Mazzolata
The Mazzolata , also Mazzolatura or Mazzatello (from Italian mazza : club, mallet ), is a type of execution that was practiced in Italy until the 19th century. Early evidence can be found in Stendhal's description of the execution of Giaccomo Cencis in 1599, who was first tortured with red- hot pincers, then beaten to death with a hammer and finally quartered, or in the report by the contemporary lawyer Stefano Infessura about the execution of Cristoforo Castanea, Baron von Castel Leone, in Rome in May 1490 for high treason and attempted murder after Pope Innocent VIII banned him.
Course of execution
A detailed description can be found in the original version of the novel The Count of Monte Christo by Alexandre Dumas : According to this, the delinquent was hit on the head with a heavy club, so that he fell to the ground. A counter-blow made him lie on his back. The executioner then drew his knife, cut his throat, climbed up on his chest and stepped on it with his feet, so that the blood rushed from his throat with every step.
The longest mazzatello was in the Papal States practiced. Mastro Titta , the well-known executioner of the Papal States from 1796 to 1864, stated in his memoir that he had executed numerous convicts by the Mazzolata.
proof
- ↑ Stendhal: Chroniques Italiennes. L'Abbesse de Castro (plus Vittoria Accoramboni et Les Cenci). Paris 1839.
- ↑ Stefano Infessura: Roman Diary ( Diario della Città di Roma ). [1236], Diederichs Verlag, Jena 1913
- ^ Reprinted at dumaspere.com ; also quoted in Ellen Constans, Jean-Claude Vareille: Crime et châtiment dans le roman populaire de langue française du XIXe siècle , p. 95
- ↑ Mastro Titta, Il boia di Roma, Memorie di un carnefice scritte da lui stesso (14th century)