medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Most medieval cities had multi persons' gallows outside of the town, usually
on the north-eastern side of it, south westerly winds being prevalent in
northwestern Europe. I know Dutch, German and English cities had them. I
suppose French cities as well. Montfaucon was to the north of Paris, and
this is where the gallows were.
"Long ago, rue de la Grange-aux-Belles, on the north side of the Hôpital
St-Louis, was a dusty track leading uphill, past fields, en route to
Germany. Where no. 53 now stands, a path led to the top of a small hillock.
Here, in 1325, on the king's orders, an enormous gallows was built,
consisting of a plinth 6m high, on which stood sixteen stone pillars each
10m high. These were joined by chains, from which malefactors were hanged in
clusters. They were left there until they disintegrated, by way of example,
and they stank so badly that when the wind blew from the northeast they
infected the nostrils of the still far-off city. The practice continued
until the seventeenth century. Bones and other remains from the pit into
which they were thrown were found during the building of a garage in 1954".
Henk
-----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
Van: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious culture
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] Namens Christopher Crockett
Verzonden: woensdag 26 oktober 2011 19:41
Aan: [log in to unmask]
Onderwerp: Re: [M-R] Theft of metal from UK churches
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
From: HenkADSL <[log in to unmask]>
> Usually, after being hanged, the corpses were moved out of town to the
gallows hill where they hung until they dropped off.
sooo.... there was no actual gallows on Gallows Hill?
i previously mentioned the many late m.a. paintings of the Crucifixion,
always "out of town", always with a crowd of (sometimes enthusiastic)
rubberkneckers.
yes, Golgotha was "out of town" and beyond the walls of J., but i would
venture to say that it was not historical "reality" which was being
portrayed by the painters of the 15-16th cc., but the Reality of their own
day, in which many (perhaps not all) executions were conducted "out of
town."
of course, to refute that, there's this
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/MuensterHinrichtungTaeufe
r.jpg
c
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