Hi Historians! Long time reader, first time asker. I looked around for answers to question on this sub, but I couldn't find anything that was just right. I'm wondering if there's anyone with the specialized knowledge this time around. For ease, I've included the topics I've checked already at the end.
As read in title, my basic question is how would a small community react to murder or missing persons? I'm specifically wondering how investigations would occur or what protocol they would follow. Would they leave it? Or would they call for an authority from elsewhere to investigate?
If there isn't that much historical information, might anyone be aware of any folklore or myths that would cover someone trying to unravel a murder?
Thanks for reading! Hope I'm within the rules!
Here are posts I've checked:
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/54qebz/was_elizabeth_b%C3%A1thory_framed/
These topics gave me the idea for how high-profile cases worked, but I'm really curious as to what remote populations would do in tight-knit communities.
u/Steelcan909 provides an all-time great post breaking down the process for a murder in London in 1097.
Now this is London, not a small community like you're asking, but the answer has a lot of details that I think would transfer over.
u/idjet covers another question I didn't see in your list that is a bit more general.
Finally, someone recently recommended this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Crime-Medieval-Europe-1200-1550-World-ebook/dp/B00L2E1UCA/
While I haven't yet decided to buy it yet the free ebook sample seems pretty promising (and actually may give a little bit of an answer to your question!) Edit: the in browser "look inside" function just shows me the cover so you may need to click "send free sample..." to a kindle or a device with the kindle app