different realities and reactions was no threat to these women, while some aspects of the executions rather were somewhat desirable. He referred to the preparation of the delinquent and to the public, its compassion, and how one often could hear them, tearfully, praising the happiness of dying so well prepared. Instead, a crime intended to protect one’s honour should be punished in a way that created a sense of shame.552 In 1786 Carl Gustaf Ekmansson in a parliamentary memorial criticised the speeches by priests made after the execution. Ekmansson found some of them possibly enticing persons in the crowd to commit murder, especially of children, in order to be executed by praising the preparation and blessed death of the delinquent.553 When in 1800 a proposed new church manual was discussed in the house of priests in the diet, the lecturer Thomas Jedeur suggested that it would be preferable if the priests no longer would go to the site of execution even though the delinquent if it was needed could have a few silent words of consolation immediately before death. He was also critical of the clergy giving speeches at the site, which he understood as the fruit of the longing of his colleagues to be seen and dazzle. Any speech should be given after the execution and contain serious warnings.554 Othermembers then proposed that the priests should be forbidden to attend executions altogether, thereby adding to the dishonour of the delinquent and to the warning to those attending. No decision on these matters were made, as a decision had been made to only approve or reject the entire proposed manual and not make specific changes in it.555 The debate regarding and questioning the role of the priest at the site of execution could have consequences in the actions of the individuals. In some cases the variations could be seen at the individual execution. When the commander of the enclosure at a hanging in Kristianstad in 552 ”En moder, som ända därtill kan överskrida naturen att mörda sitt barn, för en sådan onaturlig moder är döden icke någon fasa, icke något straff. Den beredelse hon undergår, den besynnerliga art av medymkan och blödighet, hos åskådarena uppväckes, åstadkommer icke någon avsky för brottet, tankan hålles endast vid dödssättet; och den önskan höres väl icke sällan av en gråtande menighet, huru lyckeligt det vore att så väl beredd kunna dö.” RD1778-79RoAp453 sq. 553 RD1786 Pr p 265. 554 Til Protocollet i Högvördige Prästeståndet fol 224R716RA. 555 Fol 295 f § 11 14 June 1800R716RA. 158
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