Editing Breaking wheel (section)

===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>