Plus ça change
I was reading tonight about the Salem Witch Trials and I took comfort in knowing that now, more than three hundred years later, we no longer condone Peine forte et dure, French for "hard and forceful punishment."
Those silly Puritans just didn't know what to do if a person wouldn't cop to the crime, but they figured out a fair and sensible solution, which was for the prisoner to be:
remanded to the prison from whence he came and put into a low dark chamber, and there be laid on his back on the bare floor, naked, unless when decency forbids; that there be placed upon his body as great a weight as he could bear, and more, that he hath no sustenance, save only on the first day, three morsels of the worst bread, and the second day three droughts of standing water, that should be alternately his daily diet till he died, or, till he answered. (Wikipedia)
Take Giles Corey, for example, of who like scores of others in 1692-3 was accused and refused to enter a plea. Unthinkable and unacceptable! So here was the process for good old Corey, taken from Wikipedia:
As a result of his refusal to plead, on September 17, Sheriff Jonathan Corwin led Corey to a pit in the open field beside the jail and in accordance with the above process, before the Court and witnesses, stripped Giles of his clothing, laid him on the ground in the pit, and placed boards on his chest. Six men then lifted heavy stones, placing them one by one, on his stomach and chest. Giles Corey did not cry out, let alone make a plea.
After two days, Giles was asked three times to plead innocent or guilty to witchcraft. Each time he replied "more weight". More and more rocks were piled onto him, and the Sheriff, from time to time, would stand on the boulders staring down at Corey's bulging eyes. Robert Calef, who was a witness along with other townsfolk, later said, "in the pressing, Giles Corey's tongue was pressed out of his mouth; the Sheriff, with his cane, forced it in again".
Three mouthfuls of bread and water were fed to the old man during his many hours of pain. Finally, Giles Corey cried out at Sheriff Corwin, "I curse you Corwin and all of Salem!" and died.
But the English beat the Puritans to the punch (stone?) and proved themselves not to be sexist (or opposed to feticide) either, when they subjected pregnant Margaret Clitherow to a similar fate in 1586 for being a Catholic (bastard!).
Yes, it's not just for Virginia Slims we can say--you've come a long way, baby!
(Oh, Plus ça change = the more things change, the more they stay the same)
Those silly Puritans just didn't know what to do if a person wouldn't cop to the crime, but they figured out a fair and sensible solution, which was for the prisoner to be:
remanded to the prison from whence he came and put into a low dark chamber, and there be laid on his back on the bare floor, naked, unless when decency forbids; that there be placed upon his body as great a weight as he could bear, and more, that he hath no sustenance, save only on the first day, three morsels of the worst bread, and the second day three droughts of standing water, that should be alternately his daily diet till he died, or, till he answered. (Wikipedia)
Take Giles Corey, for example, of who like scores of others in 1692-3 was accused and refused to enter a plea. Unthinkable and unacceptable! So here was the process for good old Corey, taken from Wikipedia:
As a result of his refusal to plead, on September 17, Sheriff Jonathan Corwin led Corey to a pit in the open field beside the jail and in accordance with the above process, before the Court and witnesses, stripped Giles of his clothing, laid him on the ground in the pit, and placed boards on his chest. Six men then lifted heavy stones, placing them one by one, on his stomach and chest. Giles Corey did not cry out, let alone make a plea.
After two days, Giles was asked three times to plead innocent or guilty to witchcraft. Each time he replied "more weight". More and more rocks were piled onto him, and the Sheriff, from time to time, would stand on the boulders staring down at Corey's bulging eyes. Robert Calef, who was a witness along with other townsfolk, later said, "in the pressing, Giles Corey's tongue was pressed out of his mouth; the Sheriff, with his cane, forced it in again".
Three mouthfuls of bread and water were fed to the old man during his many hours of pain. Finally, Giles Corey cried out at Sheriff Corwin, "I curse you Corwin and all of Salem!" and died.
But the English beat the Puritans to the punch (stone?) and proved themselves not to be sexist (or opposed to feticide) either, when they subjected pregnant Margaret Clitherow to a similar fate in 1586 for being a Catholic (bastard!).
Yes, it's not just for Virginia Slims we can say--you've come a long way, baby!
(Oh, Plus ça change = the more things change, the more they stay the same)
Labels: Plus ca change, Salem Witch Trials
posted by Junior Lee Klegseth at
7:24 PM
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