Guillotine, Halifax Gibbet, & The Scots Maiden,

Most of us would think of the GUILLOTINE in the context of the French Revolution of 1789 - but this 'engine' had extensive use in many lands both before - and after this period.

One early instance in Europe comes from IRELAND and dates from 1307 when a gentleman named Murcod Ballagh was terminated and earned his place in history through a woodcut illustration from a 1577 publication:

The Irish were 'On-To-It' early.

Germany had a long affection for the guillotine .. recorded from at least 1871 with the final such execution by the fast blade in 8 July 1966 of Horst Fischer, an SS officer at Auschwitz Concentration Camp. This does have a certain ring of justice as there are believed to have been more than 16,500 people guillotined in Germany between 1933 and 1945.

In Scotland - "The Maiden" was introduced in 1564 in the reign of Mary Queen of Scots and was mostly used on gentry & nobles .. canny folk the Scots.

Original Historic Scottish Maiden:

Known as 'The Maiden' because it was "little used" - this Scottish machine is preserved at the Edinburgh Museum of Scotland. The Maiden featuring an iron blade weighted with lead is recorded as executing more than 150 people between 1564-1710.

Sweden adopted the guillotine in 1903 - ordering one from the French Head Executioner. The Swedes had previously depended upon the handheld axe.

Original Swedish 'Berger' Guillotine In Stockholm.

In France in 1789 .. poor old Doctor Joseph-Ignace Guillotine got historically well lumbered by his name sticking to this sliding weighted blade mechanism - whereas factually he opposed capital punishment and sought to make it less barbaric by changing to the swift & sure blade.

- Another Doctor - Antoine Louise actually developed the steel bladed and weighted slider which was last employed in La Belle France in 1977.

The classic design was quiet simple with the weighted blade running in grooves and released from the top by having the suspension rope slipped sideways from it's hook on the weight. Three bolts fixed the blade to the steel block.

In England the use of The Halifax Gibbet - an 'engine' that dropped a lead weighted axe fifteen feet -dates from 1208 and was used to behead convicted minor thieves and above.
http://www.guillotine.dk/Pages/gibbet.html

The French government enthusiastically exported their execution machines to various overseas colonies .. including South Vietnam. - I recall that at the end of WWII, the British forces in Vietnam re-armed the defeated Japanese Forces to control the Vietnamese population until France could reorganize and re-colonize 'Indochina'.

- All this bloody justice is both from early times and very recent and makes a bit of a mockery of our current legal fashion to seek punitive damages for having been upset 😆 by someone saying rude things about ones lifestyle or physical attributes.

Sticks and stones may break my bones       (... & sharp blades may cut me!)
.. But names will never harm me.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillotine

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055893312

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maiden_(guillotine)

http://boisdejustice.com/Berger1903/Berger1903.html

Marty K.

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