HIST 3130 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Charivari, Witch-Hunt, Rusty Knife
17 Apr 2016
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John marketman anecdote, shows public executions were carried out in a context of ceremony and ritual, and the reactions which they aimed to excite among spectators were evidently more complicated than mere terror . Jealous of his wife, convinced she had been seeing former lover while he had been on a voyage. One day he came home drunk and was put to bed by his pregnant wife. His wife feared his mood when he awoke, made off to a neighbour"s house. When marketman, still drunk, awoke later, his jealousy aroused anew when he found her absent. He tracked down his wife and, stabbed her to death with a knife. Punishment: found guilty at essex assizes, sentenced to be hanged at normal place of execution in chelmsford. Begged to be hung where the crime occurred, west ham, request granted. Marketman"s performance on the gallows, although genuine in its motivation, was neither fortuitous nor premeditated.
