2 research outputs found
The hangman : between judicial symbolism and public utility
Ă la fin du Moyen Ăge, la place que doit occuper le bourreau au sein de lâorganisation judiciaire et, par extension, au sein de la sociĂ©tĂ©, demeure relativement obscure. Il faut attendre le XIVe siĂšcle pour quâune Ă©bauche du rĂ©gime professionnel de lâexĂ©cuteur Ă©merge progressivement en dĂ©pit du laconisme dâun grand nombre de sources juridiques. De par sa connexion avec la mort judiciaire, cet agent nâest pas cantonnĂ© au rĂŽle de simple exĂ©cutant des peines mais est un vĂ©ritable symbole pourtant relĂ©guĂ© aux limites de la sphĂšre sociale. Cette exclusion en fait une main dâoeuvre polyvalente Ă mĂȘme de remplir des tĂąches de police. Le maĂźtre de la haute et basse justice permet donc dâassainir la ville tant mĂ©taphoriquement, en chĂątiant les criminels, que matĂ©riellement en encadrant certains parias et en Ă©liminant les dĂ©chets urbains. Il apparaĂźt comme une figure judiciaire et administrative originale par son mode de fonctionnement et ses attributions ainsi que les diffĂ©rentes rĂ©munĂ©rations qui en dĂ©coulent. La fin de lâAncien RĂ©gime le consacre comme lâincarnation dâun systĂšme pĂ©nal reposant sur des peines corporelles vouĂ©es Ă disparaĂźtre.At the end of the Middle Ages, the place occupied by the hangman inside the judicial organization and, by extension, inside society, remains quite obscure. It is only at the turn of the XIVth century that a draft of the Contract Killer's professionnal status progressively emerged despite the terseness of numerous juridical sources. Because of his connexion with judicial death, this agent was not confined to the role of simple executor of the penalties but was a true symbol thereof. Yet he was left on the fringes of the social sphere. This exclusion turned him into a polyvalent hand, one able to realize various police tasks. The hangman thus sanitized the city both metaphorically â by punishing criminals â as much as materially â by framing some parias and supressing urban wastes. He appears as a judicial and administrative figure, original by its operating and attributions as well as through the various remunerations this entailed. The end of the Old Regime consecrated him as the incarnation of the criminal system, based on corporal punishments which were destined to disappear