This is the allusionist in which I Helen Zoltzman catched language stealing from the church plate.

Coming up in today's show, Crime and Punishment Medieval England style.

Rattwal.

On with the show.

With the term sanctuary cities in the news a lot in the past few weeks,

a radio top in sibling 99% invisible just made a two-parter tracing the origins of the modern sanctuary

movement, which provides refuge for the persecuted, the vulnerable, and lately in particular,

undocumented immigrants. So I wanted to dig further into the word sanctuary,

which derives from the Latin sanctuary, a sacred or private space.

Its route was the Latin word sanctus, meaning holy.

That there is a religious element in sanctuary isn't surprising, buildings of worship

provide protection and safety during the modern sanctuary movement, as they have throughout history.

Since the mid-16th century, the word sanctuary has carried the more general sense of a

place of refuge not necessarily a religious one. But before then, the word had a meaning

that is a pretty big contrast to the modern sanctuary movement for at least a thousand years

in England until James I abolished it in 1623. Sanctuary was not for people fleeing injustice,

but for people fleeing justice.

The idea is that if you'd committed a crime, if you could get yourself to a place of religious

significance, a church, a cathedral, even things like the monastery or an abit's house or in some

respect, even just land at the long to the church or was near to it, then you were able to

effectively evade justice for a period of time.

John Jenkins is a researcher on cathedrals and pilgrimage at the University of York.

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