Editing Death by burning (section)

===Christian states===
[[File:Filip2 albigensti.jpg|thumb|The burning of the [[Catharism|Cathar]] heretics]]
====Eastern Roman Empire====
Under 6th-century Emperor [[Justinian I]], the death penalty had been decreed for impenitent [[Manicheans]], but a specific punishment was not made explicit. By the 7th century, however, those found guilty of "dualist heresy" could risk being burned at the stake.<ref>''Hamilton, Hamilton, Stoyanov'' (1998), [https://books.google.com/books?id=uH-8AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA13 p. 13, footnote 42]</ref> Those found guilty of performing magical rites, and corrupting sacred objects in the process, might face death by burning, as evidenced in a 7th-century case.<ref>''Haldon'' (1997), [https://books.google.com/books?id=pSHmT1G_5T0C&pg=PA333 p. 333, footnote 22]</ref> In the 10th century AD, the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantines]] instituted death by burning for [[parricides]], i.e. those who had killed their own relatives, replacing the older punishment of ''[[poena cullei]]'', the stuffing of the convict into a leather sack, along with a rooster, a viper, a dog and a monkey, and then throwing the sack into the sea.<ref>''Trenchard-Smith, Turner'' (2010), [https://books.google.com/books?id=2ombkgpGt_AC&pg=PA48 p. 48, footnote 58]</ref>

====Medieval Inquisition and the burning of heretics====
[[File:Templars Burning.jpg|right|thumb|Burning of the [[Knights Templar]], 1314]]

The first recorded case of heretics being burnt in Western Europe in the [[Middle Ages]] occurred in 1022 at [[Orléans]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rice |first=Joshua |date=1 June 2022 |title=Burn in Hell |journal=History Today |volume=72 |issue=6 |pages=16–18}}[https://www.historytoday.com/archive/history-matters/burn-hell]</ref> Civil authorities burned persons judged to be [[Heresy|heretics]] under the [[medieval]] [[Inquisition]]. Burning heretics had become customary practice in the latter half of the twelfth century in continental Europe, and death by burning became statutory punishment from the early 13th century. Death by burning for heretics was made positive law by [[Pedro II of Aragon]] in 1197. In 1224, [[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor]], made burning a legal alternative, and in 1238, it became the principal punishment in the Empire. In [[Sicily]], the punishment was made law in 1231.

In England at the start of the 15th century, the teachings of [[John Wycliffe]] and the [[Lollards]] began to be seen as a threat to the establishment, and draconic punishments were enacted. In 1401, Parliament passed the ''[[De heretico comburendo]]'' Act, which can be loosely translated as "Regarding the burning of heretics." Lollard persecution would continue for over a hundred years in England. The [[Fire and Faggot Parliament]] met in May 1414 at [[Grey Friars Priory]] in [[Leicester]] to lay out the notorious [[Suppression of Heresy Act 1414]], enabling the burning of heretics by making the crime enforceable by the [[justices of the peace]]. [[John Oldcastle]], a prominent Lollard leader, was not saved from the gallows by his old friend King [[Henry V of England|Henry V]]. Oldcastle was hanged and his gallows burned in 1417. [[Jan Hus]] was burned at the stake after being accused at the Roman Catholic [[Council of Constance]] (1414–18) of heresy. The council also decreed that the remains of [[John Wycliffe]], dead for 30 years, should be exhumed and burned. This [[posthumous execution]] was carried out in 1428.

====Burnings of Jews====
[[File:Doutielt1.jpg|thumb|Representation of a massacre of the Jews in the 1349 Anti-Jew riots, that was justified by allegations that Jews were behind the [[Black Death|Black Death Epidemic]]. ''Antiquitates Flandriae'' ([[Royal Library of Belgium]] manuscript 1376/77).]]

Several incidents are recorded of massacres on [[Jews]] from the 12th through 16th centuries in which they were burned alive, often on account of the [[blood libel]]. In 1171 in [[Blois]], 51 Jews were burned alive (the entire adult community). In 1191, King [[Philip Augustus]] ordered around 100 Jews burnt alive.<ref>Both incidents in ''Weiss'' (2004), [{{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=oJOvpkHg7msC |page=104 }} p. 104]</ref> That Jews purportedly performed [[host desecration]] also led to mass burnings; In 1243 in [[Beelitz]], the entire Jewish community was burnt alive, and in 1510 in [[Berlin]], 26 Jews were burnt alive for the same crime.<ref>''Prager, Telushkin'' (2007), {{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=VK0llzUqQ2YC |page=87 }}</ref> During the "[[Black Death]]" in the mid-14th century a spate of large-scale [[Persecution of Jews during the Black Death|massacres]] occurred. One libel was that the Jews had [[well poisoning|poisoned the wells]]. In 1349, as panic grew along with the increasing death toll from the plague, general massacres, but also specifically mass burnings, began to occur. Six hundred Jews were burnt alive in [[Basel]] alone. A large mass burning occurred in [[Strasbourg]], where several hundred Jews were burnt alive in what became known as the [[Strasbourg massacre]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/jewish/1348-jewsblackdeath.asp | title=Internet History Sourcebooks Project }}</ref>

A Jewish man, Johannes Pfefferkorn, met a particularly gruesome death in 1514 in [[Halle (Saale)|Halle]]. He had been accused of having impersonated a priest for twenty years, performing [[host desecration]], stealing Christian children to be tortured and killed by other Jews, poisoning 13 people and poisoning wells. He was lashed to a pillar in such a way that he could run about it. Then, a ring of glowing coal was made around him, and gradually pushed ever closer to him, until he was roasted to death.<ref>''Bülau'' (1860), {{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=z4YBAAAAQAAJ |page=423–424 }}</ref>

====Lepers' Plot of 1321====
Not only Jews could be victims of mass hysteria. The charge of well-poisoning was the basis for a [[1321 lepers' plot|large-scale hunt of lepers in 1321 France]]. In the spring of 1321, in [[Périgueux]], people became convinced that the local lepers had poisoned the wells, causing ill-health among the normal populace. The lepers were rounded up and burned alive. The action against the lepers had repercussions throughout France, not least because King [[Philip V of France|Philip V]] issued an order to arrest all lepers, those found guilty to be burnt alive. Jews became tangentially included as well; at [[Chinon]] alone, 160 Jews were burnt alive.<ref>''Richards'' (2013), [https://books.google.com/books?id=saXbAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA161 pp. 161–163]</ref> All in all, around 5,000 lepers and Jews are recorded in one tradition to have been killed during the Lepers' Plot hysteria.<ref>''John, Pope'' (2003), [https://books.google.com/books?id=-_fnv5pmECsC&pg=PA177 p. 177]</ref>

The charge of the lepers' plot was not wholly confined to France; extant records from England show that on [[Jersey]] the same year, at least one family of lepers was burnt alive for having poisoned others.<ref>''Smirke'' (1865), [https://books.google.com/books?id=G4dbAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA326 pp. 326–331]</ref>

====Spanish Inquisition====
{{See| Auto-da-fé}}
[[File:Anneken Hendriks, Dam, Amsterdam, by Jan Luyken.jpg|thumb|The burning of a 16th-century Dutch [[Anabaptist]], [[Anneken Hendriks]], who was charged with heresy]]
The [[Spanish Inquisition]] was established in 1478, with the aim of preserving Catholic orthodoxy; some of its principal targets were "[[Marranos]]", formally converted Jews thought to have relapsed into [[Judaism]], or the [[Moriscos]], formally converted Muslims thought to have relapsed into [[Islam]]. The public executions of the Spanish Inquisition were called [[autos-da-fé]]; convicts were "released" (handed over) to secular authorities in order to be burnt.

Estimates of how many were executed on behest of the Spanish Inquisition have been offered from early on; historian [[Hernando del Pulgar]] (1436–{{circa|1492}}) estimated that 2,000 people were burned at the stake between 1478 and 1490.<ref>[[Henry Kamen]], ''The Spanish Inquisition: A Historical Revision.'', p. 62, (Yale University Press, 1997).</ref> Estimates ranging from 30,000 to 50,000 burnt at the stake (alive or not) at the behest of the Spanish Inquisition during its 300 years of activity have previously been given and are still to be found in popular books.<ref>On mercy, and 50,000 estimate, for Marranos ''Telchin'' (2004), [https://books.google.com/books?id=4K7QH76_HdIC&pg=PA41 p. 41] On 30,000 estimate of Marranos ''killed'', see ''Pasachoff, Littman'' (2005), [https://books.google.com/books?id=z4eaj09hscAC&pg=PA151 p. 151]</ref>

In February 1481, in what is said to be the first auto-da-fé, six Marranos were burnt alive in [[Seville]]. In November 1481, 298 Marranos were burnt publicly at the same place, their property confiscated by the Church.{{citation needed|date=August 2019}} Not all Marranos executed by being burnt at the stake seem to have been burnt alive. If the Jew confessed his heresy, the Church would show mercy, and he would be strangled prior to the burning. Autos-da-fé against Marranos extended beyond the Spanish heartland. In Sicily, in 1511–15, 79 were burnt at the stake, while from 1511 to 1560, 441 Marranos were condemned to be burned alive.<ref>''Cipolla'' (2005), [https://books.google.com/books?id=Sggys-_O-2cC&pg=PA91 p. 91]</ref> In Spanish American colonies, autos-da-fé were held as well. In 1664, a man and his wife were burned alive in [[Río de la Plata]], and in 1699, a Jew was burnt alive in [[Mexico City]].<ref>''Stillman, Zucker'' (1993) '''On the Río de la Plata incident''', see ''Matilde Gini de Barnatan'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=yq7VUKWz5dwC&pg=PA144 p. 144], '''on Mexico City incident''', see ''Eva Alexandra Uchmany'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=yq7VUKWz5dwC&pg=PA128 p. 128]</ref>

In 1535, five Moriscos were burned at the stake on [[Majorca]]; the images of a further four were also burnt in [[effigy]], since the actual individuals had managed to flee. During the 1540s, some 232 Moriscos were paraded in autos-da-fé in [[Zaragoza]]; five of those were burnt at the stake.<ref>''Carr'' (2009), [https://archive.org/details/bloodfaithpurgin00carr/page/101 p. 101]</ref> The claim that out of 917 Moriscos appearing in autos of the Inquisition in [[Granada]] between 1550 and 1595, just 20 were executed<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/spanishinquisition2|title=The Spanish Inquisition A Historical Revision 4th Ed. By Henry Kamen|last=Henry Kamen|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> seems at odds with the English government's state papers which claim that, while at war with Spain, they received a report from Seville of 17 June 1593 that over 70 of the richest men of Granada were burnt.<ref>List And Analysis of State Papers Foreign, Jul 1593 – Dec 1594. v. 5; p. 444 (595): by Public Record Office ({{ISBN|978-0114402181}})</ref> As late as 1728 as many as 45 Moriscos were recorded as having been burned for heresy.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Matar |first=Nabil |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z2QRd_rbWu8C&pg=PR21 |title=Europe Through Arab Eyes, 1578–1727 |date=2008-11-12 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-51208-4 |page=xxi |language=en}}</ref> In the May 1691 "bonfire of the Jews", Rafael Valls, Rafael Benito Terongi and [[Caterina Tarongí|Catalina Terongi]] were burned alive.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/07/world/europe/07iht-spain07.html|title=In Majorca, Atoning for the Sins of 1691|first=Doreen|last=Carvajal|newspaper=The New York Times|date=7 May 2011|access-date=20 October 2018}}</ref><ref>[[Nachman Seltzer]], ''Incredible'', Shaar Press, 2016</ref>

====Portuguese Inquisition at Goa====
In 1560, the [[Portuguese Inquisition]] opened offices in the Indian colony [[Goa]], known as [[Goa Inquisition]]. Its aim was to protect Catholic orthodoxy among new converts to Christianity, and retain its hold on the old, particularly against "Judaizing" deviancy. From the 17th century, Europeans were shocked at the tales of how brutal and extensive the activities of the Inquisition were.{{Citation needed|date=June 2017}} Modern scholars have established that some 4,046 individuals in the time 1560–1773 received some sort of punishment from the Portuguese Inquisition, of whom 121 persons were condemned to be burned alive; 57 actually suffered that fate, while the rest escaped it, and were burnt in effigy instead.<ref>Already noted originally by ''Hunter'' (1886), [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vdv7AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA253 pp. 253–254], see also ''Salomon, Sassoon, Saraiva'' (2001), pp. 345–347</ref> For the Portuguese Inquisition in total, not just at Goa, modern estimates of persons actually executed on its behest is about 1,200, whether burnt alive or not.<ref>See extensive table at [[Portuguese Inquisition]], ''de Almeida'' (1923), in particular p. 442</ref>

===="Crimes against nature"====
[[File:Burning of Sodomites.jpg|left|thumb|Burning of two [[homosexuals]], [[Richard Puller von Hohenburg]] and Anton Mätzler, at the stake outside [[Zürich]], 1482 ([[Spiezer Schilling]])]]

From the 12th to the 18th centuries, various European authorities legislated (and held judicial proceedings) against sexual crimes such as [[sodomy]] or [[bestiality]]; often, the prescribed punishment was that of death by burning. Many scholars think that the first time death by burning appeared within explicit codes of law for the crime of sodomy was at the ecclesiastical 1120 [[Council of Nablus]] in the [[Crusades|crusader]] [[Kingdom of Jerusalem]]. Here, if public repentance were done, the death penalty might be avoided.<ref>See for '''first time''' ''Heng'' (2013), [https://books.google.com/books?id=pRXvHbNLPQ0C&pg=PA56 p. 56] on '''option of public repentance''' ''Puff, Bennett, Karras'' (2013), [https://books.google.com/books?id=QThLAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA387 p. 387]</ref> In Spain, the earliest records for executions for the crime of sodomy are from the 13th to 14th centuries, and it is noted there that the preferred mode of execution was death by burning. The Partidas of King [[Alfonso X of Castile|Alfonso "El Sabio"]] condemned sodomites to be castrated and hung upside down to die from the bleeding, following the Old Testament phrase "their blood shall be upon them".<ref>''Pickett'' (2009), [https://books.google.com/books?id=XH-SMq-NKf0C&pg=PA178 p. 178]</ref> At [[Geneva]], the first recorded burning of sodomites occurred in 1555, and up to 1678, some two dozen met the same fate. In [[Venice]], the first burning took place in 1492, and a monk was burnt as late as 1771.<ref>'''On Geneva and Venice''', see ''Coward, Dynes, Donaldson'' (1992), [https://books.google.com/books?id=y8_Ya2s3zN8C&pg=PA36 p. 36]</ref> The last case in France where two men were condemned by court to be burned alive for engaging in consensual homosexual sex was in 1750 (although, it seems, they were actually strangled prior to being burned). The last case in France where a man was condemned to be burned for a murderous rape of a boy occurred in 1784.<ref>''Crompton'' (2006), [https://books.google.com/books?id=TfBYd9xVaXcC&pg=PA450 p. 450]</ref>

Crackdowns and the public burning of a homosexual couple sometimes led others to flee out of fear of a similar fate. The traveller [[William Lithgow (traveller and author)|William Lithgow]] witnessed such a dynamic when he visited [[Malta]] in 1616 :{{blockquote|''The fifth day of my staying here, I saw a Spanish soldier and a Maltezen boy burnt in ashes, for the public profession of sodomy; and long before night, there were above an hundred bardassoes, whorish boys, that fled away to Sicily in a galliot, for fear of fire; but never one bugeron stirred, being few or none there free of it.''<ref>''Lithgow'' (1814), [https://books.google.com/books?id=whMwAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA305 p. 305]</ref>}}

In 1409 and 1532 in [[Augsburg]] two [[pederasts]] were burned alive for their offenses.<ref>''Osenbrüggen'' (1860), [https://archive.org/details/dasalamannische00osengoog/page/n308 p. 290]</ref>

====Penal code of Charles V====
In 1532, Holy Roman Emperor [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] promulgated his penal code [[Constitutio Criminalis Carolina]]. A number of crimes were punishable with death by burning, such as coin [[forgery]], [[arson]], and sexual acts "contrary to nature".<ref>specified as men or women found guilty of same-sex sexual behaviour or guilty of having had sex with animals.</ref> Also, those guilty of aggravated theft of sacred objects from a church could be condemned to be burnt alive.<ref>As late as in 1730 [[Poznań|Posen]], a church robber had his right hand cut off, and the stump covered in pitch. Then, the pitch was ignited, and the person was burnt alive on a pyre as well. ''Oehlschlaeger'' (1866), [https://books.google.com/books?id=F41aAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA55 p. 55]</ref> Only those found guilty of ''malevolent'' witchcraft<ref>No fixed penalty was placed on performing acts of witchcraft that had caused no harm</ref> could be punished by death by fire.<ref>All in ''Koch'' (1824) '''Coin forgers''': [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_q_o6AAAAcAAJ/page/n125 <!-- pg=52 --> Article 111, p. 52], '''Malevolent witchcraft''': [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_q_o6AAAAcAAJ/page/n68 <!-- pg=55 --> Article 109, p. 55] '''Sexual acts contrary to nature''':[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_q_o6AAAAcAAJ/page/n61 <!-- pg=58 --> Article 116, p. 58], '''Arson''':[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_q_o6AAAAcAAJ/page/n64 <!-- pg=61 --> Article 125, p. 61], '''Theft of sacred objects''': [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_q_o6AAAAcAAJ/page/n157 <!-- pg=84 --> Article 172, p. 84]</ref>

====Witches and heretics====
[[File:Wickiana5.jpg|thumb|Burning of three witches in [[Baden, Switzerland|Baden]] (1585), from the [[Wickiana]] Collection|alt=]]
Burning was used during the [[Witch-hunt#Early Modern Europe and Colonial America|witch-hunts of Europe]], although hanging was the preferred style of execution in England and Wales. The penal code known as the [[Constitutio Criminalis Carolina]] (1532) decreed that sorcery throughout the [[Holy Roman Empire]] should be treated as a criminal offence, and if it purported to inflict injury upon any person the witch was to be burnt at the stake. In 1572, [[Augustus, Elector of Saxony]] imposed the penalty of burning for witchcraft of every kind, including simple [[fortunetelling]].<ref>''Thurston'' (1912) [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15674a.htm%20New%20Advent Witchcraft], 2010 web resource.{{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> From the latter half of the 18th century, the number of "[[Witch trials in the early modern period|nine million witches]] burned in Europe" has been bandied about in popular accounts and media, but has never had a following among specialist researchers.<ref>Professional researchers in the 19th, and early 20th century tended to ''refuse'' giving any quantification at all but, when pushed, typically landed on about 100,000 to 1 million victims</ref> Today, based on meticulous study of trial records, ecclesiastical and inquisitorial registers and so on, as well as on the utilization of modern statistical methods, the specialist research community on witchcraft has reached an agreement for roughly 40,000–50,000 people executed for witchcraft in Europe in total, and by no means all of them executed by being burned alive. Furthermore, it is solidly established that the peak period of witch-hunts was the century 1550–1650, with a slow increase preceding it, from the 15th century onward, as well as a sharp drop following it, with "witch-hunts" having basically fizzled out by the first half of the 18th century.<ref>See [[Wolfgang Behringer]] (1998) on the history of witch-counting, and on specialist academic consensus, [http://www.historicum.net/themen/hexenforschung/thementexte/rezeption/art/Neun_Millionen/html/ca/0e43e9dea3a4144c50997da6aa74bd34/ Neun Millionen Hexen] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190128080612/https://www.historicum.net/themen/hexenforschung/thementexte/rezeption/art/Neun_Millionen/html/ca/0e43e9dea3a4144c50997da6aa74bd34/ |date=28 January 2019 }} Originally published in GWU 49 (1998) pp. 664–685, web publication 2006</ref>
[[File:Jan Hus at the Stake.jpg|thumb|left|[[Jan Hus]] burnt at the stake]]
[[File:Stilke Hermann Anton - Joan of Arc's Death at the Stake.jpg|upright|thumb|''Joan of Arc's Death at the Stake'', by [[Hermann Stilke]] (1843)]]
Notable individuals executed by burning include [[Jacques de Molay]] (1314),<ref>Contemporary description of the burning at Ile-des-Javiaux in ''Barber'' (1993), [https://books.google.com/books?id=GEu58-OIT1MC&pg=PA241 p. 241]</ref> [[Jan Hus]] (1415),<ref>Extracts of eyewitness report at website of Columbia University, ''Peter from Mladonovic'' (2003), [http://www.columbia.edu/~js322/misc/hus-eng.html How was executed Jan Hus] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130306132946/http://www.columbia.edu/~js322/misc/hus-eng.html |date=6 March 2013 }}</ref> [[Joan of Arc]] (1431),<ref>Reconstruction of Joan of Arc's death scene in ''Mooney, Patterson'' (2002), [https://books.google.com/books?id=0hYWzuecyHMC&pg=PA1 pp. 1–2] excerpt from ''Mooney'' (1919)</ref> [[Girolamo Savonarola]] (1498),<ref>Eyewitness account provided in ''Landucci, Jarvis'' (1927), [https://archive.org/stream/ldpd_10273453_000#page/n169/mode/2up pp. 142–143]</ref> [[Patrick Hamilton (martyr)|Patrick Hamilton]] (1528),<ref>According to eyewitness [[Alexander Ales]], Hamilton entered the pyre at noon, and died after six hours burning, see ''Tjernagel'' (1974, web reprint), [http://www.wlsessays.net/node/1535 p. 6] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100707174042/http://www.wlsessays.net/node/1535 |date=7 July 2010 }}</ref> [[John Frith (martyr)|John Frith]] (1533),<ref>Description of John Frith's death in ''Foxe, Townsend, Cattley'' (1838), [https://books.google.com/books?id=5hA5AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA15 p. 15]</ref> [[William Tyndale]] (1536), [[Michael Servetus]] (1553),<ref>Detailed description of Servetus' death at ''Kurth'' (2002) [http://www.salon.com/2002/11/12/goldstone/ Out of the Flames]</ref> [[Giordano Bruno]] (1600),<ref>A perfunctory official notice of the manner of his death 17 February 1600, is contained in ''Rowland'' (2009), [https://books.google.com/books?id=Gus_rugtLN0C&pg=PA10 p. 10]</ref> [[Urbain Grandier]] (1634),<ref>Apparently, Grenadier had been promised to be strangled prior to his burning, but his executioners reneged on that promise as he was fastened to the stake. See '''modern monograph''' ''Rapley'' (2001), in particular [https://books.google.com/books?id=lxlHuai91ZsC&pg=PA195 pp. 195–198], for a '''classic description''', see [[Alexandre Dumas]] on the execution details in ''Dumas'' (1843), [https://books.google.com/books?id=t64SAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA424 pp. 424–426]</ref> and [[Avvakum]] (1682).<ref>Alan Wood describes Avvakum's execution as follows: ''Avvakum and three fellow prisoners were led from their icy cells to an elaborate pyre of pinewood billets and there burned alive. The tsar had finally rid himself of "this turbulent priest"'', ''Wood'' (2011), [https://books.google.com/books?id=VZZLAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA44 p. 44]</ref> Anglican martyrs [[John Rogers (Bible editor and martyr)|John Rogers]],<ref>''Foxe, Milner, Cobbin'' (1856), [https://archive.org/details/foxesbookofmarty00fo/page/608 pp. 608–609]</ref> [[Hugh Latimer]] and [[Nicholas Ridley (martyr)|Nicholas Ridley]] were burned at the stake in 1555.<ref>''Foxe, Milner, Cobbin'' (1856), [https://archive.org/details/foxesbookofmarty00fo/page/864 pp. 864–865]</ref> [[Thomas Cranmer]] followed the next year (1556).<ref>''Foxe, Milner, Cobbin'' (1856), [https://archive.org/details/foxesbookofmarty00fo/page/925 pp. 925–926]</ref>

====Denmark====
In Denmark, after the 1536 [[Reformation]], [[Christian IV of Denmark]] (r. 1588–1648) encouraged the practice of burning witches, in particular by the law against witchcraft in 1617. In [[Jutland]], the mainland part of Denmark, more than half the recorded cases of witchcraft in the 16th and 17th centuries occurred after 1617. Rough estimates says about a thousand persons were executed due to convictions for [[witchcraft]] in the 1500–1600s, but it is not wholly clear if all of the transgressors were burned to death.<ref>For Denmark, see ''Burns'' (2003), [https://books.google.com/books?id=Qr6_q-chR6MC&pg=PA64 pp. 64–65]</ref>

====England====
[[Mary I]] ordered hundreds of [[Protestants]] burnt at the stake during her reign (1553–58) in what would be known as the "[[List of Protestant martyrs of the English Reformation#List of Marian Martyrs|Marian Persecutions]]" earning her the epithet of "Bloody" Mary.<ref>[[John Foxe]] is particularly mentioned in being assiduous at documenting such cases of persecutions. See, ''Miller'' (1972), [https://books.google.com/books?id=3S89AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA72 p. 72]</ref> Many of those executed by Mary are listed in ''[[Foxe's Book of Martyrs|Actes and Monuments]]'', written by [[John Foxe|Foxe]] in 1563 and 1570.

[[Edward Wightman]], a radical Anabaptist from [[Burton on Trent]], who publicly denied the Trinity and the divinity of [[Christ]] was the last person burned at the stake for [[heresy]] in England in [[Lichfield|Lichfield, Staffordshire]] on 11 April 1612.<ref>For a claim of the last heretic burned at the stake, see ''Durso'' (2007), [https://books.google.com/books?id=68jfRYQo3zsC&pg=PA29 p. 29]</ref> Although cases can be found of burning heretics in the 16th and 17th centuries in England, that penalty for heretics was historically relatively new. It did not exist in 14th-century England, and when the bishops in England petitioned King [[Richard II]] to institute death by burning for heretics in 1397, he flatly refused, and no one was burnt for heresy during his reign.<ref>''Sayles'' (1971) [https://books.google.com/books?id=HVQLAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA31 p. 31]</ref> Just one year after his death, however, in 1401, [[William Sawtrey]] was burnt alive for heresy.<ref>''Richards'' (1812), [https://books.google.com/books?id=JRkwAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1190 p. 1190]</ref> Death by burning for heresy was formally abolished by Parliament during the reign of King [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] in 1676.<ref>''Willis-Bund'' (1982), [https://books.google.com/books?id=2gA9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA95 p. 95]</ref>

The traditional punishment for women found guilty of treason was to be [[Burning of women in England|burned at the stake]], where they did not need to be publicly displayed naked, whereas men were [[hanged, drawn and quartered]]. The jurist [[William Blackstone]] argued as follows for the different punishments for females and males:
{{blockquote|For as the decency due to sex forbids the exposing and public mangling of their bodies, their sentence (which is to the full as terrible to sensation as the other) is to be drawn to the gallows and there be burned alive<ref>Direct citation in ''McLynn'' (2013), [https://books.google.com/books?id=Ylf8t7uSGJEC&pg=PA122 p. 122]</ref>}}

However, as described in Camille Naish's "Death Comes to the Maiden", in practice, the woman's clothing would burn away at the beginning, and she would be left naked anyway.{{citation needed|date=June 2018}} There were two types of treason: [[high treason]], for crimes against the sovereign; and [[petty treason]], for the murder of one's lawful superior, including that of a husband by his wife. Commenting on the 18th-century execution practice, Frank McLynn says that most convicts condemned to burning were not burnt alive, and that the executioners made sure the women were dead before consigning them to the flames.<ref>''McLynn'' (2013), [https://books.google.com/books?id=Ylf8t7uSGJEC&pg=PA122 p. 122]</ref>

The last person condemned to death for "petty treason" was Mary Bailey, whose body was burned in 1784. The last woman to be convicted for "high treason", and have her body burnt, in this case for the crime of coin forgery, was [[Catherine Murphy (counterfeiter)|Catherine Murphy]] in 1789.<ref>Comprehensive list at capitalpunishmentuk.org, [http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/burning.html Burning at the stake].</ref> The last case where a woman was actually burnt alive in England is that of [[Catherine Hayes (murderer)|Catherine Hayes]] in 1726, for the murder of her husband. In this case, one account says this happened because the executioner accidentally set fire to the pyre before he had hanged Hayes properly.<ref>''O'Shea'' (1999), [https://books.google.com/books?id=YvdKyEJo0osC&pg=PA3 p. 3]</ref> The historian [[Rictor Norton]] has assembled a number of contemporary newspaper reports on the actual death of Mrs. Hayes, internally somewhat divergent. The following excerpt is one example: {{blockquote|The fuel being placed round her, and lighted with a torch, she begg'd for the sake of Jesus, to be strangled first: whereupon the Executioner drew tight the halter, but the flame coming to his hand in the space of a second, he let it go, when she gave three dreadful shrieks; but the flames taking her on all sides, she was heard no more; and the Executioner throwing a piece of timber into the Fire, it broke her skull, when her brains came plentifully out; and in about an hour more she was entirely reduced to ashes.<ref>See website article, [http://rictornorton.co.uk/grubstreet/hayes.htm The Case of Catherine Hayes] at [http://rictornorton.co.uk/ rictornorton.co.uk] See also the detailed synthesis at capitalpunishmentuk.org, [http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/hayes.html Catherine Hayes burnt for Petty Treason]</ref>}}

====Scotland====
[[James VI of Scotland]] (later James I of England) shared the Danish king's interest in witch trials. This special interest of the king resulted in the [[North Berwick witch trials]], which led more than seventy people to be accused of witchcraft. James sailed in 1590 to Denmark to meet his betrothed, [[Anne of Denmark]], who, ironically, is believed by some to have secretly converted to Roman Catholicism herself from [[Lutheranism]] around 1598, although historians are divided on whether she ever was received into the Roman Catholic faith.<ref>"Some time in the 1590s, Anne became a Roman Catholic." ''Wilson'' (1963), p. 95 "Some time after 1600, but well before March 1603, Queen Anne was received into the Catholic Church in a secret chamber in the royal palace" ''Fraser'' (1997), p. 15 "The Queen ... [converted] from her native Lutheranism to a discreet, but still politically embarrassing Catholicism which alienated many ministers of the Kirk" ''Croft'' (2003), pp. 24–25 "Catholic foreign ambassadors—who would surely have welcomed such a situation—were certain that the Queen was beyond their reach. 'She is a Lutheran', concluded the [[Republic of Venice|Venetian]] envoy Nicolo Molin in 1606." ''Stewart'' (2003), p. 182 "In 1602 a report appeared, claiming that Anne ... had converted to the Catholic faith some years before. The author of this report, the Scottish [[Jesuit]] [[Robert Abercromby (missionary)|Robert Abercromby]], testified that James had received his wife's desertion with equanimity, commenting, 'Well, wife, if you cannot live without this sort of thing, do your best to keep things as quiet as possible.' Anne would, indeed, keep her religious beliefs as quiet as possible: for the remainder of her life—even after her death—they remained obfuscated." ''Hogge'' (2005), pp. 303–304</ref>

The last to be executed as a witch in Scotland was [[Janet Horne]] in 1727, condemned to death for using her own daughter as a flying horse in order to travel. Horne was burnt alive in a tar barrel.<ref>''Pavlac'' (2009), [https://books.google.com/books?id=KCjlptFEMZsC&pg=PA145 p. 145]</ref>

====Ireland====
[[Petronilla de Meath]] ({{circa|1300}}–1324) was the maidservant of Dame [[Alice Kyteler]], a 14th-century [[Hiberno-Norman]] noblewoman. After the death of Kyteler's fourth husband, the widow was accused of practicing [[witchcraft]] and Petronilla of being her accomplice. Petronilla was tortured and forced to proclaim that she and Kyteler were guilty of witchcraft. Petronilla was then flogged and eventually burnt at the stake on 3 November 1324, in [[Kilkenny]], Ireland.<ref name=":1">''de Ledrede, Wright'' (1843)</ref><ref>de ''Ledrede, Davidson, Ward'' (2004)</ref> Hers was the first known case in the history of the [[British Isles]] of death by fire for the crime of [[heresy]]. Kyteler was charged by the [[Bishop of Ossory]], [[Richard de Ledrede]], with a wide slate of crimes, from [[Magic (paranormal)|sorcery]] and [[demonism]] to the murders of several husbands. She was accused of having illegally acquired her wealth through [[witchcraft]], which accusations came principally from her stepchildren, the children of her late husbands by their previous marriages. The trial predated any formal witchcraft statute in Ireland, thus relying on [[ecclesiastical law]] (which treated witchcraft as [[heresy]]) rather than [[common law]] (which treated it as a [[felony]]). Under torture, Petronilla claimed she and her mistress applied a magical ointment to a wooden beam, which enabled both women to fly. She was then forced to proclaim publicly that Lady Alice and her followers were guilty of witchcraft.<ref name=":1"/> Some were convicted and whipped, but others, Petronilla included, were burnt at the stake. With the help of relatives, Alice Kyteler fled, taking with her Petronilla's daughter, Basilia.<ref>Story of flight in contemporary chronicle ''Gilbert'' (2012), [https://books.google.com/books?id=R_w-CZ0eXnYC&pg=PR134 p. cxxxiv]</ref>

In 1327 or 1328, [[Adam Duff O'Toole]] was burned at the stake in Dublin for [[heresy]] after branding [[Christian scripture]] a fable and denying the [[resurrection of Jesus]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/burnt-at-the-stake-was-the-original-punishment-for-blasphemy-in-ireland|title=Burned at the stake was the original punishment for blasphemy in Ireland|date=11 May 2017|website=IrishCentral.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.ie/regionals/wicklowpeople/news/heretic-was-burned-at-the-stake-27855759.html|title=Heretic was burned at the stake|website=The Irish Independent|date=11 August 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/blasphemy-from-being-burned-at-the-stake-in-1328-to-a-25000-fine-in-2017-449655.html|title=Blasphemy: From being burned at the stake in 1328 to a €25,000 fine in 2017|date=9 May 2017|website=Irish Examiner}}</ref>

The brothel madam [[Darkey Kelly]] was convicted of murdering shoemaker John Dowling in 1760 and burned at the stake in Dublin on 7 January 1761. Later legends claimed that she was a [[serial killer]] and/or [[witch]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://georgianera.wordpress.com/2018/02/15/darkey-kelly-brothel-keeper-of-dublin/|title='Darkey Kelly', Brothel Keeper of Dublin|first=Sarah|last=Murden|date=15 February 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Cathy Hayes |url=http://www.irishcentral.com/news/was-irish-witch-darkey-kelly-really-irelands-first-serial-killer-113340849-237364711.html |title=Was Irish witch Darkey Kelly really Ireland's first serial killer? |publisher=IrishCentral.com |date=12 January 2011 |access-date=4 March 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://nosmokewithouthellfire1.podomatic.com/ |title=PodOmatic &#124; Podcast – No Smoke Without Hellfire |publisher=Nosmokewithouthellfire1.podomatic.com |date=19 January 2011 |access-date=4 March 2015}}</ref>

In 1895, [[Bridget Cleary]] (née Boland), a [[County Tipperary]] woman, was burnt by her husband and others, the stated motive for the crime being the belief that the real Bridget had been abducted by [[fairy|fairies]] with a [[changeling]] left in her place. Her husband claimed to have slain only the changeling. The gruesome nature of the case prompted extensive press coverage. The trial was closely followed by newspapers in both Ireland and Britain.<ref name="McCullough-NYT">''McCullough'' (2000), [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE4D91E3AF93BA35753C1A9669C8B63 The Fairy Defense]</ref> As one reviewer commented, nobody, with the possible exception of the presiding judge, thought it was an ordinary murder case.<ref name="McCullough-NYT"/>

====Greece====
The [[Greek War of Independence]] in the 1820s contained several instances of death by burning. When the Greeks in April 1821 captured a [[corvette]] near [[Hydra (island)|Hydra]], the Greeks chose to roast to death the 57 [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] crew members. After the fall of [[Siege of Tripolitsa|Tripolitsa]] in September 1821, European officers were horrified to note that not only were Muslims suspected of hiding money being slowly roasted after having had their arms and legs cut off but also, in one instance, three Muslim children were roasted over a fire while their parents were forced to watch. On their part, the Ottomans committed many similar acts. In retaliation they gathered up Greeks in [[Constantinople]], throwing several of them into huge ovens, baking them to death.<ref>[[William St Clair]], ''That Greece Might Still Be Free'' (2008) ''Hydra incident'', p. xxiv, ''those suspected of hiding money'', p. 45, ''the three Turkish children'', p. 77, ''baked in ovens'', p. 81</ref>

====Last judicial burnings====
According to the jurist {{Interlanguage link multi|Eduard Osenbrüggen|de}}, the last case he knew of where a person had been judicially burned alive on account of arson in Germany happened in 1804, in [[:de:Hötzelsroda|Hötzelsroda]], close by [[Eisenach]].<ref>''Osenbrüggen'' (1854), [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_C-4PAAAAYAAJ/page/n33 p. 21] For a similar, more modern assessment, as well as locating the incident to Hötzelsroda, see Dietze (1995)</ref> The manner in which Johannes Thomas<ref>Last name "Mothas" used in extended account in ''Bischoff, Hitzig'' (1832), real name "Thomas" given in ''Herden'' (2005), [https://books.google.com/books?id=wVNuf9VEhGkC&pg=PA89 p. 89]</ref> was executed on 13 July that year is described as follows: Some feet above the actual pyre, attached to a stake, a wooden chamber had been constructed, into which the delinquent was placed. Pipes or chimneys filled with sulphuric material led up to the chamber, and that was first lit, so that Thomas died from inhaling the sulphuric smoke, rather than being strictly burnt alive, before his body was consumed by the general fire. Some 20,000 people had gathered to watch Thomas' execution.<ref>On the manner of execution according to the original account, see ''Bischoff, Hitzig'' (1832), [https://books.google.com/books?id=88dCAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA178 p. 178] Contemporary newspaper notice, ''Hübner'' (1804), [https://books.google.com/books?id=jyVEAAAAcAAJ&pg=PT964 p. 760, column 2]</ref>

Although Thomas is regarded as the last to have been actually executed by means of fire (in this case, through suffocation), the couple Johann Christoph Peter Horst and his lover [[Friederike Luise Delitz|Friederike Louise Christiane Delitz]], who had made a career of robberies in the confusion made by their acts of arson, were condemned to be burnt alive in Berlin 28 May 1813. They were, however, according to [[Gustav Radbruch]], secretly strangled just prior to being burnt, namely when their arms and legs were tied fast to the stake.<ref>'''Original account''' by investigating police officer Heinrich L. Hermann, ''Hermann'' (1818) '''Gustav Rudbrach's mention''' ''Rudbrach'' (1992), [https://books.google.com/books?id=3JOVbGPdrjYC&pg=PA247 p. 247] '''Precise moment of strangulation''' ''Gräff'' (1834), [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_ucZDAAAAcAAJ/page/n61 p. 56] '''Modern newspaper article''' ''Springer'' (2008), [http://www.welt.de/regionales/berlin/article2489746/Das-letzte-Feuer.html Das Letzte Feuer]</ref>

Although these two cases are the last where execution by burning might be said to have been ''carried out'' in some degree, Eduard Osenbrüggen mentions that ''verdicts'' to be burned alive were given in several cases in different German states afterwards, such as in cases from 1814, 1821, 1823, 1829 and finally in a case from 1835.<ref>''Osenbrüggen'' (1854), [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_C-4PAAAAYAAJ/page/n33 pp. 21–22, footnote 83]</ref>