The state of being a fugitive, before modern media

[Kit]

Thinking of having some of my characters rebel against the political powers that be, and become hunted fugitives. It then occurred to me....

If we assume pre-printing-press technology, how the heck does one become infamous to the point of being hunted through the streets? Even if I'm not aiming for the general populace to be turning on the fugitives, even the reigning power's beaurocracy and soldiers would have little to go on. Only the (probably relatively limited) number of people who had actually witnessed the act of rebellion up close would even know what the fugitives looked like. "All right now soldiers: Fan out across the countryside and apprehend this guy; we're told he's about 6'0, brown hair, no distinguishing marks... uh...."

Of course the easy out would be to give each of the fugitives a disfiguring facial scar or something, and have the army search for them and question the locals about them that way.... but it's an interesting dilemma. Thoughts, ideas, musings?

I'm thinking I'm gonna *have* to put the printing press in there (which I'd rather not), and have a witness sketch the fugitives for leaflets/posters- unless I can come up with a better idea to identify/publicize them. Non-magical, please (I'm trying to avoid a lot of gratuitous random magic).

 

[Devor]

If he was arrested, they would've branded him.

The Printing Press isn't a casual thing to introduce into a world. It would have a huge impact on society which could be a good or bad thing for your world.

I don't think it's unreasonable to have a handful of sketch artists reproduce a picture a hundred times over in the course of two weeks. That kind of thing is done all the time, and a sketch doesn't take long. Maybe they use some kind of paint, and another sheet of paper could be pressed against it while it's still wet to make more copies.

 

[CharlieDay]

Perhaps you could have the authorities speak with someone that is close to your fugitive(s) such as a good friend or family members. Or the friend or family member could actually come to the authorities to turn them in. This could allow the law to create a detailed sketch or mannerisms of the fugitive to pin up leaflets for the populace.

 

[Kit]

The Printing Press isn't a casual thing to introduce into a world. It would have a huge impact on society which could be a good or bad thing for your world.

Yeah, that's why I'd rather not. I'm actually wanting to exploit the poor communication to make the political situation very disorganized and chaotic. Multiple rebelling factions, none of which can really get their ducks in a row well enough to be truly effective. Once I have printing presses in there, it's all going to be about who can get control of them- any of the leaders/factions would be idiots to not make that their first priority. That's not really the direction I wanted to take with things.

 

[Benjamin Clayborne]

You don't need to give every one of the fugitives a distinguishing mark; since presumably they're sticking together, only one of them needs something like that, and the others are with him. E.g. "Black-haired man, two spans tall, with a scar across his jaw. Seen in the company of an old friar, a red-headed youth with blue eyes, and a dark-skinned woman."

 

[Devor]

You don't need to give every one of the fugitives a distinguishing mark; since presumably they're sticking together, only one of them needs something like that, and the others are with him. E.g. "Black-haired man, two spans tall, with a scar across his jaw. Seen in the company of an old friar, a red-headed youth with blue eyes, and a dark-skinned woman."

If the group is that distinct, then none of them need a distinctive mark. They'll be recognized as an item.

But there's no reason you can't just copy a sketch 200 times. Tracing predates the printing press.

 

[SLTE]

Bear in mind, too, the influence money has in loosening tongues - I'm sure casual acquaintances of the fugitive in question would be more than happy to give up physical and personal details that might lead to an arrest if some gold was on the line. Put the fugitive's name out there and people will be crawling out of the woodwork to provide info.

Now, whether that info's actually ACCURATE or not is another matter.

 

[ShortHair]

Is this how Robin Hood got started? One thing to remember is that there were a lot fewer people back then. If you lived in a village, you knew everybody in the village, and you'd immediately know someone was an outsider. If he didn't have an escort from the local ruler or an obvious function (say, tinker or pot salesman), you'd ask his business. If he didn't have a good story, you'd be fully justified in running him off.

 

[Ravana]

Keep in mind that populations were much smaller in the time periods normally associated with fantasy writing. It was far easier to "know everybody"–not literally true, of course, but if even one person could positively identify the culprit, word would go out that "Tom the Miller, son of Mick the Miller, of Namelessville" was being sought. Ol' Tom would be known to everybody within a day's walk of his home, at a minimum; they'd all be able to provide good descriptions–and, with smaller populations, fewer people would look like he did, which helps a bit. The soldiery, which would have routinely patrolled the entire area of their responsibility, would definitely have at least some people who knew exactly what he looked like.

Why stop with a physical description, though? Even today, police ask what someone was wearing… and in a time period where most people didn't own multiple changes of clothing, this alone could be distinctive. Of course, many people's clothes would be very similar, but that doesn't mean they're identical. A bit of trim could be all that's needed–and if Tom figured this out, and removed it, the cloth beneath would still show it had been, due to different levels of wear: this could be more damning than leaving it on. Tom could risk stealing some new threads–but whoever lost them would be able to describe those to authorities, so this won't gain him much. (Very little, if he can't find something that fits well). Also, if he committed an "act of rebellion"–is he armed? If he's a peasant, that's probably illegal right there: unless he ditches his weapon (which he'd probably be disinclined to do, since he knows he might have to fight again soon), that can be used to identify him. If he owns the weapon legally, he's probably from a higher social class… which means even more people, over a broader range of territory, will recognize him–especially the kinds of people sent out to apprehend him. What else has he got on, or with, him? A horse? Again, if he owns it legally, it can be used to identify him; if it's illegal, that's a hanging offense right there. And a lot of people will be able to recognize the horse: whether Tom has been branded or not, the horse almost certainly has identifying marks on it. Besides, horses are expensive to maintain, and very hard to hide in corners–which is why most outlaws did not have them.

So Tom has to leave his home turf if he wants to evade capture for any length of time. What are the laws regarding this in your setting? If he's a serf, that alone is illegal… so when he shows up somewhere else, and can't be accounted for as belonging to his new region, people will know he's on the run. And people will know he's a stranger, regardless–because they know everybody who's supposed to be there. He's also unemployed and lacking a residence, neither of which is conducive to an easy existence. The lord of the area he's relocated to will be wary of such people: he might be arrested simply for those reasons.

Oh, by the way: does he have any money on him? How much? How long will it last? Is it the sort of money someone of his class would be expected to have on him?

"Wanted" posters predate the printing press: they can be written out. Takes longer, and fewer will be posted, but fewer will be needed, too. Though word of mouth is just as effective: messengers, town criers, etc. can spread the word faster than the man can run.

And, as mentioned, you indicated multiple characters: even if no one of them is sufficiently distinguishable by himself, the group almost certainly will be. And they'll collectively face all the above problems, only magnified since there are several of them. They will most likely be increasingly forced to commit additional crimes, simply to sustain themselves; each one increases their exposure.

Realistically, the only way I could see these people hiding for any length of time is if there are people sympathetic to them (family, etc.), willing to take the risks associated in doing so. And in most historical legal codes, harboring fugitives bore the same penalty the fugitives themselves faced–for rebels, execution. So they'd have to be really well liked for this to happen. Even then, the drain on resources associated with hiding the fugitives will eventually itself become a clue to their whereabouts: people will notice that a particular household is suddenly buying a lot more food than it used to… and whoever's hiding them has to be able to afford this over the long run. Unless the person sheltering them is a noble (presumably in political sympathy with the fugitives), with the resources to maintain this, the ability to turn away searches or tuck the fugitives in a hiding hole when he can't, and possibly the ability to falsify their "residency" as part of his normal holdings, any such shelter will be very temporary.

Otherwise, they're going to have to run far enough away that nobody has a chance of recognizing them, and then find someplace willing to accept them as new residents without asking too many questions (or at any rate without caring what the answers might be).

 

[Kit]

Thank you everyone, for all the good ideas!

 

[Phoenix]

A sketch good easily be circulated to all major cities of the Empire. They would be studied by the guard and then looked for. Probably not special patrols or anything, but guards at the gate just scanning faces. False accusations would be pretty cool I think. They could have multiple sightings and stuff. Villagers were known to have seen weird things out of know where. For example, someone would say they saw a Wolf standing on two legs, with red eyes, and silver trimmed claws. A day later another farmer comes up reporting seeing a similar creature. Not that the second subject didn't see something, but since he heard the story about by the first witness he misidentified it for something else.

 

[SeverinR]

I do believe they did send out a posse for very recent crimes, or if a criminal was believed to still be in the area. If a crime against the ruler or goverment, military or police patrol was expected rather then the townspeople's posse.

I believe the "wanted scroll" was posted on the common location for announcements in towns and cities, with crime, description(possible sketch), reward if any. Not sure if dead or alive was included back then or not.
Reward was important, most people wouldn't turn in an aquaintance for nothing, but with a high enough reward, they might even turn in their mother.

 

[Ghost]

with a high enough reward, they might even turn in their mother.

I'd definitely read that fantasy novel.