House and home under lock and key

It was important to keep house and home under lock and key. Stealing was common and thieves were punished severely. Breaking into a locked space was more severely punished than if the stolen goods were unprotected.

In food storage rooms and storehouses there were often goods attractive to a thief. They had to have proper locks with large iron keys. Homes had to be securely locked too, but we do not know how common that was.

The valuables that were inside the homes were kept in caskets and chests which were locked with different types of padlocks and smaller keys.

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