About this episode
The German executioner Meister Frantz Schmidt kept a fascinating journal of all the executions, torture and punishments he administered between 1573 and 1618. In this episode of Not Just the Tudors , Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Joel Harrington to talk about Schmidt - who showed himself to be an executioner with a conscience - and further explore public capital punishment in the 16th century, described by historians as the "spectacle of suffering." Contains graphic descriptions of punishments. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.