The guillotine apparently replaced being beaten to death with a club on the Catherine wheel. Let's just say there were some methods of execution that were more brutal than others. Decapitation, however, was always one of the least tortuous methods, and was therefore often reserved for nobility or warrior castes. The executioner was expected to cut through the neck with one stroke, though in some
noted cases it did take more.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decapitation . Certain particular cases where it took several strokes are often mentioned because they are exceptional; if it was the norm, they wouldn't be famous for it.
That's not what I'm saying at all. What I'm saying is that it didn't matter if the "axe" was sharp, because crushing ribs killed people just as well.
That's unlikely. A sharp weapon is always going to be better at causing injury. If it's sharp, it can still crush ribs, but can also slice through muscle and cartilage and leather armor with much less effort.
(Although it's true that most peasants didn't own fine-grained stones suitable for sharpening tools. They had to use coarse stones or hope that someone they knew had a proper whetstone.)
You assert that based on what. Peasants used lots of sharp tools, such as knives, scythes, axes, adzes, shears, etc. They'd have plenty of reason and need to keep some whetstones and grindstones around.
Why are we talking about average peasants, anyway, or alleged dull war axes? A headsman would normally use a specialized axe or sword to behead someone, and it would definitely be fairly sharp. It would be crazy for the executioner to attempt to sever the convict's head with a club designed for breaking ribs.
File200 wrote:duvessa wrote:i hear they used to set people on fire
That was pretty rare. There were accounts of people being burned at the stake in England pre-15th century, but they can't be corroborated and a lot are suspected to be fictional. Accounts of people being burned after that are even more sparse.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_by_burning there are many, many cases.