Franz Schmidt was the official executioner of Neuremburg at the turn of the 17th Century. Taking great pride in his grizzly work, despite the infamy that came with it, he kept a diary detailing every execution that he undertook, as well as the various 'minor bodily punishments' he inflicted.

I have read books about Schmidt before and was fascinated by his life and work, despite the fact I have to hide my eyes if an execution is included in a TV show I'm watching! So to find that this edition of his diary was available as part of my Audible subscription was brilliant. I really wanted to hear the words of the man himself, just to get a better sense of this person that might have otherwise been lost to history.

Clearly, the author could not have done the narration himself(!), but I wasn't fully prepared for the voice that came over the speakers. John McLain is a name that definitely suits this guy - he sounds like he should be doing the voiceovers for Hollywood blockbuster action movie trailers. As a result, it did take me a while to 'settle in' to the work. I personally think they could have done with a separate narrator for the introductions - when he was reading the diary itself, the voice suited the direct, short phrasing and to the point storytelling. But I found him a little too intense for the more nuanced discussions of the introductions, and likewise his tone did not change when switching from a straight reading of of the diary to indicate an editor's note or some other insert. 

I found the considerations of the scholars who wrote the introductions very insightful, breaking down the various stages of the criminal justice system in Germany at the time, the various torture/execution methods and so on. These were peppered with examples from Schmidt's own life, which made understanding the diary far easier. However, although the introductions cover two 'separate' topics, frustratingly there were many repeated examples and phrases; for example, the fact that Schmidt had a hand in changing the punishment for infanticide from drowning to beheading is mentioned numerous times. I appreciate this happens quite a lot when there are multiple contributions to a book, but I've always wondered why the authors don't read each other's submissions and then come together to edit their work to prevent this sort of thing. 

Another thing to be aware of is that, while the entries for the 'Executions' section of the diary is reproduced in its entirety, the 'Minor Bodily Punishments' section is essentially summarised, with the editors having picked out a selection of entries where more detail than just the name of the criminal and the punishment meted out is given. I was expecting abridgement as they warn you about this within the introduction, but it really is only a few entries, which is slightly disappointing when a lot of the entries in part 1 are just 'a thief, hanged'. In my opinion, either both parts should have been abridged, or the work should have been included in its entirety.

The diary is essentially a bullet pointed list for each year, and so if you're not overly interested in the subject matter it would definitely come across as very, very dry. However, I think it does give some clues to Schmidt's character - if nothing else, as it is a personal document rather than a mandated court record, it surely demonstrates that Schmidt had the ability to 'not take work home with him' in spades! It's a completely dispassionate record, starkly recalling facts of various cases in an objective manner and stating in straightforward terms the method in which they were dispatched. There are only a couple of occasions where his own thoughts sneak in, commenting in one case that he believed someone deserved a far harsher punishment for example. 

When you think of this period of history in Europe, you generally think of Elizabeth I, the Gunpowder Plot, witch trials etc etc etc. And with that comes an expectation of executions, torture and brutality. But this diary serves a stark reminder that these events were not necessarily as prevalent as you'd believe - the maximum number of people Schmidt executes in any one year is only 20! Objectively speaking, the level of punishment for certain crimes is deplorable, but again when you consider the numbers it makes you wonder if the 'deterrent' factor of the public execution perhaps did work better at that time than we might give credit for, or that the crime rate was so much lower than we would anticipate, the crimes that were committed would be viewed as 'worse', thus deserving harsher reprisals? 

Definitely gives you food for thought, and is a book I would recommend if you're studying / have an interest in history, law and or sociology.