to thirty criminals at a time were left hanging from the gallows there, and then
afterwards just tossed into small pits.
In medieval Germany, criminals could be broken on the wheel. The
unfortunate victim was first given over to a torturer who broke their legs,
arms, hands and feet, and then their limbs were threaded through a large wheel
that was hoisted up in the air on a pole. They would hang there in agony until
they died. In fact, some people actually survived this awful fate, and earned a
pardon.
Beheadings were also common in Europe, and during in the medieval
period a sword was the weapon that delivered the fatal blow. Not all
executioners were good at their jobs–skulls show wounds on the back of the
head or the back where the headsman had missed his target. Executioners
could also make a good living quite apart from the fees they earned at a
hanging. They also worked as butchers and for fellmongers (dealers in animal
skins), cut off the hands and feet of poachers and other criminals, and
undertook brandings. On top of all that, they could sell souvenirs and body
parts of the people they had executed–human fat, brains, fingers and other
body parts that were much sought after for the making of magical remedies
and charms. Despite their usefulness, however, executioners were never
popular members of their communities!^10
MEDIEVAL CRIME