Wanna hear something scary?
Here’s a rabbit hole for you: who the hell were public executioners?
We’ve seen them in movies, (black robes, faceless, terrifying), but what were these guys like?
What must’ve been going through their heads?
Needless to say, the lives of the people they tortured and killed were probably worse, but these guys must’ve been miserable, right? I mean, at the time, they were believed to be necessary members of a community, but they also fucking killed their fellow community members in front of the rest of the community… like, daily.
Were they conflicted? Were they just psychopaths? Turns out, through the years, it was a mixture of both.
I got sucked into this subject years ago and it’s been haunting me ever since. I found a book that became a dark fascination for a while.
It’s called A Hangman’s Diary. A personal, and at times, very detailed journal of a guy named Franz Schmidt, who was the public executioner in the town of Nuremberg from 1573-1617.
(This was the EARLY MODERN PERIOD, or, more specifically, “Early Modern Europe” for those who spotted the mistake in my video! Sorry, and thanks for the correction!)
He took over the position from his father after working and his assistant for several years in a neighboring town. The job was almost exclusively passed down from father to son.
Could this be the actual birthplace of generational trauma? Yikes.
According to the diary, Franz executed 361 people and “punished” another 345 during his time. He’s described as a “stern” and “pious” man, but not inhuman. Apparently, and this was unique to him, he hated punishing people for witchcraft. He also didn’t really care for drowning women. He and I… have that in common.
My point is, he was morally conflicted. In 1585 he had to kill his brother in law by breaking him on the wheel. It took “31 strokes on the bar”. I promise it’s not as awesome as it sounds.
The hook of the book is Franz’s diary itself, which is wild, but the first half of the book is actually a comprehensive history of the execution game from like the 1200’s all the way into the 1700’s, and it’s genuinely just as fascinating as the diary.
They had families, but really no friends. They were considered disgraceful and were expected to keep their distance from the normies. On the other hand, the position was paid a decent living wage, and so, you know tit for tat.
The jails were disgusting, noxious places. Dark, wet, cold, and DIRTY. They were rarely ever cleaned. The Nuremberg jail was apparently the worst. Conditions were so bad that prisoners clothing would sometimes rot… off of them.
The jails weren’t huge spaces though. Just a few cells, each with a wooden shelf. And the torture chamber. And the “stocks”. Punishment in the form of torture was carried out on a lot of the prisoners, and I’m not gonna go into too much detail, but heres some crazy ones -
the “Aufziehen” - arms tied behind back. Suspended by arms. Weights attached to ankles
The “Fass”: a cradle with spikes that is rocked back and forth
The “Kranz”: a strap around the head that tightens and squeezes
Thumb screws
Cat of nine tails
Branding
And my personal favorite, tweaking with hot tongs.
There were 3 different classes of prisoners, and the severity of the torture was a reflection of the severity of the crime committed. The same went for the executions. For instance, hanging and beheading were considered more humane than being broken on the wheel or drawn by oxen.
Prisoners would often confess to the crimes to avoid torture. Preferring death. I hadn’t thought about this aspect, but it totally makes sense. Which is crazy.
These were PUBLIC, and although they were meant to be deterrents to crime, they kind of had the opposite affect. They often turned into raucous, rowdy events, with the equivalent of beer tents and merch stands. On several occasions, they had to shut the city walls to limit the crowd size. (A lot of you folks in the comments mentioned that this might also be the birthplace of tailgating. Nice one.)
And even worse, if the crowd thought that the executioner wasn’t doing a quick and clean enough job, they would heckle and turn violent.
Woof.
Anyway, if you’re up for grim history, this book is like stepping back in time. It’s a great toilet read.
And I’m sorry for cursing you with this rabbit hole. Enjoy?
Wanna hear something else?
It's actually crazy to think that something we'd find so disturbing today was just a normal job back then. Really makes you think about how much people's views have changed over time