Editing Decapitation (section)

==== Spain ====
[[File:Colecta para sepultar el cadáver de don Álvaro de Luna, por Rodríguez de Losada.jpg|thumb|The beheading of the 15th Century Castilian Royal favorite, Don [[Álvaro de Luna]]. Painting by José María Rodríguez de Losada (1826–1896).]]
In Spain executions were carried out by various methods including strangulation by the [[garrotte]]. In the 16th and 17th centuries, noblemen were sometimes executed by means of beheading. Examples include [[Anthony van Stralen, Lord of Merksem]], [[Lamoral, Count of Egmont]] and [[Philip de Montmorency, Count of Horn]]. They were tied to a chair on a scaffold. The executioner used a knife to cut the head from the body. It was considered to be a more honourable death if the executioner started with cutting the throat.<ref>Execution of the Marquess of Ayamonte on the 11th. of December 1645 Described in "Varios relatos diversos de Cartas de Jesuitas" (1634–1648) Coll. Austral Buones Aires 1953 en [[Gerardus Johannes Geers|Dr. J. Geers]] "Van het Barokke leven", Baarn 1957 Bl. 183–188.</ref>