Renesanční pitaval z Podbrdského kraje 3 – Sankot Jiří (2021)

The Middle Ages were already a thing of the past. The sixteenth century brought many changes to the life of the Czech kingdom. The first Habsburgs ascended to the throne, and this new era infused confidence into the veins of the entire society – the burghers, nobility, clergy, and serfs. Scribes across the country had their hands full recording human destinies and everyday stories. This was no different in the region between Brdy, Šumava, and Český les. Here too, in disputes among people before the Thirty Years' War, swords and rifles spoke, jails filled up, and executioners with their assistants did not remain idle. A significant source for understanding life, everyday concerns, crime, and punishment in western Bohemia are the rarely preserved official books of the town of Rokycany. Among them, the so-called black or tar book holds a special place, where capital crimes and interrogations conducted by the executioner and his assistants under the law of torture were recorded. The collection of cases documented between 1573 and 1630 in the Rokycany town hall torture chamber and at the gallows forms the third part of the book Renaissance Pitaval from the Podbrdy region.