Editing Death by burning (section)

====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>