1. law, govt and politics
2. armed forces
3. army

February 2015
February 2015
The
Argus
L E A G U E
A N C I E N T S
Our Longest Argus Ever
INSIDE THIS
ISSUE:
Well, hello all.
Our Longest Argus Ever
1
Cancon DBR Report
2
The Roman Campaign
Continues
3
Cancon Napoleonic TO’s
Report
4
An excerpt from Jonathan
5-12
Moore’s new book
Meeting Dates and
Important Info
O F
13
ten a report of the DBR tournament at Cancon. And on page three is the latest report
First, I would like to apologise for not pub- in Lyle’s ongoing Roman FOGAM camlishing an Argus last month. I was rather
paign.
horrifically ill, as part of an ongoing issue
with my throat. The good news is that the Now, you may have noticed that today’s
date of my first surgery has finally come,
Argus is significantly longer than normal.
and so I hope to soon be putting these isThat is thanks to the contribution of Jonasues behind me. It’s a very low-risk opera- than Moore, who has kindly allowed me to
tion, and I’ve been assured I have nothing reproduce a chapter from his recently pubto worry about.
lished book on the history of executions
and capital punishment in European hisNow, let’s put the boring details of medical tory. It’s grim stuff, but surprisingly colrealities behind us, and talk about some
ourful and occasionally amusing. Gallows
wargaming.
humour, if you’ll forgive my literalism. It’s
certainly material that I found quite releLast month saw many of the League’s
vant, as my ENT specialist sharpens his
members make our annual pilgrimage to
scalpels for tomorrow.
Canberra for the Cancon tabletop gaming
convention. And a hell of a convention it
Below I’ve included just a couple pictures
was. League members participated in a
from the FOGN event at Cancon. The arnumber of tournaments, demo games,
mies really were fantastic. You can find
events and of course, plenty of shopping. I the larger versions of these pictures and a
myself ran the first ever Field of Glory
bunch more on the League of Ancients
Napoleonic tournament to be held at Can- forum.
con. Many of you will have already read
my report of the event. For those who
See you all at the League! (...Assuming I
haven’t, I’ve reproduced it on page four of don’t drown in my own blood sometime
today’s Argus. On page two, ever-prolific tomorrow mid-morning.)
Argus contributor Lyle Daymond has writ-
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CANCON De Belis Renationis (DBR) 2015
Normal Service Is Resumed
By Lyle Daymond
After fifteen years of League players winning DBR, last
year’s Kiwi invasion had seen all three places go to a New
Zealander! This year only one of the men from Aotearoa
made it across, with Brian Sowman bringing his tried and
tested Siberian Tribes army. Some other familiar faces were
missing and the competition was small, with only seven entrants from Canberra, Newcastle, New Zealand and Melbourne.
The organisers had added new rules regarding baggage and
this had an effect on army design. There were also additions
to other rules introduced in previous years, including changes
to the points value of bases, the definition of shot as muskets
or arquebus, and how victory points were awarded. At least
one player thought this was a step too far from the original
rules and stayed away as a result.
Chris Pooley and I represented the League, and we managed
a practice game the week before. Django was kind enough to
give me a second practice game with his Scots. Having not
played for a year, our knowledge of the rules was imperfect
to say the least. Chris used his Williamite Anglo-Dutch
army, a tournament favourite of his and many other people. I
had a Siamese army making its debut, complete with elephants, Japanese guardsmen and a Portuguese ally. The other
armies on display were another Williamite force under James
Armstrong, Peter Gillard’s English Civil War Royalists, Phil
Clark’s Later Danish, and John McQualter’s Old Irish from
1601. Roger Mackay joined us on the last day with Scots
Covenanters to avoid there being a bye in the last round.
During the competition both Chris and I went down to Brian
Sowman, but he found it difficult to force a decision in at
least three of his games. This ultimately cost Brian from
even placing in the tournament. Chris recorded the maximum
score against me as he massacred the Siamese. Things were
obviously going wrong when the first shot of the game saw
me remove one of my expensive elephants from the table.
Going into the last day, Chris had played most of the higher
ranking players and was due to play John and Peter. I provided him with some important advice borrowed from Sensei
Kreese in the Karate Kid “Show no mercy and sweep the
leg”. While this advice is probably not the best example of
sportsmanship, it did elicit a laugh. Achieving a draw and
then a win in the
last two rounds
were enough to
add Chris’s name
to list of competition winners.
The results were:
1st Chris Pooley (VIC)
Williamite Anglo-Dutch1694
73 VP
2nd James Armstrong (ACT)
Williamite Anglo-Dutch 1696
68 VP
3rd Lyle Daymond (VIC)
Siamese 1606
62 VP
4th Brian Sowman (NZ)
Siberian Tribes 1500
57 VP
5th Phil Clark (ACT)
Later Danish 1659
56 VP
6th Peter Gillard (ACT)
ECW Royalist 1644
42 VP
7th John McQualter (NSW)
Old Irish 1601
39 VP
8th Roger Mackay (ACT)
Scots Covenanter 1644
5 VP (Played 1 Round)
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The Roman Annals of Marcus Terentius Varro III
By Lyle Daymond
Never has Rome seen as many threats as in this year. The
Bogud, King of Mauretania, and Tigranes II of Armenia both
declared that they would no longer accept Roman as a
friendly neighbour and ally. The Italians of the peninsula
have renewed the Social War with the Etruscans, Samnites
and other native tribes announcing that they were dissatisfied
by the terms of the recent peace. The troubles have emboldened the nations of Cappadocia, Cyrene and Judea to also
declare their hostility against Rome.
river near Miletus and the leaderless Romans refuse to leave
the safety of their walled cities until Marcellus returns.
Despite his numerous awards and adulation by the Roman
populace, Publius Sextilius Numidicus (Charles Watson) was
unsatisfied with his treatment by the Roman Senate and
sought to take total control over the lands of Africa. This has
led to his exile from all Roman lands by the Senate, but no
loyal Roman army is available to meet this threat. His own
army are devoted to him and he completed his conquest of
Numidian lands. Heimpsal II (Karsten Zeidler) was defeated
in a final battle and is now a slave in the household of Numidicus. In a mockery of the Senate, the citizens of Leptis
Magna awarded Numidicus an ovation.
In a march of considerable daring, Appius Claudius Pulcher
(Django Upton) and his army left Gallia Narbonesis to fight
the Samnites and their allies under Vettius Scato (Michael
Bornstein). The battle near Ausculum exposed both commanders to near death, but in the end Roman discipline and
bravery won the day.
Quintus Pompeius Rufus (Steve Kennedy) was relieved by
the Senate of his command against the Germans and assigned
the province of Sicilia. This offence to his dignitas was more
than he could bear and his anger directed against Rome. Stopping the corn shipments to Rome led to major unrest among
the populace and the Senate declaring him outlawed. Marcus
Claudius Marcellus (Martin Morgan), governor of Macedonia, assembled a fleet of ships to transport his army to Sicilia to save the Republic. In a hard fought battle near Syracuse, the rebellious Rufus was defeated and slain. Marcellus
has no time to lose as he must now return to Asia Minor to
face Tigranes.
Gaius Norbanus Balbo (Ian Sharp) and Gaius Valerius Flaccus (Michael Bornstein) continued their confrontation in
Spain. The wily Balbo succeeded in again defeating Flaccus.
The battle was decided by a mighty contest between the cavalry of both armies. The failure of Gaius Valerius Flaccus
has led the Senate to recall him from Hispania and he has
been appointed to the vacant Sicilian governorship.
Lucius Cornelius Sulla (Jonathan Moore) took over as governor of Asia from Marcellus and was promptly faced by an
invasion from Armenia. The Armenian
army is being personally led by their
monarch Tigranes II
Magnus, self-styled
king of kings. Sulla
drowned while attempting to cross a
Lucius Cornelius Cinna (Ian Poade), the former Consul, was
allocated Gallia Cisalpina as his province. When the Etruscans under Lucius Titus (Richard Gordon) gathered an army
he promptly marched against then and fought a major battle
at Arretium. The Etruscans and their allies were brave and
resourceful, but no match for the victorious legions of Cinna.
The Senate recognised the martial feats of Lucius Cornelius
Cinna (Ian Poade), Marcus Claudius Marcellus (Martin Morgan), and Appius Claudius Pulcher (Django Upton) with an
ovation through the streets of Rome. Between them they
have put down the slave revolt of Bartar, defeated Illyrians,
Dacians, and Galatians, killed the rebellious Quintus Pompeius Rufus, and are currently dealing with the violent Etruscans, Samnites and Armenians. The population surged
through alleys and streets to meet and thank these heroes of
the republic. Their daring against Rome’s many enemies has
placed them in the first rank of Roman society.
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Australian Field of Glory Napoleonic Championship
Umpire’s Report
By Tyler Jefferson
The Field of Glory Napoleonic Australian Championship
was run for the first time ever at the Cancon gaming
convention in Canberra, 24th to 26th January. What
official backing or authority do I have to name my
tournament the Championship for the whole country?
...Well, who's going to stop me?
We got 12 players this year, which I'll cheekily point
out is several players more than the most recent
"World's" tournament that I read about. Thought it
doesn't match up to the 20+ players that attended
the Melbourne tournament run by Richard Gordon of
the League of Ancients, it was a good turnout for our
first year at Cancon. There was lots of interest from
passersby, so I hope that the event will grow when I
run it again next year. I feel that the FOGN rules are
on the verge of really taking off all over Australia. We
now have players in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane,
and tournaments being run in Melbourne, Brisbane,
and in Canberra during Cancon. What's more, the
New Zealanders have made a great effort to travel to
Australia for events in Melbourne and at Cancon already, and run a number of tournaments on both of
their own islands which we Aussies will be starting to
visit soon. This plus the high amount of interest from
people walking past makes me feel that the game
could really explode, especially if we keep up the visibility of our events. When I arrived to set up the night
before the event, I made a point of snagging the tables in my area that would get the maximum amount
of passing traffic, and I hung around so that
passersby who wanted to ask about the game could
talk to me (rather than interrupt my players). I hope I
may have sparked some interest in future FOGN players.
at the end. Interestingly, there are no ties under this
system. Because there are always 25 points to hand
out, if a game doesn't end with one player broken before time runs out, the points are split based on relative losses, capturing LOCs, and having fresh cavalry
(presumably for the break off/pursuit). So the closest
possible score is 13-12, a very minor win for the
player on 13. There were a few of those, but the large
majority of games ended with one side broken, usually meaning a result of 21-4 or something similar.
When the Inglis brothers ended up against one another in round four, David lost but managed to savage
Alex's corps badly enough to result in a 18-7 win for
Alex.
I played two games on the second day, due to one of
my players suffering from an old shoulder injury and
being forced to opt out. I simply played the people he
would have played, using my Prussian force. I had
two very enjoyable games, only interrupted a couple
times by players with rules queries. In that vein, I
would like to thank all my players for being gentleman. There weren't any arguments, disputes, or problems. Everyone made sure that their opponents had a
good time, and that my part as the umpire was as
easy as possible. It's easy to run a tournament when
your players are good people.
The placings:
Alex Inglis, French Infantry 1812, 106 points
Alistair Donald, Anglo-Portuguese 1813, 85 points
Martin Williams, Austrian Army of the Danube 1805,
81 points
I would like to thank Nic Robson of Eureka Miniatures
for sponsoring our event. As well as having an exclusive licence to produce AB miniatures, the best 1518mm Napoleonic figures in the world, he's also a
great guy and always entertaining to chat to. He provided gift vouchers to go along with each trophy I
handed out; $30 for first place, and $20 each for second, third, and "Umpire's Choice for Gentlemanly Behaviour in the Face of Adversity". Eureka also produce
a wide range of other figures in many scales. I highly
recommend that anyone interested in Napoleonic
gaming look to him, and anyone starting a new project in any other period should check his website for
figures before you look to anyone
else.http://www.eurekamin.com.au/
David Inglis, Allied Mixed Corps 1813-1814, 70 points
The event ran very smoothly, and was a pleasure to
umpire. I used the official scoring cards from the
FOGN website, which did a great job of differentiating
scores and rewarding good play. I never had to use
any countback while doing the draw or in the rankings
Clint Richards, French Infantry 1805, 33 points
(missed last round)
Andreas Kammel, Russian Infantry 1812, 67 points
Geoff Crick, French Infantry 1812, 56 points
Steve Hill, Swedish Army of the North 1814, 55
points
Phil Abela, German Confederation 1814, 47 points
Dan Karakaltsas, Anglo-Portuguese 1810-1811, 46
points
Brenton Searle, French Infantry 1809, 33 points
Michael Bornstein, Saxons 1809, 25 points (only
played first two rounds)
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T h e
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An Excerpt from
EXECUTIONS BY THE SWORD AND ROPE-CONTINENTAL EUROPE
By Jonathan Moore
MEISTER FRANZ SCHMIDT
A unique look into the world of a 16th Century executioner is provided by the journal of Meister
Franz Schmidt, detailing his role as the official
executioner in Nuremburg from 1600 to 1618. Not
only responsible for punishing criminals, his other
role was to enforce the moral code.
One crime that particularly horrified Meister Frantz
and his contemporaries was that of incest. Gertraut
Schmidtin lived in an incestuous relationship with
her father and brother for four years. Schmidt beheaded the young female ‘heretic’ while the executioner at Ansbach was responsible for burning her
brother and father at the stake. Lesser sexual
crimes could be punished by flogging or exile.
Such was the case of the prostitute, aptly named
Cunt Annie, who “committed lewdness and harlotry with a father and a son….similarly with
twenty-one married men and youths, her husband
helping her.”
Homosexuality could be a capital offence and
Frantz burnt at the stake Hans Weber who was otherwise known as ‘the Fat Fruitier.’ Frantz wrote of
Weber “who for three years had practiced sodomist
lewdness (with Christopher Mayer) and was informed by a hook maker’s apprentice, who caught
both in the act behind a hedge off Thon lane….
Mayer was first executed with the sword and then
the body burned next to the fruitier who was
burned alive.” Weber’s fruit was not executed but
George Schorpff’s cow was not so lucky. Schorpff
was executed with the sword for having sex with
four cows, two calves and a sheep. Afterwards his
corpse was burned at the stake as a ‘cow pervert’
along with one of his luckless cows. Andrew Feverstien was beheaded in 1612 for debauching sixteen young girls who attended the school that he
ran with his father.
The role of executioner was not one that was
sought after in European Mediaeval and Renaissance society. Schmidt’s family was dragooned
into the profession after his father was forced to
carry out an execution by a disgraced nobleman.
Once forced into the profession, all respectability
was gone and his heirs too were tarred with the
same brush. Derogatory terms abounded for executioners in Germany; Whoreson of a hangman,
shortener, bogeyman, blood-judge, bad man, thief
hanger, Hans heads-off, chopper, racker, snip
Johnny, master ouch, master fix and butcher, were
all terms used to abuse the local executioner.
As a young apprentice Schmidt had to learn from
his father the essential skills of his trade. Beginning
with the mundane tasks such as cleaning equipment, making sure that the tools were sharp and
well oiled, preparing food and drink for the team,
gathering the required supplies and cleaning up any
mess. In this case, unlike apprentices in more mundane professions, the young man was dealing with
lethal weapons, instruments of torture, ropes, gibbets and of course, dead bodies.
In addition, the other key skill learnt by any ambitious executioner was the art of torture. The lawful
killing of a criminal was only the endpoint of a
lengthy judicial procedure. Once a villain had been
apprehended by the authorities, they would be conducted to a small cell, often below the local council
meeting point, and a confession would be sought.
If no murder weapon, bloody handprints, defense
wounds or reliable eyewitnesses could be found, it
was the executioner’s job to extract a statement of
guilt from the suspect. In Nuremberg ‘The Chapel’,
a small room two meters by five with a high arched
ceiling, was used as the torture chamber. It had a
narrow duct linking it with a room in the town hall
above so that jurors could question the suspect
without having to view the torture below.
Ideally the subject would cave in at the sight of the
torture implements arrayed before him and, if necessary, their functions and effect would be described in tortuous detail. This was the first of five
steps used to gain an admission and often it was
enough. If not, a range of less pleasant options
were available. While the English had pioneered
shackles that hung prisoners by their wrists or
thumbs from a beam and suspended them for hours
at a time, causing agonizing pain in the shoulders
and chest, the Germans improved upon the method
with the Strappado. In this version, the subject had
their hands bound behind them and were winched
aloft with a pulley mechanism. While this would
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cause agony enough, worse was to come. A ratchet
could be released causing the victim to plummet to
the ground. If still not amenable, weights would be
attached to the feet causing more pressure on the
joints. This led to the prisoner’s arms and elbows
being dislocated as they were hauled upwards and
dropped repeatedly. A variation on this torture was
the ‘manacles’ or ‘gauntlets.’ The prisoner was
suspended from iron wrist restraints placed high
upon the wall. The stool or blocks on which the
prisoner stood would be removed leading to hours
of torture.
One victim recalled”… the chief pain was in my
breast, belly, arms and hands. I thought that all the
blood in my body had run into my arms and began
to burst out of my finger ends. This was a mistake:
but the arms swelled, till the gauntlets were buried
within the flesh. After being thus suspended and
hour, I fainted: and when I came to myself, I found
the executioners supporting me in their arms: they
replaced the pieces of wood under my feet, but as
soon as I recovered, removed them again. Thus I
continued hanging for the pace of five hours, during which I fainted eight or nine times. (Michael
Kerrigan The Instruments of Torture 2007 Amber
Books London 44)
Other options were available to gain a lawful confession. Needles or splinters of wood could be
forced under fingernails, the accused could be
forced to eat turds or worms or drink urine. Wax or
molten lead could be dripped upon them, candles
could be held under the armpit and waterboarding
was used.
Various screw devices were common. Thumb
screws and knee screws caused hours of agony and
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often led to permanent damage. German thumbscrews often included a needle to penetrate the cuticle. The ‘Blood Pear’ was a devilishly versatile
tool. It was an expanding pear shaped device that
could be inserted into the mouth, rectum or vagina
and expanded until it ripped organs apart or dislocated the jaw. The ‘Wreath’ or ‘Crown’ was placed
horizontally around the head or vertically from the
jaw to the top of the head and tightened to fracture
the skull or jaw bone. The Crown was a German
specialty and there is a strong likelihood that it was
part of Schmidt’s repertoire. Basically an enlarged
screw device along the lines of a thumbscrew, it
utilized a metal cap on the top of the head and several braces below the jaw. Once tightened it could
break teeth and jawbones. It could also be hit with
iron bars to send excruciating shock waves from
the head down the spine to the sufferer’s extremities. (Michael Kerrigan the Instruments of Torture
2007 Amber Books London 60). Another torture
utilizing agonizing pressure was ‘The Boots.’ Used
throughout Europe and England this device consisted of iron boots that were strapped over the feet
and lower legs of the victim. Wedges were then
hammered into the gap between the boots and legs,
crushing bones and tearing flesh.
The ladder or rack could also be used to dislocate
limbs and elicit a confession. Hardened criminals
required a repertoire of techniques. One fellow required the ladder six times as well as candles under
his armpits while his brother in law required
thumbscrews, two sessions with fire and four with
the wreath. However, while it was important to be
able to extract a confession, the executioner had to
be able to ensure that no permanent damage, that
would prevent the victim being able to make the
journey to the scaffold, was done. Any injuries
would have to be healed so that ‘A good Death’
could be enacted.
In addition to torture, it was Schmidt’s job to carry
out less severe punishments. Whipping repeat offenders out of town, tongue clipping, chopping off
ears or noses, and confining criminals to the stocks
were all part of the trade that had to be learned.
Some years were busier than others. In 1585 he
flogged 19 people and executed 11. In his first decade as Master Executioner in Nuremberg he beheaded 48, hung 71, killed on the wheel 11, did 5
finger choppings and 3 ear clippings.
Schmidt became a master at hanging and did not
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delegate this job to his assistants unlike many other
German practitioners. He hung a total of 172 during his career. In contrast to the Tyburn gallows or
the later mechanized drops, Meister Franz employed the double ladder. Leaning it against the
Nuremberg Scaffold it was his job to get the condemned to actually ascend of their own free will to
place their head in the noose and then turn them off
with a minimum of fuss. If he encountered resistance, a pulley could be erected to get them up.
Many were reluctant as it was seen as particularly
shameful to choke in front of one’s peers before
being eaten as carrion by ravens. No long ropes
that would snap the neck or bring instant unconsciousness were used in these executions and no
hood covered the facial contortions as the condemned choked. Hands were shackled behind their
back and the noose was directly below the beam
leading to a prolonged, agonizing asphyxiation.
While the sword was initially only reserved for
those of noble birth, during Schmidt’s career it became more usual for the merciful ‘capping’ to be
granted to all classes and hanging was reserved for
the more heinous crimes. One fellow was so ecstatic when granted a beheading rather than a hanging that he “returned thanks for the merciful sentence. On his way out he sang almost continuously,
so that people, even the executioner himself, were
moved to pity.”
“There is nothing new under the sun” is a phrase
that can certainly be applied to the crimes committed at the time, many which are similar to modern
day crimes. Meister Franz shows little sympathy
for those who attack their own family members,
whether it was the patricide Frantz Seubort, or Ulrich Gertenacker who killed his brother in the
woods, or Hans Mullner who killed his pregnant
sister and had sex with her corpse.
Other crimes are described in his journal. Barthel
Mussel “cut the throat of a man who was sleeping
on the straw in a stable and took his money’. Georg
Teurla ‘struck a puppet maker apprentice on the
head with a club…when he told the other there was
something in his shoe, then stabbed him in the neck
with a dagger and quickly covered him up.” In order to eliminate a debt collector Leinhard Taller
(Spit Lenny)”seized an axe from the wall and gave
him two blows on the head, killing him immediately and taking back the money.” Steffan Stayner,
a soldier used his sword and stabbed a friend “on
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the left side so that it came out on the right side and
afterward cleaned off his foil before the other fell”.
(Joel f Harrington TFE 143) Shoemaker Michael
Seitel broke into “the house of his grandfather’s
brother, a joiner, and attacked him while he slept,
inflicting thirty eight wounds and holes on his head
with a jagged stone and one in the neck with a
shoemaker’s knife intending to cut his throat and
take the money.” An old woman was attacked by
two intruders who “accosted and smothered her
with two pillows over her mouth and wretchedly
stabbed her, which lasted almost half an hour,
struggling so that they had to smother her three
time before she died.” Hans Schuster attempted to
rape a woman and “struck two blows on her head
with his hatchet, threw her to the ground, as she
screamed held her mouth shut and stuffed it with
much earth and sand until someone came to her
assistance.”
The nick names that criminals had in the 16th Century are echoed in today’s underworld lexicon. Included among those punished by Schmidt were:
Frog Johnny, Cavalier Johnny, The Woodsman,
The Fiddling Cobbler, Stuttering Bart, Horse Beetle, Raven Fodder, Chicken Leg, Rabbit, Corky,
Hook, The Grocer, Pointy Head, Little Fatty, Red
Pete, Mercenary John, Eight Fingers and Scabbard.
Prostitutes’ names described their profession. Play
bunny, Furry Kathy, Grinder Girl and Cunt Anny
made regular appearances for lewd behavior.
During his career he hung twenty three thieves under eighteen, one who was thirteen. However the
Nuremberg authorities had in fact gone to great
lengths to discipline these children without recourse to the noose. They had all had sentences in
the stocks, floggings, banishment, periods on the
chain gang and some had even had ears lopped off.
One group of young recidivists had even ascended
the ladder with their boss, but were given a pardon
at the last moment while their older leader was
hung. This warning was not heeded and they ended
up on the gallows for the last time when the magistrates decided that “such warnings and mild treatment had been received with disdain “and “no improvement is to be hoped for.”
Schmidt finished working after an illustrious career
from 1573, when he was 19 and carried out his first
execution, to 1618 when he retired with an estimated 394 executions under his belt.
During this time he was a valued member of Nur-
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emberg society, despite the fear his role engendered in the population. A teetotaler, he never associated with the criminal classes socially, something
that set him apart from many others in his trade.
Living rent free in the executioner’s house straddling the river Pegnitz he was a worthy member of
the Burgher class. Seen as a merciful tradesmen, he
often pleaded with the authorities to allow the more
humane method of beheading rather than drowning
or hanging.
A portrait of Schmidt at work
THE CONTINENTAL SYSTEM –EXECUTION
BY SWORD
Used on commoner and noble alike, skilled
swordsmen were in great demand. Unlike the
primitive technology of the headman’s axe, the
execution sword was a finely honed and well balanced piece designed to decapitate with one stroke.
3 or 4 feet long and weighing several kilos, it had a
long handle as it was designed to be swung around
the head several times before delivering the killing
stroke. Executioner’s swords are unique for the period in that they had a rounded blunt tip as they
were not intended as a thrusting weapon. The executioner usually stood behind the condemned who
knelt sideways before him. If messy flesh wounds
and multiple cuts were to be avoided, the condemned had to hold their nerve and stay still so the
executioner could aim correctly. The Lowe, or lion,
was the executioner’s assistant and it was his job
support the victim if needed. This could be quite
dangerous as a poorly aimed strike with the sword
could remove a hand quite easily. The weight of
the sword made it a deadly weapon in skilled hands
and Master Matthias Perger took off a condemned
man’s head with one stroke in 1654, as well as his
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hands which he had raised to protect his neck.
Swords had names and were often a symbol of perverse veneration. Inscriptions such as ; ‘Through
justice will the land prosper and thrive, in lawlessness it will not survive’ and ‘Whenever I raise the
sword, I wish the sinner everlasting life,’ were engraved upon them, as well as the more succinct;
‘The Lords prosecute, I execute’. In addition symbols such as heads, gallows, the wheel, or Christ
and The Madonna were also used. Sometimes the
names of the executioners and notches representing
the number of victims identified the sword.
Charles-Henri Sanson’s sword had the inscription
‘Justicia’ on one side and the torture wheel on the
other.
Before an executioner could practice his trade with
the sword on a condemned prisoner, he had first to
undergo a period of rigorous training. Beginning
with cats, sheep and pigs, which would be help upright by the Master Executioner, the apprentice
would first develop his skills at decapitation. Once
basic competency had been demonstrated large
dogs were the final test for the swordsmen before
he could graduate to Humans. However the journey-man executioner was advised by his betters to
minimize the risk of mistakes and to begin his beheading career with prisoners strapped to chairs.
More advanced practitioners could get the victim to
kneel and only when a certain proficiency had been
achieved, would the condemned be allowed to
stand. Meister Franz Schmidt of Nuremburg noted
in his journals his five first successful standing
‘cappings’ (poena capitas in Latin) and then, once
he had established his professional reputation was
more relaxed about the stance taken by his victims.
During his career sitting in the judgment chair became more common, especially for women who
tended to move around more.
Of course the executioner could modify his practice to satisfy the demands of the situation. It is
said that the executioner of Anne Boleyn, a French
specialist hired for the job, concerned that her neck
was too small a target, threw a token to her right.
As she turned to inquire, she elongated her neck
and a single killing blow was delivered. Outfitted
in a tight black suit with a half mask covering his
face and a high conical hat, he was a terrifying figure. The Frenchman had also concealed the sword
under straw as she ascended the scaffold so as not
to alarm her. Henry VIII obviously knew how to
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hire good people. As Anne’s head was held aloft
her eyes and lips were reported to have opened and
closed convulsively.
It took a great deal of skill to kill with one stroke.
‘Following a final prayer from the chaplain, the
executioner carefully positioned his feet- not unlike
a golfer preparing for a perfectly calibrated swingand trained his eyes on the middle of the subject’s
neck. He then raised the blade and struck one
graceful blow, typically from behind on the right
side, cutting through two cervical vertebrae and
completely severing the head from the body. In the
words of a common legal formula,” he should chop
off his head and with one blow make two pieces of
him, so that a wagon wheel might freely pass between head and torso” ‘. Who says lawyers don’t
have a sense of humor.
A clean cut was necessary to maintain a reputation,
and one German executioner enhanced his by doing two heads in one swing. Once the head had
tumbled to the ground, the executioner would jump
away to minimize his exposure to the blood fountaining from the torso. Surely one advantage of
seating the victim would be being able to limit the
spread of the blood while a standing victim could
topple in any direction, spattering all and sundry.
This would lessen the spectacle of ‘ a good death’
where the procession to the gallows, the demeanor
of the criminal and the efficiency of the swordsman
would all act to reinforce the judicial might of the
state. Adding to the majesty of the judicial authorities was the rote response at the end of a beheading. The executioner would turn to the attending
judge and intone “Lord Judge, have I executed
well?” and the rote response would follow “You
have executed as judgment and law have required.”
In Germany the ritual of death started with the local clerics seeking to elicit confessions and repentance from the sinning criminal. If wounded or ill,
the criminal would be nursed back to health and an
execution date set. Several days prior to main
event, the prisoner would be moved to a more commodious cell where he could meet relatives and
friends, or even victims and their relatives. Priests
and visitors would sing hymns outside the cell door
and pray for his soul. The prison warder and his
wife would then prepare the final ‘Hangman’s
meal’ in a special cell decorated with tables, chairs,
napkins and the like. Large amounts of Alcohol
featured in these meals and once enough had been
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consumed the executioner’s assistant would dress
the condemned in a white execution gown (off the
neck, of course) and call the executioner. With the
words, ‘The executioner is at hand.’ He entered
the cell and asked for forgiveness before drinking a
toast with his victim. If docile and compliant the
prisoner’s hands were tied with rope before being
led to a ‘blood court’ where the sentence was confirmed. If violent or difficult the condemned would
be tied to a chair and placed on a night soil cart.
The condemned was then led to the Gallows in a
procession a mile long, observed by thousands.
Central European executioners commonly carried
out an additional punishment on the way to the gallows, Hot Pincers. These large sharpened tongs
would be used by the executioner to tear pieces of
flesh from the condemned in front of key landmarks along the journey. The severity of this punishment may be gauged by the fact that 4 nips of
the pincers was seen as extreme and would lead to
death through blood loss or shock before beheading. Two nips, from the arms or thighs, was a more
common sentence but even this could lead to unconsciousness or collapse.
An example of a good death is that of Margaretha
Lindtnrein convicted of infanticide in 1615.
Meister Frantz Schmidt extols her virtues when he
writes, “When we came with her to the execution
site, she started and said, “Oh God, stand by me
and help me get through it” Afterward she repeated
it to me blessed the crowd and asked their forgiveness…commended her soul to the almighty, sat
down in the chair and properly presented her neck
to the executioner. “
Not all of the condemned were so accommodating.
Lienhard Duerlein, an arsonist, gave Schmidt a lot
of trouble on his final journey. Provided with alcohol he continued to drink throughout the entire procession, cursing members of the crowd and urinating publically once upon the scaffold. Offering to
fight four of the guards he grabbed another bottle
“and this drink lasted so long that at last the executioner struck off his head while the bottle was still
at his lip.”
Hans Kolb went to extraordinary measures to delay
his execution. The initial date was delayed as he bit
a huge piece out of his arm and almost bled to
death. Once he was healed of this he again bit a
huge piece out of his arm on his way to be broken
on the wheel. Thinking that he could bleed to death
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before the ceremony, it was to no avail and he was
broken on the wheel as a murderer and his body
burnt at the stake as a counterfeiter.
Georg ‘The Mallet’ Mertz seemingly had a nervous breakdown on the way to the gallows: “When
we came down from the town hall we could
scarcely control him. He leapt in the air, raged and
fumed, as if he were raging mad…..Then he gave
orders that they should bring the chair, and when
he had seated himself, and when he was bound, he
began to stamp with his feet like a horse…on the
way he kicked the jailers so cruelly with his feet
that they cried out, and frequently let him fall. At
the same time he made funny faces, bared his teeth
to the people, and thrust his tongue far out of his
mouth.”
Elizabeth Mechtlin had a similar breakdown that
intensified as she got closer to the gallows. Setting
out she began weeping but as she got closer to the
execution chair she began wailing and screaming.
By the time she was strapped in she was yelling
uncontrollably and flailing her arms, so much so
that Schmidt made one of his few errors and required three strokes to kill her. Another way
women tried to delay the inevitable was to plead
pregnancy. Elisabeth Puffin managed to delay her
appointment by 32 weeks before her ruse was discovered, although it took 18 visits by the
‘committee of sworn women’ to find she was lying.
It can be presumed she was either a very good actor or exceedingly fat.
German chief executioners were known as Sharfrichter meaning ‘Mate of Death’ while their assistants were called Lowe ‘The Lion.’ The assistant’s
job was to haul offenders to the courts as well as
onto the scaffold, it was in these functions that they
earned their nickname as they bludgeoned the
wrongdoers with their voice as well as their fists to
enforce compliance. In addition ‘The Lion’ was
responsible for tasks seen as below the dignity of
the Sharfrichter such as controlling drunkards and
hooligans, burning suicides and clearing the rubbish from town squares. During executions his duties included unlocking the scaffold enclosures,
providing the coffin and holding those condemned
to death by drowning underwater with the use of a
long pole. Quite a job description. (G Abbot
Lords Of The Scaffold Dobby Publishing Kent
2001 Page 66) Before his execution, the horse thief
Hans Porstner offered the assistant executioner a
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pair of shoes and five florins if he agreed to swap
places.
Nevertheless, even the most experienced Master
Executioner could occasionally fluff it. Angelique
Ticquet, convicted of murdering her husband was
sentenced to death in 1699 in Paris. Charles Sanson, was forced to delay the execution due to a
thunderstorm and led Ticquet to cover. Finally, after a half hour delay, she mounted the scaffold and
he directed her to kneel and sweep her hair from
her neck. She did so but as he swung the sword
around his head to generate the killing momentum
she turned and exclaimed ’Be sure not to disfigure
me.’ Of course, his blow was not true and only
slashed the side of her neck. His second blow was
also off course, only the third finally struck off her
head to the sound of the jeering crowd. Presumably
she had collapsed by the third blow so it is likely
he swung the sword over his head like an axe man.
(Abbot female executions 212)
Charles-Henri, another of the Sanson clan similarly stuffed up the execution of Comte de LallyTollendal in 1766 when his first stroke hit his jaw
and teeth. An assistant seized the Comte, held him
up by the ears and Jean-Baptiste, Charles-Henri’s
father, finished him off. It took 29 strokes to finish
off Comte De Chailas in 1626. Surely a record, not
a desirable record, but a record nonetheless.
A bungled beheading was reported in Nuremberg
in 1641. The novice executioner Valtin Deusser
was lucky to escape with his life;
‘The poor sinner was so weak and ill, so that she
had to be led to the scaffold and when she sat down
upon the chair, Master Valtin the hangman walked
around her like a cat round a hot broth and held the
sword a span from her neck and took aim and then
struck the blow and missed her neck and struck off
a piece of her head as big as a dollar and struck her
down from the chair. Then the poor soul got up
quicker than she had sat down.
Then she began to beg that she should be allowed
to go, because she had been so brave but all in
vain, and she had to sit down again. Then the assistant wanted to take the sword from Master Valtin
and strike with it himself, but this the master would
not allow, and himself struck a second blow somewhat stronger, so that she again fell to the ground
and then he cut her head off as she lay upon the
scaffold. Whereupon he the hangman…would have
soon been stoned to death if the armed town guard
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had not rescued him.’ Another chronicle adds more
detail to this shameful episode. Margaretha Voglin,
an extremely beautiful child murderer is named as
the victim;
‘This poor child was very ill and weak so that she
had to be carried and bought to the gallows, or raven stone, and when she sat down in the chair,
Meister Valentin circled around her, like a calf
around a manger, and with the sword struck a span
of wood and a piece of skin as big as a thaler from
her head, knocking her under the chair, and since
he hadn’t hurt her body and she fell so bravely, (the
crowd) asked that she be released…” Oh, help me
for God’s sake,” which she said often and repeated.
Then the assistant grabbed her and set her back
upon the chair whereupon the executioner delivered a second blow and hacked in the neck behind
her head, at which she however fell from the chair,
still alive, again shouting, “Aiee, God have
mercy!” After this the hangman hacked and cut at
her head on the ground for which the cruel butchery and shameful execution was surrounded by
people who would have stoned him to death had
not the archers present come to his aid and protected him from the people, and then stopped his
bleeding, which already flowed freely from his
head and down both front and back’
While Valentin was saved from the mob he could
not save his job and despite pleading that she had
bewitched him, a common excuse, he was fired. No
doubt the Nuremburg authorities wished old
Meister Frantz Schmidt was still at the helm. In his
40 year career he executed 187 felons with the
sword and only required a second stroke 4 times. In
some parts of Germany, the swordsman would take
the place of the victim if he had to take more than
three strokes to finish the job. Incompetent practitioners used other excuses, claiming the devil put
three heads in front of him, that the victim flinched
or that objects were thrown from the crowd.
In Germany commmon murderers and thieves
were usually executed by the noose and only those
of noble birth, or with special dispensations from
the courts would be beheaded with the sword.
Margaret Bockin, a German housewife, split her
neighbour’s skull with an axe while she was meant
to be looking for head lice in 1580. Condemned to
death Margaret was taken to the scaffold where, as
an entree she had three chunks of flesh torn off
with red hot pincers. The main course involved her
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head being chopped off by the swordsman while
standing. Finally, her body was dropped into the
charnel pit bellow the gallows while her head was
fixed to a pole.(Abbot-female executions 31) Elizabeth Aurhaltin’s execution in 1598 demonstrates
that disabled needs were catered for. One legged
and convicted of fraud, the executioner was sensitive enough to provide her with a chair to, and at
the scaffold, to which she was secured to in order
to ensure that he could get a clean cut.
PIRATES
When executing pirates there was no need for an
executioner to hide his identity as the North Sea
pirates who flourished around the North Sea and
Baltic around the fifteenth and sixteenth century
were universally reviled. Sometimes operating in
large fleets entire cities could be destroyed such as
when Bergen was sacked in 1392. Hamburg, The
Hanseatic League, Denmark, Sweden and England
all combined to supress these freebooters. Klaus
Stortbeker was one of the most notorious captians.
His name meant’ beaker at a gulp’ and rather than
flying the Jolly Roger his falgship carried a coat of
arms with two crossed drinking glasses. Captured
in 1402 by a fleet from Hamburg Stortbeker and
his crew were sentenced to execution by the axe.
Storbeker prevailed upon the Hamburg mayor to
allow as many of his crew to go free that he could
walk past once he had lost his head. After his head
was lopped off the body stumbled down the bound
line of his crew before the executioner tripped it
up. Apparently he walked past twelve, but rather
than being pardoned they too were beheaded.
A somewhat less apocryphol story deals with the
capture by the same city’s authorities of the pirate
Klein Henzlein. Captured in 1573 he and thirty
three crew members had their heads lopped off in
fourty five minutes, watched by the appreciative
Hamburg Burghers. Executed within a purpose
built stockade, such was the torrent of blood that it
covered the executioner’s shoes.
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The execution of Henzlein and his crew.
SERBIA
Executioners in Serbia utilised the sword in capital
cases right until the mid 19th century and beheadings are recorded in the 1840’s. A peculiar method
was used whereby the prisoner had his hand tied
behind his back before he was secured to a solid
block of wood by having his legs tied to it while
sitting down. The assistant then placed a wooden
strap around his chin and behind the ears so that he
could pull the head forward. This exposed the
stretched out neck giving the swordsman a perfect
target for an overhead swing. A combination of axe
and sword technique.
Text copyright Jonathan Moore 2014
Reproduced with permission
Kindle version of the full book available here:
www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B00QSP3H38?*
Version*=1&*entries*=0
F e b r u a r y
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P a g e
T H E
L E A G U E
A N C I E N T S
O F
While a committee member will usually be available
to supervise the putting away of tables, etc. at the
end of a meeting, all members should ensure that
care is taken to place terrain away in the appropriate
Meet at CLUB TIVOLI
boxes and make sure that no League property is
291 Dandenong Road
Windsor
Melway Reference: Map 58 G8
use the ‘attic’. If we are in the Sportshall, please
placed in the way of other cultural groups who also
refrain from placing anything on the snooker tables.
Website & Forum:
http://www.leagueofancient.org.au
We need to keep good relations with the management at Club Tivoli and having respect for the other
clubs at Club Tivoli is an important part of this approach.
The League of Ancients Inc is a non-profit wargames club meeting on the third
Sunday of each month at Club Tivoli, 291 Dandenong Rd, Windsor,
Melbourne, Australia. This edition of the Argus was edited by Tyler Jefferson
on behalf of the League. Opinions expressed in the Argus are not necessarily
those of the club, or the Editor. The Editor reserves the right to accept, reject or
edit materials submitted for publication. Submissions should be made by email
in MS Word, RTF or raw text formats to
[email protected]
O l d
( b u t
s t i l l
League members are reminded that, in line with
Victorian law, smoking is no longer permitted in
Club Tivoli.
i m p o r t a n t )
N e w s
2015 Club Dates
January 18
February 15
March 15
April 18-19 FOGR Tournament and meeting
May 17
June 21
July 18-19 FOGN tournament and meeting
August 16
September 20 Saga tournament and meeting
October 18
November 14-15 FOGAM tournament and meeting
December 13
Opening times for regular meetings will be 10:30am until 5:30pm.
Opening times for every tournament day will be 9:30am until 5:30pm
Let me check my diary...
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