Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post - Renaissance executioner sword from Germany

JUSTICESWORDS · 6th April 2011, 09:21 PM

Hi Gene and thank you for the welcome.

Choosing the next local executioner was only random if the local justice officials could not find a family of executioners with a son needing a position.

Indeed, the "take up the sword" method was something of a last resort.

Because the local executioner was a social outcast, no one in the local district where he lived would marry him. If it was bad luck to even touch the executioner, as was believed, it was even worse to marry him. His bride would also become an outcast and so would his children.

So serious was this shunning that the local executioner had to raise his own livestock and make his own bread and cheese. No one in the village or town would trade goods or do business with him. This led many executioners to become something of a "poor man's doctor." Already with some understanding of anatomy due to the unusual nature of their job, many executioners were early herbal medicine healers and the poor, who could not afford medical treatment in the town or village, would, if they were brave enough, make a pilgrimage to the home of the executioner if they needed tending.

In regards to replacing an executioner who has died or was infirm, the local officials would first send notice to other districts that an executioner was needed. Even though it was bad luck to marry the executioner such tradesmen did in fact take wives and would often travel many miles to find another executioner who had been gifted with a daughter that they might marry to avoid the social stigma. Thus, many execution families inter married and although not an offical "guild", they were, by neccesity, a tight knit group.

Of course, in a perfect world, the offspring of the executioner and his wife would be male and then would of course grow up to also follow the trade in large part owing to the fact that no one else would employ them to do anything else.

In answer to an earlier inquiry, yes, my new book, "The Catalog of Cruelty" will be in print and officially published within the next ten days.

Cheers, Steve

6th April 2011, 09:21 PM	#21
JUSTICESWORDS Member Join Date: Apr 2011 Posts: 5	Not always random Hi Gene and thank you for the welcome. Choosing the next local executioner was only random if the local justice officials could not find a family of executioners with a son needing a position. Indeed, the "take up the sword" method was something of a last resort. Because the local executioner was a social outcast, no one in the local district where he lived would marry him. If it was bad luck to even touch the executioner, as was believed, it was even worse to marry him. His bride would also become an outcast and so would his children. So serious was this shunning that the local executioner had to raise his own livestock and make his own bread and cheese. No one in the village or town would trade goods or do business with him. This led many executioners to become something of a "poor man's doctor." Already with some understanding of anatomy due to the unusual nature of their job, many executioners were early herbal medicine healers and the poor, who could not afford medical treatment in the town or village, would, if they were brave enough, make a pilgrimage to the home of the executioner if they needed tending. In regards to replacing an executioner who has died or was infirm, the local officials would first send notice to other districts that an executioner was needed. Even though it was bad luck to marry the executioner such tradesmen did in fact take wives and would often travel many miles to find another executioner who had been gifted with a daughter that they might marry to avoid the social stigma. Thus, many execution families inter married and although not an offical "guild", they were, by neccesity, a tight knit group. Of course, in a perfect world, the offspring of the executioner and his wife would be male and then would of course grow up to also follow the trade in large part owing to the fact that no one else would employ them to do anything else. In answer to an earlier inquiry, yes, my new book, "The Catalog of Cruelty" will be in print and officially published within the next ten days. Cheers, Steve