Sanctuary

The right of sanctuary could be claimed if a fugitive managed to reach a designated sanctuary church (there were 22 such churches in England, with possibly as many as 1,000 people throughout England claiming sanctuary at any given time during the Middle Ages). They could remain within the church, free from arrest for a period of up to 40 days, after which they either had to surrender or publicly confess their crimes to a priest. Surrendering to the legal process was used as a means of buying time and perhaps letting tempers cool; while if confession was chosen, all their goods were surrendered to the Church and their lands forfeit to the crown. Additionally, they were also shorn, dressed in a plain woollen shift and required to leave the realm by the most direct route.

Standing watch outside a sanctuary church, to ensure that a fugitive did not escape, was a particularly unpopular duty for serjeants (and constables–one of which supposedly had to supplied by each tithing of ten households).