Editing Breaking wheel (section)

{{short description|Torture device used for capital punishment}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2015}}
[[File:17XX Richtrad anagoria.JPG|thumb|Execution wheel (German: ''Richtrad'') with underlays, 18th century; on display at the [[Märkisches Museum]], Berlin]]

The '''breaking wheel''', also known as the '''execution wheel''', the '''Wheel of Catherine''' or the ('''Saint''') '''Catherine'''('''<nowiki/>'s''') '''Wheel''', was a [[Torture|torture method]] used for [[Capital punishment#Public execution|public execution]] primarily in Europe from [[Classical antiquity|antiquity]] through the [[Middle Ages]] up to the 19th century by breaking the bones of a criminal or [[Club (weapon)|bludgeoning]] them to death. The practice was abolished in [[Kingdom of Bavaria|Bavaria]] in 1813 and in the [[Electorate of Hesse]] in 1836: the last known execution by the "Wheel" took place in [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]] in 1841. In the [[Holy Roman Empire]] it was a "[[mirror punishment]]" for [[highwaymen]] and [[Footpad|street thieves]], and was set out in the ''[[Sachsenspiegel]]'' for [[murder]], and [[arson]] that resulted in fatalities.<ref name="MSK">{{Cite book |last1=Althoff |first1=Gerd |title=Menschen im Schatten der Kathedrale: Neuigkeiten aus dem Mittelalter |last2=Goetz |first2=Hans-Werner |last3=Schubert |first3=Ernst |date=1998 |publisher=Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft |isbn=9783534142217 |location=Darmstadt |page=332 |language=German |trans-title=People in the shadow of the cathedral: News from the Middle Ages}}</ref>