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The Faithful Executioner: Life and Death in the Sixteenth Century
Welcome to the world of Frantz Schmidt: citizen of Nuremberg, executioner of 394 unfortunates, and torturer of many hundreds more.
Most unusually for his times, Frantz was also a diarist. Drawing deeply on this exceptional and overlooked record that he kept for over forty-five years, The Faithful Executioner takes us deep inside his world and his thinking. But the picture that emerges is not of a monster. Could a man who routinely practiced such cruelty also be insightful, compassionate - even progressive?
Young Frantz enters the trade as the Apprentice, following in his father's footsteps. Later, as the Journeyman, he travels the roads of Franconia, learning to reconcile his desire for respectability with his violent work. After a lifetime working amid human cruelty, tragedy, injustice and simple misfortune as the Master in Nuremberg, Frantz has become a moralist and storyteller, the Sage. And, in the closing chapters of his life, retired now from his role as executioner, he is the Healer, running the large medical practice that he always viewed as his true vocation.
The Faithful Executioner is the biography of an ordinary man struggling to overcome an unjust family curse and a panorama of a Europe poised on the cusp of modernity, a world with startling parallels to our own.
316 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2013
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About the author
Joel F. Harrington
12 books41 followersJoel F. Harrington is a historian of Europe, specializing pre-modern Germany, with particular interest in social, religious, and legal topics.
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May 12, 2021
This nonfiction history provides a uniquely detailed description of life in Reformation-era Europe as revealed by the personal diary of Meister Franz Schmidt who worked as a professional executioner from 1573 to 1618. During the final forty years of this career he held the official position of Executioner for the German city of Nuremberg. It appears that his written record of executions and torture was begun during the first five years covered by the journal as a resumé to support his application for the full time salaried position at Nuremberg. The diary was continued from that point through the end of his career as a supporting document to his application for a declaration of respectability from the Holy Roman Emperor which was made six years after his retirement from work.
One of the reasons I was interested in this book was to see if perhaps Franz Schmidt may have executed one of my Anabaptist ancestors. As it turns out the word "Anabaptist" is not mentioned in the book. Most of the turmoil of the early Reformation years took place during the first half of the sixteenth century, and things had settled down by Franz Schmidt's time. Nuremberg was a Lutheran City within the Holy Roman Empire that was mostly Catholic, but their relationship seemed peaceful. Executed prisoners could choose between the Lutheran or Catholic final rites. The first half of the Thirty Years War occurred elsewhere, and by the time the war came to Nuremberg, Franz Schmidt was no longer living.
It so happens that many executions of witches were taking place throughout Europe during this era. Fortunately, Nuremberg was resistant to this particular craze. One incident recounted in this book was of a man who showed up in town spreading rumors of witchcraft. Nuremberg city official ended up executing the accuser for disruption of the peace. In another case the person making accusations was banned from the city.
Many of the crimes being punished were related to theft and robbery. For minor crimes it appears that the first sentence was stocks, whipping, or banishment (a.k.a forced to leave town). When faced with a case of multiple repeat offenses the city didn't have facilities for long term incarceration, so execution was about the only practical option available. Also, torture to force a confession seems to be the usual procedure used. Franz Schmidt did make some comments regarding cases of false accusations, but never questioned the technique of using torture to obtain confessions.
During his career he averaged about one execution per month, a torture session per week, and probably daily consultations on matters of health, healing, and wounds. His involvement with the healing arts may seem counter intuitive to people of today, but during his time he probably knew more about the human body than almost anybody else in the city. It is known from his journal that he sold cadavers to physicians for dissection and on several occasions performed the dissections himself. It was also part of the executioner's official responsibilities to mend and heal the effects of his torture prior to execution.
Frantz Schmidt's profession was deemed dishonorable in the class conscious society of the time. However, it was very important that he not be tainted by association with the criminal element of the time which left him somewhat isolated socially. Nevertheless, it was important for him that he be recognized for his competence and dependability in spite of this isolation. One way he broadcast his professional demeanor and separation from the riffraff was to refrain from alcohol.
In the late 1500s, a public executioner in Nuremberg, Germany, began keeping a journal. During his 45 years in the profession, he executed 394 people and tortured hundreds more. Historian Joel F. Harrington uses the diaries as a way to explore Frantz Schmidt's life, revealing aspects of his medical practice, his marriage, and his growing sense that his day job did not line up with his religious beliefs. This unusual biography is also a portrait of Europe in the period when it still had one foot in the Dark Ages.
THE FAITHFUL EXECUTIONER: LIFE AND DEATH, HONOR AND SHAME IN THE TURBULENT SIXTEENTH CENTURY, by Joel F. Harrington (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013)
The following is a link to an example of an executioner of that era with the job of killing of 88 people in one day. https://m.facebook.com/marginalmennon...
One of the reasons I was interested in this book was to see if perhaps Franz Schmidt may have executed one of my Anabaptist ancestors. As it turns out the word "Anabaptist" is not mentioned in the book. Most of the turmoil of the early Reformation years took place during the first half of the sixteenth century, and things had settled down by Franz Schmidt's time. Nuremberg was a Lutheran City within the Holy Roman Empire that was mostly Catholic, but their relationship seemed peaceful. Executed prisoners could choose between the Lutheran or Catholic final rites. The first half of the Thirty Years War occurred elsewhere, and by the time the war came to Nuremberg, Franz Schmidt was no longer living.
It so happens that many executions of witches were taking place throughout Europe during this era. Fortunately, Nuremberg was resistant to this particular craze. One incident recounted in this book was of a man who showed up in town spreading rumors of witchcraft. Nuremberg city official ended up executing the accuser for disruption of the peace. In another case the person making accusations was banned from the city.
Many of the crimes being punished were related to theft and robbery. For minor crimes it appears that the first sentence was stocks, whipping, or banishment (a.k.a forced to leave town). When faced with a case of multiple repeat offenses the city didn't have facilities for long term incarceration, so execution was about the only practical option available. Also, torture to force a confession seems to be the usual procedure used. Franz Schmidt did make some comments regarding cases of false accusations, but never questioned the technique of using torture to obtain confessions.
During his career he averaged about one execution per month, a torture session per week, and probably daily consultations on matters of health, healing, and wounds. His involvement with the healing arts may seem counter intuitive to people of today, but during his time he probably knew more about the human body than almost anybody else in the city. It is known from his journal that he sold cadavers to physicians for dissection and on several occasions performed the dissections himself. It was also part of the executioner's official responsibilities to mend and heal the effects of his torture prior to execution.
Frantz Schmidt's profession was deemed dishonorable in the class conscious society of the time. However, it was very important that he not be tainted by association with the criminal element of the time which left him somewhat isolated socially. Nevertheless, it was important for him that he be recognized for his competence and dependability in spite of this isolation. One way he broadcast his professional demeanor and separation from the riffraff was to refrain from alcohol.
Thus Frantz did not make any great social sacrifice when he came to what was a remarkable decision for a man of his era: never to drink wine, beer, or alcohol of any kind. It was a vow he apparently kept for the rest of his life and for which he eventually became widely known and admired. Frantz’s religious beliefs may have played a role in this choice, but complete abstention from alcohol was rare in the sixteenth century, even among the most godly men and women. Our modern inclination might be to speculate that he had suffered from the embarrassing behavior or drunken violence of someone close to him—perhaps even his own father. But whatever his religious or emotional reasons, Schmidt’s vow not to drink was also a carefully calculated career decision. Early modern Europeans considered it a given that the executioner would drink to excess—a stereo type with a great deal of truth behind it. Compelled to kill and torture their fellow human beings again and again, many in Frantz’s profession likely sought preexecution courage in a tankard or two of beer or oblivion after the fact in a large quantity of wine. By publicly refuting the legendary fondness of his fellow executioners for the bottle, Frantz found an extraordinary means of underscoring the sobriety, both literal and figurative, of the way he had chosen to live. This jujitsu maneuver cleverly took the disadvantage of his de facto social isolation and turned it into a virtue that distinguish him in the eyes of future employers and perhaps even society at large. The quiet journeyman who sat without companions—or drink—in a far corner of the tavern may have been lonely but he knew exactly what he was doing.I learned about this book from the following short review that was in the PageADay Book Lover's Calendar for 5/14/2015:
In the late 1500s, a public executioner in Nuremberg, Germany, began keeping a journal. During his 45 years in the profession, he executed 394 people and tortured hundreds more. Historian Joel F. Harrington uses the diaries as a way to explore Frantz Schmidt's life, revealing aspects of his medical practice, his marriage, and his growing sense that his day job did not line up with his religious beliefs. This unusual biography is also a portrait of Europe in the period when it still had one foot in the Dark Ages.
THE FAITHFUL EXECUTIONER: LIFE AND DEATH, HONOR AND SHAME IN THE TURBULENT SIXTEENTH CENTURY, by Joel F. Harrington (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013)
The following is a link to an example of an executioner of that era with the job of killing of 88 people in one day. https://m.facebook.com/marginalmennon...
June 4, 2024
Sometimes the best books are about people you never would have heard of otherwise. This is one of those books.
Frantz Schmidt was an executioner. The mantle was passed from his father who was plucked out of a crowd randomly one day. Officials needed to do that because no one wants to be an executioner. Besides the whole killing thing, it also brought shame to your family and you were shunned by the populace. So much for respecting civil servants.
Schmidt left a journal which gives Harrington amazing insight into his life and activities. It also talks about how Schmidt tried to have the stigma erased from his family line once he retired from executions. Turns out that is much harder than one would expect.
Want to know what else is hard? Killing people, apparently. I thoroughly enjoyed (in a macabre sense, obviously) how hard it is to execute people properly. Who knew?
A truly amazing look into the man of someone who was not famous but left a lot of his life written. This is a history book and may not be for general audiences, but history lovers will find it fantastic.
Frantz Schmidt was an executioner. The mantle was passed from his father who was plucked out of a crowd randomly one day. Officials needed to do that because no one wants to be an executioner. Besides the whole killing thing, it also brought shame to your family and you were shunned by the populace. So much for respecting civil servants.
Schmidt left a journal which gives Harrington amazing insight into his life and activities. It also talks about how Schmidt tried to have the stigma erased from his family line once he retired from executions. Turns out that is much harder than one would expect.
Want to know what else is hard? Killing people, apparently. I thoroughly enjoyed (in a macabre sense, obviously) how hard it is to execute people properly. Who knew?
A truly amazing look into the man of someone who was not famous but left a lot of his life written. This is a history book and may not be for general audiences, but history lovers will find it fantastic.
May 4, 2013
This is the fascinating story of Meister Frantz Schmidt (1555 - 1634) who was an executioner and torturer in Nuremberg and who kept a diary, which the author has fleshed out into an incredible biography of a man and a time which is little known. It was unusual to keep a diary in those times, but Schmidt kept a personal journal of the executions he carried out throughout his long career, from 1573 at the age of just nineteen, to his retirement in 1618.
One of the oddest, and saddest, things about Schmidt's life is that he became an executioner through a quirk of fate when his father, Heinrich, was called upon by a noble to act as executioner after he had arrested three locals for plotting against his life Up to that point, Heinrich had been a woodsman and fowler. After the hapless man was forced to kill he had no choice but to become an executioner. Since the Middle Ages, executioners were shunned and excluded by society and tended to bond together out of necessity. When this terrible social exclusion was forced upon him, Heinrich did the best he could and trained his son Frantz in his new profession - although both men had plans to try to escape the calling forced upon them.
It has to be said that Frantz did the best he could under the circumstances. His training began with using rhubarb stalks to practice on (apparently similar to the sinews in the neck - much of this book is gruesome, so this is not for the squemish), continuing with beheading stray dogs and helping his father in his work before, ahem, striking out on his own. During his long career, he personally killed three hundred and ninety four people, torturing countless others. For this was a time of violence, when the executioner had to administer justice for the community, both to avenge the victims and end the threat posed by dangerous criminals as well as setting an example of what could happen if crimes were committed.
Frantz, in fact, lived in "the golden age of the executioner", when it was decided to prosecute criminals more effectively and full time experts were needed in this reform of criminal justice. Professional executioners were seen as part of this reform. Although many of the crimes discussed in this book seem to be treated harshly, and the stories of torture are often troubling to read, there is also a great deal of compassion and good sense. Although this was a time when superstition was rife and women often accused of witchcraft, the area where Frantz worked seemed to have fairly enlightened views about such things. Often Frantz seems troubled by violence against children (thieves often chopped off babies hands, using them as candles and good luck charms) and also made disparaging comments about prisoners who refused to act in a solemn or repentent way at their executions. Although most prisoners seemed to try to make some kind of religious peace at the end of their life, some refused to cooperate (understandably) and other treated events with levity; one proclaiming that the priests words gave him, "a headache" and apparently dying with a smirk on his face. Other attempts to leave corpses on the gallows as a warning was not treated with the respect those in authority expected - one thief was stripped to his stockings, causing a surge of curious onlookers, including "cheeky females", which caused the executioner to be ordered to make him respectable again.
This is a really interesting read and the author has done a great job of taking a journal with little that is personal and recreating the life of Frantz Schmidt. We hear of his success, his tragedies, the sudden onset of plague in the community, the way crimes were viewed and dealt with and read, with interest, whether he ever managed to escape the fate thrust upon his family and find social acceptance. Highly recommended.
One of the oddest, and saddest, things about Schmidt's life is that he became an executioner through a quirk of fate when his father, Heinrich, was called upon by a noble to act as executioner after he had arrested three locals for plotting against his life Up to that point, Heinrich had been a woodsman and fowler. After the hapless man was forced to kill he had no choice but to become an executioner. Since the Middle Ages, executioners were shunned and excluded by society and tended to bond together out of necessity. When this terrible social exclusion was forced upon him, Heinrich did the best he could and trained his son Frantz in his new profession - although both men had plans to try to escape the calling forced upon them.
It has to be said that Frantz did the best he could under the circumstances. His training began with using rhubarb stalks to practice on (apparently similar to the sinews in the neck - much of this book is gruesome, so this is not for the squemish), continuing with beheading stray dogs and helping his father in his work before, ahem, striking out on his own. During his long career, he personally killed three hundred and ninety four people, torturing countless others. For this was a time of violence, when the executioner had to administer justice for the community, both to avenge the victims and end the threat posed by dangerous criminals as well as setting an example of what could happen if crimes were committed.
Frantz, in fact, lived in "the golden age of the executioner", when it was decided to prosecute criminals more effectively and full time experts were needed in this reform of criminal justice. Professional executioners were seen as part of this reform. Although many of the crimes discussed in this book seem to be treated harshly, and the stories of torture are often troubling to read, there is also a great deal of compassion and good sense. Although this was a time when superstition was rife and women often accused of witchcraft, the area where Frantz worked seemed to have fairly enlightened views about such things. Often Frantz seems troubled by violence against children (thieves often chopped off babies hands, using them as candles and good luck charms) and also made disparaging comments about prisoners who refused to act in a solemn or repentent way at their executions. Although most prisoners seemed to try to make some kind of religious peace at the end of their life, some refused to cooperate (understandably) and other treated events with levity; one proclaiming that the priests words gave him, "a headache" and apparently dying with a smirk on his face. Other attempts to leave corpses on the gallows as a warning was not treated with the respect those in authority expected - one thief was stripped to his stockings, causing a surge of curious onlookers, including "cheeky females", which caused the executioner to be ordered to make him respectable again.
This is a really interesting read and the author has done a great job of taking a journal with little that is personal and recreating the life of Frantz Schmidt. We hear of his success, his tragedies, the sudden onset of plague in the community, the way crimes were viewed and dealt with and read, with interest, whether he ever managed to escape the fate thrust upon his family and find social acceptance. Highly recommended.
January 26, 2013
This one is currently holding the title of best book I have read in 2013. It tells the story of a 16th century executioner, through the critical study of a journal he kept through-out the course of his career. Although it isn't a journal in our modern sense of the word, it nevertheless informs this utterly engrossing look at medieval society in 16th century Nuremburg. It's a real eye opener and refutes a lot of (non academic) preconceptions I think the majority of us have concerning the middle ages, capital punishment and the caricature of "the executioner" we all take for granted. Instead, Harrington presents a moving and intimate portrait of an individual tasked with the brutal job of meting out justice in the form of floggings, decapitations, breaking on the wheel, garoting and the like. This isn't a book for the sqeamish, but even during the worst descriptions of the crimes perpetrated, or the graphic executions that followed, you get a real sense of the humanity of all involved. This isn't a one dimensional rendering of an ogre in a black mask with an axe. Frantz Schmidt, our Faithful Executioner is presented in deservedly clear light.
March 21, 2015
The chief storyline of this book concerns Meister Frantz Schmidt's efforts to restore his family name. Schmidt's father, a respectable woodsman, had the misfortune to be standing around when a despised local noble required someone to dispatch some supposed would-be assassins, on the spot. The father was permanently tainted by this killing, leaving him and his son no choice but to become professional executioners. Frantz spends his entire (unusually long) life trying to revive his family's good name through careful strategy and unfailing probity and piousness. Reading this, you feel lucky to live in a modern society where you can't incur lifelong untouchability through the whim of a social superior. Frantz's carefulness and thoughtfulness also make him surprisingly sympathetic for a guy who personally killed nearly 400 people and tortured or maimed many more. No other livelihood was open to him, so he tried to be good at his unwanted profession.
I hadn't previously thought much about this, but early modern jurisdictions didn't imprison people for long periods of time; they simply jailed them until they were dealt with, by execution, flogging or some kind of punitive mutilation, or exile. Because the punishments were a one-time deal, they tended to be more extreme, with executions being handed down for property crimes or for repeated minor crimes, simply because that was the only way to permanently deal with a criminal. However, you don't walk away from this book thinking that we--by which I mean Americans--are much smarter than these early modern people in terms of devising punishments that are coherent or give the desired results. In fact, reading about how the city councilors get frustrated with recidivists and order the execution of teenagers, you're reminded how frequently teenagers get charged as adults in our society, just because someone thought them especially bad.
I read this book because I'm interested in 16th century Nuremberg, not because I'm interested in crime and punishment, and on that front the arrangement of the material is a little disappointing. Harrington follows the chronology of Schmidt's journal and the progress of his quest for social rehabilitation, which is quite interesting but perhaps does not warrant 250 pages. Meanwhile, you get glimpses of late 16th to early 17th century life throughout--ridiculous nicknames of career criminals, tiffs between master and servant, unruly teens, the fashion for "earth apples" (globes), recurrent outbreaks of plague, etc.--but these take a backseat to Schmidt's career. Harrington is so successful at bringing his narrow topic to life that I wish he'd highlighted and interpreted more of the details he encountered along the way.
As it is, this seems to occupy an uncomfortable middle ground between academic history (reflected by the author's meticulousness and contextualization) and popular history (reflected by its focus on one person's biography and inspiring personal story). I'd recommend it if you're interested in the period or in law and order.
I hadn't previously thought much about this, but early modern jurisdictions didn't imprison people for long periods of time; they simply jailed them until they were dealt with, by execution, flogging or some kind of punitive mutilation, or exile. Because the punishments were a one-time deal, they tended to be more extreme, with executions being handed down for property crimes or for repeated minor crimes, simply because that was the only way to permanently deal with a criminal. However, you don't walk away from this book thinking that we--by which I mean Americans--are much smarter than these early modern people in terms of devising punishments that are coherent or give the desired results. In fact, reading about how the city councilors get frustrated with recidivists and order the execution of teenagers, you're reminded how frequently teenagers get charged as adults in our society, just because someone thought them especially bad.
I read this book because I'm interested in 16th century Nuremberg, not because I'm interested in crime and punishment, and on that front the arrangement of the material is a little disappointing. Harrington follows the chronology of Schmidt's journal and the progress of his quest for social rehabilitation, which is quite interesting but perhaps does not warrant 250 pages. Meanwhile, you get glimpses of late 16th to early 17th century life throughout--ridiculous nicknames of career criminals, tiffs between master and servant, unruly teens, the fashion for "earth apples" (globes), recurrent outbreaks of plague, etc.--but these take a backseat to Schmidt's career. Harrington is so successful at bringing his narrow topic to life that I wish he'd highlighted and interpreted more of the details he encountered along the way.
As it is, this seems to occupy an uncomfortable middle ground between academic history (reflected by the author's meticulousness and contextualization) and popular history (reflected by its focus on one person's biography and inspiring personal story). I'd recommend it if you're interested in the period or in law and order.
January 28, 2021
Книга отличная, дает представление о незнакомых сторонах средневековой жизни. Я не осознавала, насколько низким было положение палачей в средневековом обществе: жизнь за чертой города, невозможность крестить детей в церкви, сам палач в церкви мог стоять в строго отведенном месте,, он отвечал за "нечистые" сферы городской жизни - бордели, отхожие места, живодерни и т.п. Палач не мог жениться на дочери "честных" граждан, не мог в таверне не мог есть и пить вместе со всеми.
Герой книги, Франц Шмидт - человек, очевидно, выдающийся который не только оставил бесценный дневник, но и смог стать уважаемым гражданином Нюренберга. В книге показан очень реальный, живой портрет этого незаурядного человека. Он на практике отлично изучил психологию, хорошо разбирается в людях, но искренне считает, что знать по праву занимает привилегированное положение. Он, как и его современники, считает, что казнь раскаявшегося преступника - акт милосердия, что он - не просто машина для пыток и убийств. Интересно, что в дневнике Мастера Шмидта слово "милосердие" встречается 93 раза, при этом слово "Бог" - 16 раз, "справедливость" - 2 раза и слово "закон" вообще не употребляется. Он, очевидно, искренне верующий и скромный человек, который с достоинством переносит все невзгоды и невероятно сложную жизнь, верит в справедливость и, почти перед смертью, добивается ее для своей семьи.
Мое воображение поразило разнообразие казней и пыток, а также то, что палач отвечал за физическое состояние преступника и должен был оказывать ему медицинскую помощь, чтобы тот смог пройти через процедуру наказания.
На мой взгляд, для тех, кто интересуется историей, эта книга - практически must read.
Герой книги, Франц Шмидт - человек, очевидно, выдающийся который не только оставил бесценный дневник, но и смог стать уважаемым гражданином Нюренберга. В книге показан очень реальный, живой портрет этого незаурядного человека. Он на практике отлично изучил психологию, хорошо разбирается в людях, но искренне считает, что знать по праву занимает привилегированное положение. Он, как и его современники, считает, что казнь раскаявшегося преступника - акт милосердия, что он - не просто машина для пыток и убийств. Интересно, что в дневнике Мастера Шмидта слово "милосердие" встречается 93 раза, при этом слово "Бог" - 16 раз, "справедливость" - 2 раза и слово "закон" вообще не употребляется. Он, очевидно, искренне верующий и скромный человек, который с достоинством переносит все невзгоды и невероятно сложную жизнь, верит в справедливость и, почти перед смертью, добивается ее для своей семьи.
Мое воображение поразило разнообразие казней и пыток, а также то, что палач отвечал за физическое состояние преступника и должен был оказывать ему медицинскую помощь, чтобы тот смог пройти через процедуру наказания.
На мой взгляд, для тех, кто интересуется историей, эта книга - практически must read.
July 7, 2019
През 1573 г. главният екзекутор в Нюрнберг започва да си води дневник на присъдите, които е изпълнил, и продължава да го прави през цялата си кариера - в продължение на 40 години той екзекутира около 400 осъдени престъпници, а бичуванията, жигосванията и др. по-леки наказания които изпълнява са тройно повече.
Периодът на ранния Ренесанс в Европа е изключително интересен, защото тогава се полагат много от идейните и политически основи на сегашната ни цивилизация, а Нюрнберг, като един от главните градове в Свещената римска империя (както тогава се нарича, грубо казано, сегашна Германия) е в неговия център. Така е и в правната и наказателната система - Свещената римска империя въвежда своя първи криминален кодекс, т.н. Carolina и съдиите и/или общинските съветници в различните полу-независими градски общини в империята започват да прилагат своята интерпретация на текстовете в него.
Наказанията, предвидени в Каролина-та, които въпросният екзекутор Франц Шмит изпълнява, включват различни видове мъчения и начини на умъртвяване, вкл. и указания за разпити чрез мъчения, но в нея, в бележките на самия Франц и в становищата на общинския съвет на Нюрнберг (който издава присъдите) ясно могат да се видят вече оформени основите на континенталното право, лежащо не на субективизъм, обичаи, отмъщение и линчуване, както през голяма част от Средновековието, а вече на законови процедури, старание за обективност, провеждане на законово разследване и дори хуманност и състрадание към осъдения.
Авторът се справя прекрасно с интерпретирането на бележките на екзекутора Шмит, но далеч не спира до там - той използва множество източници от периода, вкл. бележките на други екзекутори, съдебните и общински архиви на Нюрнберг от тогава и много други, за да нарисува реалистична картина както на живота на Франц Шмит, така и на самото общество, на правната и морална системав ранна ренесансова Европа и ни позволява наистина да си представим какво е да живееш тогава.
Периодът на ранния Ренесанс в Европа е изключително интересен, защото тогава се полагат много от идейните и политически основи на сегашната ни цивилизация, а Нюрнберг, като един от главните градове в Свещената римска империя (както тогава се нарича, грубо казано, сегашна Германия) е в неговия център. Така е и в правната и наказателната система - Свещената римска империя въвежда своя първи криминален кодекс, т.н. Carolina и съдиите и/или общинските съветници в различните полу-независими градски общини в империята започват да прилагат своята интерпретация на текстовете в него.
Наказанията, предвидени в Каролина-та, които въпросният екзекутор Франц Шмит изпълнява, включват различни видове мъчения и начини на умъртвяване, вкл. и указания за разпити чрез мъчения, но в нея, в бележките на самия Франц и в становищата на общинския съвет на Нюрнберг (който издава присъдите) ясно могат да се видят вече оформени основите на континенталното право, лежащо не на субективизъм, обичаи, отмъщение и линчуване, както през голяма част от Средновековието, а вече на законови процедури, старание за обективност, провеждане на законово разследване и дори хуманност и състрадание към осъдения.
Авторът се справя прекрасно с интерпретирането на бележките на екзекутора Шмит, но далеч не спира до там - той използва множество източници от периода, вкл. бележките на други екзекутори, съдебните и общински архиви на Нюрнберг от тогава и много други, за да нарисува реалистична картина както на живота на Франц Шмит, така и на самото общество, на правната и морална системав ранна ренесансова Европа и ни позволява наистина да си представим какво е да живееш тогава.
May 28, 2018
This book is based chiefly on the diary of Nuremberg executioner Frantz Schmidt, who worked in this capacity for the city from 1588 to 1617. It also uses other contemporary sources to depict not only a life of the protagonist, but the picture of late medieval Europe.
While there are some gruesome details of the trade, they aren’t the point. The executioner himself says almost nothing about the executions and nothing at all about tortures, which he had to perform.
There are several works of fiction that attempt to look in the executioner’s mind, to show either his cruelty, or more often his dignity in performing the necessary albeit unpleasant job. Not in this case: Frantz disliked the job, or more precisely the low status associated with it: hangmen had to live outside the city, they weren’t allowed to enter a church, could be stoned to death by a mob, etc. He became the executioner because his father was pressed into the job and all other trades were closed for him. Therefore, his lifetime goal was to save his children from the similar fate.
One of the more surprising discoveries (for me) was that he also worked as a healer, which makes sense if you this about it – the knowledge of anatomy and healing external wounds are essential for a torturer. The number of his patients was around 15000, which it much more than 394 persons he executed.
A great window into the late medieval Europe.
While there are some gruesome details of the trade, they aren’t the point. The executioner himself says almost nothing about the executions and nothing at all about tortures, which he had to perform.
There are several works of fiction that attempt to look in the executioner’s mind, to show either his cruelty, or more often his dignity in performing the necessary albeit unpleasant job. Not in this case: Frantz disliked the job, or more precisely the low status associated with it: hangmen had to live outside the city, they weren’t allowed to enter a church, could be stoned to death by a mob, etc. He became the executioner because his father was pressed into the job and all other trades were closed for him. Therefore, his lifetime goal was to save his children from the similar fate.
One of the more surprising discoveries (for me) was that he also worked as a healer, which makes sense if you this about it – the knowledge of anatomy and healing external wounds are essential for a torturer. The number of his patients was around 15000, which it much more than 394 persons he executed.
A great window into the late medieval Europe.
August 1, 2020
I often find myself with the general feeling of bewilderment as to how effectively our collective adoration for pop-culture, but also our limitless imagination has the ability to not only shape, alter, modify and even distort the way we see history, the way we understand it. Romanticizing history is one of the most common literary tropes regarding both historical fiction written about the executioner as a symbol of justice, and pictures depicting them:
A mysterious, vicious brute; leather-clad and adorning a hood; wielding an ax and enjoying torture -a true embodiment of terror. The executioner!
This image was for a very long time the personification of the man who swung the sword of justice, who reveled in the thought of torture and torment, who was a social outcast and a person irredeemable of their sins. In short, an extremely simplistic understanding which was strongly influenced by the lens through which the 18th and especially the 19th century writers and painters viewed this misunderstood figure. The first thing that Joel F. Harrington clarifies about the executioner - the hooded-figure is simply a work of fiction, in the same stylistic sense as vikings, à la their horned helmets.
And from there on, we get to know one of the most fascinating executioners to have ever lived. The story of Franz Schmidt, or as he was colloquially known among contemporaries - Meister Franz.
This book is largely based on a diary that Schmidt began to write at a young age, which details the nearly 400 cases of executions performed by the Meister, but also numerous accounts of torture performed by him. This includes descriptions of the devices used to force a confession out of a wrongdoer, the crimes that were most often committed (reaching from basic robbery to truly heinous acts such as infanticide) and their corresponding punishments (hanging, burning, drawing-and-quartering) and, weirdly enough, quite a lot of philosophical insight into how Schmidt understood his role in all of this.
The stigma surrounding an executioner is well highlighted in this book, as it was considered to be an extremely low and degrading job that immediately left a negative mark on a person performing this job and, in a sense, cast them outside of society. Harrington describes this as almost a paradox, a double-standard, since the executioner was a servant of the state who carried out a state-sanctioned capital punishment on criminals who were sentenced to death by the law in court. They were shunned, along with their families, since they had no chance of climbing the ladder of hierarchy, and their sons of were often condemned to carry on the mantel of this unpopular profession.
Harrington offers quite a lot of insight into Schmidt's understanding of his position in society and his role as the executioner through a meticulous analysis of his diary. He was a very and disciplined man who through self-determination and very careful planning eventually became the executioner at Nuremberg - something he is quite proud of, and rightfully so. Despite this, it is visible that Schmidt is bitter about the plight of this job, and the general ostracization he was subjected to. For example, they weren't allowed to go into a church or a local bar, schools refused to take their children in, and simply interacting with an executioner in the public was highly frowned upon. If anything, the executioner should be remembered in history as a very misunderstood figure, as the following will argue.
His diary also contained a lot of information that has been glossed over in the attempts to create the popular caricature of the blood-thirsty savage, as Schmidt was a very moral man. He was visibly disgusted when highly privileged people ruined their own life via petty crimes (robbery, murder etc), but also frowned at the sight of violence against women, children, elderly, the disabled etc. While Harrington notes that some of Schmidt's writing was quite laconic, there were cases where the he spoke his mind freely, and one can only imagine how cathartic this medium might have been for Schmidt.
However, the greatest revelation of this book was not the fact that Schmidt could read, write and think critically about the society he lived in, but rather his profession in medicine. I felt a certain notion of sadness when I read how much experience he had in healing people, how much knowledge he had about how the human body works when he finally retired from his job. The fact that he had given medical help to around 15 000 people (which is almost 40 times the amount of people he executed) is staggering, and the fact that executioners had such in-depth knowledge in this profession was truly a revelation for me. To think how different his life could have been as a practitioner of medicine...
The book ends on a bittersweet note. Schmidt finally musters up the courage to write to Ferdinand II, the Holy Roman Emperor, demanding freedom for his family from the stain that has plagued him his entire life, and is awarded the honor of becoming free from this plight. Sadly, this is also during the early 17th century, when the Thirty Years War rages in Europe, a time of violence that causes the outbreak of a plague, which kills the great Meister Franz Schmidt.
The fact that his casket was carried by several of the townsfolk proves that he was finally free of the the mantel. His father would have been proud. Hell, he probably was.
A mysterious, vicious brute; leather-clad and adorning a hood; wielding an ax and enjoying torture -a true embodiment of terror. The executioner!
This image was for a very long time the personification of the man who swung the sword of justice, who reveled in the thought of torture and torment, who was a social outcast and a person irredeemable of their sins. In short, an extremely simplistic understanding which was strongly influenced by the lens through which the 18th and especially the 19th century writers and painters viewed this misunderstood figure. The first thing that Joel F. Harrington clarifies about the executioner - the hooded-figure is simply a work of fiction, in the same stylistic sense as vikings, à la their horned helmets.
And from there on, we get to know one of the most fascinating executioners to have ever lived. The story of Franz Schmidt, or as he was colloquially known among contemporaries - Meister Franz.
This book is largely based on a diary that Schmidt began to write at a young age, which details the nearly 400 cases of executions performed by the Meister, but also numerous accounts of torture performed by him. This includes descriptions of the devices used to force a confession out of a wrongdoer, the crimes that were most often committed (reaching from basic robbery to truly heinous acts such as infanticide) and their corresponding punishments (hanging, burning, drawing-and-quartering) and, weirdly enough, quite a lot of philosophical insight into how Schmidt understood his role in all of this.
The stigma surrounding an executioner is well highlighted in this book, as it was considered to be an extremely low and degrading job that immediately left a negative mark on a person performing this job and, in a sense, cast them outside of society. Harrington describes this as almost a paradox, a double-standard, since the executioner was a servant of the state who carried out a state-sanctioned capital punishment on criminals who were sentenced to death by the law in court. They were shunned, along with their families, since they had no chance of climbing the ladder of hierarchy, and their sons of were often condemned to carry on the mantel of this unpopular profession.
Harrington offers quite a lot of insight into Schmidt's understanding of his position in society and his role as the executioner through a meticulous analysis of his diary. He was a very and disciplined man who through self-determination and very careful planning eventually became the executioner at Nuremberg - something he is quite proud of, and rightfully so. Despite this, it is visible that Schmidt is bitter about the plight of this job, and the general ostracization he was subjected to. For example, they weren't allowed to go into a church or a local bar, schools refused to take their children in, and simply interacting with an executioner in the public was highly frowned upon. If anything, the executioner should be remembered in history as a very misunderstood figure, as the following will argue.
His diary also contained a lot of information that has been glossed over in the attempts to create the popular caricature of the blood-thirsty savage, as Schmidt was a very moral man. He was visibly disgusted when highly privileged people ruined their own life via petty crimes (robbery, murder etc), but also frowned at the sight of violence against women, children, elderly, the disabled etc. While Harrington notes that some of Schmidt's writing was quite laconic, there were cases where the he spoke his mind freely, and one can only imagine how cathartic this medium might have been for Schmidt.
However, the greatest revelation of this book was not the fact that Schmidt could read, write and think critically about the society he lived in, but rather his profession in medicine. I felt a certain notion of sadness when I read how much experience he had in healing people, how much knowledge he had about how the human body works when he finally retired from his job. The fact that he had given medical help to around 15 000 people (which is almost 40 times the amount of people he executed) is staggering, and the fact that executioners had such in-depth knowledge in this profession was truly a revelation for me. To think how different his life could have been as a practitioner of medicine...
The book ends on a bittersweet note. Schmidt finally musters up the courage to write to Ferdinand II, the Holy Roman Emperor, demanding freedom for his family from the stain that has plagued him his entire life, and is awarded the honor of becoming free from this plight. Sadly, this is also during the early 17th century, when the Thirty Years War rages in Europe, a time of violence that causes the outbreak of a plague, which kills the great Meister Franz Schmidt.
The fact that his casket was carried by several of the townsfolk proves that he was finally free of the the mantel. His father would have been proud. Hell, he probably was.
Read
April 24, 2021Мне тоже нужна полка «дочитаю как-нибудь». Неплохая вроде книжка, но отложила — и никак вернуться не могу.
November 7, 2019
Well this book was incredibly interesting and had some fascinating historical tales to tell in it, the author is constantly repeating himself and it felt like every chapter was repetitive and copied & pasted. It would’ve been nice to hear more from the journal itself than just the authors thoughts on or exact definitions of each execution. Every chapter seem to describe and re-describe every form of torture and execution where I didn’t feel like we really got to know the real style or details of the man himself.
Read
March 8, 2022Brilliantly readable account of the life of executioner, Franz Schmidt. A real window into the life of a man who battled the odds to improve the status and life chances of himself and his family in a role many despised. Whilst there are many grisly details in terms of the tortures and punishments he meted out, Franz still appears as humane and conscientious, someone to be respected rather than feared or looked down upon. An enjoyable narrative and a great glimpse of history through the eyes of a forgotten man.
January 26, 2016
Excellent book. For the most part, he presents a fair narrative without imposing modern ideas of morality. He places a lot of the practices of the day in a context that creates sympathy rather than disgust.
April 22, 2025
I had very high hopes for this book, and while it delivered in many ways on them, I do think it missed the mark in one key area.
First the highs..
This was an exceptional look at the life and legacy of Frantz Schmidt. His quest for the redemption of his and his family's honor is an amazing tale of perseverance in the face of so many difficulties levied against him. Meister Frantz story is a sympathetic one, and watching him evolve from apprentice to master is fascinating. Backing his tale is a wellspring of historical context about execution/executioners, the evolving legal/justice system, changing notions of honor in the late medieval/early modern period, medical technology at the time, with a fantastic focus on lived experience of many of the characters within. This book does an excellent job of humanizing people from the 15th century, explaining their lives and the choices available to them, and working to make their worldview understandable to ourselves. Certainly it dispels the stereotype of the evil "hooded executioner" and the notion that medieval justice was more malicious and violent than ours today.
However I have some concerns with Harrington's reading into Meister Frantz' journal itself. Frequently throughout the book we get passages from the journal directly, which is wonderful, but the emotions that Harrington ascribes to their author at times seems very subjective, or uncorroborated by the text itself. Often Harrington mentions that Frantz was visibly "appalled" "disgusted" "took pleasure in" "hit a nerve" when referencing various crimes and their judgements, but for the most part, I simply don't see it. I even went back to read some of the passages from Schmidt's original journal to see if some context was missing. Schmidt's writing is dry certainly, and I admire Harrington's efforts to wring meaning out of it, but from the surface, I didn't make always make the connections. Of course Harrington's reading of the original text is endowed with more context than mine, but making judgements about Frantz feelings about certain crimes as they compare to others...felt a bit of a stretch. Perhaps it's the very noting of specifics and their severity that lends some emotion to the material (you've got simple 3 word entries like "a thief, hanged" directly next to lengthy stories about gruesome crimes) implies Schmidt's feelings about them, but I personally gleaned more about the general severity and POV of the crimes from the historical context and judgements by the magisters themselves than Frantz's writing. That's not to say Frantz's writing wasn't interesting - I think I just wanted more of it directly, and less speculating about its meaning. His letter to the King at the end is also very illuminating.
All that being said, I did enjoy this book quite a bit, and it was fascinating to learn about this time period. Microhistories like this are a new genre to me, and it provided an extremely unique and details look into the world of 16th century Nuremburg.
First the highs..
This was an exceptional look at the life and legacy of Frantz Schmidt. His quest for the redemption of his and his family's honor is an amazing tale of perseverance in the face of so many difficulties levied against him. Meister Frantz story is a sympathetic one, and watching him evolve from apprentice to master is fascinating. Backing his tale is a wellspring of historical context about execution/executioners, the evolving legal/justice system, changing notions of honor in the late medieval/early modern period, medical technology at the time, with a fantastic focus on lived experience of many of the characters within. This book does an excellent job of humanizing people from the 15th century, explaining their lives and the choices available to them, and working to make their worldview understandable to ourselves. Certainly it dispels the stereotype of the evil "hooded executioner" and the notion that medieval justice was more malicious and violent than ours today.
However I have some concerns with Harrington's reading into Meister Frantz' journal itself. Frequently throughout the book we get passages from the journal directly, which is wonderful, but the emotions that Harrington ascribes to their author at times seems very subjective, or uncorroborated by the text itself. Often Harrington mentions that Frantz was visibly "appalled" "disgusted" "took pleasure in" "hit a nerve" when referencing various crimes and their judgements, but for the most part, I simply don't see it. I even went back to read some of the passages from Schmidt's original journal to see if some context was missing. Schmidt's writing is dry certainly, and I admire Harrington's efforts to wring meaning out of it, but from the surface, I didn't make always make the connections. Of course Harrington's reading of the original text is endowed with more context than mine, but making judgements about Frantz feelings about certain crimes as they compare to others...felt a bit of a stretch. Perhaps it's the very noting of specifics and their severity that lends some emotion to the material (you've got simple 3 word entries like "a thief, hanged" directly next to lengthy stories about gruesome crimes) implies Schmidt's feelings about them, but I personally gleaned more about the general severity and POV of the crimes from the historical context and judgements by the magisters themselves than Frantz's writing. That's not to say Frantz's writing wasn't interesting - I think I just wanted more of it directly, and less speculating about its meaning. His letter to the King at the end is also very illuminating.
All that being said, I did enjoy this book quite a bit, and it was fascinating to learn about this time period. Microhistories like this are a new genre to me, and it provided an extremely unique and details look into the world of 16th century Nuremburg.
January 16, 2024
The Faithful Executioner by Joel F. Harrington is a fascinating biography looking at the life of Meister Frantz Schmidt, a 16th century executioner and torturer in the district of Nuremberg. During his early days in the job, Frantz kept a record of his executions, seemingly as a form of CV intended to facilitate his advancement. He kept writing after obtaining a salaried position, resulting in a comprehensive first-hand account of one man's career in one of the 16th century's most reviled professions. Harrington blends Frantz's writings with other contemporary accounts to create not only a truly unique biography, but also an insightful commentary on 16th century criminal justice through the lens of the man tasked with carrying it out.
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Frantz's role as executioner was not one that he sought himself, but when his father was called upon to act as executioner, this gave the Schmidt family a social status that excluded them from respectable society and left a hereditary mark on the young Frantz's name. Having learned the trade from his father, Frantz went on to spend 45 years in the capacity of executioner, carrying out countless interrogations and 394 executions, all while maintaining an enthusiasm for medicine (which he appeared to consider his true vocation) and a preoccupation with returning honour to his family name. Indeed, Frantz not only worked as an executioner but had a profitable side-hustle as a healer, even healing some of his victims so that they were robust enough to withstand the events leading up to their eventual execution.
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I'm always slightly sceptical of imposing modern day morality onto figures of the past, but Harrington presents a compelling case for how Frantz might have viewed his role and justified the unpleasant deeds he was mandated to carry out. The inclusion of other remaining details about Frantz, such as those pertaining to his wonderfully petty spat with his successor, build an impressively rounded picture of the human being shouldering the executioner role.
📚
Quite apart from the interesting life of Frantz himself, this was a really fascinating read. My morbid curiosity particularly enjoyed the latter chapters and the light they shed on 16th century beliefs. I had no idea, for example, that epileptics believed blood might provide a cure and would therefore approach the gallows looking to drink blood from the deceased. Similarly, I had never heard of fingers from the hands of deceased babies being used as candles for theives.
📚
If you're thinking of picking it up, please be aware that The Faithful Executioner contains details not just of torture and death, but also of the various crimes that lead to that point. That said if you're a little bit morbid and don't mind your history on the darker side, definitely give this one a read - it's one of the best and most unusual historical biographies I've read, and I don't say that lightly.
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Frantz's role as executioner was not one that he sought himself, but when his father was called upon to act as executioner, this gave the Schmidt family a social status that excluded them from respectable society and left a hereditary mark on the young Frantz's name. Having learned the trade from his father, Frantz went on to spend 45 years in the capacity of executioner, carrying out countless interrogations and 394 executions, all while maintaining an enthusiasm for medicine (which he appeared to consider his true vocation) and a preoccupation with returning honour to his family name. Indeed, Frantz not only worked as an executioner but had a profitable side-hustle as a healer, even healing some of his victims so that they were robust enough to withstand the events leading up to their eventual execution.
📚
I'm always slightly sceptical of imposing modern day morality onto figures of the past, but Harrington presents a compelling case for how Frantz might have viewed his role and justified the unpleasant deeds he was mandated to carry out. The inclusion of other remaining details about Frantz, such as those pertaining to his wonderfully petty spat with his successor, build an impressively rounded picture of the human being shouldering the executioner role.
📚
Quite apart from the interesting life of Frantz himself, this was a really fascinating read. My morbid curiosity particularly enjoyed the latter chapters and the light they shed on 16th century beliefs. I had no idea, for example, that epileptics believed blood might provide a cure and would therefore approach the gallows looking to drink blood from the deceased. Similarly, I had never heard of fingers from the hands of deceased babies being used as candles for theives.
📚
If you're thinking of picking it up, please be aware that The Faithful Executioner contains details not just of torture and death, but also of the various crimes that lead to that point. That said if you're a little bit morbid and don't mind your history on the darker side, definitely give this one a read - it's one of the best and most unusual historical biographies I've read, and I don't say that lightly.
📚
April 9, 2024
Very interesting reflection on life and morality that considers heavily the time period in which the Executioner was in.
April 7, 2025
High 3⭐️
I don’t usually rate history books because I don’t have much to compare them against, but this felt more like a character study that just happens to be non-fiction.
Overall:
Fascinating. Between this and Agrippina I think these super-focused histories might be my jam.
Pros:
“A boy forced by society to be an executioner (despite his passion for healing) and his subsequent quest to live an honorable life in order to provide his children with opportunities that he was robbed of” would be a killer DnD backstory.
It’s crazy how much character Harrington is able to pull from journals and city records from 400+ years ago. It feels weird to gush about how human this literally real man seems, but it’s also hard to overstate it.
Cons:
It dragged at times and some of the accounts were a little repetitive, but that also helps establish Frantz’s character and shows that they weren’t just fleeting thoughts.
I don’t usually rate history books because I don’t have much to compare them against, but this felt more like a character study that just happens to be non-fiction.
Overall:
Fascinating. Between this and Agrippina I think these super-focused histories might be my jam.
Pros:
“A boy forced by society to be an executioner (despite his passion for healing) and his subsequent quest to live an honorable life in order to provide his children with opportunities that he was robbed of” would be a killer DnD backstory.
It’s crazy how much character Harrington is able to pull from journals and city records from 400+ years ago. It feels weird to gush about how human this literally real man seems, but it’s also hard to overstate it.
Cons:
It dragged at times and some of the accounts were a little repetitive, but that also helps establish Frantz’s character and shows that they weren’t just fleeting thoughts.
February 1, 2014
Although not recommended for the faint of heart, this book gives much more than graphic and gruesome accounts of 16th century German crime and criminal justice--the latter with sanctioned torture to elicit confessions, burning "witches" alive, and other forms of painful punishment and death. (Underscoring how painful and frightening were some execution methods, are accounts of prisoners throwing themselves down before the court and kissing the judges' hands in gratitude for commuting their sentence to mere beheading.) Historian Joel Harrington mines the journal of Nuremberg executioner Frantz Schmidt and other contemporary sources to paint a convincing portrait of the social class restraints, religious imperatives, superstitions, political realities, epidemics, and medical practices of a distant time and place--though in some ways revealing how little we have changed.
May 31, 2022
One might think a book detailing the life and career of a late 16th century executioner in Nuremberg would be a macabre affair, but it really is nothing of the sort. Instead, you are presented with a rather interesting and unexpected portrait of government sanctioned (and employed) guildsman, who simultaneously was forced into the profession, and then shunned by the society that made them do their dirty work. Forget the ominous black hooded figure. Instead picture a rather dandified artisan plying his trade. I would say some of the most unexpected revelations from this book include that the executioner was not only responsible for executions, but also corporeal punishments and torture, as well as healing their victims of external wounds. Well researched, expertly written, and an intriguing look into a segment of society so often misrepresented and misunderstood.
June 12, 2023
I love a good microhistory. This is just a fantastic story with an autobiography and great personal detail and a fantastic “so what” about the ways we have viewed the early modern or medieval punishment systems.
January 30, 2024
"It was not the executioner's sword that he would pass on... but the physician's scalpel."
First picking up this book out of little more than morbid curiosity, I was surprised to find myself not only compelled by Meister Frantz's forced career choice, but taken with him as a person. Or at least, the person that Harrington paints him to be. Though I found his assumptions to be sometimes forced, Harrington always backs up the personality of the titular executioner with journal entries and outside information that creates for the reader a fully realized character to follow and root for: complete with flaws, strengths, and an arc that follows his life-long quest for redemption.
I was especially intrigued by the juxtaposition between inflicting torture and enacting corporal punishment, and healing. It seems incredibly poetic that Schmidt’s real passion was medicine, and I found myself cheering, I imagine, along with a man that died 391 years ago when I read he retired from executions, focused on his medical practice, and eventually restored his reputation. Let's go Frantz!!!
Though densely historical and academic at times, Harrington uses these literary elements to create an engaging portrait of one man's life, while adding necessary context for the cultural ideas and norms surrounding execution. This, he presents with sympathy and an argument that forced me to relook how, in our modern age, I view the arguably-not-so-archaic act of public tortures and executions (especially as a Foucault fan).
These are the book's strongest aspects, to the point where I found myself bored by the actual details of Meister Frantz' executions, the very thing that had drawn me to its pages in the first place. There were 30-or-so pages at the 3/4 mark that felt slow to me, though the story was bookended by a strong beginning and end. In saying that, many of the italicized passages are worth reading out loud to an audience, purely for the outlandish, sometimes hilarious, sometimes stomach-churning crimes committed nearly 400 years ago. (Free my man Gabriel Wolff he did nothing wrong.)
In the end, it seems that Harrington accomplished exactly what Schmidt was striving for his whole life: to make me care about the man more than I care about his profession. I like to think Schmidt would appreciate that.
I just wish I could go back in time and show him that tweet that’s like, “I don’t think you should be arrested if your crimes are objectively funny,” so that I could get his take on it. And also show the man a few episodes of House MD I bet he’d love House.
First picking up this book out of little more than morbid curiosity, I was surprised to find myself not only compelled by Meister Frantz's forced career choice, but taken with him as a person. Or at least, the person that Harrington paints him to be. Though I found his assumptions to be sometimes forced, Harrington always backs up the personality of the titular executioner with journal entries and outside information that creates for the reader a fully realized character to follow and root for: complete with flaws, strengths, and an arc that follows his life-long quest for redemption.
I was especially intrigued by the juxtaposition between inflicting torture and enacting corporal punishment, and healing. It seems incredibly poetic that Schmidt’s real passion was medicine, and I found myself cheering, I imagine, along with a man that died 391 years ago when I read he retired from executions, focused on his medical practice, and eventually restored his reputation. Let's go Frantz!!!
Though densely historical and academic at times, Harrington uses these literary elements to create an engaging portrait of one man's life, while adding necessary context for the cultural ideas and norms surrounding execution. This, he presents with sympathy and an argument that forced me to relook how, in our modern age, I view the arguably-not-so-archaic act of public tortures and executions (especially as a Foucault fan).
These are the book's strongest aspects, to the point where I found myself bored by the actual details of Meister Frantz' executions, the very thing that had drawn me to its pages in the first place. There were 30-or-so pages at the 3/4 mark that felt slow to me, though the story was bookended by a strong beginning and end. In saying that, many of the italicized passages are worth reading out loud to an audience, purely for the outlandish, sometimes hilarious, sometimes stomach-churning crimes committed nearly 400 years ago. (Free my man Gabriel Wolff he did nothing wrong.)
In the end, it seems that Harrington accomplished exactly what Schmidt was striving for his whole life: to make me care about the man more than I care about his profession. I like to think Schmidt would appreciate that.
I just wish I could go back in time and show him that tweet that’s like, “I don’t think you should be arrested if your crimes are objectively funny,” so that I could get his take on it. And also show the man a few episodes of House MD I bet he’d love House.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 3, 2025
The biography of 16th-century Nuremberg executioner and diarist Master Frantz Schmidt—who rose from being an untouchable to a citizen whose honor was restored by the Emperor—might be the most fascinating concept for a history book I've ever encountered.
Harrington demonstrates that executioners were not dispassionate instruments of state violence but independent city officials who also acted as doctors and prosecutors. He expertly balances giving Schmidt's victims, ranging from serial killers to poor thieves, a voice, while building up the hangman as a complex character.
Schmidt's hatred of ambushes and home invasions as well as his obsession with acts of adultery and infanticide are reconstructed as a code of honor developed over decades of enforcing laws he never had any influence drafting.
Harrington also explores his maturity as a writer who learns to tell himself stories about those he kills, sometimes to justify the execution, while other times to wish God will have mercy on their souls.
To add a more authentic early modern voice, the text is peppered with causal drawings of the executions by court officials and chroniclers.
While executions may no longer be public rituals, the other similarities (last rites and meals) are reminders that we still use similar methods to make ourselves feel better about state-sanctioned murder.
Master Frantz Schmidt's life highlights how society treats necessary evils and reclaims the so-called dark ages from modern condensation and disgust.
Harrington demonstrates that executioners were not dispassionate instruments of state violence but independent city officials who also acted as doctors and prosecutors. He expertly balances giving Schmidt's victims, ranging from serial killers to poor thieves, a voice, while building up the hangman as a complex character.
Schmidt's hatred of ambushes and home invasions as well as his obsession with acts of adultery and infanticide are reconstructed as a code of honor developed over decades of enforcing laws he never had any influence drafting.
Harrington also explores his maturity as a writer who learns to tell himself stories about those he kills, sometimes to justify the execution, while other times to wish God will have mercy on their souls.
To add a more authentic early modern voice, the text is peppered with causal drawings of the executions by court officials and chroniclers.
While executions may no longer be public rituals, the other similarities (last rites and meals) are reminders that we still use similar methods to make ourselves feel better about state-sanctioned murder.
Master Frantz Schmidt's life highlights how society treats necessary evils and reclaims the so-called dark ages from modern condensation and disgust.
March 16, 2018
Având la bază jurnalul călăului Frantz Schmidt, întregul volum este o frescă a Nurnberg-ului sec. al XVI-lea. “Călăul credincios” este un valoros document istoric, care ne oferă informaţii de o romanţare minimă despre lumea de acum câteva secole.
Aflăm cât de importante erau onoarea, renumele, provenienţa şi aparteneţa în aplicarea pedepselor şi a tratamentului pentru scoaterea la lumină a mărturisirilor.
Acceptarea puterii statului ca entitate recunoscută divin, într-o lume în care superstiţia era la fel de răspândită precum religia, s-a realizat prin lupta împotriva criminalităţii. Reprezentanţii statului vegheau ca siguranţa locuitorilor şi plătitorilor de taxe să fie păstrată. În acest sens, execuţiile publice aveau un dublu rol: de a preveni noi acte de criminalitate şi de a arăta puterea şi autoritatea statului. Scenariul prestabilit şi teatralitatea ocupau un rol primordial în ritualul de execuţie.
Profesia de călău era indezirabilă şi săracă în beneficii. Este fascinant destinul lui meister Frantz Schmidt, care a reuşi pe parcursul a aproape jumătate de secol, să asceadă de la statutul de persoană blamată la cel de cetăţean onorabil. Recunoaşterea profesiei sale s-a realizat concomitent cu recunoaşterea statului ca putere suverană.
Recenzia detaliată o găsiţi aici:http://www.moonreaders.org/istorie/20...
Aflăm cât de importante erau onoarea, renumele, provenienţa şi aparteneţa în aplicarea pedepselor şi a tratamentului pentru scoaterea la lumină a mărturisirilor.
Acceptarea puterii statului ca entitate recunoscută divin, într-o lume în care superstiţia era la fel de răspândită precum religia, s-a realizat prin lupta împotriva criminalităţii. Reprezentanţii statului vegheau ca siguranţa locuitorilor şi plătitorilor de taxe să fie păstrată. În acest sens, execuţiile publice aveau un dublu rol: de a preveni noi acte de criminalitate şi de a arăta puterea şi autoritatea statului. Scenariul prestabilit şi teatralitatea ocupau un rol primordial în ritualul de execuţie.
Profesia de călău era indezirabilă şi săracă în beneficii. Este fascinant destinul lui meister Frantz Schmidt, care a reuşi pe parcursul a aproape jumătate de secol, să asceadă de la statutul de persoană blamată la cel de cetăţean onorabil. Recunoaşterea profesiei sale s-a realizat concomitent cu recunoaşterea statului ca putere suverană.
Recenzia detaliată o găsiţi aici:http://www.moonreaders.org/istorie/20...
September 18, 2025
If you're going for a pleasant, light-hearted book - this isn't it. But that kind of goes without saying.
Here's what makes this book interesting though (to me at least). A man in the 16th century executes and tortures people for a living. But that's not the interesting part. The interesting part is that he does that, then goes home to write about it in his journal. Whereas his colleagues would excessively drink to forget, he went the extra mile to remember.
You come to both love and hate this man. On the one hand, he is willing to do the "dirty work" to uphold justice. It needs to be done, and in some ways it's almost like he doesn't go far enough. On the other hand, in some ways he goes too far, considering the crime. But he's not the judge and just does what he's told. People depended on him to enforce the law, and yet hated him for it. Such is the plight of law enforcers.
It also makes one think about capital punishment and where we draw the lines in the sand. Which crimes call for it? What method is appropriate? How much weight should motives carry? Occasionally the tide erases those lines and we have to draw new ones again. This is what we've been doing all of history.
At some point one has to admit humility in this area (or perhaps I aught to say, "should"). It's not as cut and dry as it may seem on the surface. At some point, we have to see all throughout history this is still a work in progress; and we're not the first person to have it all figured out.
Here's what makes this book interesting though (to me at least). A man in the 16th century executes and tortures people for a living. But that's not the interesting part. The interesting part is that he does that, then goes home to write about it in his journal. Whereas his colleagues would excessively drink to forget, he went the extra mile to remember.
You come to both love and hate this man. On the one hand, he is willing to do the "dirty work" to uphold justice. It needs to be done, and in some ways it's almost like he doesn't go far enough. On the other hand, in some ways he goes too far, considering the crime. But he's not the judge and just does what he's told. People depended on him to enforce the law, and yet hated him for it. Such is the plight of law enforcers.
It also makes one think about capital punishment and where we draw the lines in the sand. Which crimes call for it? What method is appropriate? How much weight should motives carry? Occasionally the tide erases those lines and we have to draw new ones again. This is what we've been doing all of history.
At some point one has to admit humility in this area (or perhaps I aught to say, "should"). It's not as cut and dry as it may seem on the surface. At some point, we have to see all throughout history this is still a work in progress; and we're not the first person to have it all figured out.
November 9, 2025
Audiobooked!
I don’t think this is an outright bad book by any means… but I’m having a hard time thinking of any book I’ve liked less in my adult reading era.
Part of this I’m putting on myself, I really expected this to be just about Franz the executioner but it was much more a picture of life of people/culture in that age when it came to executions and torture. While it was interesting I feel like I got the picture in chapter 1 or 2 and then nothing new was really told in the following chapters. There were WAY too many details of the various crimes that people committed that were executed. After the like 5th one I really just didn’t care anymore what so and so did to get beheaded or broken on the wheel. These aren’t nutritional facts but rather these little stories that started to feel more and more like fluff as the book went on.
There was also way too much inference from the author on the thoughts and feelings of Franz. I feel like the primary source material wasn’t that hefty and he was trying to make a whole book out of it so he had to write more but I’d rather have a shorter book without his opinions strewn about.
Last chapter we got a moral equivalence to modern day people and the people of the 16th century and how we’re not so different. I don’t even disagree with the conclusion but it felt hamfisted because there was none of that throughout the book before. Very much felt like an essay where the teacher made you have a concluding paragraph to make an argument about something.
Definitely got on the hate train at some point and then it tainted the rest of the book but I wouldn’t recommend this and there’s a million better books you could use your time on unless your particularly fascinated about this time period.
I don’t think this is an outright bad book by any means… but I’m having a hard time thinking of any book I’ve liked less in my adult reading era.
Part of this I’m putting on myself, I really expected this to be just about Franz the executioner but it was much more a picture of life of people/culture in that age when it came to executions and torture. While it was interesting I feel like I got the picture in chapter 1 or 2 and then nothing new was really told in the following chapters. There were WAY too many details of the various crimes that people committed that were executed. After the like 5th one I really just didn’t care anymore what so and so did to get beheaded or broken on the wheel. These aren’t nutritional facts but rather these little stories that started to feel more and more like fluff as the book went on.
There was also way too much inference from the author on the thoughts and feelings of Franz. I feel like the primary source material wasn’t that hefty and he was trying to make a whole book out of it so he had to write more but I’d rather have a shorter book without his opinions strewn about.
Last chapter we got a moral equivalence to modern day people and the people of the 16th century and how we’re not so different. I don’t even disagree with the conclusion but it felt hamfisted because there was none of that throughout the book before. Very much felt like an essay where the teacher made you have a concluding paragraph to make an argument about something.
Definitely got on the hate train at some point and then it tainted the rest of the book but I wouldn’t recommend this and there’s a million better books you could use your time on unless your particularly fascinated about this time period.
April 8, 2024
This was extremely interesting, especially as last year I read a little fiction called The Hangman's Daughter. I now have more appreciate for that book because of the detail that was evidently paid to the profession of executioner/healer and all the social oddities that went with it.
This book focused just on Franz Schmidt and his own chronicling of his life as an executioner. When you watch historical fictions, any time there is a public execution I feel that it is played up for shock value, especially because many of them seem to have been botched (Ah, Thomas Cromwell...), but this account sheds some light on how that was a great way to lose the job of executioner. So coming to work drunk was highly frowned upon.
I also appreciated the contrast of having to execute someone, but they needed to be in good shape for you to do it, so before you do, you better make sure that you heal them. That had to be very difficult for the executioner, especially as we learn that Schmidt felt that he had a calling more towards healing than ending lives. He took his occupation seriously though, and that must have been somewhat of a blessing for those that underwent public executions of the time.
Anyhoo, this was a great read. I may revisit it again sometime.
This book focused just on Franz Schmidt and his own chronicling of his life as an executioner. When you watch historical fictions, any time there is a public execution I feel that it is played up for shock value, especially because many of them seem to have been botched (Ah, Thomas Cromwell...), but this account sheds some light on how that was a great way to lose the job of executioner. So coming to work drunk was highly frowned upon.
I also appreciated the contrast of having to execute someone, but they needed to be in good shape for you to do it, so before you do, you better make sure that you heal them. That had to be very difficult for the executioner, especially as we learn that Schmidt felt that he had a calling more towards healing than ending lives. He took his occupation seriously though, and that must have been somewhat of a blessing for those that underwent public executions of the time.
Anyhoo, this was a great read. I may revisit it again sometime.
April 25, 2025
★★★★ – A Fascinating Window into an Unlikely Life
The Faithful Executioner is a compelling and surprisingly human portrait of Meister Frantz Schmidt, a 16th-century German executioner who kept a meticulous journal of his work. Joel F. Harrington masterfully brings Schmidt’s world to life, blending historical detail with thoughtful narrative that challenges our modern assumptions about justice, morality, and social stigma.
What stands out most is the complexity of Schmidt himself — a man devoted to law, order, and redemption, despite holding a profession many saw as dishonorable. Harrington’s research is impressive, and the book shines when it leans into the psychological and moral contradictions of its subject.
The only thing keeping this from a 5-star rating is that certain sections can feel a bit academic or repetitive, especially for casual readers. But overall, it’s a gripping and illuminating read that offers a rare look into a life both brutal and principled.
Perfect for fans of dark history, moral complexity, and real-life stories stranger than fiction.
The Faithful Executioner is a compelling and surprisingly human portrait of Meister Frantz Schmidt, a 16th-century German executioner who kept a meticulous journal of his work. Joel F. Harrington masterfully brings Schmidt’s world to life, blending historical detail with thoughtful narrative that challenges our modern assumptions about justice, morality, and social stigma.
What stands out most is the complexity of Schmidt himself — a man devoted to law, order, and redemption, despite holding a profession many saw as dishonorable. Harrington’s research is impressive, and the book shines when it leans into the psychological and moral contradictions of its subject.
The only thing keeping this from a 5-star rating is that certain sections can feel a bit academic or repetitive, especially for casual readers. But overall, it’s a gripping and illuminating read that offers a rare look into a life both brutal and principled.
Perfect for fans of dark history, moral complexity, and real-life stories stranger than fiction.
September 22, 2024
You wouldn't think that a book about a man who executed over 350 people and tortured or physically punished hundreds more would be comforting, and yet this book was just that. A detailed account of life and times of "Meister Franz" —an early modern executioner whose surviving journals provide the main meat of this book, "The Faithful Executioner" caught me surprise by the utter compassion shown in its pages. The author himself has the rare gift of revealing people in the past as real, complex, multifaceted individuals and portrays each of them—the criminals, whether desperate or cruel, the anxious and excited crowds who come to watch a man die, the state officials who authorize torture and death in pursuit of justice, and the Executioner himself—as someone worthy of being understood before judgment. That Meister Franz himself is shown as a kind, disciplined, and faithful man as well only helps remind me that there is always more depth than one would expect.
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October 23, 2025I never thought I'd get this invested in the life of a 16th century executioner but here we are. The author did a great job in examining what Frantz wrote down and giving context to everything he said, be it the cultural and historical background and the comparisons to what is known about everything around him.
It's always fascinating how necessary but unpleasant jobs are treated by the rest of society and how Frantz worked with that while still trying to get out of his children having to follow in his steps. Also the feud with the other executioner was hilarious to read about I have to say.
It's always fascinating how necessary but unpleasant jobs are treated by the rest of society and how Frantz worked with that while still trying to get out of his children having to follow in his steps. Also the feud with the other executioner was hilarious to read about I have to say.
September 30, 2025
Vandy Professor (anchor down) Joel Harrington does a surprisingly fantastic job of taking the life of a fairly ordinary Nuremburg resident, Frantz Schmidt, and uses him to cast a light on criminal justice and death in pre-modern Germany. Was not expecting to be intrigued by this premise, but too often history books can be reduced to court politics and Great Man simplifications, to the point where I think works like this are even more insightful than much larger works on much grander topics.
Certainly on the look out for more books framed around the lives of ordinary (although by virtue of keeping a diary rather extraordinary) citizens of the places we hear of but often can't say much about. First book on a citizen of the Holy Roman Empire I've technically read, which feels past due.
Certainly on the look out for more books framed around the lives of ordinary (although by virtue of keeping a diary rather extraordinary) citizens of the places we hear of but often can't say much about. First book on a citizen of the Holy Roman Empire I've technically read, which feels past due.
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