Editing Police (section)

===Post-classical===
[[File:Jakobsweg - Pilger 1568 - Hurden IMG 5664.JPG|upright=0.9|thumb|left|The [[Santas Hermandades]] of medieval Spain were formed to protect pilgrims on the [[Camino de Santiago]].]]
In medieval [[Spain]], {{lang|osp|[[Santas Hermandades]]}}, or 'holy brotherhoods', peacekeeping associations of armed individuals, were a characteristic of municipal life, especially in [[Castile and León|Castile]]. As medieval Spanish kings often could not offer adequate protection, protective municipal leagues began to emerge in the twelfth century against [[banditry]] and other rural criminals, and against the lawless [[nobility]] or to support one or another claimant to a crown.

These organizations were intended to be temporary, but became a long-standing fixture of Spain. The first recorded case of the formation of an {{lang|osp|hermandad}} occurred when the towns and the peasantry of the north united to police the pilgrim road to [[Santiago de Compostela]] in [[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]], and protect the pilgrims against robber knights.

Throughout the Middle Ages such alliances were frequently formed by combinations of towns to protect the roads connecting them, and were occasionally extended to political purposes. Among the most powerful was the league of North Castilian and Basque ports, the Hermandad de las marismas: [[Kingdom of Toledo (Crown of Castile)|Toledo]], [[Talavera de la Reina|Talavera]], and [[Villarreal]].

As one of their first acts after end of the [[War of the Castilian Succession]] in 1479, [[Ferdinand&nbsp;II of Aragon]] and [[Isabella&nbsp;I of Castile]] established the centrally-organized and efficient ''Holy Brotherhood'' as a national police force. They adapted an existing brotherhood to the purpose of a general police acting under officials appointed by themselves, and endowed with great powers of summary jurisdiction even in capital cases. The original brotherhoods continued to serve as modest local police-units until their final suppression in 1835.

The [[Vehmic court]]s of Germany provided some policing in the absence of strong state institutions. Such courts had a chairman who presided over a session and [[lay judge]]s who passed judgement and carried out law enforcement tasks. Among the responsibilities that lay judges had were giving formal warnings to known troublemakers, issuing warrants, and carrying out executions.

In the medieval Islamic [[Caliphate]]s, police were known as {{transliteration|ar|[[Shurta]]}}. Bodies termed {{transliteration|ar|Shurta}} existed perhaps as early as the [[Rashidun Caliphate]] during the reign of [[Uthman]]. The ''Shurta'' is known to have existed in the [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid]] and [[Umayyad Caliphate]]s. Their primary roles were to act as police and [[internal security]] forces but they could also be used for other duties such as customs and tax enforcement, rubbish collection, and acting as bodyguards for governors. From the 10th century, the importance of the ''Shurta'' declined as the army assumed internal security tasks while cities became more autonomous and handled their own policing needs locally, such as by hiring watchmen. In addition, officials called {{transliteration|ar|[[muhtasib]]s}} were responsible for supervising [[bazaar]]s and economic activity in general in the medieval Islamic world.

In [[France]] during the [[Middle Ages]], there were two [[Great Officers of the Crown of France]] with police responsibilities: The [[Marshal of France]] and the [[Grand Constable of France]]. The military policing responsibilities of the Marshal of France were delegated to the Marshal's provost, whose force was known as the Marshalcy because its authority ultimately derived from the Marshal. The marshalcy dates back to the [[Hundred Years' War]], and some historians trace it back to the early 12th century. Another organisation, the [[Constabulary]] ({{langx|fro|Connétablie}}), was under the command of the [[Constable of France]]. The constabulary was regularised as a military body in 1337. Under [[Francis I of France|Francis&nbsp;I]] (reigned 1515–1547), the {{lang|fr|[[Maréchaussée]]}} was merged with the constabulary. The resulting force was also known as the {{lang|fro|Maréchaussée}}, or, formally, the Constabulary and Marshalcy of France.

In late medieval [[Italy|Italian]] cities, police forces were known as ''berovierri''. Individually, their members were known as ''birri''. Subordinate to the city's [[podestà]], the ''berovierri'' were responsible for guarding the cities and their suburbs, patrolling, and the pursuit and arrest of criminals. They were typically hired on short-term contracts, usually six months. Detailed records from medieval [[Bologna]] show that ''birri'' had a chain of command, with constables and sergeants managing lower-ranking ''birri'', that they wore uniforms, that they were housed together with other employees of the podestà together with a number of servants including cooks and stable-keepers, that their parentage and places of origin were meticulously recorded, and that most were not native to Bologna, with many coming from outside Italy.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.medievalists.net/2021/10/scotsman-cop-bologna/|title=Why Was a Scotsman Working as a 'Cop' in 15th-century Bologna?|date=17 October 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/93604861|title=Police forces in late medieval Italy: Bologna, 1340–1480|first=Trevor|last=Dean|date=11 September 2019|journal=Social History|volume=44|issue=2|pages=151–172|doi=10.1080/03071022.2019.1579974 |s2cid=164456140 |via=www.academia.edu|issn = 0307-1022}}</ref>

The [[England|English]] system of maintaining public order since the Norman conquest was a private system of [[tithing]]s known as the mutual pledge system. This system was introduced under [[Alfred the Great]]. Communities were divided into groups of ten families called tithings, each of which was overseen by a chief tithingman. Every household head was responsible for the good behavior of his own family and the good behavior of other members of his tithing. Every male aged 12 and over was required to participate in a tithing. Members of tithings were responsible for raising "hue and cry" upon witnessing or learning of a crime, and the men of his tithing were responsible for capturing the criminal. The person the tithing captured would then be brought before the chief tithingman, who would determine guilt or innocence and punishment. All members of the criminal's tithing would be responsible for paying the fine. A group of ten tithings was known as a "hundred" and every hundred was overseen by an official known as a [[reeve (England)|reeve]]. Hundreds ensured that if a criminal escaped to a neighboring village, he could be captured and returned to his village. If a criminal was not apprehended, then the entire hundred could be fined. The hundreds were governed by administrative divisions known as [[shire]]s, the rough equivalent of a modern [[county]], which were overseen by an official known as a shire-reeve, from which the term [[sheriff]] evolved. The shire-reeve had the power of {{lang|la|[[posse comitatus]]}}, meaning he could gather the men of his shire to pursue a criminal.<ref>{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=aCGtxnozpqkC&pg=PA7| title = Introduction to Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice | isbn = 9781111138905| last1 = Hess| first1 = Kären M.| last2 = Orthmann| first2 = Christine Hess| date = 2012| publisher = Cengage Learning }}</ref> Following the Norman conquest of England in 1066, the tithing system was tightened with the [[frankpledge]] system. By the end of the 13th century, the office of constable developed. Constables had the same responsibilities as chief tithingmen and additionally as royal officers. The constable was elected by his [[parish (administrative division)|parish]] every year. Eventually, constables became the first 'police' official to be tax-supported. In urban areas, [[watchman (law enforcement)|watchmen]] were tasked with keeping order and enforcing nighttime curfew. Watchmen guarded the town gates at night, patrolled the streets, arrested those on the streets at night without good reason, and also acted as firefighters. Eventually the office of [[justice of the peace]] was established, with a justice of the peace overseeing constables.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://courses.lumenlearning.com/atd-bmcc-criminaljustice/chapter/section-4-1-early-history-of-policing/| title = Section 4.1: Early History of Policing {{!}} Criminal Justice<!-- Bot generated title -->}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Dobrin|first=Adam|date=July 2017|title=Volunteer police: History, benefits, costs and current descriptions|journal=Security Journal|volume=30|issue=3|pages=717–733|doi=10.1057/sj.2015.18|s2cid=152660408|issn=0955-1662}}</ref> There was also a system of investigative "[[jury|juries]]".

The [[Assize of Arms of 1252]], which required the appointment of constables to summon men to arms, quell [[breach of the peace|breaches of the peace]], and to deliver offenders to the sheriff or reeve, is cited as one of the earliest antecedents of the English police.<ref name="police1889">{{cite book | title= Police! | last1= Clarkson | first1= Charles Tempest | last2= Richardson | first2= J. Hall | year= 1889 | pages= 1–2 | publisher= Garland Pub. | isbn= 9780824062163 | oclc= 60726408 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=660XAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1 }}</ref> The [[Statute of Winchester]] of 1285 is also cited as the primary legislation regulating the policing of the country between the [[Norman conquest of England|Norman Conquest]] and the [[Metropolitan Police Act 1829]].<ref name="police1889" /><ref>{{cite book | title= A History of Police in England and Wales | first= Thomas Alan | last= Critchley | year= 1978 | quote= The Statute of Winchester was the only general public measure of any consequence enacted to regulate the policing of the country between the Norman Conquest and the Metropolitan Police Act, 1829…}}</ref>

From about 1500, private watchmen were funded by private individuals and organisations to carry out police functions. They were later nicknamed 'Charlies', probably after the reigning monarch King Charles&nbsp;II. [[Thief-taker]]s were also rewarded for catching thieves and returning the stolen property. They were private individuals usually hired by crime victims.

The earliest English use of the word ''police'' seems to have been the term ''Polles'' mentioned in the book ''The Second Part of the Institutes of the Lawes of England'' published in 1642.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_1IzAAAAIAAJ&q=police&pg=PA77 |title=The second part of the Institutes of the lawes of England: Containing the exposition of many ancient, and other statutes; whereof you may see the particulars in a table following…|last=Coke|first=Sir Edward |publisher=Printed by M. Flesher and R. Young, for E.D., R.M., W.L. and D.P.|year=1642|page=77|access-date=2012-07-11}}</ref>