Dictionary Definition
gibbet n : instrument of execution consisting of
a wooden frame from which condemned persons are executed by hanging
[syn: gallows, gallows
tree, gallows-tree,
gallous]
Verb
1 hang on an execution instrument
2 expose to ridicule or public scorn [syn:
pillory]
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Etymology
From gibetPronunciation
- Rhymes: -ɪbɪt
Extensive Definition
A gibbet is any of several different devices used
in the capital
punishment of criminals and the
deterrence of potential criminals.
When used as a verb, gibbeting refers to the
public display of executed criminals.
Execution equipment
Gallows
The word gibbet is sometimes used to describe a gallows, a structure used in the execution of criminals by hanging.Guillotine
Gibbet is also the name used for an early form of
the guillotine,
employed in Ireland, England, and
Scotland.
The British
Museum has a drawing depicting the execution of one Murcod
Ballagh in 1307 in Ireland.
A notable example was the Halifax
Gibbet employed in the West
Yorkshire town of Halifax,
where decapitation
was the penalty for numerous offences, including the theft of cloth
(Halifax being a centre of wool cloth manufacture). The device was
first used in 1286 (to execute John of Dalton) through to 1650 (to
execute Anthony Mitchell and John Wilkinson).
The Halifax model of gibbet was also introduced
in Scotland during the minority
reign of James VI (later King James
I of Great Britain), where it was known as the (Scottish)
Maiden.
James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton introduced the maiden, and
was later executed by the device, on 2 June 1581.
Display
Gibbet usually refers to a gallows-type structure
from which the dead bodies of executed criminals were hanged on
public display to deter other existing or potential criminals. It
can also be used as a verb, denoting the action of placing
criminals in gibbets. This practice is also called "hanging in
chains".
Gibbeting was common law
punishment, which a judge could impose in addition to execution.
This practice was regularised by the Murder Act 1752, which empowered
judges to impose this for murder. It was most often used for
traitors, murderers, highwaymen, and
sheep-stealers, to discourage others. The structures were therefore
often placed adjacent to public highways. There are many places
named Gibbet Hill
in England. One is between Coventry and
Kenilworth in
Warwickshire,
and others are found at Frome,
Somerset, near Haslemere in
Surrey, and
Mary
Tavy in Devon.
Exhibiting a body could 'backfire' against a
monarch, especially if they were unpopular. Henry of Montfort and
Henry of Wylynton, enemies of the king (Edward II) and
rebels were drawn and hanged and then exhibited on a gibbet near
Bristol, so
that others might abstain from similar crimes. However the people
made relics of these bloody and mutilated remains and surrounded
them with respect in violent protest. Even false miracles were
organised at the spot where the bodies were hanging.
Another example of the cage variation is the
gibbet iron, on display at the
Atwater Kent museum in Philadelphia,
U.S. The
cage, created in 1781, was intended to
be used to display the body of convicted pirate Thomas
Wilkinson so that sailors on passing ships might be warned of
the consequences of piracy. As Wilkinson's planned execution never
took place, the gibbet was never used.
An example of an iron cage used to string up
bodies on a gibbet can still be seen in the Westgate Museum at
Winchester.
Another example can be seen in Moyse's Hall
Museum http://www.moyseshall.orgBury St
Edmunds which was found in 1938, still with the skeleton of
John Nichols - executed in 1794 - inside. It is not known what
happened to the skeleton.
Public crucifixion with continued
display of the body after death can be seen as a form of
gibbeting.
Last recorded gibbetings
United Kingdom
The last two men gibbeted in England were William Jobling and James Cook, both in 1832. Their cases are good examples of the different attitudes to the practice.William Jobling was a miner hanged and gibbeted
for the murder of Nicholas Fairles, a colliery owner and local
magistrate, near
Jarrow,
Durham.
After being hanged the body was taken off the rope, and loaded into
a cart and taken on a tour of the area before arriving at Jarrow Slake
where the crime had been committed. Here the body was placed into
an iron gibbet cage. The cage and the scene was described
thus:
- "the body was encased in flat bars of iron of two and a half inches in breadth, the feet were placed in stirrups, from which a bar of iron went up each side of the head, and ended in a ring by which he was suspended; a bar from the collar went down the breast, and another down the back, there were also bars in the inside of the legs which communicated with the above; and crossbars at the ankles, the knees, the thighs, the bowels the breast and the shoulders; the hands were hung by the side and covered with pitch, the face was pitched and covered with a piece of white cloth."
The gibbet was a foot in diameter with strong
bars of iron up each side. The post was fixed into a one-and-a-half
ton stone base, sunk into the Slake. The body was soon removed by
fellow miners and given a decent burial.
James Cook was convicted of a gruesome murder in
Leicester. He was
executed on Friday 10 August
1832 in front
of Leicester prison. Afterwards:
- "The head was shaved and tarred, to preserve it from the action of the weather; and the cap in which he had suffered was drawn over his face. On Saturday afternoon his body, attired as at the time of his execution, having been firmly fixed in the irons necessary to keep the limbs together, was carried to the place of its intended suspension."
- "thousands of persons were attracted to the spot, to view this novel but most barbarous exhibition; and considerable annoyance was felt by persons resident in the neighbourhood of the dreadful scene. Representations were in consequence made to the authorities, and on the following Tuesday morning instructions were received from the Home Office directing the removal of the gibbet." In 1843 England outlawed gibbeting.