The Faithful Executioner: Life and Death, Honoer and Shame in the Turbulent Sixteenth Century by Joel F. Harrington

In the late 1300s Geoffrey Chaucer began wrote The Canterbury Tales, a story which follows the religious journey of twenty-nine people, who represent many aspects of Medieval society, to the Canterbury Cathedral in southeast England. While on the pilgrimage the host of the tavern, where all the pilgrims meet, suggests that the pilgrims each tell a story for the group’s entertainment. Chaucer intended for all the voyagers to tell two stories, but he unfortunately died before he could finish the book and only got to write one story apiece. However, the goal of the storytelling contest is to tell the most moral story possible, and the one who wins receives a free meal, which the rest of the pilgrims will pay for. Although some of the other stories have good moral messages, “The Pardoner’s Tale” and “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” are on different ends of the moral spectrum. “The Pardoner’s Tale” focuses on a pardoner who preaches against greed. While “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” exemplifies what all women want in their relationships: power. Although both “The Pardoner’s Tale” and “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” demonstrate the value of the opinion of elders, the stories differ in their moral values and their storyteller’s values.

Washington Irving’s, “The Adventure of the German Student” is a story about a young German student named Gottfried Wolfgang that travels to Paris at the end of the eighteenth century during the French revolution. Wolfgang is a recluse that spends hours of his time studying old literature with an unbiased approached. Wolfgang is horrified of the guillotine and expresses disgust for such bloodlust, yet at the same time awe struck by the contraption. The site of blood shed had a negative impact on Wolfgang’s mentality. Wolfgang over time became obsessed with thoughts of a beautiful woman. One woman in particular haunted his dreams and consumed his thoughts. Later this woman appears on the steps near a guillotine. He professes his love and they become intimate that night. Wolfgang leaves the room briefly and upon his return he notices the awkward posture of the woman and attempted to wake her. The woman was dead; she had no pulse and was cold to the touch. An officer is left puzzled about the whole matter; he explained that the woman had been guillotined the day before. Wolfgang believed that a demon had possessed

The image below is a primary source of people being hung in the Middle Ages for murdering. The authors perspective is shown how he has drawn people hanging down while there are people watching them to show them not to do this. The viewpoint of the author is to say not to do this otherwise it will happen to you. The crowd around the punished people are there to show the seriousness of the punishments providing a warning and awareness of the consequences. It could lead to death and torture for the rest of their lives, this reflects to the authors point of view. Overall, Crimes and Punishments in the Middle Ages were very hard for people to escape. Authors presented a lot detail to show how life was strict back in the Middle Ages. Images that

The Burgermeister’s Daughter by Steven Ozment delivers a captivating and thorough discussion of one woman’s struggle in contradiction of the social prejudices and justice system of her hometown in sixteenth-century Germany. While the life and times of Anna Buschler, (the Burgermeister’s daughter) is a central theme in the work, Ozment discusses many other contextual elements of German society which provide the framework through which Anna’s struggles are to be perceived. Ozment’s intent in writing such a narrative was most accurately discerned in the final chapter of the book entitled “The Moral” in which the author homed in on a few elements which contributed to the greater picture he endeavored to present.

Crime and Punishment in the Elizabethan era was very unusual and cruel when we look at it from today’s standards. Punishment was very harsh and most things they did back then was completely normal for them but by today it’s insane what they used to do to criminals. Speaking of which whom they counted as “criminals” was insane as well as their definition of a criminal. The crimes committed directly affected the type of punishment someone one would receive for committing such an act. Crimes and punishments to us now seem completely wrong and just plain strange.

Topic title: The difference in executions under the different reigns during the Tudor and Stuart states in the 16th, 17th and 18th century.

Capital punishment was both frowned upon by the church and yet exciting and entertaining for the colonists. The most common way that the towns executed people was by hanging. Many towns did not have a formal gallows, so they made up for it in other ways. Religiously, the magistrates wished to avoid the death penalty if they could, however, if there was no other way, they would allow it. The people, on the other hand, saw public punishment as entertainment. Execution was the front runner of any of the possible entertainment and was preferred in comparison to others. With the stress of having someone’s neighbors rooting for blood and entertainment did not help the tensions already plaguing the area.

Plot is defined as, "the authors arrangement of incidents in a story it is the organizing principle that controls the controls the order of events (Meyer,64)." The element of plot is heavily relied on in the short story, "The Killings" by Andre Dubus. The plot which is completely made inside the imagination of an author (Meyer,64), gives the audience important insight to people, places, and events in the story (Meyer,64) . "The Killings" provides a somewhat conventional plot pattern, where the character is confronted with a problem and is then led into a climax, which late leads to the resolution of the story (Meyer,65). The conventional plot is easy to follow and serves as a basis for movies and other

There have been many different types of forms used when it comes to punishing the accused offender. In the past the punishment methods used ranged anything from stoning to death, to setting someone alive on fire, hanging, or the beheading of someone, alongside with the attaching of the offender’s arms and legs to four separate horses, or oxen only to be pulled apart. In all these barbaric and inhuman acts by our standards today, were performed within the towns square so that the community and visitors would be able to witness these executions.

The Book of the Courtier by Baldassar Castiglione was the book of proper etiquette for men and women from 1528 to the end of the 18th century. This book was found in French, Latin, Spanish, Dutch, English, German, and Polish. This book was written in a dialogue well, four different dialogues, with each dialogue pushing and explaining different “rules” that needed to be fallowed if a person was considered to be high class; these rules were basically held as law to most of the high class citizens of Europe. There are some rules that are able to be paired or grouped together because they either said the same thing or were pointing towards the same major point on how to act; some of these major key points

When woman was in the water “the women usually drowned.” (The Renaissance: Crime and Punishment). Another tool was the amputation saw. And the body would be in terrible pain because “it was used to remove a limb slowly and painfully.” (The Renaissance: Crime and Punishment). Beheading was used for the higher-class people, “because it was considered a more honorable way to die.” (Elizabethan Crime and Punishment).

The immense sickness wasn’t the only thing dark about Europe’s Middle Ages. The monarchs were cruel and unruly to their subjects while enforcing brutality upon their land and citizens. The laws enforced by these kings and queens were nothing short of diabolical, for there was no set list of limitations and rules meaning that the monarchs could punish anyone for anything, even if that meant simply disturbing the king. The executions of the ‘accused’ were public to the citizens, and were “a pitiless affair” (McGlynn). The kings ruled with an iron fist as their methods of justice were murderous as executions “sent out a message of warning and deterrence” and “offered the ultimate guarantee against repeat offenders”. The message monarchs tried to send while carelessly shedding blood was that they desired to make a statement, and scare citizens into not committing crimes, for they would know the gruesome consequences. If not death, the “standard, mandatory sentence” of all accused peoples was mutilation of “eyes, noses, ears, hands, feet and testicles”. To sum it all up, punishment in the Middle Ages was much more unforgiving than in this modern day of age; being burned at the stake or beheaded by the guillotine are still some of the most spine-tingling punishments to this day. In all of the depressing fog of the Middle Ages, could there truly have been a beneficial factor?

In order to determine what the law was in the Elizabethan Age for crime and punishment, you must research crime and punishment in that age, the laws and the acts. In the Elizabethan Age there were many different crimes. Each of those crimes had their own punishment or punishments. They were very strict about what they could and could not do in this age. If you have ever thought about planning a crime, you would have to really think about the punishment you would receive.

Throughout history, there are lesser-known occurrences in which Historians can make assertions about the society in that time period as a whole. The conviction, execution and alleged resurrection of William Cragh is one such occurrence. In The Hanged Man, Robert Bartlett writes of a man who was executed, but allegedly rose from the dead in the Middle Ages. The story of William Cragh is not only a riveting anecdote, but also, an insightful look at the legal system of the Middle Ages. The Hanged Man helps to explain the relationship between England and Wales, the legal process that led to hanging, as well as societal perceptions of criminals and outlaws in the Medieval Period. Robert Bartlett is able to present a complicated historical event through the language of an everyday person. The Hanged Man is a great example of accessible historical nonfiction, bringing an understanding of the Middle Ages to a broad audience.

With millions of people expiring because of widespread disease, poor living conditions, or the brutality of the legal system, death was a common and inescapable enemy in Elizabethan times. Because death was so much a part of living, religious beliefs, rituals, and traditions that payed homage to death and honored the deceased became important. These traditions, however, were not the same for everyone. In fact, the attitude, treatment and approach to death and burial in the Elizabethan age was not so much guided by spiritual and religious belief, but moreso by the social status of the deceased. Such after death beliefs in Elizabethan times tended to be heavily religious based.