Breaking wheel: Difference between revisions
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| pages = 40–41, 47}} </ref> In the execution of the [[parricide]] Franz Seuboldt in Nuremberg on [[22 September]] [[1589]], a wheel was used as a cudgel: the executioner used wooden blocks to raise Seuboldt's limbs, then broke them by slamming a wagon wheel down onto the limb.<ref>Depicted in the contemporary woodcut ''An Aggravated Death Sentence'', Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg.</ref> |
| pages = 40–41, 47}} </ref> In the execution of the [[parricide]] Franz Seuboldt in Nuremberg on [[22 September]] [[1589]], a wheel was used as a cudgel: the executioner used wooden blocks to raise Seuboldt's limbs, then broke them by slamming a wagon wheel down onto the limb.<ref>Depicted in the contemporary woodcut ''An Aggravated Death Sentence'', Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg.</ref> |
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In France the condemned were placed on a cartwheel with their limbs stretched out along the spokes over two sturdy wooden beams. The wheel was made to revolve slowly, and a large [[hammer]] or an iron bar was then applied to the limb over the gap between the beams, breaking the [[bone]]s. This process was repeated several times per limb. Sometimes it was 'mercifully' ordered that the executioner should strike the criminal on chest and stomach, blows known as ''[[Coup |
In France the condemned were placed on a cartwheel with their limbs stretched out along the spokes over two sturdy wooden beams. The wheel was made to revolve slowly, and a large [[hammer]] or an iron bar was then applied to the limb over the gap between the beams, breaking the [[bone]]s. This process was repeated several times per limb. Sometimes it was 'mercifully' ordered that the executioner should strike the criminal on chest and stomach, blows known as ''[[Coup de grâce|coups de grâce]]'' (French: "blow of mercy"), which caused lethal injuries, leading to the end of the torture by death. Without those, the broken man could last hours and even days, before [[Shock (circulatory)|shock]] and [[dehydration]] caused death. In France, a special grace, the ''retentum'', could be granted, by which the condemned was strangled after the second or third blow, or in special cases, even before the breaking began. Afterwards, the condemned's shattered limbs were woven ('braiden') through the spokes of the wheel, which was then hoisted onto a tall pole so that birds could eat the sometimes still-living individual. |
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In early modern [[Holy Roman Empire|Germany]], the wheel was punishment reserved primarily for men convicted of aggravated murder (murder committed during another crime, or against a family member). Less severe offenders would be cudgelled 'top down', with the first blow to the neck, causing death; more heinous criminals were punished 'bottom up', starting with the legs, and sometimes being beaten for hours. The number and sequence of blows was specified in the court's sentence. Corpses were left for carrion-eaters, and the criminals' heads often placed on a spike.<ref>Evans, R. J., Rituals of Retribution: Capital Punishment in Germany 1600-1987 (1996), p 29.</ref> |
In early modern [[Holy Roman Empire|Germany]], the wheel was punishment reserved primarily for men convicted of aggravated murder (murder committed during another crime, or against a family member). Less severe offenders would be cudgelled 'top down', with the first blow to the neck, causing death; more heinous criminals were punished 'bottom up', starting with the legs, and sometimes being beaten for hours. The number and sequence of blows was specified in the court's sentence. Corpses were left for carrion-eaters, and the criminals' heads often placed on a spike.<ref>Evans, R. J., Rituals of Retribution: Capital Punishment in Germany 1600-1987 (1996), p 29.</ref> |
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Revision as of 13:14, 26 July 2009
The breaking wheel, also known as the Catherine wheel, was a torture device used for capital punishment in the Middle Ages and early modern times for public execution by cudgeling to death. It was used during the Middle Ages and was still in use into the 19th century.
Description
Breaking on the wheel was a form of torturous execution formerly in use, especially in ancient Greece (where it originated), France, Germany, Sweden, colonial Louisiana (pre-United States), and Russia.
The wheel was typically a large wooden wagon wheel with many radial spokes, but a wheel was not always used. In some cases the condemned was lashed to the wheel and beaten with a club or iron cudgel, with the gaps in the wheel allowing the cudgel to break through. Alternatively, the condemned was spreadeagled and broken on a St Andrew's cross consisting of two wooden beams nailed in an "X" shape,[1][2] after which the victim's mangled body might be displayed on the wheel.[3] In the execution of the parricide Franz Seuboldt in Nuremberg on 22 September 1589, a wheel was used as a cudgel: the executioner used wooden blocks to raise Seuboldt's limbs, then broke them by slamming a wagon wheel down onto the limb.[4]
In France the condemned were placed on a cartwheel with their limbs stretched out along the spokes over two sturdy wooden beams. The wheel was made to revolve slowly, and a large hammer or an iron bar was then applied to the limb over the gap between the beams, breaking the bones. This process was repeated several times per limb. Sometimes it was 'mercifully' ordered that the executioner should strike the criminal on chest and stomach, blows known as coups de grâce (French: "blow of mercy"), which caused lethal injuries, leading to the end of the torture by death. Without those, the broken man could last hours and even days, before shock and dehydration caused death. In France, a special grace, the retentum, could be granted, by which the condemned was strangled after the second or third blow, or in special cases, even before the breaking began. Afterwards, the condemned's shattered limbs were woven ('braiden') through the spokes of the wheel, which was then hoisted onto a tall pole so that birds could eat the sometimes still-living individual.
In early modern Germany, the wheel was punishment reserved primarily for men convicted of aggravated murder (murder committed during another crime, or against a family member). Less severe offenders would be cudgelled 'top down', with the first blow to the neck, causing death; more heinous criminals were punished 'bottom up', starting with the legs, and sometimes being beaten for hours. The number and sequence of blows was specified in the court's sentence. Corpses were left for carrion-eaters, and the criminals' heads often placed on a spike.[5]
Legend has it that St Catherine of Alexandria was to be executed on one of these devices, which thereafter became known as the Catherine wheel, also used as an iconographic attribute.
The breaking wheel was used to execute 11 slaves in Louisiana who revolted against their masters in 1730-1754.[6]
In Scotland, a servant named Robert Weir was broken on the wheel at Edinburgh on June 26, 1604. This punishment had hardly ever been used before in this country. The crime had been the beating to death of a husband on behalf of the man's wife.[7]
Metaphorical uses
The breaking wheel was also known as a great dishonor, and appeared in several expressions as such. In Dutch, there is the expression opgroeien voor galg en rad,"to grow up for the gallows and wheel", meaning to come to no good. It is also referenced in the Spanish expression morir en la rueda, "to die at the wheel", meaning to keep silent about something. The Dutch phrases ik ben geradbraakt, literally "I have been broken on the wheel", the German expression sich gerädert fühlen, "to feel wheeled", and the Swedish verb rådbråka, "to break on the wheel", all carry a meaning of exhaustion or mental exertion. In Danish, however, the similar word "radbrækket" refers almost exclusively to physical exhaustion. In Finnish teilata, "to execute by the wheel", refers to forceful and violent critique or rejection of performance, ideas or innovations.
The word roué, "dissipated debauchee", is French, and its original meaning was "broken on the wheel". As execution by breaking on the wheel in France and some other countries was reserved for crimes of peculiar atrocity, roué came by a natural process to be understood to mean a man morally worse than a "gallows-bird", a criminal who only deserved hanging for common crimes. He was also a leader in wickedness, since the chief of a gang of brigands (for instance) would be broken on the wheel, while his obscure followers were merely hanged. Philip, Duke of Orléans, who was regent of France from 1715 to 1723, gave the term the sense of impious and callous debauchee, which it has borne since his time, by habitually applying it to the very bad male company who amused his privacy and his leisure. The locus classicus for the origin of this use of the epithet is in the Memoirs of Saint-Simon.
Coats of Arms with Catherine Wheels
- Altena, Germany
- Kaarina, Finland, until 2009 and Piikkiö's union with Kaarina
- Sinaai, Belgium
- Goa, India, when it was in Portuguese possession
See also
References
- ^ Abbott, Geoffrey (2007). What A Way To Go. New York: St. Martin's Griffin. p. 36.
- ^ Kerrigan, Michael (2001/2007). The Instruments of Torture. Guilford, Connecticut: Lyons Press. p. 180.
{{cite book}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Abbott, Geoffrey (2007). What A Way To Go. New York: St. Martin's Griffin. pp. 40–41, 47.
- ^ Depicted in the contemporary woodcut An Aggravated Death Sentence, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg.
- ^ Evans, R. J., Rituals of Retribution: Capital Punishment in Germany 1600-1987 (1996), p 29.
- ^ http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/ESPYstate.pdf
- ^ Chambers, Robert (1885). Domestic Annals of Scotland. Edinburgh: W & R Chambers.
External links
- Probertenencyclopaedia - illustrated
- Greenblatt, Miriam Rulers and Their Times: Peter the Great and Tsarist Russia, Benchmark Books, ISBN 0-7614-0914-9
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
