Penal death was of all legal rituals perhaps the most heavily charged with religious associations. The centrality of the crucifixion and of martyrdom to late medieval spirituality made both the inherent contrast and the formal parallels between criminal and holy death a natural basis for the shaping of the execution ceremonies. It was thus quite natural for public executions to make use of religious elements within an essentially secular context. The formal distinction of secular and religious rituals is hardly applicable to the later Middle Ages, especially to legal rituals. Though the church was officially debarred from taking an active role in any procedure shedding blood or terminating human life religious ideas, symbolism and authority permeated executions as they did all public ceremonial. The modern dichotomy of secular and religious spheres is anachronistic in this context. Human life and death, justice, authority and the normative boundaries of society were all tied together in one integrated world view.156 the execution and its message are nevertheless interesting. According to Peter Schuster, before the late fourteenth century executions were not interpreted theologically and carried no such implications. He adds that, in the Middle Age, secular judges had no dealings with the salvation of the condemned, a restriction founded on the unwillingness of the Church to formally approve the penalty of death.153 Esther Cohen, in her interpretation of medieval executions, especially in France before 1396, similarly questions any theological interpretation: ”They were secular rituals of communal meaning, carefully staged ceremonies conveying specific instructive messages to the public.”154 Paul Friedland describes the French legislation of 1396, which required confession and Absolution preceding execution, as starting the development of a standard ritual for the executions. He also sees it as an important introduction of ”religious character” – the execution became a penal pilgrimage or a Passion play.155 For Cohen it was rather the introduction of a religious element in a hitherto secular ceremony, leading her to later distinctively to argue that religion did have a role: 153 Schuster 2007 p 698 sqq, see also Friedland 2012 p 89 sq, 101. 154 Cohen 1990 p 298. 155 Friedland 2012 p 89 sq, 101. 156 Cohen, E 1993 p 182 (quotation) and Cohen 1990 p 296, 298, see also Cohen 1989 p 408: ”Public executions were thus intricate rituals displaying atonement, punishment and, most of all, the authority of the government to administer justice.” 63
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