We have a podcast covering a fictional book (The Book of the New Sun) whose main character is a professional guilded torturer. The book itself is Sci Fi/Fantasy, but it is heavily based on historical and mythological research. One notable element that's come up is that he mentions anecdotes about himself or other torturers/executioners who receive tips from their clients for the work performed. We're trying to figure out if this is an invention of the author, or if there's some factual basis for the practice.
In a surface search on google, etc, we've found several unsourced accounts that hangmen and executioners would receive "tips" and/or bribes from their clients in order to ensure a clean and quick death. There are also several accounts in fiction (such as Robert Bolt's play, "A Man For All Seasons,") that suggest this was a somewhat common practice, but no primary sources or academic research. Does anyone have any sources that point to this being an actual practice, or is it the stuff of legend?
Thanks!
I'm a bit of a Gene Wolfe fan myself, and the executioner/protagonist is working waaaaay in the far future, so I am not sure how relevant historical research is for all this. But anyway.
In two very famous (and minutely witnessed and described) executions - Mary Queen of Scots and Charles I - there's no mention of a tip being handed over. For Sir Thomas More , 19th c. historian James Froude's close description also does not mention a tip even though it's likely the source for Robert Bolt's version. Which is a pity; I liked that film, even if it's hard to accept St Thomas More as the father of British progressive secular jurisprudence.
However, there was in England a common practice of giving the executioner the right to the executee's clothes and even jewelry. Don't know how long this had been done and when it stopped, but you can see that in the execution of Mary Queen of Scots the headsman was given compensation in lieu of this. As clothing , shoes etc. were expensive in this pre-industrial world, the clothing was likely worth much more than a tip of a small coin. In the 18th. c the Newgate Calendar ( or Malefactor's Bloody Register) recorded an instance in which a criminal affronted the hangman by taking off his fine boots, jacket, etc. and tossing them to the assembled crowd.
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