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Title: The Faithful Executioner
Subtitle: Life and Death, Honor and Shame in the Turbulent Sixteenth Century
Author: Joel F. Harrington
Narrator: James Gillies
Format: Unabridged
Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
Language: English
Release date: 10-19-17
Publisher: Novel Audio
Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 2 votes
Genres: History, European
Publisher's Summary:
Based on the rare and until now overlooked journal of a Renaissance-era executioner, the noted historian Joel F. Harrington's The Faithful Executioner takes us deep inside the alien world and thinking of Meister Frantz Schmidt of Nuremberg, who, during 45 years as a professional executioner, personally put to death 394 individuals and tortured, flogged, or disfigured many hundreds more. But the picture that emerges of Schmidt from his personal papers is not that of a monster. Could a man who routinely practiced such cruelty also be insightful, compassionate - even progressive?
In The Faithful Executioner, Harrington vividly re-creates a life filled with stark contrasts, from the young apprentice's rigorous training under his executioner father to the adult Meister Frantz's juggling of familial duties with his work in the torture chamber and at the scaffold. With him we encounter brutal highwaymen, charming swindlers, and tragic unwed mothers accused of infanticide, as well as patrician senators, godly chaplains, and corrupt prison guards. Harrington teases out the hidden meanings and drama of Schmidt's journal, uncovering a touching tale of inherited shame and attempted redemption for the social pariah and his children. The Faithful Executioner offers not just the compelling firsthand perspective of a professional torturer and killer, but testimony of one man's lifelong struggle to reconcile his bloody craft with his deep religious faith.
The biography of an ordinary man struggling for his soul, this groundbreaking book also offers an unparalleled panoramic view of Europe on the cusp of modernity, a society riven by violent conflict at all levels and encumbered by paranoia, superstition, and abuses of power. Thanks to an extraordinary historical source and its gifted interpreter, we recognize far more of ourselves than we might have expected in this intimate portrait of a professional killer from a faraway world.
Members Reviews:
Good historical read.
Interesting read. If you enjoy history you'll enjoy this. It gives insight to the life of a German executioner in the 16th century. The author does a good job of taking you back in time.
Uncivil Servant
In-depth examination of the life and times of a professional executioner and his family. Wonderfully steeped in details various and sundry as the father trains his son in the family business while navigating the fine line between craftsman and pariah.
Loved the vivid detail and wonderful first hand account of ...
Very interesting. Gory and gruesome. Loved the vivid detail and wonderful first hand account of this mans life, so great
An exciting read about life in the 1600's
A truly captivating story about an executioner's life and struggle to restore his family's honor having served involuntarily as the town executioner for 45 years. Gives you insight into everyday life and perils in the early 1600's.
Who knew?
This book fascinated me. You may believe in the barbarity of the Sixteenth Century's methods for dealing with miscreant behaviours and worse, but you will question that belief as you follow the career of The Executioner of Nuremberg, eventually coming to see their approach to justice as less barbaric than ours.
