The cruel punishments of earlier centuries are hardly comprehensible to us today. But they were by no means imposed in a lawless space, nor were they arbitrary. Torture, gallows, sword and stake or even the drowning of child murderesses served to satisfy the respective ideas of justice and to have a deterrent effect. In biblical tradition see the so-called mirror punishments, which reflect a preceding offense, such as the hand chopping for theft.
But a harsh justice also served to secure the existing firm social structures. And likewise, the usual public execution of punishment was also always a demonstration of the power monopoly of the authorities.
The jurist and legal historian Dr. Markus Hirte has been director of the Medieval Crime Museum in Rothenburg o.d.T. since 2013, which is one of the most popular museums and is known for professionally outstanding exhibitions and publications.
Text source and more information about this event: http://www.frankfurter-buergerstiftung.de/node/2511
