Editing Breaking wheel (section)

==History==

===Possible Frankish origins===
Historian Pieter Spierenburg mentions a reference in sixth-century author [[Gregory of Tours]] as a possible origin for the punishment of breaking someone on the wheel.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pieter Spierenburg |url=http://www.norberteliasfoundation.nl/network/profile.php?profId=3 |website=Norbert Elias Foundation}}</ref> In Gregory's time, a criminal could be placed in a deep track, and then a heavily laden wagon was driven over him. Thus, the latter practice could be seen as a symbolic re-enactment of the previous penalty in which people were literally driven over by a wagon.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Spierenburg |first=Pieter C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NxQ-AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA71 |title=The Spectacle of Suffering: Executions and the Evolution of Repression : from a Preindustrial Metropolis to the European Experience |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1984 |isbn=9780521261869 |location=Cambridge |pages=71}}</ref>

===France===
In France, the condemned were placed on a cartwheel with their limbs stretched out along the spokes over two sturdy wooden beams. The wheel was made to revolve slowly, and a large hammer or an iron bar was then applied to the limb over the gap between the beams, breaking the bones. This process was repeated several times per limb. Sometimes it was "mercifully" ordered that the executioner should strike the condemned on the chest and abdomen, blows known as {{lang|fr|[[Coup de grâce|coups de grâce]]}} ([[French language|French]]: "blows of mercy"), which caused fatal injuries. Without those, the broken man could last hours and even days, during which birds could peck at the helpless victim. Eventually, [[Shock (circulatory)|shock]] and [[dehydration]] caused death.  In France, a special grace, the ''retentum'', could be granted, by which the condemned was strangled after the second or third blow, or in special cases, even before the breaking began.{{fact|date=December 2021}}

===Holy Roman Empire===
[[File:Klostermayr Radbrechmaschine.jpg|thumb|Breaking-wheel machine used to execute [[Matthias Klostermayr]], Bavaria, 1772]]
In the [[Holy Roman Empire]], the wheel was punishment reserved primarily for men convicted of aggravated murder (murder committed during another crime, or against a family member). Less severe offenders would be cudgelled "top down", with a lethal first blow to the neck. More heinous criminals were punished "bottom up", starting with the legs, and sometimes being beaten for hours. The number and sequence of blows was specified in the court's sentence; for example, in 1581, the [[serial killer]] [[Peter Niers]] was found guilty of 544 murders and after two days of extended torture, given 42 strikes with the wheel, then [[Dismemberment|quartered]] alive.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Garon |first=Louis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k1hCAAAAcAAJ |title=Exilium melancholiae |publisher=Josias Städel |year=1669 |location=Strasbourg |pages=553}}</ref> Corpses were left for [[carrion]]-eaters, and the criminals' heads often placed on a spike.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Evans |first=Richard J. |title=Rituals of Retribution: Capital Punishment in Germany 1600–1987 |date=9 May 1996 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-821968-2 |location=US |page=29}}</ref>

The ''Zürcher Blutgerichtsordnung'' (Procedures for the [[Blood Court]] in [[Zürich]]) dates from the 15th century and contains a detailed description of how the breaking on the wheel shall occur: Firstly, the delinquent is placed belly down, bound hands and feet outstretched to a board, and thus dragged by a horse to the place of execution. The wheel is then slammed twice onto each arm, one blow above the elbow, the other below. Then, each leg gets the same treatment, above and below the knees. The final ninth blow is given at the middle of the spine, so that it breaks. Then, the broken body is woven onto the wheel (i.e., between the spokes), and the wheel is then hammered onto a pole, which is then fastened upright with its other end in the ground. The criminal is then to be left dying "afloat" on the wheel and be left to rot.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Müller |first=J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9EdCAAAAcAAJ |title=Der Aargau: Seine politische, Rechts-, Kultur- und Sitten-Geschichte. ¬Der alte Aarau, Volume 1 |publisher=Schultheß |year=1870 |location=Zürich |pages=385–386 |access-date=24 March 2013}}</ref>

====Dolle case; unclear case ====
On 1 October 1786, in the [[County of Tecklenburg]], Heinrich Dolle was to be executed by being broken on the wheel, on account of the aggravated murder of a Jew. The court had decided that Dolle should be broken ''von oben herab'': the first stroke of the wheel should crush his chest (traditionally thought to kill him instantly). The court instructed the executioner, a certain Essmeyer, should clandestinely strangle Dolle (by [[garrotte]]) prior to the first stroke. The bystanders were shocked by what they thought was a severely botched execution by Essmeyer and his son, and thought Dolle had been alive during the entire proceeding and also after Essmeyer had secured Dolle onto the wheel and raised it on a pole. The town physician climbed up on a ladder (the Essmeyers had gone by then) and ascertained that Dolle was indeed alive; he died six hours later.{{citation needed|date=July 2017}}
[[File:98Diebold Schilling Hinrichtungsarten.jpg|thumb|Illustration of an execution by wheel, Switzerland, 1513]]
The Essmeyers were taken to court for severe malpractice. It was established that the string around Dolle's neck had not been drawn tightly enough, and that Essmeyer had, contrary to his duties as an executioner, used of a wheel that was not heavy enough. The inadequate weight meant that Dolle’s chest had not been crushed. Furthermore, one of Dolle's arms and one of his legs had not broken according to proper penal procedure. And finally, the nail that was customarily hammered through the convict's brain in order to fasten him upon the wheel had been hammered in far too low.{{citation needed|date=July 2017}}
Many believed Essmeyer's malpractice had been not so much a display of gross incompetence as a deliberate act of cruelty, because just prior to his execution Dolle had converted to the [[Reformed Christianity|Reformed Faith]], and Essmeyer was a devout [[Catholic Church|Catholic]]. The court did not find sufficient evidence for deliberate malice on Essmeyer's part, but sentenced him to two years' hard labour and barred him permanently from working as an executioner. His young son was, on grounds of mercy, acquitted of any culpable wrongdoings.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Klein |first=Ernst F. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=An1DAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA35 |title=Annalen der Gesetzgebung und Rechtsgelehrsamkeit in den preussischen Staaten, Volume 4 |publisher=Friedrich Nicolai |year=1796 |location=Berlin, Stettin |pages=35–41}}</ref>

===Indian subcontinent===
A long struggle between the [[Sikh]] community and Islamic rulers resulted in [[Martyrdom in Sikhism|execution of Sikhs]]. In 1746, Bhai Subeg Singh and Bhai Shahbaz Singh were executed on rotating wheels.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bhai Subeg Singh and Bhai Shahbaz Singh |url=http://www.sikh-history.com/sikhhist/martyrs/shahbaz.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160614131354/http://www.sikh-history.com/sikhhist/martyrs/shahbaz.html |archive-date=14 June 2016 |access-date=11 June 2016 |publisher=www.sikh-history.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Bhai Shahbaz Singh - MS-18 |url=http://www.art-heritage.com/historical/historical-paintings/bhai-shahbaz-singh-ms-18.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160614073130/http://www.art-heritage.com/historical/historical-paintings/bhai-shahbaz-singh-ms-18.html |archive-date=14 June 2016 |access-date=11 June 2016 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

===Scotland===
In [[Scotland]], a servant named Robert Weir was broken on the wheel at [[Edinburgh]] in 1603 or 1604 (sources disagree). This punishment had been used infrequently there. The crime had been the murder of John [[Clan Kincaid|Kincaid]], Lord of [[Warriston]], on behalf of his wife, [[Jean Kincaid]].  Weir was secured to a cart wheel and was struck and broken with the [[Coulter (agriculture)|coulter]] of a [[plough]]. Lady Warriston was later beheaded.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chambers |first=Robert |title=Domestic Annals of Scotland |publisher=W & R Chambers |year=1885 |location=Edinburgh}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Buchan |first=Peter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1h_gAAAAMAAJ&q=John+Kincaid+Warriston&pg=PA296 |title=Ancient Ballads and Songs of the North of Scotland |year=1828 |volume=1 |location=Edinburgh, Scotland |page=296 |author-link=Peter Buchan |access-date=21 March 2010}}</ref>

===Colonial United States===
In [[New York (state)|New York]], at least one [[Slavery in the colonial United States|slave]] was executed on the breaking wheel following their involvement in a failed [[New York Slave Revolt of 1712|slave rebellion]] in 1712. Between 1730 and 1754, eleven slaves in [[Louisiana (New France)|French Louisiana]], who had either killed, assaulted or escaped from their masters, were killed via the breaking wheel.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Executions in the U.S. 1608–2002: The Espy File |url=http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/documents/ESPYstate.pdf |access-date=25 February 2010 |publisher=Death Penalty Information Center}}</ref> On 7 June 1757, the French colonist [[Jean Baptiste Baudreau II|Jean Baptiste Baudreau dit Graveline II]] was executed on a breaking wheel in front of the [[St. Louis Cathedral (New Orleans)|St. Louis Cathedral]] in [[New Orleans]], [[Louisiana (New France)|Louisiana]] by the French colonial authorities.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}<ref>''[[New Orleans Times-Picayune]]'', 6/11/23, pp. 1B-2B</ref>

=== Kingdom of Hungary ===
[[File:Loeschenkohl04.jpg|thumb|The execution of the [[Revolt of Horea, Cloșca, and Crișan|rebel leaders in Transylvania]], Kingdom of Hungary, 1785]]
At the end of the [[Revolt of Horea, Cloșca and Crișan]], in 1785 (in the Hungarian [[Principality of Transylvania (1711–1867)]]), two of the revolt leaders, Horea and Cloșca, were sentenced to be executed by the breaking wheel. Crișan hanged himself in prison before that sentence could be carried out. According to a book published the same year by Adam F. Geisler, the two leaders were broken "von unten auf", from bottom up, meaning the lower limbs were broken before the upper limbs, prolonging the torture.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Geisler |first=Adam F. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VvVKAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA68 |title=Horja und Klotska, Oberhaupt und Rathgeber der Aufrührer in Siebenbürgen. Ein Beitr. zur Menschenkunde etc |publisher=Buchhandl. d. Gelehrten |year=1785 |location=Karlsburg and Hammerstadt |page=68}}</ref>

===Russia===
[[File:Kazn kolesovaniem.jpg|thumb|upright|Executions of Cossacks by Russian troops in [[Sack of Baturyn|Baturyn]] or [[Executions of Cossacks in Lebedin|Lebedyn]], 1708–1709]]

The breaking wheel was frequently used in the [[Great Northern War]] in the early 1700s.{{fact|date=December 2021}}

===Sweden===
[[File:Breaking Wheel.jpg|thumb|The execution of [[Peter Stumpp]], involving the breaking wheel in use in Cologne in the early modern period]]

[[Johann Patkul]] was a [[Livonian people|Livonian]] gentleman who was condemned on charges of treason by Swedish king [[Charles XII of Sweden|Charles XII]] in 1707. The priest Lorentz Hagen was a friend of Patkul's and described the horrors his friend had to endure when Patkul was condemned to be broken on the wheel:<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hagen |first=Lorentz |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=27NbAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA45 |title=Anecdotes Concerning the Famous John Reinhold Patkul: Or, an Authentic Relation of what Passed Betwixt Him and His Confessor, the Night Before and at His Execution. Translated from the Original Manuscript, Never Yet Printed |publisher=A. Millar |year=1761 |location=London |pages=45–46}}</ref>

{{quote|Here the executioner gave him the first stroke. His cries were terrible. "O Jesus! Jesus, have mercy upon me!" This cruel scene was much lengthened out, and of the utmost horror; for as the headsman had no skill in his business, the wretch under his hands received upwards of fifteen blows, with each of which were intermixed 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 executioner 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 the body quartered. Such was the end of the renowned Patkul: and may God have mercy on his soul!}}

===Later use===
The breaking wheel was used as a form of execution in Germany as recently as the early 19th century. Its use as a method of execution was not fully abolished in Bavaria until 1813, and still in use until 1836 in [[Electorate of Hesse|Hesse-Kassel]]. In [[Prussia]], the punishment of death was inflicted by [[decapitation]] with a large sword, by burning, and by breaking on the wheel. At the time, the Prussian penal code required a criminal to be broken upon the wheel when a particularly heinous crime had been committed.  The king always issued an order to the executioner to strangle the criminal (which was done by a small cord not easily seen) before his limbs were broken.  The last execution by this stronger form of capital punishment, of Rudolf Kühnapfel, was on 13 August 1841.<ref>Blazek, Matthias: „Letzte Hinrichtung durch Rädern im Königreich Preußen am 13. August 1841" (In the Kingdom of Prussia a criminal was broken upon the wheel for the last time on  13 August 1841), in: Fachprosaforschung&nbsp;– Grenzüberschreitungen. Deutscher Wissenschafts-Verlag (DWV), Baden-Baden, ed. 7, 2011, p. 339–343. {{Cite book |last=Burrill |first=Alexander |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ztgUAAAAYAAJ&q=prussia+1841+breaking+wheel&pg=PA620 |title=A Law Dictionary and Glossary |publisher=Baker Voorheis and Co. |year=1870 |edition=2nd |volume=2 |location=New York, NY |page=620 |author-link=Alexander Burrill |access-date=21 March 2010}} Rudolf Kühnapfel, [[assassin]] of Andreas Stanislaus von Hatten, the Bishop of [[Warmia]], was sentenced to be executed in this manner, though he was killed by [[strangulation]] before his corpse was broken on the wheel.</ref>