OLLI0168 - The Life and World of A 16th Century Executioner

Course Description

We all know the stereotype of pre-modern executioners: sadistic, bloodthirsty, masked men with axes. Thanks, however, to the surviving journal of an actual executioner, Frantz Schmidt (1554- 1634) of Nuremberg, we will see how virtually everything we think we know about such men is wrong. In this class we will explore the everyday life of Meister Frantz, as he was popularly known, including his family history, his training, the careful cultivation of his public reputation, and of course the many aspects of his unsavory profession. There will be a minimum of gore and much more psychological analysis of Schmidt and of the larger society that requires frequent torture and public executions. It is a deeply alien world, yet at times uncomfortably similar to our own. This course will be recorded.