Today, Farz explores the life of the Medieval Executioner and the unique challenges of their profession. This role was essential in every town and was often passed down through generations, much like the modern concept of nepotism. We will investigate the various methods of execution used during this period and discuss the qualities that a local Executioner needed to possess.
Today, Farz explores the life of the Medieval Executioner and the unique challenges of their profession. This role was essential in every town and was often passed down through generations, much like the modern concept of nepotism. We will investigate the various methods of execution used during this period and discuss the qualities that a local Executioner needed to possess.
Hi Friends! Our transcripts aren't perfect, but I wanted to make sure you had something - if you'd like an edited transcript, I'd be happy to prioritize one for you - please email doomedtofailpod@gmail.com - Thanks! - Taylor
Taylor: How are you liking your newly shaven, completely smooth face
>> Taylor: In the matter of the people of the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson, case number BA097.
>> Farz: And so, my fellow Americans, ask not.
>> Taylor: What your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.
>> Farz: Boom. hey, Taylor.
>> Taylor: Hi.
>> Farz: How are you liking my newly shaven, completely smooth face?
>> Taylor: I like it. I feel like, should I take our logo and just, like, I don't know, figure out how to, like, make your face smooth on the thing?
>> Farz: Use some white out maybe?
>> Taylor: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
>> Farz: yeah, I'm getting used to it. I forgot what my face was shaped like, and I'm not happy about it. But hopefully, it'll eventually grow, back a beard, and I will be thankful for that. So cool. Such as life. It'll grow back a better. Literally better. I can't go through life like this.
Welcome to Doomed to Fail, or the podcast that brings you history's failures
so how's life? Where are you? You're not at home.
>> Taylor: wait, let me introduce us first.
>> Farz: All right.
>> Taylor: Hello. Welcome to Doomed to Fail, or the podcast that brings you history's most notorious disasters at epic failures twice a week, every week. I'm Taylor, joined by Fars. I am in Spokane. I'm in Spokane, Washington.
>> Farz: Oh, sweet.
>> Taylor: Why I have not left the house because I have a brother who, like, lives really close to here, and so he won't travel anywhere, just because he's a bum. And so we all came up here, and we're in, like, a big house, and it's nice.
>> Farz: Wait, who lives in Spokane?
>> Taylor: My brother, Stratton.
>> Farz: Oh, I don't know him. I don't think I've ever met him.
>> Taylor: I don't think so. No.
>> Farz: Okay.
>> Taylor: and then my brother Decker lives, like, five hours from here, and him and his wife went home two days early because they missed their cat.
>> Farz: Cats don't care.
>> Taylor: Oh, my God, the cat doesn't care. But whatever.
>> Farz: Decker, if you're listening to this, I love cats, too, so I'm not belittling that, but I've had a cat before, and as long as it had food and, like, a place to use the bathroom, it could not care if I was around.
>> Taylor: Yeah, exactly. It's fine. But whatever. But, my dad's here, my sister's here, my mom's here, everyone's here. We're having a good time.
Is anybody else noticing a lot more military stuff happening around them
>> Farz: Hey, question for you. When. When did you go up to Spokane?
>> Taylor: Thursday.
>> Farz: Okay, so maybe you're not seeing is if. Is anybody else, like, noticing a lot more, like, military stuff happening around them? I thought you would, given where you live, but, like, there's also, like, an air base near Austin. And I'm like, there's a lot more stuff happening. I'm like, I know that intercontinental ballistic missiles are being tested by Russia and Ukraine is, like, hitting bombs in Russia, and we're about to have a transition of power. Like, I'm starting to regret all the negative things I said about the US Spending money on military because I'm starting to think we're going to need it.
>> Taylor: I mean, I do feel like every once in a while there'll be, like, a ton of helicopters or, like, because I live so close to that base, like, they'll bomb the out of it sometimes, and, like, the whole house. My whole house will shake. And then sometimes they, don't bomb.
>> Farz: The sh of the base. Right.
>> Taylor: You know, like, the area they have, like, a fake village that they bomb the out of.
>> Farz: They're going to fire whoever's a planner. If it's like, every month they're like, we have to blow up the base.
>> Taylor: You know what I mean? And then sometimes there'll be, like, a convoy with, like, a bunch of, like, cars and big tanks that are, like, twice the size of a car and all these things. And I'll be like, oh, great, it's starting. But, like, I don't know.
>> Farz: So I. I started having these weird thoughts about this stuff. I think it's, like, a little bit of anxiety coming in, but I don't generally have anxiety. I'm like, whatever happens, happens. Like, you can't control it. Why live in whatever primary? But I started having a little bit of pain of anxiety. And, like, the reason I recognize that this is probably really anxiety is I was doing the math on, well, I'm in Texas. Everybody here is armed to the teeth, so I'm probably safe. And then I was like, think about it. Far as if everybody's armed the teeth, then you wouldn't go in and fight them using the same weaponry. You would just nuke them and go somewhere else. I was like, maybe it's not a good thing being in Texas.
>> Taylor: I mean, do you mean, like, the American military is going to try to fight Texans or, like, Russia's gonna try to fight Texas? Russia, I'm not gonna come over with, like, handguns. Yeah, they're gonna nuke us.
>> Farz: Yeah. Okay. I mean, the anxiety is real. You just made the anxiety even more real because you just said it out loud. And I hadn't actually said that out loud to myself. And you just said it, and so now it's real.
>> Taylor: Cool. Sorry. I mean, you probably won't even know this will happen so fast.
>> Farz: No, that's saving grace.
Rachel suggested this topic because she's having writer's block
so we're going to get into our fun episode today, and I think I'm going to go first.
>> Taylor: Yes.
>> Farz: And you know what? It, like, touches on kind of what we've been talking about here. It's a little bit death oriented.
>> Taylor: maybe that's why you're feeling anxious.
>> Farz: Yeah, maybe. Although I just came up with this topic. Well, no, I didn't. So I'm going to give Rachel a shout out because Rachel is the one who suggested it. Because, like, Rachel, I'm having writer's block. I don't know what to write about. I don't know what to talk about. And she was like, what about this topic? And I was like, that's pretty good. Yeah, I'll do that. So that's what I'm gonna do.
>> Taylor: You do. You do it.
>> Farz: I'm gonna do it.
Taylor: I'm excited to talk about medieval executioners today
Okay. So today I'm gonna cover medieval executioners.
>> Taylor: Ooh, fun.
>> Farz: Isn't it fun?
>> Taylor: That is fun. I'm excited.
>> Farz: Oh, actually, also, Taylor, speaking of, like, scary things, I. I'm probably the last person in the world who's seen Barbarian, but I watched it last night because Rachel was like, you cannot watch another movie until you watch Barbarian. So, like, we're just going to sit here. You're going to watch it, and I.
>> Taylor: Don'T think I've seen it.
>> Farz: It's a good one. You should. Okay. So I thought you. I would have assumed you've seen it.
>> Taylor: I might. I think part of it. I need to. I need to watch it again.
>> Farz: Okay. I'm not going to talk about it then. It's on Hulu. It's free. so watch it. Because I also. I don't like watching movies that are hyped because I'm like, I don't want to follow the crowd. And so now. And I think you're kind of like, like that too. I think we're far enough away from the hype where it's okay for us to watch it now.
>> Taylor: I agree with that. I agree with that. Because I hate when you're like, oh, it's the scary movie ever. And then I'm like, well, then I'm gonna be hyped for do this scariest movie ever. And it's not going to be. And I'm gonna be, like, really disappointed.
>> Farz: So, okay, take away what I just said. It sucks. It's a horrible movie. But watch it.
>> Taylor: It will.
>> Farz: Okay. Thank you. Anyways.
I'm going to go through a fun little history of medieval executioners
Okay, back to our topic. So medieval executioners. So I'm going to go through a fun little history of executioners along with things like compensation, their social status, how they got the job, and talk about kind of like one executioner in particular and like what his process was and how it all kind of worked out if you were a condemned person. It was really interesting. A lot of this stuff is stuff that you probably assume, you know, because you've watched, like movies. But there's details in here that I did not know that were really, really interesting. Also a big part of the reason why I, like, love the idea when Rachel brought it up is I went back and looked at the R.L. stein book, Night in the Tower of Terror. And it's a picture of like an executioner on the front of it.
>> Taylor: And I was like, did you buy them yet? You should buy them.
>> Farz: No, no. I was going to go to IKEA later and get a bookshelf.
>> Taylor: Oh, I'm so proud of you.
>> Farz: I'm gonna get a bookshelf first.
>> Taylor: Incredible. That's incredible news.
>> Farz: Thank you, thank you. I know Rachel, Rachel was like, you have all these self help books that you never read. And she like, it's not working. You can't just buy them and keep on your sh.
>> Taylor: It's not working.
Very few people actually wanted to be executioners, according to medieval history
>> Farz: so let's talk about how somebody becomes an executioner. So one thing to note is like, all this is medieval history. And medieval history was like, really not that greatly documented. Like, there's no details. And a lot of this, a lot of people weren't, uneducated, were illiterate. And so like some of this stuff you got a piece together, which is why the last story I'm going to tell about this is going to be really super interesting because it's super, super detailed.
>> Taylor: But even if it's not true, I'll believe it.
>> Farz: Thank you. So there wasn't like a hard and fast rule. Most of the time it seems like whoever like the constable, warden or whatever lord was in that region would kind of decide who would be the executioner. And sometimes it'd be like the local butcher, or sometimes it would be a criminal who was supposed to be executed. But then they told, they were told that if you do it, if you do it, then you won't be executed. There's a woman in Ireland named Lady Betty or, yeah, Lady Betty. And she was a, condemned who became the executioner for like all of Ireland for like 50 years. Which, was super, super interesting. And it was like the first time, I think a woman was the state sanctioned executioner for a country. Pretty, pretty modern stuff, actually. and then the other thing that would happen is that this would be something that you would be handed down from generation to generation. We talked about like the caste system in India forever ago. I didn't realize this, but like there kind of was a caste system in like Europe too. And like this was part of it. Like, if you were part of, you know, a family of executioners and you were like the untouchables, you were like the lowest of the low. but regardless, very few people ended up doing this voluntarily. Which I'm going to get into here in a minute or why that is. So most of the time, like a town executioner wouldn't actually, they wouldn't get paid like much, or if they did, it was like a very, very modest amount. What they would typically get is free or heavily discounted lodging. They didn't have to pay taxes or tolls. And sometimes they would get this privilege that I never heard of called havage. Have you heard of that before? some people had this privilege in medieval time called havish, which was entitled them to free food and drink. So you just like go into a bar and be like, just give me free beers, lager or whatever. It's kind of cool.
>> Taylor: That's nice.
>> Farz: You money you would save. I would save so much money.
>> Taylor: Right? Like, you don't need to be paid that much money if you're getting all your food and for free and no taxes in no taxes.
>> Farz: It's great. they. This one's a really fun part. So a lot of times you would also get paid by the person you're. You're killing because, you can rifle through whatever was on that person's possess, like on their person at the moment of execution. Or if they were like a noble person, sometimes the noble person would have assistance nearby who could pay the executioner after the execution. And the reason you would do this, I mean, sometimes these people would actually have cash on them to go to the executioner because they didn't want you to mess it up. They don't want you to sit there and hack their neck for 20 minutes. They want you fast. And if it was done fast, like, hey, you can rifle through my bloody torso and pull out whatever cash you want.
>> Taylor: Wow.
>> Farz: It's great. So as far as social standing was concerned, again, very few people actually wanted to be executioners. You were kind of a psychopath if you did. being an executioner meant m. You were pretty much shunned from society. Which is why, like, in the modern version of like executioners on tv, they're always wearing like a mask to hide their identity. So that's not really what happened. Like, that's not what almost any of them did. So the town executioner was very.
>> Taylor: Well, you knew who they were.
>> Farz: Yeah. You knew who the town executioner was or if they were a journeyman executioner, which was like, incredibly common. Like they didn't care about hiding their identity because they were in town to kill 17 people today and they were going to leave tomorrow to go to the next town. It's like, it's like being in the Rolling Stones, except you kill bloodier.
>> Farz: So because of all this, being an executioner was again, like I said, it was like a not, not a voluntary thing or very rarely a voluntary thing. You were typically forced to do the job by virtue of family lineage. So, the part of this that like, makes it super bad for that individual is that if you became the town executioner or the journeyman executioner, you would be branded. So in Scandinavian. This is disgusting. In Scandinavian countries, for example, they would cut the ears of the executioners off.
>> Taylor: What?
>> Farz: So that everybody would look at their ears and be like, oh, that's Bill, he's executioner.
>> Taylor: I don't know if that's worth all the free food that you're talking about.
>> Farz: Seriously, like, again, like every time you think of like, how bad the world is, this was human beings doing.
>> Taylor: That would have been terrible.
>> Farz: Yes. Gorillas doing this. Like, these were human beings doing this.
>> Taylor: Oh my God.
>> Farz: Fun thing. In other countries outside of Scandinavia, they would use hot iron and brand the forehead of the town executioner.
>> Taylor: Jesus Christ.
>> Farz: Yeah.
>> Taylor: So funny. Because it's like, they need him. Obviously they do.
>> Farz: They do need it.
>> Taylor: So why are they treating him like crap? pretending that they don't need someone to fulfill this sentencing that they're obviously doing all the time.
>> Farz: I don't know, Taylor, do they actually need them? Like, are we that into capital punishment?
>> Taylor: Well, aren't they, like, why? Why, like, is. Is that if that's his, like, job?
>> Farz: I mean, like, if somebody steals a loaf of bread, do we really need the guy who's going to cut their head off and rifle?
>> Taylor: I don't think I don't need that guy. But it sounds like they did. But they, but they didn't want to, like, admit it.
Despite what we think about medieval executions, it wasn't that common
>> Farz: They didn't want to admit it.
>> Taylor: They made him feel weird.
>> Farz: They made him feel weird. But like, also there it was. It was case by case too, right? Like if you were the executioner for the king, you were like untouchable. Like you were living like this just absolutely blessed, charmed life of cutting off people's heads.
>> Taylor: Like, how often did you have to go to work?
>> Farz: So it wasn't that common. It wasn't that. So executions, despite what we think about the medieval ages, it wasn't that common. Like, it wasn't. It, was more common than it is here in the US today, but it wasn't like a thing where it's like every day you're killing somebody. Like it was. You would have. You would typically have another job as well. In fact. This is like crazy. But a lot of times the way these people would side hustle is this population would go to them for medical advice because they were the only people at that time who had to know anything about how the body worked. Because they had to kill you.
>> Taylor: Oh God.
>> Farz: Yeah. So they would side hustle with like, with medical advice.
>> Taylor: Oh my gosh.
>> Farz: Again, further validation. Doctors are just crazy people back then.
>> Taylor: Yeah, Well, I think. Yeah. Yeah. Wild.
>> Farz: So as you can kind of assume, given the CAS concept I mentioned earlier and everything we've been saying to date, their main company was like the undesirables of society. You know, prostitutes, lepers, criminals, shit like that. When it came to methods. This was also interesting. I didn't know this either. So when it came to methods of execution, a lot of it was determined based on. Well, it was based on what was available to the executioner, but it was also super dependent on what the crime was. So an ax or a sword was probably the most common way to kill someone by beheading them. And, and that's just because you all, everybody had an ax and a sword in town, right? Like there was one accessible and you don't really need anything. This one's interesting though. They had like, kind of like an unwritten rule of a three stroke limit. It sounds like fucking the PGAs. But what it was is that if you can't kill the guy or woman in three strokes, then you risk the mob turning on you and killing you instead.
>> Taylor: Right?
>> Farz: Or you losing your job as an executioner and then now you have no ears and you have to pay taxes and you don't have free, free housing.
>> Taylor: It's like. But like nobody. Did people go to them? Like we think that they did.
>> Farz: Did people go to them?
>> Taylor: Yeah.
>> Farz: You mean like try to kill them?
>> Taylor: No, like in with people. Like, I was watching the executions.
>> Farz: Oh, yeah, yeah. Like, no, that points Real in movies, yeah.
>> Taylor: Watching someone just like a one shot head chopped off is very different experience. And like a 20 shot chop of.
>> Farz: The man Ned, Ned Stark. Only it only took one and it still traumatizes me to this day.
>> Taylor: Fair.
>> Farz: So, the other methods that were available, if you had the resources to make them available was hangings, which was reserved for thieves and then murderers, rapists, and they call them aggravated thefts. So thefts committed by like battery or whatever. Those were like pretty badly done. So those were, those are the people that were executed by being broken at the wheel. Which is like, this is the one where I'm like, man, you really have to love this job to do that.
Sometimes they just drop it on you. But sometimes they don't actually kill you
Do it. So you're strapped to a scaffold in a large wheel from a carriage. And I looked this up, it weighs about 50 pounds. Typically it's, just repeatedly dropped on your body. Usually starting with your shin bone and then your arm bones and like just shattering your body.
>> Taylor: They just drop it on you.
>> Farz: They just drop it on you.
>> Taylor: I think turning at some of something. But no, they just drop you.
>> Farz: They just drop it on you. Yeah.
>> Taylor: Oh my God.
>> Farz: Yeah. I think what you're thinking of is the stretching thing, right? It's the one that just keeps stretching you. That's something different, which we'll actually talk about here in a moment. So they just keep dropping it on you. And then like if the executioner decides to kill you, they can just take it at the very end of breaking every bone in your body and just start bashing you in the head or the neck with it. And that's the way they would kill you.
>> Taylor: Oh my God.
>> Farz: But sometimes they don't actually kill you. But regardless, whatever they do is the way that this whole thing ends is they kind of braid your body into the wheel so you're kind of like.
>> Taylor: Just like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because like you're in the spokes.
>> Farz: There you go. You're in the spokes.
>> Taylor: Yeah, but you're. But you're in. Your body is so broken in your body. That kind of makes me throw. Wow.
>> Farz: So the worst I read was this guy who was a serial killer in Germany. Man, the Germans just know how to do it. They've like nailed this shit. But this guy in Germany was kept alive for nine days on the wheel. He was forced to stay alive, given m water, whatever he needed to make sure, like he could not succumb to his wounds. Nuts.
>> Taylor: Nuts.
>> Farz: Must have killed someone really important. then you have burnings that was typically reserved for our heretics, sodomites, witches and arsonists. Then you had drowning, which is a very, I mean, that's a fun little gendered thing. So women were typically the only ones who were drowned. and that was typically for either adultery or for infanticide, killing their kids. So I, don't know. I think I would take, I would take the cut your head off, vent the drowning. And then, I don't know, man. It's a toss up between burning in the wheel.
>> Taylor: I know, I know.
>> Farz: Such a toss up.
>> Taylor: It really is, I guess. I mean, the head, the head chop off, I think is the best by far. As long as it's like one heck, you know, you have to worry about it.
>> Farz: So the worst. The worst is kind of what you were discussing earlier and the one that we're probably the most familiar with, which is like being drawn and quartered. And, that was the punishment reserve for traders, basically traders of the state. So, first the person will be dragged behind a horse to the scaffolding. That's the drawing part of the being drawn to the scaffolding. They would then be hanged. But not like drop hang. They don't want to break their neck. They just want them to like suffer being hanged. So they would just do it until like they were going to pass out, but then drop them.
>> Taylor: Oh my God.
>> Farz: then the real show starts. That's when they would disembowel them alive and they would put their entrails on a fire so they can watch their entrails being burned in front of them. And then at that point they would either be beheaded or if you really wanted to continue the punishment, they would have their limbs tied to separate horses or rip the body and from end. That's the quartered part.
>> Taylor: Wow.
>> Farz: Which they did to Mel Gibson.
>> Taylor: Yeah, they did. That's what I was going to say. I remember his entrails being taken out.
>> Farz: Yeah, that was real. That was actually what they would do. Unbelievable what we've done to each other.
>> Taylor: I know people, man.
>> Farz: So, in the middle of all this, I like started looking up random punishments. And there were so many interesting ones. People get so creative. We are so good at coming up with ways to just destroy each other. Fantastic. this wasn't a death punishment. Did you know that, like, washing someone's mouth out with soap was like a legitimate punishment for children who use inappropriate language?
>> Taylor: I feel like. Yes, but it just sounds crazy.
>> Farz: Yeah, they literally did that.
>> Taylor: Yeah, crazy terrible.
This one was invented by my People, the Persians
>> Farz: This one was fun. So, this is a thing invented by my People, the Persians, which is called scaphism, which you might have heard before. But okay, again, this is my people, so I'm allowed to say these things. It was described by a 12th century historian, a guy named Johannes Hoya, Johannes Zanaras, something, I don't know, it's a very old timey guy. and he described it as, quote, the Persians outvie all other barbarians and the horde cruelty of their punishments, employing tortures that are peculiarly terrible and long drawn. Namely the boat. So would, this was, was they would take two boats, like little like dinghy type boats. They would put you inside of one of them and then screw the other one on top of you with your arms, legs and arms or head outside of it. Then they would force feed you until you vomited milk and honey, and then rub milk and honey all over your limbs and then just like set you out onto like a river. And then what would happen is you would just your brains out and then animals, insects and everything else would start eating you as you like decompose inside of this. Inside of this. Oh my God, you'd stay alive. I mean, you'd stay alive a very, very long time while this is happening.
>> Taylor: Oh my God.
>> Farz: he also described it something, along the lines, okay, so he goes quote, moreover, his belly descended, as it is with milk and honey, throws off liquid extremes in these putrefying. In these putrefying breed swarms of worms, intestinal and all sorts. Thus the victim lying in the boat, his flesh rotting away in his own filth and devoured by worms, dies a lingering and horrible death.
>> Taylor: That is horrible.
>> Farz: Like we are man, we are creative.
Franz Schmidt documented 361 executions between 1555 and 1634
so there's one guy that I found that was like super interesting. So there's a guy named Franz Schmidt, which as you would predict, is a German executioner who lived between 1555 and 1634. And he's unique because he was able to provide kind of like a behind the scenes insight into the whole thing. And like I said, a lot of times, you know, people were uneducated, they were illiterate, they couldn't read, they couldn't write. Like you didn't really have a ton to go off of historically of like what was going on. And so this was one of the few times where you have someone who was educated and insanely meticulous about documenting every detail. He ended up documenting 361 executions that he carried out, including who the condemned was, the date, the location, the manner of death. Like every detail of this was documented. It was incredible. So he described Hans Vogel as kind of like the typical condemned and what would happen to them. So this was in his diary, this is in Schmidt's diary as kind of like a prototypical example what would happen. Hans Vogel was a murderer in Germany. That was Schmidt's first execution at 18 years old. And this part was gross. It was like at first what they do is they start practicing on like vegetables, like pumpkins and stuff. Then they graduate to like a puppy, like they would cut a dog's head off. And I was like, just go to the person. Like, why would you, why intermediary this thing with a dog? Just go straight to the person. Like the dog didn't do anything to deserve it. so here's kind of the day in the life, so the day, the day before. So this person, the, the condemned will be moved to relatively larger cell. And the entire goal for the state at this point is to make sure that this person is healthy and as comfortable as possible. If they're ill, if they're sick or anything else, they would typically delay the execution until they're back. This is all tied to like religious doctrines around, like you need to know what you did and why you're being punished. And like if you're out of your mind, delirious and it's not, God needs to know that you know that you did a bad thing.
>> Taylor: Right, right, right.
>> Farz: So, typically on this day he would receive visitors, friends, family and the chaplain. Sometimes they mentioned the widow of the person that this, the condemned killed might show up. And like a way that they would show that they forgive them is by feeding them something like bringing like some home cooked meal for the condemned to eat. and this will be around the time that they'll be given their last meal as well. So at that point they're put into like a really nice white linen gown. And then that's when the executioner in this case Schmidt would finally show up at the entrance to the cell. And this, this is crazy.
>> Taylor: That's scary. I can just imagine.
>> Farz: So you think that. But like listen to this part. So Schmidt would document in the, in the case of Bogle, he was like, yeah, you know, you walk in, you ask to condemn for forgiveness and then you share a drink of St. John's drink of peace, which I looked up and it's just wine. So like they're drinking together and like sharing stories. They're just like having a good time. Like old, old friends. Like, it's not like a, it's not, it's not like to be a scary thing. Yeah. So once they feel good about it and they're vibing, then will tie.
>> Taylor: That's so funny. Are we vibing? No, we're not.
>> Farz: Yeah, we need like, we, like 17 more years.
>> Taylor: Yeah, like six. Six more years and just open the door.
>> Farz: So at this point, he would tie their hands, and then he would take them to a thing called blood court. Sounds cool. that's basically a chord. That's all for show. So this point, the person's already confessed or they're proclaimed guilty, whatever it is. sometimes this is done in jail, but there's other times when it's like a high profile case, when it's done in public, like at the location where the execution is supposed to take place, where they'll do it. So what'll end up happening is that they'll be led out to this blood court where a judge will read out the offenses and they'll end it by saying, quote, which being against the laws of the Holy Roman Empire, my lords have decreed and given sentence that he shall be condemned for from life to death by blank insert the execution type.
>> Farz: So the prisoner would then give a final statement. But mostly this was for them to basically absolve the guilt of the judge and the executioner by saying, hey, I get it. You know, we're good, we're fine. Like, there's no issues here.
>> Taylor: I'm bad. I did a bad thing. Yeah.
>> Farz: So from there he would be led to the execution area, which in Vogel's case was to be done by beheading. in this case, the historical record is a little muddled on whether he just like kneeled or exposed his neck on like a piece of a block of wood or something. But regardless, in this case, he was killed with one stroke of Schmidt's sword. We know that because in his entire career, 361 deaths, executions, he only ever had to use a second stroke twice. So this guy was really good at it. from there, he would turn to the judge and ask, quote, lord judge, have I executed? Well, question mark. And he would reply, quote, you have executed as judgment and law have required. It's like so formal.
>> Taylor: So formal. And just again, I think it's weird that they, like, need them so much.
>> Farz: Yeah, yeah. immediately after this, he would direct his assistants, whoever, whoever these poor bastards were, to mop up the blood and dispose of the head and the body.
>> Taylor: Yeah, that's not, That's a job.
>> Farz: Well, sometimes, apparently, they would take the head and like, it was, like, a way to publicize, like, legally what happened so they would, like, take the head and, like, stick it somewhere in public. Because, like, what if. What if somebody, like, what if that guy had to. Had a debt he could collect, and then the person who's supposed to pay him the debt doesn't know that he's dead? And then, like, I show up and I'm like, no, I'm that guy. I'm vocal. And it's like, give me the money. You know, like, you publicize it for legal reasons that this is the guy we actually killed. So it wasn't actually just for pure, I don't know, atmosphere and I guess.
>> Taylor: Like, no one could read. So they're not, like, putting it up on in the paper. They're just, like, showing you this head.
>> Farz: Yeah. Yeah. Also, I'm sure around October, it was, like, super fun to walk around and see a bunch of, like, spiked heads hanging around in the market.
>> Taylor: I think so.
Mars: Hopefully the audience enjoyed it. If you didn't, you can write to us. Tell me I'm terrible
I think that's weird. I think it's too much. There's a scene in, the Great. The show about Catherine the Great that didn't happen in real life, but, like, he gives everyone a head of, like, the people that he hated and, like, at a party, and everyone's like, ooh. And she's like, what?
>> Farz: Obviously, that would be a fun. You'd remember that party at the very least.
>> Taylor: I mean, forever. That's true.
>> Farz: so that's it. That's a little History of Executioners. And I think I'm going to do a little bit of a medieval thing because I have another topic that touches on this for next week. that I think I'm going to go off of because I started, like, you know. You know how this is. When you start researching one topic, it takes you in, like, 17 different directions.
>> Taylor: Yeah. You're like, oh, my gosh. Lots other things.
>> Farz: Yeah. It just goes to show, like, we know very little about anything.
>> Taylor: I will try to learn how to spell the word medieval because it's hard.
>> Farz: Thank you, Taylor. Thank you. I felt like an idiot trying.
>> Taylor: It's so hard. It makes no sense. I can't even, I can't even right now say how I think you would spell it. It's just, like, not what you think.
>> Farz: I hope I did it right here. It's. Yeah. Because evil is eval. Not evil. But you say evil.
>> Taylor: yeah.
>> Farz: That's weird.
>> Taylor: Dumb.
>> Farz: Anyways, so that is my fun little topic. Hopefully the audience enjoyed it. Hopefully. If you didn't, you can write to us. Tell me I'm terrible@doomdefellpod.gmail.com Reference me by name so I know that I'm the terrible one.
>> Taylor: Perfect. Perfect Outro. Yeah. Thanks everyone. We are on all the socials at Doomed to Fail Pod. We will see you over there.
>> Farz: Sweet.
>> Taylor: Cool. Thanks, Mars.
>> Farz: Thank you.