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The Guillotine Research Paper

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The guillotine was one of the most popular and widely used machines designed and used for executions by beheading. As one of the main symbols of the French Revolution, the guillotine not only represented, but also delivered death. Since the guillotine was in use for over 200 years, it saw much destruction and took many lives. The guillotine has had other machines like it that were just as deadly but with different names. The guillotine was fashioned from the idea of two other decapitation machines (Andrews). One of them is the Halifax Gibbet. It is thought that the first time an execution by beheading was done was in Halifax. Which is how the Halifax Gibbet received its name (HistoryLearningSite). This machine stood fifteen feet tall and used an axe head attached to a piece of wood that slid between grooves of the two fifteen foot beams (Wilde). …show more content…

The machine may have originated in 1066 but can only be proved to being used from the 1280’s and on (Wilde). John of Dalton is thought to be the first victim of the Halifax Gibbet in the year 1286 (HistoryLearningSite). The Halifax Gibbet was retired on April 30th, 1650 (Wilde). The other machine the guillotine was based on was the Scotish Maiden. The Scotish Maiden was called various names in Edinburgh, such as the Maiden, the Miadin, and the Madin or Madyn. The Maiden, like the Halifax, has two upright beams as part of the main structure. Instead of an axe head like the Halifax, the Maiden just has a steel faced iron blade with seventy-five pounds of lead for weight (Hartley). The Scotish Maiden was used for about 150 years from the year 1564 to the year 1710. In that period of time, it is said that the decapitation machine had over 150 victims (The Guillotine

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