punishment. Theology is however only one aspect of interest, law and psychiatry are two others. Different point of views can also be found in different countries. In France, for example, these crimes overwhelmingly were discussed as a psychiatric problem and often treated as such. Important is the presence in most countries and times studied here of a system sustained by state and church preparing for and functioning in the executions – a system of ideas keeping liturgy and execution together. As the role of the state in the execution is more fundamental as it executes the sentence of a court, one of its agencies – a sentence eventually generally upheld through the denial of mercy by the head of state or some other authority. The church, on the other hand, both prepared the condemned and could through songs, prayers, and speeches transform the execution into almost a service. A common view among those studying this system is that this was a changing system. First theology became more apart of the execution and its message and then less.This study concentrates on the epoch of this system in its fullness and then dissolving. One can say that at least from the late eighteenth century together with other developments, such as the road to intramural executions, it was slowly demolished. This study differs from much contemporary research in not presenting only murder. Here alot of the methods individuals has used to reach their target are presented. Of interest was any crime that reasonably resulted in a death sentence and an execution. Confessing a crime even if it was not committed could often be enough. Among the crimes used except the eventually dominating murder were for example bestiality (probably often false confessions of), sacrilege, especially in Roman Catholic environments, theft, witchcraft, arson, and signing a contract with the devil. The oldest crimes noted here, from the late sixteenth century, are cases of murder in Nuremberg and sacrilege in Rome. Yet eventually the only safe option became the crime of murder. Probably it therefore was often used. Murder also has become the crime modern research almost exclusively has focused on. Aquestion central in much of this research, predominantly studying court documents from the seventeenth and eighteenth century, is how frequent such murders were, summary 280
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