of William I. He is possibly the least admired king in English history; he passed many unpopular laws, he added to the burden of taxation without good cause, he stuttered when he became angry, he abused his authority over Church appointments, he was considered unwise, unjust, unfair and inconsistent. The main problem, however, was never written down in so many words, but it is suspected that he may have been homosexual, which at the time was considered an immense evil and utterly unacceptable. The result - he was "accidentally" shot dead by an archer when out hunting.

Answer 2

There was recourse if a king committed a crime, but it was pretty difficult to get it most of the time. Part of the problem is that the idea that a king was not above the law dates from a time when the Middle Ages was more than half over, and was not explicitly stated in the law until much later.

An appeal could be made to the pope, who could excommunicate the king. An appeal could also be made to the local bishops, who were known to excommunicate a king from time to time. Excommunication does not sound like much, but it was usually accompanied by excusing all people who had sworn allegiance to the king from their vows. This meant enemies were allowed to break treaties, lords were allowed to dethrone the king, the people were allowed to rise up. It rarely happened that wars and rebellions resulted, but it left the king more vulnerable than he would have liked to be.

There were a number of cases where people appealed to enemies of kings to see what could be done. There were other cases where people appealed to more sympathetic friends of the king to intercede.

When kings were abusive, people could escape the abuse by going to a monastery for protection. Queens occasionally got away from their husbands this way.

But usually, perhaps, the king got away with it.

Answer 3

You could be burned at the stake or tortured by one method of the following: the rack, the scavenger's daughter, manacles, Iron Maiden, the water wheel, the cage and bastinado.