Fun fact: Franz Schmidt was only a second generation executioner (the occupation was usually handed down from father to son), and his father had originally been a hunter until he was forced into the occupation. An executioners life, though important to the judicial system of the time, was looked down upon everywhere. This meant that executioners usually hanged with the "wrong crowd" of society. Franz knowingly spent a life in solitude in order to get a better reputation, which is why he managed to get hired be the thriving trade-city of Nuremberg. He had a house outside of the city walls, and even entered a marriage that was mostly out of convenience. If I remember correctly, he sent a letter to the Holy Roman Emperor himself with his life story and a personal request of being absolved from his occupation. The Emperor obliged, and Schmidt spent the last years of his life as a respected and efficient doctor of the city, having acquired unique insight of human anatomy during his many executions, maimings and tortures.

@polemopoleno7104

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for posting

@anakinvader9120

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the info!

@Ericsaidful

Жыл бұрын

Why do I feel like this is familiar? Did his offspring go on to become important Nazi personnel? Pretty sure I remember that.

@gauntlettcf5669

Жыл бұрын

@@Ericsaidful I mean, Nuremberg os the city of the trial against nazis, so maybe there's some link to it that reminded you of some story you heard

@Ericsaidful

Жыл бұрын

@GauntletTCF it's not the city. There was some Nazi Officer who came from a family of executioners and had risen above that class at a time where that wasn't really possible to do.

Lesson here is don't steal stuff in Nuremberg.

@mcjiba

2 жыл бұрын

and don't F@#k cows

@Face2theScr33n

2 жыл бұрын

@@mcjiba Beat me to it

@shanecarubbi7864

2 жыл бұрын

Or fornicate

@fmhummel

2 жыл бұрын

Though it's said that they don't hang anyone in Nuremberg because they'd need to catch him first.

@andytaurus62

2 жыл бұрын

Got the message loud and clear some obviously didn't I simply cannot believe there were repeat offenders

When the executioner says that he cut off the person's head 'as a favour' it means that he accepted payment from the victim to spare him the awfulness of hanging, which at that time did not involve the breaking of the neck.

@mrfunnyperson100

2 жыл бұрын

Franc Schmidt probably would have have advocated for a quick death anyway. He really, really didn’t want to be an executioner and was forced into it as part of the family business, and spent his entire life advocating lesser punishments and quick deaths.

@alemalvina7624

Жыл бұрын

I was thinking about this. The guy was an arsonist. An EXTREMELY dangerous thing to have in a medieval city build Of wood and with nearly zero firefighting services other than the people and some buckets. This guy was very probably sentenced to be broken on the weel (an extremely painful way to die) just to send a message to another criminals.

@vorynrosethorn903

9 ай бұрын

No, it was literally a favour, he might give it to lot repentant penniless murder, but not to a thief even for money if they had made themselves disliked during their imprisonment. Typically he'd have a discussion with the priest about it but other than that a bribe to sway his opinion would be just that.

@artolehtio8284

5 ай бұрын

how was hanging made without breaking the neck then?

@Thefan

4 ай бұрын

@@artolehtio8284 It'd have been how they made the noose, 'modern' ones have that knot on it that will break your neck - but back then it didn't - it'd just slowly strangle you.

"She had only one leg and had to be carried to execution" - Nice to know accessible executions were a thing!

@McCRBen

2 жыл бұрын

Wouldn’t have been easy for a one legged woman to survive in those times. They should have given her a medal for teaching people not to be so gullible.

@gregmcgregginton574

2 жыл бұрын

Inclusive af

@samy7013

2 жыл бұрын

@@staywhite6332 : Touché! 🤣😂😁👍

@stevenwilson5556

2 жыл бұрын

Diversity is our strength.

@FlyingTigersKMT

2 жыл бұрын

ADA compliant executions, very forward thinking

2:26 Imagine it. You're caught with animals, then arrested and put to death. You think the worst is over. Then, 500 years later, somebody invents the internet and now everybody hears about what you did again. 🤣

@drgonzothe4th

2 жыл бұрын

Last week the radio said some 30 dude was got with a small pony. It was the police who found him. I think he got 5 years

@t3hSpAdEs

2 жыл бұрын

The furry subculture enables horrific animal abuses. We need to bring back public beheadings

@finejustgivemeaname

2 жыл бұрын

😂😂😂

@someone-pz4dg

2 жыл бұрын

@@t3hSpAdEs yes

@alexcunningham1647

2 жыл бұрын

@@t3hSpAdEs while I personally don't care for furries I think it would really surprise the number of people who have been caught getting it on with animals that have no prior history of such things

the guy caught for raping cows and a sheep ended up burning on the stake together with a cow, well that would be a bit unreasonable towards the cow. 🤔 the sheep must've had a great lawyer defending her case.

@Sweaty_Ken

2 жыл бұрын

Pure gold

@juanjuri6127

2 жыл бұрын

you kid, but there were actually lawyers tasked with defending animals, back in the day. It was usually on witchcraft-related charges ("this pig gave me the evil eye and that's why my crops failed, put him to death!") and the 'defendant' was actually the owner of the animal, but it'd be recorded as "the pig's defence" and so on. There was a similar case to the one mentioned in this video on record, though, where a lady donkey lawyered up with an ace legal team: "Jacques Ferron was a Frenchman who was tried and hanged in 1750 for copulation with a jenny (female donkey). The trial took place in the commune of Vanves and Ferron was found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging. In cases such as these it was usual that the animal would also be sentenced to death, but in this case the she-ass was acquitted. The court decided that the animal was a victim and had not participated of her own free will. A document, dated 19 September 1750, was submitted to the court on behalf of the she-ass that attested to the virtuous nature of the animal. Signed by the parish priest and other principal residents of the commune it proclaimed that "they were willing to bear witness that she is in word and deed and in all her habits of life a most honest creature."

@brokeneyes6615

2 жыл бұрын

That sheep fleeced itself to avoid getting its hide tanned like the cow. .

@edmann1820

2 жыл бұрын

Victim blaming is despicable. Although, I heard the sheep was wearing it's fleece very short.

@kylevolbrecht9255

2 жыл бұрын

In the ancient law of Athens, if a roof tile fell and killed someone, the roof tile would be tried in court and removed from the city of found guilty. Ancient Greeks believed that anything which killed could generate an evil miasma which would slowly engulf the city of left unchecked. So animals, objects, and people who committed murders were all put out of the city.

The executioners were despised men. In the taverns there were reserved places and cups for them. If one of the other guests felt bothered by their presence they had to leave. They had to wear pointy hats and certain clothes which unlike modern believes were mainly of red or green colour, later they changed to grey. They didn´t only execute and torture people, their duties also were the disposal of carrion and the maintenance of the sewers. No girl of a honorable family would marry an executioner or his son so that with the centuries almost a dynasty of their families in Europe had developed. Since their profession was not regarded as honorable their sons could not become members of the craftsmen´s guilds, so that they more or less had to become executioners too.

@movsestimiryan3854

2 жыл бұрын

Interesting, I did not know that.

@davidsimut5016

2 жыл бұрын

they were rich though

@argentorangeok6224

2 жыл бұрын

As long as I didn't have to torture anyone and could remain anonymous, I could probably do the job.

@TheHolladiewaldfeee

Жыл бұрын

@@argentorangeok6224 but you had to torture ppl. It was part of the job profile.

@kent7339

Жыл бұрын

Pretty much, though the executioner in this story eventually had Nuremberg citizenship restored. The family dynasty part is true, as executioners usually could only find mates of other executioner families, but usually Also, Executioners were not their main career, often they did odd jobs or worked as a healer for the poor folk. Franz Schmidt only executed 361 people in 40+ years but performed 15,000+ medical visits at the same period.

The man with his throat cut and robbed while sleeping on the straw in the shed. We’ll never know his name, but we know the cruelty and injustice done to him. Very interesting that we’re aware of these after so long.

"George, executed for Beastiality... And now a word from our sponsors"

@noscrubbubblez6515

2 жыл бұрын

And they executed the cow too..... because she liked it?

@rustyshackelford3590

2 жыл бұрын

@@noscrubbubblez6515 nah they just wanted some smoked ribs and steak after a long day of executing

@n8archy121

2 жыл бұрын

@@rustyshackelford3590 at least the guy marinated it before he was executed

@dangersnail5839

2 жыл бұрын

The cow was basically asking for it

@belliott538

2 жыл бұрын

And now a word from our sponsor: KY Jelly… 😈

Scams then: If you take this coal it will turn to gold Scams now: If you take this course you will become rich

@richardegan1204

2 жыл бұрын

🤣🤣🤣👍

@thatsnodildo1974

2 жыл бұрын

To be fair coal can be turned to gold if sold or used to make food for others

@Tadesan

2 жыл бұрын

Have this insurance so bad things don’t hurt you. Take this loan so you can use it to improve your life.

@GrunOne

2 жыл бұрын

@@twangshanty9559 Go away, can't have any peace from you people.

@ericredelman2568

2 жыл бұрын

@@GrunOne 🤫

Just imagine him going down the line of prisoners: ‘Beheading, beheading, beheading, beheading, beheading - oh actually you’re free to go’ ‘Really?’ ‘Nope beheading’

@jenniferneil2438

3 ай бұрын

I see what you did there. 😂

@Tom_Quixote

3 ай бұрын

@@jenniferneil2438 He didn't do anything.

@jenniferneil2438

3 ай бұрын

Tom Quixote, he's referring to a Monty Python movie. That's what I was responding to.

"In the next world I will summon Emperor and King so that justice can at last be done.".... I'm gonna use this in my next HR meeting at work.

@fidelcatsro6948

3 ай бұрын

2yrs on..Did you get promoted or sacked??

Friend: "Hey bro, can I ask you a favor?" Me: "Say no more, I'll get the sword."

@bluwasabi7635

2 жыл бұрын

lol!

@bamaking45

2 жыл бұрын

🤣

@varisleek3360

2 жыл бұрын

squad goals

@MyPhobo

2 жыл бұрын

"Get your tux too. Gonna need to formally whip someone out of town."

@captainLoknar

2 жыл бұрын

did Nuremburg even have a jail?

I'm seeing a lot of people who don't understand what it means to be "beheaded as a favor" it was common for someone who was to be executed to "bribe" the executioner for a more pleasant death. Beheading was considered the most humane and least painful way to be executed back then. (Edit: it was the best alternative, the alternative being a long torturous humiliating spectacle on the wheel for instance.)

@spaulding304

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks. Thought it meant it was a favor to the city to remove a criminal from society.

@Nate-bn5kk

2 жыл бұрын

@@spaulding304 Yup and on the contrary, if the accused were to upset or not bribe the executioner then they could potentially be executed by a prolonged and painful execution. Sometimes family members or important people from society who were friends with the accused would pay the executioner as a "favor" to the executes.

@freewheelinfranklyn

2 жыл бұрын

ha ha......i was wondering.....i thought he was doing a lot o jobs for free as favours

@mikeyKnows_

2 жыл бұрын

In England to be beheaded was the worse way to go, they used a blunt axe and the executioner would miss the neck multiple times.

@factsdontcareaboutyourfeel7204

2 жыл бұрын

@@mikeyKnows_ being hung, drawn and quartered is far more worse .

Not a cell phone in sight, just people enjoying living in the moment.

@writingtotortureyou

7 ай бұрын

LMFAO

@cry2love

2 ай бұрын

Yes, people lived their best moment faces into only cells

@Botiozuu

2 ай бұрын

With a cow or a sheep, whatever you into

@Socialistdemon

2 ай бұрын

Kids today will never know what it’s like when you get to watch a man on the wheel after a long days of sucking the royal gunge out of your kings face.

@alexandersheridan2179

Ай бұрын

Most of them. The living part, not the cellphones, silly

"A wise vein hidden in her leg" that's a new one for me.

@listentoyourvibes

3 ай бұрын

I got a wise vein on my forehead. It throbs when anger approaches.

@harmoneggsarmandlegs481

Ай бұрын

I have one in my underwear 😮 It's weakness is women

"Beheaded as a favour" cheers, thanks mate, really doing me a solid here

@vorynrosethorn903

2 жыл бұрын

Hanging could last upwards of 40 minutes...so yeah...

@jimbob3332

2 жыл бұрын

@@vorynrosethorn903 Just seems like 'mercy' would be a better term, but now I'm nitpicking a 16th Century guy's diction.

@mirzaahmed6589

2 жыл бұрын

I'd rather be burned with the cow I'm in love with.

@dab0331

2 жыл бұрын

Beheading with a sword is pretty merciful. At least it's not with a dull knife, like in Mexico.

@skyhappy

2 жыл бұрын

@@dab0331 lol are you talking about the cartel beheading video

My favorite line from a children's book remains "I am 14 and have not yet seen a hanging. My life is barren."

@mrfunnyperson100

2 жыл бұрын

What book was that?

@neilpieterse9614

2 жыл бұрын

@@mrfunnyperson100 I would like to know aswell

@toffeebluenose7331

2 жыл бұрын

Lmao

@Allen667sjja

2 жыл бұрын

Lol

@jotcw81

2 жыл бұрын

A book I particularly enjoyed at the time was Ken Follets´`Pillars of the Earth´, which mentions, if I am not mistaken, a hanging in the very first sentence.

"Beheaded here at Nuremberg" has such a catchy ring to it. I could foresee it as the chorus of a song.

If you ever go to Salzburg the executioners house sits completely isolated in the middle of a field in the middle of the city because no one used to want to live near the executioner.

This guy's house exists still.

@Jim58223

2 жыл бұрын

what's the location?

@Stadtpark90

2 жыл бұрын

And the Death Penalty still exists in the US (- and probably Saudi Arabia and places like that). The Dark Ages are not over at all.

@Jim58223

2 жыл бұрын

@@Stadtpark90 Saudia Arabia still has stoning. I think they only recently stopped it. China has mobile execution vans, that's how many people they kill.

@racciacrack7579

2 жыл бұрын

@@Stadtpark90 Decapitating Reginald for speaking out against the church isn't the same as some inhumane monster getting sentenced to death for killing kids.

@Stadtpark90

2 жыл бұрын

@@racciacrack7579 It’s about showing the capability to treat a murderer differently from how he would treat you.

Dostoevsky writes in his book "crime and punishment": "I read about a man condemned to death saying or thinking, an hour before his death, that if he had to live somewhere high up on a cliffside, on a ledge so narrow that there was room only for his two feet- and with the abyss, the ocean, eternal darkness, eternal solitude, eternal storm all around him- and had to stay like that, on a square foot of space, an entire lifetime, a thousand years, an eternity- it would be better to live so than to die right now! Only to live, to live, to live! To live, no matter how- only to live!"

@DigitalDuelist

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you for sharing that. Powerful!

@stollinroned5090

2 жыл бұрын

living is gay tho

@1lobster

2 жыл бұрын

I don’t doubt that the criminal would rather live, but if he does not redeem himself he should be executed. Certainly not condemned to hell, but death is just.

@1lobster

2 жыл бұрын

@@Sash2016 that was typical for criminals of his time in Russia. Even in the Middle Ages, even the worst criminals were usually banished to Siberia, instead of executed. By the time Dostoyevsky was alive, it had become custom to threaten men with execution, but pardon them as soon as the “stepped in the shade of the gallows”

@CSLFiero

2 жыл бұрын

Quit yer belt aching and bite this rope.

The Faithful Executioner is such a good read or listen. All Franz ever wanted was for his children to have a better life than himself and to not have to adopt the family business.

Just discovered this channel and I’m addicted. Keep up the good work 👍🏻 thank you

I will say that this gallery of rogues has so many cool nicknames that they rival Batman villains for their dastardly monikers.

@taterkaze9428

2 жыл бұрын

"The Cabbage Grower"

@c0nstantin86

2 жыл бұрын

In America, thieves become "villans" and go on to tell stories. In medieval europe they just died :3

@johnr797

2 жыл бұрын

@@taterkaze9428 I love it because it tells you nothing yet somehow everything

@rachel_sj

2 жыл бұрын

@@taterkaze9428 *Cabbage Cart destroyed* “My Cabbages!!”

@O-plaat

2 жыл бұрын

@@c0nstantin86 in modern day Europe thieves go to palement and get payed for stealing...

You might be interested in a book called: "The autobiography of a hunted Priest" by John Gerrad. Father Gerrad was a Jesuit missionary working undercover in England during the time of Elizabeth 1st, when being a priest was punished by death. He hid in 'priestholes', knew some of the gunpowder plotters and even escaped from the tower of London. His account of the escape is amazing.

@CanVultus

2 жыл бұрын

This legitimately sounds like a really good read now I’m going to have to add it to my never ending library. Thank you.

@sparklesparklesparkle6318

2 жыл бұрын

@@CanVultus you should be reading instead of posting on youtube

@alexaltair6076

2 жыл бұрын

@@sparklesparklesparkle6318 And you?

@CanVultus

2 жыл бұрын

@@sparklesparklesparkle6318 You should give advice to people of your own intelligence level. You know the ones who are on the buses that are not so long. How many windows have you tasted?

@CanVultus

2 жыл бұрын

@@sparklesparklesparkle6318 deine Existenz ist erbärmlich und nutzlos.

I just stumbled upon this channel. I'm a huge history buff. Love the first person perspective from the ones who were there. Cheers.

Compulsive listening. The narration is excellent, evoking a quiet, clinical authority.

the soldier of 5 campaigns defintely sound like PTSD. probably snapped . poor guy

@zanizone3617

2 жыл бұрын

Well, poor beggar and poor burgmeister too...

@davebroad642

2 жыл бұрын

Immediately turned himself in, too.

@rhett1029

2 жыл бұрын

@@davebroad642 yeah that makes the PTSD theory even more likely he probably lost it then came back to his senses and was horrified

@rekit7351

2 жыл бұрын

Time stamp 8:15 incase anyone is looking for it

@ebonymaw8457

2 жыл бұрын

I don't know why they executed him despite his service and obvious immediate regret.

When I visited Rothenburg I saw a real executioner sword. The blade was engraved with Latin which said "the crime does not go unpunished"

@okamisaiai5459

2 жыл бұрын

That's pretty badass

@juliohenrique8546

2 жыл бұрын

Based.

@Veldtian1

2 жыл бұрын

@@juliohenrique8546 Based AF and Satanpilled.

@Alex-nx5wi

2 жыл бұрын

Do you remember the latin version?

@davidm8135

2 жыл бұрын

@@Alex-nx5wi Dikum Scelus Non Mamet Imult Um

I recently found your channel and find these accounts worth the listen.

I love this channel. I love what you guys are doing.

This now makes me want to hear a reading of the diary of Peter Hagendorf, a German mercenary/Landsknecht in the Thirty Years War.

@imAdolff

2 жыл бұрын

Interesting

@KoenBoyful

2 жыл бұрын

His story is extremely interresting. Read about his whole life and story. 50% marching, 20% baking bread, 5% children death shortly after birth (like 6), 25% fighting against the Swedes mostly.

@samy7013

2 жыл бұрын

@@KoenBoyful : I need to read this.

@maximkretsch7134

2 жыл бұрын

And I would be interested how many contemporary English hangmen and mercenaries were able to write a diary.

Franz Schmit was such an interesting man. He wrote that book to clear his fammily name of stigma his proffesion put on him. Whole thing is really worth reading.

@alastairgreen2077

6 ай бұрын

Family, profession.

@Cobywan54

4 ай бұрын

Innterressting commment

I didn't know what 'executed on the wheel' meant so I looked it up. Man do I wish I hadn't looked that up!

Just finished the book a hangman’s diary about him/written by him about 20 minutes ago. It’s a great read. Very insightful and extremely brutal in parts.

By "doing a favour", what Franz was doing here was granting to the condemned a less painful execution by decapitation, which was a type of execution that was usually reserved to members of the aristocracy, since more painful forms of execution were used towards those who were not aristocrats, i.e., being drawn and quartered, being hanged, being burned to death, being bludgeoned to death, etc. During the French Revolution, in order to have a more humane execution, the guillotine was established as the main form of execution.

@MrAnperm

2 жыл бұрын

I notice the murderers were usually decapitated. Seems they got the easier death.

@christobalcolon6601

2 жыл бұрын

A hot stake is better than a cold chop.

@NathanFrenchAttorney

2 жыл бұрын

Captain Obvious - you are the type of person who says look the sky is blue

@CrizzyEyes

2 жыл бұрын

The murderers would normally have been broken on the wheel I think, very bad way to go, so a lot of them have "beheaded as a favor" instead

@alemalvina7624

Жыл бұрын

Somebody paid for mercy so he was beheaded as a favour. The arsonist would probably have been sentenced to be broken in the weel (an exceptionally painful death) because arson/fires in medieval times were extremely dangerous and there was real risks of burning the entire city.

A RPG player character wouldnt last a day in Nuremberg before being beheaded, as a favor, for breaking into every house and stealing everthing.

@fmhummel

2 жыл бұрын

You usually weren't hanged on the first offense, but banned from the town and flogged all the way through the gates. Returning after that already was punishable by death though - in theory.

@howdoyoudo5949

2 жыл бұрын

Ehh if you're only playing a thieves' guild type of situation.

@terminator572

2 жыл бұрын

Must be a very boring RPG experience if every single character you have met does the same.

@howdoyoudo5949

2 жыл бұрын

@@terminator572 Is that to me or to him?

@amphionification

2 жыл бұрын

I've played old school Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay games that were like this. I suspect they may have read some of these accounts.

I think beheading by sword was probably more sure and swift than other forms of execution. In England they almost always used an axe and often made a hash of it. It sometimes took several blows to separate the head from the body. In one infamous case, the victim ran off after one blow and the executioner had to chase after her.

@krismikewill

3 ай бұрын

I believe that you are speaking of Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury and mother of Cardinal Reginald Pole. She was near 70, and Henry killed her to punish Reginald (who was out of his reach). She ran around the grounds of the Tower of London. There were a few executions Henry was justified in doing (Edward Stafford, Duke of Buckingham), but the elderly Countess was not.

Excellent video.

Fat Lad is still a pretty gangsta name.

@TheSquidPro

2 жыл бұрын

Notorious F.A.T.

@chrisstanton70

2 жыл бұрын

lol i was imagining that he had a thick cockney accent for some reason

@Pulang_Diwa

2 жыл бұрын

Phat Lad.

@solomonreal1977

2 жыл бұрын

your new name is Silly Josue

@b1zzarecont4ct

2 жыл бұрын

@@TheSquidPro stop

Cow: “Finally that rapist gets what he deserved!” *gets taken to the pyre* Cow: 👀

@miketacos9034

2 жыл бұрын

“What? We’re hungry!” -the crowd

@Dinngg0

2 жыл бұрын

It takes two to tango

@mahmud7645

2 жыл бұрын

Its according to the Bible. Both the Human and the animal who was rapes must be killed. Its in Leviathan I think but idk I am not a christian

@scutumfidelis1436

2 жыл бұрын

That's because the cow has been tainted.

@pikebasss

2 жыл бұрын

Cow: Oh wow they’re giving me a really good spot!

Been looking for this one

I hit the like instantly on this channel. Because, I know it will be a pleasure to hear the spoken words of the past. ❤️

The margraves wife suddenly recognizing her husband and kissing him right before his execution made me sad 😔

@JH-ji6cj

2 жыл бұрын

You don't actually have facial hair

@Natasha___.

2 жыл бұрын

@@JH-ji6cj lol what? He quite obviously has a luscious ginger beard/stache combo 😂

@marionfalco

2 жыл бұрын

Me too ):

@patrickking9600

2 жыл бұрын

@@Natasha___. please marry me lol

@chico9805

Жыл бұрын

@@patrickking9600 Pathetic.

Not a sadist, not a twisted evil, but simply a man, with a job, carrying out his duties professionally, and happy to provide what mercies he could.

@craigross341

2 жыл бұрын

Post-execution BBQ.

@hanstun1

2 жыл бұрын

He did hang a child.

@lucasvaughn629

2 жыл бұрын

@@hanstun1 pretty common back then

@current9300

2 жыл бұрын

@@hanstun1 While it's messed up, "childhood" as we know it is relatively recent "invention" from the 1800s. By his time, people were considered just small adults by the time they were able to work independently and understand what they were doing.

@aethulwulfvonstopphen8013

2 жыл бұрын

@@hanstun1 They didn't hang him because he was 13, they hanged him because of his crimes.

First time stumbling onto your channel. This is fuckin AWESOME! Thank you for these.

I recommend Joel F. Harrington's "The Faithful Executioner". He puts Schmidt's diary into the context of the time and explains the background of his life.

@martinphilip8998

2 жыл бұрын

The Faithful Executioner. It’s an amazing story. I will watch and maybe add more later. Ok, I’m still waiting for the more interesting part of the story. Schmidt’s father had been forced to execute a criminal on the command of a noble. Thus, the family was thrust into generational service in this role. Franz worked diligently for the state but was desperate to spare his descendants this fate. He did not drink or mix with people of the lowly professions. He came to be regarded as a healer and supplemented his income in this way. Some of his duties involved using red hot pincers to take a chunk out of a criminal’s buttocks. With eventual execution his next task was to heal that person so they could face the rest of their sentence. As a result, he was better than doctors and barbers of the day. Read the book. It’s better than this.

@ddmark69

Жыл бұрын

Half way thru and it is a very interesting look at that period of time, highly recommend

@onthursday1599

6 ай бұрын

Thanks for the recommendation!

A true court case no more than 40 years ago in the U.S. - a farmer was in the docket, charged with buggering a cow. The case proceeded calmly when at some point the judge noticed the defendant had a limp and was favoring a leg. The judge asked him how he came to have injured his leg. The defendant explained that he was standing on an over turned bucket to reach the height necessary for the deed and that just as he was finished violating the cow, it kicked back knocking him off the bucket. A spectator in the court burst out a laugh and slapped his knee, proclaiming, "Yup, they'll do that every time!"

@chanlee4707

2 жыл бұрын

The laughing spectator's remark sounds more like sarcasm to me though. Lol

@polkka7797

Жыл бұрын

America? I thought I would be Wales

@crywlf9103

Жыл бұрын

@@polkka7797 they shag sheep in wales and New Zealand, not cows

@gilbertwalker3222

Жыл бұрын

@@polkka7797 That’d be a sheep not a cow.

@mrtumas998

Жыл бұрын

Shoulda found a JRHNBR cow iykyk

Thank you

This guy operated for a long time, real good job security.

@timokohler6631

2 жыл бұрын

Medieval job markets where very simple, you did what your dad did, forever. Can be a blessing or a curse.

@randygebreith2085

2 жыл бұрын

Thats how family names like Smith and Miller etc originated.

@MihaiRUdeRO

2 жыл бұрын

@@randygebreith2085 I wish my family name was tied to an occupation. My family name translates to "Tommy's kid" ... I guess my great great etc. grandfather was named Tommy and knocked up some peasant girl... Great.

@JarthenGreenmeadow

2 жыл бұрын

@@MihaiRUdeRO M8 my last name translates to "big head" I dont wanna hear about it "Tommys kid"

@rossambrose8649

2 жыл бұрын

Not bad until you consider the executioner was usually was forced to live in a house outside town and was thought of as "untouchable" by everyone else. They would have been avoided by the townspeople unless they needed medical assistance (as the executioner was usually the only person with any knowledge of anatomy due to the nature of their work). Once you'd been an executioner that was essentially what you were doing for the rest of your life since nobody would even talk to you let alone ever hire you for anything. But it paid well and was always in demand.

Wow, no filler, no senseless backstories..Just right into it. Very nicely done.

Amazing stuff.

0:30 I was born in Bamberg and went to school in Hollfeld... I LIVE HERE! I've also been to Nuremburg many times. It's really funny to see my homearea on an international youtube channel

Franz Schmidt was born around 1555 and his career as executioner began when he was just 18 years old, what a brutal time.

@poutinedream5066

2 жыл бұрын

18? Yikes. And it was an inherited position? My dad was a medic. He always insisted I could do it, I'd adjust if I had to. I was 35 when my 12 year old dropped a TV on her big toe at a friend's house. In the ER triage, they removed the bandage and I passed clean out 🤣. I can't imagine being put in that position at 18.

How old was this guy when he died? well over 60 i presume. A proud age back then. I looked it up, he died 1634 at the age of 79! What a mad lad he must have been.

Didn't expect to watch the whole vid!

I compliment the VOP staff. Unlike some other "history" based channels, you did not stoop to using title language to attract morbid, or sadistic or psycho audiences.

Joel Harrington wrote a book about Frantz Schmidt and his diary. At his Research in Nuremberg he found the oldest handwritten copy (1650) of the original diary at the Nuremberg City archive , which differs from here used transkript of an late 18th copy.

@diggydude5229

2 жыл бұрын

Would you agree that "nickname" would've been a better translation than "alias" as used in this video?

@johnr797

2 жыл бұрын

@@diggydude5229 well, thieves dealing with other thieves probably wouldn't want to be using their legitimate names amongst even each other.

@atti_tube

2 жыл бұрын

I read Harrington's book in college last year. Absolutely a fantastic work of microhistory.

@martinphilip8998

2 жыл бұрын

The Faithful Executioner. It’s an amazing story. I will watch and maybe add more later. Ok, I’m still waiting for the more interesting part of the story. Schmidt’s father had been forced to execute a criminal on the command of a noble. Thus, the family was thrust into generational service in this role. Franz worked diligently for the state but was desperate to spare his descendants this fate. He did not drink or mix with people of the lowly professions. He came to be regarded as a healer and supplemented his income in this way. Some of his duties involved using red hot pincers to take a chunk out of a criminal’s buttocks. With eventual execution his next task was to heal that person so they could face the rest of their sentence. As a result, he was better than doctors and barbers of the day. Read the book. It’s better than this.

@martinphilip8998

2 жыл бұрын

@@atti_tube I read it because I like to read. I didn’t really take up reading until I finished college. It’s a fascinating book and I’m sorry that the makers of this video haven’t read the book.

Joel F. Harrington wrote a fantastic book on the executioner who wrote this diary. It is called "The Faithful Executioner" and is an incredibly humanizing look at Franz Schmidt. The book also really opened my eyes to the unique role of the executioner in that era and the world in which they lived. If you find these stories interesting I highly recommend you give it a read!

@martinphilip8998

2 жыл бұрын

Yes! The Faithful Executioner. It’s an amazing story. I will watch and maybe add more later. Ok, I’m still waiting for the more interesting part of the story. Schmidt’s father had been forced to execute a criminal on the command of a noble. Thus, the family was thrust into generational service in this role. Franz worked diligently for the state but was desperate to spare his descendants this fate. He did not drink or mix with people of the lowly professions. He came to be regarded as a healer and supplemented his income in this way. Some of his duties involved using red hot pincers to take a chunk out of a criminal’s buttocks. With eventual execution his next task was to heal that person so they could face the rest of their sentence. As a result, he was better than doctors and barbers of the day. Read the book. It’s better than this. I’m delighted in the comments that so many of us have read that book. It’s as wonderful as a book about torture can be. 🤣

@samy7013

2 жыл бұрын

I need to read this.

@jotcw81

2 жыл бұрын

Thx! Just ordered the book and it will make it just in time to arrive on mothers day at my moms´. She´s gonna love it, you really helped me out here hehe

@evacope1718

Жыл бұрын

I found this book in a bargain bin for 1 dollar :)

Well told👍

This is absolutely crazy! I’m not even a minute in. We’re hearing the crimes and some of the last actions of people 500- 600 years ago! The atrocities and opportunist.

No one can resist the Fisterin sisters

@luchacefox259

2 жыл бұрын

And mother apparently, good times lol.

@Mitchy1000

2 жыл бұрын

Lol

@britviking5960

2 жыл бұрын

I know I couldn't, better make myself scarce

@FFM0594

2 жыл бұрын

It's a mistranslation of Fistin' in sisters.

@adolphusweimann9237

2 жыл бұрын

✊🏻✊🏻✊🏻✊🏻✊🏻

"The florentine florin was a coin...ranging according to social grouping and perspective from approximately 140 to 1000 modern US dollars."

@BuriedFlame

2 жыл бұрын

So bitcoin then?

@Narokkurai

2 жыл бұрын

Medieval currencies could vary pretty wildly in value, depending on regional politics, trade, taxes and customs. It could even be a problem if your money was worth *too much* because then nobody would want to trade for it. Imagine if you had nothing but $100 bills on hand, but any merchant you buy from would need to empty out their change drawer to give you your change, and then THEY'RE stuck with the $100 bill and they can't make any more change for any other customers. That's the kind of shenanigans that fluctuating medieval currency rates could cause.

@Eadric_The_Wild

2 жыл бұрын

@@Narokkurai they were also made of gold. i know that England had a serious problem with traders taking English gold coins and selling them in the middle east for a profit because gold was more valuable in the middle east. obviously this resulted in the English currency being debased, it's the same as how it's illegal to destroy money nowadays.

@garrysekelli6776

2 жыл бұрын

10000 with inflation

@SwayRod836

2 жыл бұрын

There's Florens in the Witcher 3, you have to exchange them at the local "dwarven" banker.

Fascinating

I’m familiar with many of the cities mentioned by our chronicler. In a museum in Wertheim I saw an executioner’s sword from the same period. It had a wide blade, not much of a point, and a slogan or prayer inscribed along the blade, saying “I am justice,” or something.

@donmertz2171

7 ай бұрын

VII Corps patch. Very nice. Kelly Barracks, '87-'89.

We still have this saying in Poland, "What's meant to hang, will not drown."

@SSHitMan

2 жыл бұрын

Do you have trials where someone is tied up and tossed in a pond, and if they sink and drown they're innocent but if they float and live they're guilty and must be hanged?

@adrianbigboss5685

2 жыл бұрын

@@SSHitMan Haha no, it means something like, when something is meant to happen, nothing will stop it.

@SSHitMan

2 жыл бұрын

@@adrianbigboss5685 I was just joking, but that method of trial really did happen back then. And yes as mentioned in this video sometimes animals associated with the crime were executed as well..

@Swordfish42

2 жыл бұрын

@@SSHitMan Nah, it's enough to check if they are heavier than a duck

@battleelf6523

2 жыл бұрын

PUT IT ON A SHIRT? WHAT’S MEANT 2 HANG, GETS WATERBOARDED FIRST?

Gets stabbed "Why have you so wounded me?!" Gets stabbed again

@nssherlock4547

2 жыл бұрын

? The soldier stabbed 2 people One a begger, the other a Burgermiester LOL.

@dogestranding5047

2 жыл бұрын

@@nssherlock4547 Burger

@nssherlock4547

2 жыл бұрын

@@dogestranding5047 ?

@dunruden9720

2 жыл бұрын

@@nssherlock4547 beggar, burgermeister

I LOVE MAGELLAN TV!!!!

The best history Chanel

“And the coals.. remained coals.”

@mirzaahmed6589

2 жыл бұрын

I fail to see how this was defrauding anyone. All she did was stay one night and ask them to dig some holes the next day.

@EvsEntps

2 жыл бұрын

@@mirzaahmed6589 She promised they would turn into Gold and probably was paid by them to do it, hence committed fraud.

@gormsundberg302

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah, I'm so fascinated by that story, bc they never got into the upside of her hustle, like was she asking them for a finders fee, money, sassages? Also, imagine having one leg in the 1600's, ofc she had to con some ppl for sassages.

@dehydratedmanatee3586

2 жыл бұрын

Right after that part, a St. Jude's add came on, saying, "Cole, he's my miracle child". Bizarre.

"Diary of an Executioner" - should have been a film by now - or a weekly series even

@isn0t42

2 жыл бұрын

There's a manga "Innocent" by Sakamoto Shinichi about Charles Sanson the Executioner of Paris during the French Revolution.

@FandersonUfo

2 жыл бұрын

@@isn0t42 - lots of potential in a traditional series format - each weekly victim's story narrated by the executioner - until he chops off their head etc - 2 or 3 good seasons possible

@malahamavet

2 жыл бұрын

@@FandersonUfo so basically The Storyteller tv show meets 1000 ways to die... interesting

@malahamavet

2 жыл бұрын

@@isn0t42 that manga is so Gore and ewwwwww!

@edanridge3023

2 жыл бұрын

@@malahamavet apparently there was a lot of stuff in his diary about how he was also a surgeon and healer and how he begged the nobles to free him and his family from the cast of executioners

I’m new to channel. I’m hooked.

A book ‘The Faithful Executioner’ by Joel F. Harrington is about Franz Schmidt’s journal and the life of his time. Interesting read. Well written.

Man. I've been watching and listening to these videos for a long time, and it feels like they're just getting better and better. I especially enjoy the "east meets west" accounts, it reminds me of the first contact tales we hear about so often in scifi stories and shows. My friend teaches history and uses these videos in his classroom

"beheaded with the sword as a favor.." what a nice dude

@mrfunnyperson100

2 жыл бұрын

More than you think, the better translation would be “out of mercy,” as Frank Schmidt, the executioner, would usually lobby for the prisoners to receive the least painful punishments. If he had to burn someone at the stake he would try to break their necks first. Franz Schmidt was a surprisingly interesting man, he was one of the very first “professional” executioners that acted more like public servants than sadists. Despite the dishonor of being an executioner, Schmidt was known to be so pious, efficient, and friendly that he overcame people’s suspicion and became a respected member of the Nuremberg Upper Class and retired to be a doctor and surgeon.

@charliebowen5071

2 жыл бұрын

@@mrfunnyperson100 that’s codswallop.. an executioner had no position to lobby for anything to anyone... and Schmidt was never part of Nuremberg high society... at any point of his life.. he did his job with due diligence at best but you’re just plain wrong

Bring this back.

Loved to have met some of these characters.

This is absolute GOLD. Thank u so much.

this is probably the most harrowing source you've ever used to me, hearing the ages of those young kids executed for theft and hearing that they had never been in church and must have been outcasts from a very early age. what a short and tragic life they must have lived :(

@daniwoods6868

2 жыл бұрын

Def would have rather lived in an Islamic region during the time

@chuckles5689

2 жыл бұрын

@@daniwoods6868 you don't think the muslims executed kids for theft and treated people who didn't go to religious institutions as outcasts?

@mujtabamohammed7264

2 жыл бұрын

@@chuckles5689 In Islamic law thieves would lose a hand, unless it was a small amount which they needed for sustenance, in which case they received a lesser punishment such as a lashing, or if it was an armed robbery in which case they would lose a hand and a foot provided no one was actually killed during the robbery..

@chuckles5689

2 жыл бұрын

@@mujtabamohammed7264 how merciful...

@mujtabamohammed7264

2 жыл бұрын

@@chuckles5689 I assume you realise that it would be counterproductive if punishments were designed to show mercy, which is probably why the church-going German plaintiffs, judges and executioner didn't turn the other cheek.

I've read this book. I learned that beheading by sword was considered the most desirable way to be executed and the condemned would beg for it to the judges.

Why I love “The Hangman’s Daughter” books.

I have read the book on this particular executioner. To be an executioner was not a free choice, the sons of the town's executioner were obliged to follow their father's carreer after he died or couldn't work any longer. The executioners families were looked down upon by the hypocrite towns people.

@MrBottlecapBill

2 жыл бұрын

I hardly think people looked down on you without reason since you were the one enforcing half of the made up fraudulent charges and putting innocents to death a lot of the time. As a favour........

@Sprite_525

2 жыл бұрын

I mean, deliberately killing humans regularly has a affect you. There’s reasons soldiers get PTSD. Most people could never kill a fully conscious animal let alone a pet, let alone a human. Humans take this intuition, then they look at a killer with this mindset: someone who does the unthinkable everyday has to be of a particular mindset naturally, or they eventually become that way. Nobody would want to be an executioner. So it makes sense that kings and townships forced that role on isolated families. It sucks. I often think about what it would be like to do that job hating it everyday.

@s.t.lacroix372

2 жыл бұрын

@@MrBottlecapBill The executioner had a very low social status, comparable with street sweepers or the folks who had to empty the shit buckets. He was paid by the city council and was awarded life long low rent housing. Still nobody volunteered, everybody was appointed executioner by the city council, and such an appointment could not be refused and was for life. When the father died, the son had to take over. That's why many executioner assistants were actually the sons of those executioners

@s.t.lacroix372

2 жыл бұрын

@@Sprite_525 Well in the book it says that the executioner took delight in executing the biggest scoundrells. Medieval times were hard, tough and horrific. Individuality did not really exist, everything was done in the name of God. I doubt if most people really had problems with killing other humans, in those times death, sickness and violence were a daily part of life.

@hung-upear2659

2 жыл бұрын

@@s.t.lacroix372 If I remember correctly, this particular executioner was a second generation executioner. His father had something to do with birds, maybe a hunter or sth similar to that and one day had "taken a short straw". Afterwards, that particular executioner (not the hunter one) was freed and may have been pardoned by Pope (?) I may be greatly mistaken

Everybody talks about the cow being burned. While it's unfortunate, I suspect the reason behind is that they were afraid of disease, and also as one mentioned, nobody really wanted to drink its milk or eat its flesh anyway. This was backed up by a passage in the Old Testament which stated that in the case of bestiality the animal should be killed as well.

@BeeRumblin13

2 жыл бұрын

Its just dopey dopes trying to put todays standards for things that happened hundreds of years ago. Just like all the other history they want to erase . These people wouldnt live to 20 back then.

@jamesorrock8897

2 жыл бұрын

That would be the Old Testament, dude.

@jenrutherford6690

2 жыл бұрын

Sounds like a excuse for cruelty .

@maywalker997

2 жыл бұрын

It was also an age where victims of rape were often punished for adultery. It could have simply been a case of the people trying to apply their own misogynistic standards towards the animal. Even today, courts are still plagued by questions of "But did she resist enough (evidence of enough injuries)?" & "But did she enjoy it?", even when looking at absolutely brutal cases of rape. Sometimes people even try to analyse animals like this and end up condoning or excusing animal abuse. In court, often the rape victim is on trial more than the accused.

@sztallone415

2 жыл бұрын

@@maywalker997 Interesting. Albeit I'd appreciate if you stopped your misandrist comments, that'd help your case. (Your comment implies that the victim is a woman and the perpetrator is a man every time.) And before you write, I say this as a male who got abused. Your next point: I only heard about comments like that, but I believe you, I think too that that happens nowadays, and it's disgusting. However, in light of the alternatives (e.g a literal biblical law) I don't think this has much to do with this cow.

The cow, seeing the torch: "WHAT DID I DO!?!?!?"

Wow. Executing 13 year olds without a second thought. No wonder they called it the "Bloody Rule". Its interesting to me how the concept of rehabilitation didn't exist whatsoever.

@Exgrmbl

9 ай бұрын

It's not like he had a choice. Executioner is a job that was forced upon you.

@doct0rnic

8 ай бұрын

That was essentially adulthood back then

To me as a native franconian, this was very enthralling. Greetings from germany!

"Beheaded by sword as a favor." understated phrase of the year.

@dontmindme333

2 жыл бұрын

That was a favor compared to hanging

Everyone: Ayo Franz, I need a favor. Franz Schmidt: Say no more.

There's an excellent book on this diary, Franz Schmidt, his time and craft: "The faithful executioner: Life and death in the 16th century" by Joel F. Harrington. To anyone interested, check it out. It's a thorough, well researched exploration of the man and his times.

Executed on the wheel means either they run a cartwheel over each of your limbs breaking each bone separately or they tie you to a wheel and break each limb with a iron mace.

@MrJackal43

2 жыл бұрын

Actually you’re partially correct.... the “mace” was actually a iron bar... after the bones were broken the limbs were “weaved” around the wagon wheel, making for a grotesque moaning display.

@esmereldahipswitch

2 жыл бұрын

🤢

@frankkolton1780

2 жыл бұрын

It was very popular entertainment back then. When it was about to start, the crowd would shout out together "WHEEL...OF...MISFORTUNE!"

@bigoldgrizzly

3 ай бұрын

A whole new meaning of 'going out for a spin'

Is there a transcript of this text? I‘d like to know the names of the towns mentioned in the beginning. I think I understand „Stadt Steinach“ and „Stadt Kronach“ but I‘m not sure. That would be wild because that’s where I live 😂

Ive read his book anf would recommend it to any fan of history. Very interesting.

Must be nice to be a specialist that's always in demand I guess.

@dizbang3073

2 жыл бұрын

A real problem-solver.

@swaffelkonijn5166

2 жыл бұрын

He was actually also a healer, many executioners were.

@thesanfranciscoseahorse473

2 жыл бұрын

He was "a head" of the curve, you could say.

Fun fact: executioner's swords are forged flat without a tip cause you never stab with them.

@dragon12234

2 жыл бұрын

Also cause without a taper the point of balance is further out on the blade, giving it a more powerful cut

@yepiratesworkshop7997

2 жыл бұрын

@@dragon12234 I saw one in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Full double-edged blade, squared tip and wickedly razor sharp looking. One swipe from even a small man could easily take off a cow's head.

@ryangianan1439

2 жыл бұрын

Thats also to distinguish them from the war sword which was only for, by law, knights and noblemen

Who was the early 2000s scene girl at @2:00 ? Serious what peice of art is that?

Is it weird that i listen this to fall asleep?

Well at least he and his cow spent their last moments together ❤

@ungeimpfterrusslandtroll7155

2 жыл бұрын

LMAO, that's the most underrated comment ever.

@se7en926

2 жыл бұрын

Was there a feast afterwards with the bbqed cow?

@johnr797

2 жыл бұрын

@@se7en926 That's how you get cowmydia

Very interesting and a great video

Living in the modern world is a piece of cake in comparison to how harsh it used to be living the 16th & 17th centuries (and beyond and before). In the old days almost any crime was punished with death.

@VargVikernes1488

2 жыл бұрын

Most people were happier and lived more fulfilling lives back then.

@dremanu

2 жыл бұрын

@@VargVikernes1488 Neither I nor you have any ability to gauge that, we can only imagine maybe that was the case. For adventure, definitely those centuries were amazing, but for harshness of living, I don't know if they lived "happier" lives.

@useodyseeorbitchute9450

2 жыл бұрын

@@dremanu For recent decades there are some statistics (and proxy indicators). We're much richer, much safer, but at best our satisfaction is unchanged or more likely slightly went down.

@dremanu

2 жыл бұрын

@@useodyseeorbitchute9450 My comment was specifically from the point of view of how harsh the legal system used to be when punishing crime. In the 16th & 17th centuries a person could be hanged for almost any type of crime. Nowadays they don't even go to jail for crimes that would before get a person hanged, now they just pay a fine. A hungry, homeless person in the past might feel tempted to steal a loaf of bread, and if caught they could be hanged. Nowadays if you're hungry you can go to a homeless shelter, and if you steal food, you will not get punished for it.

@useodyseeorbitchute9450

2 жыл бұрын

​@@dremanu Fully agree with this part, there are even studies implying that with such scale such policies reduced low IQ and high sociopathy alleles from European gene pool, which lead to further development. The only point that I objected were happiness indicators, which paradoxically work against modern society, in spite of peace and affluence.