Frantz Schmidt is an executioner, torturer and, most unusually for his times, diarist. Following in his father's footsteps, Frantz entered the executioner's trade as an Apprentice. 394 executions and forty-five years later, he retired to focus his attentions on running the large medical practice tha[...]

A primary source reader, illustrating the variety of Christian ideas and practices of the past two millennia.[...]

In the late 1500s a Nuremberg man named Frantz Schmidt began to do something utterly remarkable for his era: he started keeping a journal. But what makes Schmidt even more compelling to us is his day job. For forty-five years, Schmidt was an efficient and prolific public executioner, employed by the[...]

Welcome to the world of Frantz Schmidt: citizen of Nuremberg, executioner of 394 unfortunates, and torturer of many hundreds more. Most unusually for his times, Frantz was also a diarist. This title takes us inside his world and his thinking. Could a man who routinely practiced such cruelty also be [...]