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Description of  The Art of Executing Well: Rituals of Execution in Renaissance Italy (Early Modern Studies)

In Renaissance Italy a good execution was both public and peacefulat least in the eyes of authorities. In a feature unique to Italy, the people who prepared a condemned man or woman spiritually and psychologically for execution were not priests or friars, but laymen. This volume includes some of the songs, stories, poems, and images that they used, together with first-person accounts and ballads describing particular executions. Leading scholars expand on these accounts explaining aspects of the theater, psychology, and politics of execution. Read more