The Hunchback of Notre Dame Sanctuary

Sanctuary Sacred place Gives protection to those fleeing from justice or persecution

BOOK VII, Chapter 2 In the Middle Ages every town had its place of sanctuary. In the flood of penal laws and barbarous jurisdiction they rose like islands above the level of human injustice. Any criminal who could reach one of them was safe… Once he set foot inside a sanctuary, a criminal was sacred; but he had to take care never to leave it. One step outside it and he fell back into the flood. The gallows, the wheel and the rack kept close guard around the place of refuge and ceaselessly lay in wait for their prey like sharks around a ship. Thus there were condemned men and women who grew old in a cloister, on the stairs of a palace, in the garden of an abbey or under the porch of a church; in a sense, the sanctuary was a prison like any other.” (242)

St. Georgenberg-Fiecht Abbey in Austria Boundary Markers “Sanctuary Stones” of Beverley Minster in England Boundary Marker of St. Georgenberg-Fiecht Abbey in Austria

Sanctuary What threats are Esmeralda protected from while she is inside the cathedral? What threats are she not protected from? Why does she leave?

Place de Grève

Gibbet of Mountfaucon