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Authors: Nigel Cawthorne
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often 'on loan' to other jurisdictions that did not have their own executioner. His father had been an executioner in Bamburg. Unlike his English counterparts, Schmidt did not drink and lived modestly at the city's expense in a towerhouse on the stone bridge across the River Pegnitz.
Although Schmidt received an extra payment for each execution and torture in addition to his regular salary, he was also paid in the event of a last-minute reprieve. A common punishment in Germany was to allow a prisoner to believe that he had been condemned to death. Schmidt would knock on the prisoner's cell and make a formal apology while he tied the victim's hands and draped a white cloak around his shoulders. The prisoner would then be led to the courtroom to hear his sentence read aloud. Guarded by two mounted constables and accompanied by two chaplains, who administered the Sacraments, he would then be marched in procession to one of Nuremberg's two scaffolds: the
Hochgericht
(High Gallows) or the
Rabenstein
(Raven's Stone). If the prisoner was ill or old, he would be taken there in a cart; if the crime was particularly heinous, he would be bound and dragged to the scaffold on an ox hide or a wooden sled, risking injury if no one was on hand to raise his head clear of the cobbles. The assistant executioner followed with the coffin and some strong drink to fortify the victim during his coming ordeal.
Once the procession had made its way through the crowds gathered for the execution, the prisoner mounted the scaffold, built high up on a huge stone base so the crowd could get a good view. Many of the spectators were drunk and shouted abuse at the victim and the officials while cheering Schmidt on. He read out a proclamation promising retribution to anyone who tried to halt the event or avenge the death of the culprit. The condemned had one opportunity to address the crowd. Once the victim had prepared to meet his Maker, the executioner would twirl his sword in the air to build up speed for the final stroke. It was only then the prisoner discovered whether the blade simply flashed over the top of his head or sent him off with a
coup de grâce
. Even if he were reprieved, the scare would have created a lasting impression.
Schmidt did not bind his victims. They could flinch, sway, or pull away, making the first stroke ineffective, but he rarely had to take a second swing. In many cases, the prisoners begged to be beheaded rather than hanged. Decapitation was still considered a more honourable death than hanging, which was usually reserved for thieves and common criminals. In 1609, two daughters implored Schmidt to behead their father, as their fiancés would not marry them if he was hanged.
Anatomy was Schmidt's personal hobby. Like English hangmen, part of his job involved supplying corpses to medical schools, so he practised dissection on his victims and was also the municipal torturer. Though this may be seen as rather ghoulish, he seems to have been a humane man. Until 1513, women convicted of adultery in Nuremberg were buried alive. After that, they were drowned. Schmidt advocated that they should be beheaded for a quicker, more merciful death. He got his way even though critics maintained that weak women might faint and he might be obliged to finish them off on the ground. Consequently, Schmidt took the precaution of seating the condemned woman in a chair and beheading her with his sword from behind.
Unlike most English executioners, Schmidt could read and write and kept a diary. On 26 January 1580, he recorded beheading three women for infanticide. Twenty-two-year-old Agnes Lengin had strangled her baby and hid it in a garbage dump. Elizabeth Ernstin, also twenty-two, had staved in her child's skull and hidden the corpse in a trunk. Fifty-year-old (surely a mistake, according to Schmidt) Margaret Dorfflerin gave birth 'in the garden behind the fort' and left the baby to die in the snow. All three women were swiftly decapitated and had
Although Schmidt received an extra payment for each execution and torture in addition to his regular salary, he was also paid in the event of a last-minute reprieve. A common punishment in Germany was to allow a prisoner to believe that he had been condemned to death. Schmidt would knock on the prisoner's cell and make a formal apology while he tied the victim's hands and draped a white cloak around his shoulders. The prisoner would then be led to the courtroom to hear his sentence read aloud. Guarded by two mounted constables and accompanied by two chaplains, who administered the Sacraments, he would then be marched in procession to one of Nuremberg's two scaffolds: the
Hochgericht
(High Gallows) or the
Rabenstein
(Raven's Stone). If the prisoner was ill or old, he would be taken there in a cart; if the crime was particularly heinous, he would be bound and dragged to the scaffold on an ox hide or a wooden sled, risking injury if no one was on hand to raise his head clear of the cobbles. The assistant executioner followed with the coffin and some strong drink to fortify the victim during his coming ordeal.
Once the procession had made its way through the crowds gathered for the execution, the prisoner mounted the scaffold, built high up on a huge stone base so the crowd could get a good view. Many of the spectators were drunk and shouted abuse at the victim and the officials while cheering Schmidt on. He read out a proclamation promising retribution to anyone who tried to halt the event or avenge the death of the culprit. The condemned had one opportunity to address the crowd. Once the victim had prepared to meet his Maker, the executioner would twirl his sword in the air to build up speed for the final stroke. It was only then the prisoner discovered whether the blade simply flashed over the top of his head or sent him off with a
coup de grâce
. Even if he were reprieved, the scare would have created a lasting impression.
Schmidt did not bind his victims. They could flinch, sway, or pull away, making the first stroke ineffective, but he rarely had to take a second swing. In many cases, the prisoners begged to be beheaded rather than hanged. Decapitation was still considered a more honourable death than hanging, which was usually reserved for thieves and common criminals. In 1609, two daughters implored Schmidt to behead their father, as their fiancés would not marry them if he was hanged.
Anatomy was Schmidt's personal hobby. Like English hangmen, part of his job involved supplying corpses to medical schools, so he practised dissection on his victims and was also the municipal torturer. Though this may be seen as rather ghoulish, he seems to have been a humane man. Until 1513, women convicted of adultery in Nuremberg were buried alive. After that, they were drowned. Schmidt advocated that they should be beheaded for a quicker, more merciful death. He got his way even though critics maintained that weak women might faint and he might be obliged to finish them off on the ground. Consequently, Schmidt took the precaution of seating the condemned woman in a chair and beheading her with his sword from behind.
Unlike most English executioners, Schmidt could read and write and kept a diary. On 26 January 1580, he recorded beheading three women for infanticide. Twenty-two-year-old Agnes Lengin had strangled her baby and hid it in a garbage dump. Elizabeth Ernstin, also twenty-two, had staved in her child's skull and hidden the corpse in a trunk. Fifty-year-old (surely a mistake, according to Schmidt) Margaret Dorfflerin gave birth 'in the garden behind the fort' and left the baby to die in the snow. All three women were swiftly decapitated and had
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