Breaking wheel

In the Holy Roman Empire it was a "mirror punishment" for highwaymen and street thieves, and was set out in the Sachsenspiegel for murder, and arson that resulted in fatalities.

Although not commonplace, the executioner could be instructed to execute the convicted person at the end of the first act, by aiming for the neck or heart in a "coup de grâce".

[4] In 1581, the German serial killer Christman Genipperteinga remained conscious for nine days on the breaking wheel before expiring, having been deliberately kept alive with "strong drink".

[5] Alternatively, the condemned were spreadeagled and broken on a saltire, a cross consisting of two wooden beams nailed in an "X" shape,[6][7] after which the victim's mangled body might be displayed on the wheel.

[8] 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.

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.

The number and sequence of blows was specified in the court's sentence (for example, in 1581, the serial killer Peter Niers, found guilty of 544 murders was, after two days of extended torture, given 42 strikes with the wheel, and was, at last, quartered alive[11]).

[13] 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).

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, accepted the use of a wheel that was not heavy enough.

The court did not find sufficient evidence for deliberate malice on Essmeyer's part but sentenced him to two years' hard labour and banned him from ever working again as an executioner.

[citation needed] Johann Patkul was a Livonian gentleman who was condemned on charges of treason by Swedish king Charles XII in 1707.

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.

Such was the end of the renowned Patkul: and may God have mercy on his soul!The breaking wheel was used as a form of execution in Germany as recently as the early 19th century.

At the time, the Prussian penal code required a criminal to be broken upon the wheel when a particularly heinous crime had been committed.

[23] Since victims' bodies of the breaking wheel were often left exposed to environmental influences over a long period of time, hardly any archaeological features for the "breaking wheel" exist; as a deterrence, the bodies were often left on public display over many years, exposed to wind and weather, birds and other scavenging animals could also take away the remains and bones.

In autumn 2013, the skeleton of a man was found in Groß Pankow, Germany, during the laying of Federal Highway 189 (Bundesstraße 189) between Perleberg and Pritzwalk in Brandenburg, whose position and signs of injury indicate death by the "breaking wheel".

In Dutch, there is the expression opgroeien voor galg en rad, "to grow up for the gallows and wheel", meaning to be destined to come to no good.

In Finnish teilata, "to execute by the wheel", refers to forceful and violent critique or rejection of performance, ideas or innovations.

Similarly, the Norwegian radbrekke can be applied to art and language, and refers to use which is seen as despoiling tradition and courtesy, with connotations of willful ignorance or malice.

He was also a leader in wickedness, since the chief of a gang of brigands (for instance) would be broken on the wheel, while his obscure followers were merely hanged.

Philip, Duke of Orléans, who was regent of France from 1715 to 1723, gave the term the sense of impious and callous debauchee, which it has borne since his time, by habitually applying it to the very bad male company who amused his privacy and his leisure.

from Alexander Pope's "Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot" is occasionally seen, referring to putting great effort into achieving something minor or unimportant.