Retentum
Retentum (lat. Retinere to hold back, to hold back) has been the name given to a moderation in the execution of the death penalty , which the court could insert through a secret judgment clause.
In connection with the wheel , Retentum refers to the number of blows with the wheel or with a long iron bar, after which the convict should be secretly strangled by the executioner. Cycling from the head was also used to mitigate punishment. The convict was immediately killed by a blow with a wheel or a bar on the head or chest. This shortened the suffering of the delinquent, which he would have experienced through the subsequent braiding of his limbs through the rungs of the wheel. A description of this process can be found in Sanson's diaries .
Other forms of retentia were: before being burned at the stake , the victim was secretly strangled in order to spare him the agony of suffocation or burning or hanging a sack of gunpowder that exploded in time.
Already in Roman times it was considered a favor to break the crucified Christ's feet or lower legs after some time in order to prevent him from supporting and thus shorten his agony. Corresponding descriptions can be found in Flavius Josephus , but also in the New Testament in John 19:32.
“So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first one, then the other who was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs "
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- Henri Sanson : Diaries of the executioners of Paris. 1685-1847 . Edited by Eberhard Wesemann and Knut-Hannes Wettig. License issue. Beck, Munich 1983, ISBN 3-406-09165-2 , note 168 (original title of the French edition from 1862: Sept generations d´exécuteur ).