Guilty of spoiling the grain: 10 stories of how people judged animals

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Sometimes justice is the same for everyone. Even for our smaller brothers.

In the past, justice was much harsher than it is now. For petty crimes they could be whipped, and for witchcraft they could even be burned at the stake. The law did not spare not only people, but also animals. Here are the most memorable sentences handed down in different periods of history to animals, birds and even insects.

1. Execution of the Falaise pig

In 1386, in the city of Falaise, France, a hearing was held in the case of … a pig. An abandoned cattle attacked a three-month-old baby named Jean Le Meaux, the son of a local mason, and he did not survive her bites. Parents at that moment departed on important matters - for which, history is silent.

The pig was taken into custody in prison. The investigation lasted for 10 days, and all this time the suspect was kept at the expense of the city. In addition, as it should be in a state governed by the rule of law, the pig was assigned a free lawyer. The latter, however, could not help her.

The court found no mitigating circumstances in the case and sentenced the defendant to execution in the town square.

By order of the Viscount Falaise, the father of the deceased child was supposed to watch this - as a punishment for not looking after him. And local pigs - so that they know what awaits them if they also break the law. The execution was captured in detail in the murals of the local church of the Holy Trinity.

By the way, there is a record that the executioner ruined his gloves and asked for 10 sous to buy new ones. He received compensation, which he was “very pleased with”. Justice has been done.

2. The case of six piglets and their mother

In 1457, in the city of Savigny-sur-Ethan, a pig was accused of killing a five-year-old boy, Jean Martin, "by malice". In the end, the sow testified that she did it to feed her six children. For this she was executed.

But the court had to deal with the piglets separately. Their owner, Jean Beilly, refused to post bail and vouch for them, so the pigs were again in the dock. The court ruled that the piglets were innocent of the crime.

The unfortunate ones were involved in the crime out of thoughtlessness, undergoing the "pernicious influence of the mother."

Taking into account the minority of the defendants, the charges were dropped from them and transferred to the care of the local convent. Jean Beilly was exempted from payment of costs.

3. Hearings on charges of witchcraft

In Basel, Switzerland, a rooster named Peter was prosecuted in 1474. The long arms of justice grabbed him on the denunciation of the hostess. It seemed to her that he laid an egg, in which, moreover, there was no yolk. And this is very suspicious.

It was believed that a basilisk - a monster with the head and wings of a chicken, the body of a toad and the tail of a snake - would hatch from an egg that a rooster would lay and a toad hatch in the manure. This creature is so poisonous that its mere presence is enough to destroy the population of an average city.

In addition, the basilisk kills with a glance. And if some sorcerer subdues him, he will receive a high-quality long-term source of food, because the monster is able to spew sour cream from its mouth. It is not clear, however, how this is combined with the toxicity.

The toad, which was supposed to aide the rooster, was never found. But the bird was punished to the fullest extent of the law. He was accused of witchcraft and making a pact with the devil, and this is very serious.

The lawyer tried to prove that the deal with the enemy of the human race did not take place, and the defendant laid the egg without malicious intent. The debate lasted three weeks, but in the end the defense's arguments were not considered strong enough. In addition, Peter refused to cooperate with the investigation, "fiercely blaspheming."

The court ruled: he sold his soul to Satan, fell into heresy, practiced black magic, insulted the Church. Guilty of death.

In the end, Peter and his egg were burned in the town square to the cheers of the crowd.

4. Debate with Burgundy rats

The hearings with the participation of our smaller brothers did not always end in a conviction. If they were lucky with a defender, they could be acquitted. For example, in the 16th century in Autun, Burgundy, the famous lawyer Bartholomeo de Chassenet defended rats suspected of spoiling grain in city barns.

A subpoena was sent to the rats, but as expected, they did not appear at the hearings. De Chassenet said that the summons were made illegally: each suspect had to be invited to the meeting in person. The court had to appoint special officials who walked through the barns and read the summons to the rats.

Naturally, even after this, the rodents stubbornly refused to cooperate with the investigation.

Then Bartholomeo de Chassenet asked to postpone the meeting, as his clients needed more time to get to the courthouse from all over Burgundy. The court accepted the request.

When, after the allotted time, the rats did not come to the next hearing, de Chassenet explained this by the fact that they are afraid of local cats, because they exert psychological pressure on them. The lawyer reminded the court that, according to the laws of the country, the accused may not appear at the trial if the threat to his life is hanging over him.

The plaintiffs, local peasants, were ordered to remove the cats from the streets during the investigation in order to ensure the appearance of the defendants. If any animal violates the prescription and attacks one of the rats, a monetary fine will be issued to him. And the owner will have to pay it, because the financial situation of cats at all times was deplorable.

The peasants, of course, did not want to vouch for their cats, and the hearings in the rat case were postponed indefinitely. And then they dropped the charges altogether, because the plaintiffs refused to prosecute the defendants.

5. Legal claims against leeches and beetles

In 1451 in Lausanne, a local court sentenced 1.

2. the surrounding leeches to exile, ordering them to leave the city. Several bloodsuckers representing the defendant's side were brought to the courthouse to read the verdict.

When the parasites maliciously ignored the decision and continued to drink the blood of the townspeople with impunity, the Bishop of Lausanne excommunicated them from the church. And this is more terrible than some kind of exile.

In addition, beetles were also tried in Lausanne for harming fruit trees. They were also sentenced to exile and anathematized when they defied the order.

6. The case of the otensky weevils

Likewise, in 1488, in the town of Autun in France, a local bishop excommunicated the weevils that were damaging the fields. The court offered the defendants to resettle three times and even allocated derelict land for this, promising them concessions to pay a fine if they agreed to make a public repentance.

But the insects turned out to be too inveterate criminals and ignored the verdict. After the excommunication, the bishop ordered a procession to be held, cursing the weevils. Anathematized, they lost the right to repentance on the day of the Last Judgment.

7. The case of mice in Stelvio

In 1519, in the Italian town of Stelvio, mice were summoned to a meeting, accused of spoiling crops. They were assigned a public defender, attorney Hans Greenebner. He appealed to the mercy of the judges, reminding them that the mice were forced to commit a crime, as they "experienced hardship and hardship."

The prosecutor noted that, despite extenuating circumstances, the rodents should be punished, since their actions caused significant economic damage to the peasants. The court ruled to send the pests into exile, ordering to leave the borders of Stelvio and never return.

But at the same time, he condescendingly gave the rodents a two-week reprieve, providing a relaxation of the sentence to old, sick and pregnant mice, "as well as those who have minor children, or those who are still a child themselves."

8. Execution of the burgomaster-werewolf

In 1685, 1 appeared in the vicinity of the town of Ansbach in Germany.

2. the wolf who got into the habit of dragging away the livestock. Later, the beast began to attack women and children. It would seem that it is an ordinary starving animal, which should be caught by the local huntsmen.

However, the superstitious residents thought it was something more. Recently, a burgomaster - in other words, the mayor - by the name of Michael Leicht died in the city. And he was a rare bastard during his lifetime. And the townspeople decided that after death his character changed only for the worse. Everyone believed that Leicht rose from the grave and turned into a werewolf.

The women said that at night the burgomaster, wrapped in a white shroud, came to them, as if threatening them before an attack.

He also allegedly attended his own funeral, where he giggled ominously and prepared plans for retaliation.

Since the wolf was a werewolf, no one dared to fight him or hunt him down. The town was so-so: no one had silver bullets, and processions and prayers for some reason had no effect. Obviously, the werewolf was not anyhow, but special, led personally by the devil.

Finally, a local farmer, who had lost a particularly large amount of cattle, decided that he had enough to endure it. He dug a wolf's hole, covered it with brushwood and put a chicken on a leash next to it as bait. The burgomaster bought and fell into the trap. There the werewolf was killed.

Later, the wolf was put on trial - posthumous trials and executions were not uncommon in the Middle Ages. True, the judges looked at the werewolf and decided that he looked so-so. Therefore, they dressed him in the clothes of a burgomaster, put on a cardboard mask and a wig, read out the verdict and hung him on Mount Nuremberg near Ansbach.

Then the wolf was removed and made into a stuffed animal, which was placed in the city hall in order to prove to all narrow-minded skeptics that werewolves exist.

9. The case of the counterrevolutionary parrot

Even after the Middle Ages, the trials of animals continued, and sometimes not only the defendants themselves, but also their owners became victims of Themis.

For example, on April 23, 1794, a French family from a place called Bethune found themselves before the Revolutionary Tribunal. This is because their parrot had an annoying habit of yelling "Long live the king!"

At first, the feathered one was tried, but the members of the tribunal quickly established that he himself could not learn such outrageous speeches, therefore its owners are guilty. They were sentenced to the guillotine as counter-revolutionaries.

The parrot was handed over to a certain citizen by the name of Le Bon, who made him change his political beliefs and taught him the slogans "Long live the nation!" and "Long live the Republic!"

10. The Jimmy Dillio Monkey Case

In 1877, a funny incident happened in New York City 1.

2.. A certain Mary Shea, a hoarder, saw a street organ grinder. To his music, a trained monkey named Jimmy, dressed in a red corduroy suit, danced a jig.

Mary decided to treat the animal with candy and pet it. But in her caresses, she went too far, and the monkey bit her on the middle finger of her right hand.

Outraged Mary went to court and, shaking her bloody finger, demanded no less than the death penalty for the monkey.

The judge listened to the testimony of the victim and the organ-grinder, who officially represented the defendant at the hearing. And then he said that he saw no legal basis for sentencing the monkey to punishment, all the more so severe. The grateful monkey jumped onto the judge's table, respectfully took off her little velvet hat in front of him, and offered a handshake.

The police report, as reported by the New York Times in December of that year, stated the following about the incident: “The name is Jimmy Dillio. Occupation - a monkey. The verdict is acquitted."