introduction the reading of the sentence so that there would be no protests. This is motivated by the need for the condemned to focus on their spiritual preparation and by the understanding of the sentence as true.33 Thus, the criminal would maintain a spiritually beneficial calm, following the example of Christ and the martyrs, and the word of the authorities would not be challenged.34 The clear religious connotations of the eternal fate of the executed was the shared paramount concern of the secular and ecclesiastical authorities.Pascal Bastien,studying the executions in Paris and London between 1500 and 1800, has this to say about executions in Western Europe: ”La peine de mort porte un objectif bien précis: assurer le salut par l’excès. Excès de violence, de vengeance et de morale.”35 Elsewhere I have called this ”a system sustained by state and church”.36 It was first constructed in the late Middle Ages and its development continued until it was demolished; thus, it existed at our point of departure, the execution of preEnlightenment times. In the Enlightenment, the system was officially, if only gradually, dismantled, although many still held it in high esteem.37 A widening gulf emerged between the theological and judicial perspectives, with the latter increasingly being seen, at least by the officials of the state,as more important, even when life, death, and eternal salvation was at stake.38 The church and the clergy had thus a relationship to the authorities, but they also had a relationship to those with less or no power. They were, at least when everything functioned, in many respects mediators in their society.39 33 The Bologna Comforters’ Manual 2008 p 249, 271 sq, Falvey 1991 p 42. 34 The Bologna Comforters’ Manual 2008 p 213, 242, see also Nordberg 1993 p 236 sq, Falvey 1991 p 38. 35 Bastien 2011 p 10. ’The penalty of death had a specific motive: to ensure salvation through excess. Excess of violence, revenge, and moral.’ 36 Bergman 2011b p 113. 37 Merback 1999 p 128, Bergman 2001 p 96 sqq, Bergman 2011b p 152 sqq. 38 On the emerging difference between theological and judicial perspectives see e g Bergman 1996 p 196 sqq and Bergman 2011b p 143 sqq. In France, for example, Anne Carol notes how theological perspectives such as conversion was much more frequently mentioned in official reports up to the 1870’s than later, Carol 2017 p 105 sq. 39 Rousseaux 2005 p 123, see also Bergman 1996 p 133 sq. 29
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