throughout the centuries many different
execution methods have been used to take
the life of a condemned prisoner
in some countries they even used
elephants to stomp someone to death
and in england some of the most brutal
executions saw someone being hanged
drawn and quartered
being burned at the stake was also a
tragic method in which someone would be
set on fire whilst tied to a post
but one method used which was also used
as a torture device was the breaking
wheel which was used throughout the
medieval period in a very brutal way
the catherine wheel as it was also known
was used to break the bones of a
criminal before they were then
bludgeoned to death the last known wheel
execution took place in 1841 in prussia
and it was a very terrifying ordeal
so join us today as we look at the
breaking wheel and remember to support
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usually it was those who were convicted
of serious offences such as murder and
robbery who would be punished on the
wheel
people were either wheeled or broken on
the wheel and this execution and torture
method would take place on scaffold
sites for thousands of people to watch
the aim was to put the public off
carrying out the same sort of crimes
the execution wheel was usually a large
wooden wheel which had a number of
spokes inside similar to a wagon
cartwheel and it could be modified
someone would be scrapped onto the wheel
and the first point of the wheel was to
cause mutilation and brutal injuries on
the body
firstly the execution would begin with
the breaking of a condemned person's
legs this was usually done with the
wheel being dropped onto the legs of the
victim
they would then also drop this onto
other parts of the body such as arms
shattering them
this was very painful and a victim was
usually wedged between wood to cause
more pain
sometimes these bits of wood had sharp
edges on which would then embed into the
person
following this the executioner could
then kill them by aiming the wheel at
the victim's heart or neck
but there was often a second act of the
breaking wheel and the body of the
victim was attached to another wooden
spoked wheel which was then attached
onto a mast or pole for the crowd to see
it could even display someone on a mast
which would act as a crucifixion almost
sometimes executioners would behead the
prisoner or garrote them if needed and
they would also batter the victim with
wooden clubs shattering further bones
between the spokes
sometimes wheeled prisoners were then
thrown on a fire after the execution was
carried out the body would also be left
out for days on end to decay and it
would then be picked out by the birds
and other animals
in some cases if the victim fell from
the wheel still alive or if the
execution somehow failed this was seen
as god intervening to save the condemned
and they would then be cut down however
brutal the injuries were that they had
sustained
there were accounts of people surviving
a substantial time following an ordeal
on the breaking wheel
with some people remaining attached to
the wheel conscious for days on end
it's considered that the wheel could
have emerged from france but in the
country the condemned were placed on a
cartwheel they then had their limbs
stretched out along the spokes
the wheel was then turned slowly and a
hammer or iron bar was smashed onto the
limbs breaking them
this would continue even when the limbs
were broken
and an executioner could take mercy on
the victim by hitting them in the chest
or abdomen usually shock or dehydration
in this manner caused death and in
france people would sometimes strangle
to death also before the breaking may
begin
it was also used by the holy roman
empire for men who had committed murder
but those who committed less serious
crimes were also beaten on the wheel
more barbaric criminals were broken feet
first with the breaking of their legs
with the ordeal lasting for hours
one serial killer in 1581 was guilty of
544 murders and over the course of two
horrific days he was tortured and
executed on the wheel with 42 strikes
breaking his bones
there was one account in 1786
in which the breaking world was used in
what today is germany in which the
execution on the wheel was considered
botched
heinrich dollar was executed on the
wheel for murder and it was said that
the first stroke of the wheel should
have crushed his chest and that this
would usually kill
however when the first strike happened
dollar was still alive and was alive
throughout the whole of his breaking
when all of his limbs were shattered
after the numerous brutal strikes
dollar was confirmed as being alive when
he was raised on a pole and left to die
and it took him six hours to succumb to
his fate
it was said that inadequate weight meant
his chest had not been crushed and that
a nail which was hammered through his
brain had been hammered in too low not
to kill him
the method was even used in india and
also was used in britain
in scotland the servant robert weir was
broken on the wheel in edinburgh in 1603
and it was used rarely in the country
with only murderers really being broken
it was even used during slave rebellions
in executing those who are involved in
these
11 slaves were killed using it in french
louisiana in the 18th century who
escaped their masters and it was a
common deterrent
it was also used in russia and also in
sweden where an eyewitness said of an
execution on the breaking wheel
here the executionists gave him the
first stroke
his cries were terrible of the utmost
horror for as a headsman had no skill in
his business
the wretch under his hands received
upwards of fifteen blows
with each of which were intermixed with
the most piteous groans and invocations
of the name of god
at length after two strokes given on the
breast his strength and voice failed him
in a faltering dying tone he was just
heard to say cut off my head
and the execution is still lingering
he himself placed his head on the
scaffold
in a word after four strokes with a
hatchet the head was separated from the
body
and then the body was quartered
such was the end of the renowned
pacquial
and may god have mercy on his soul
it was even used in germany in the 1800s
to take lives and was still in use in
1836 in hesse castle
there have been many archaeological
discoveries involving those who were
executed on the breaking wheel with
their injuries showing how brutal the
execution method really was
a famous case of its use is during the
execution of saint catherine who was
sentenced to be tortured and killed on
the wheel but when she touched it it
allegedly shattered before she was then
later beheaded however the breaking
wheel was a barbaric method of execution
that was used on the european continent
mainly
there are huge numbers of accounts of
how brutal the practice was and to see
someone being beaten so savagely in this
manner would have been very traumatic
for someone to observe
today examples of breaking wheels can be
found in museums and around the world
and upon these such suffering must have
occurred
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