Wen | Uncle Hu
introduction
One of the most unusual things about the medieval world was that animals could be judged just like people.
In the Middle Ages, trials of animals were arguably popular, and they were considered legal. While the authenticity of many medieval animal trials is difficult to determine, there is no doubt that some are real.
Among animals, all kinds of animals can be brought before ecclesiastical courts as individuals or groups. They were charged with murder, being an accomplice in bestiality, and destroying crops and property.
If the animals are found guilty, the larger animals are put to death or exiled, while the smaller animals are condemned or excommunicated. Criminal Prosecution and the Death Penalty of Animals, published by Edmund P. Evans in 1906, explored this strange question in detail.
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This article will explore the impact on society and culture, as well as the thinking about human civilization, through the historical background, behavior patterns, and social impact of animal trials in the Middle Ages, including pigs accused of killing infants, rats that destroyed wheat fields, and roosters that participated in demonic activities.
●○When did the animal trial start? ○●
According to Evans, the trial and punishment of animals was not unique to the Middle Ages, a practice documented as early as other civilizations.
He noted that the Romans sometimes crucified a dog to commemorate the anniversary of the Capitol's protection from night raids by the Gauls.
Some people may wonder: what does the night attack on Rome by the Gauls have to do with dogs?
In fact, during the Battle of Alia, the strong Gauls crushed the Roman army, and after that, they set out to sack Rome.
However, Capitoline Hill, where the Romans were stationed, was one of the treasures of feng shui against the invaders, so the Gauls decided to besiege it here.
By chance, the Gauls found a way up the mountain, which was well hidden, and neither the Roman guards nor the dogs found it. But fortunately, the wild geese of the Roman defenders made meritorious service here, alerting the actions of the Gauls, allowing the Romans to successfully repel the Gauls.
While wild geese are hailed as heroes, dogs are punished for dereliction of duty.
Evans mentions in his book that before entering the Middle Ages, in the ancient world, inanimate objects other than animals could be brought to court, in which Evans gives an example of statues being put on trial.
The statue belongs to the famous athlete Thassos' Nikon and was built by the Athenians in his honor. Unfortunately, jealous of his opponent attacked the statue and knocked it off its pedestal, one of the attackers was also crushed under the statue.
According to Athenian law, weapons and all other items that caused death were publicly condemned and thrown outside the city, so the statue was thus innocently taken to court and thrown into the sea with the crime.
In the Middle Ages, it was not clear how many of these recorded trials were true, and it is difficult for scholars today to trace the origins of these stories and to determine their authenticity.
Despite this, accounts of animal trials in the Middle Ages are still well known.
●○Animal trial records○●
The earliest known record of a medieval animal trial, dating back to 1266.
The trial, which took place on the banks of the Rosee River Fontenay, not far from the French capital, Paris, was brought to court by a pig accused of infanticide that was suspected of swallowing a child.
The trial was overseen by the monks of St. Genevieve, and in the end, the animal was found guilty and subsequently burned at the stake.
Over the years, many scholars have made many assumptions of their own: What if animals were as socially moral as humans could be held accountable for their crimes.
Perhaps the animal will be brought to court, treated as a human being, and follow the strictest legal procedures, giving the whole incident a different gloomy atmosphere, but this is just an assumption.
In fact, in some cases, when animals are brought to court, they also wear human clothes.
For example, in 1386, a pig convicted of infanticide was executed. Before the execution, the pig put on a vest, gloves and underwear, in addition to a life-action mask on her head.
Many other hypotheses have been proposed to explain the occurrence of animal trials, for example, one of which is that medieval Europeans believed that dominion over the animal kingdom was a divine-given power to man, and that the trial of animals was a way to maintain this authority.
Another version is that in the 12th and 13th centuries, the development of the legal system led to a surplus of courts and lawyers, and since there was not enough work for everyone, they decided to try animals suspected of crimes in order to create more jobs.
There is also a theory that medieval lawyers saw animal trials as an opportunity to demonstrate their quick thinking, as they had the opportunity to present clever arguments to defend their clients.
This statement can be seen in the exposition of a French jurist who lived in the 15th and 16th centuries.
The jurist was the defense lawyer for rats, a group of rats accused of eating and destroying local barley, and on the day of the trial, the rats did not show up as scheduled, and the defense attorney came up with cunning reasons to excuse them.
For example, he argues that because rats move from village to village, they do not receive a timely notice of trial, and even if they do, they may avoid going to court for fear of being attacked by cats.
The lawyer elaborated on this and concluded that if the safety of his client was not guaranteed, they could legally refuse to appear in court.
In the end, the judges were forced to abandon the case because they could neither refute the lawyer's arguments nor convince the villagers to keep the cats in their homes.
According to evidence recorded by Evans, pigs were the animals most often tried in the Middle Ages. He believes that this is mainly because pigs have more freedom to roam the streets than other animals, and moreover, they are far more abundant than other animals.
This is not always the case, and other animals are still tried for various crimes.
For example, in 1474, a court in the Swiss city of Basel sentenced a rooster to be burned at the stake just because it laid an egg!
According to medieval beliefs, eggs laid by roosters would hatch basilisk or vipers, both of which were extremely dangerous creatures. Although these monsters are believed to exist, no one would have thought that a rooster would even lay eggs! As a result, the rooster was burned at the stake in 1474.
Other animals judged in the Middle Ages included bulls, dogs, and goats, and one of the strangest animal experiments recorded by Evans was on dolphins.
In his description, there is no detailed description of the case other than that the animals were tried and executed in Marseille in 1596.
While animals are often brought to court for being charged with murder or injury to humans, they can also commit other "crimes."
In addition to Basel's roosters being tried for their involvement in demonic activities, for example, bestiality is another crime that can take animals to court.
While both humans and animals can be sentenced to death, the latter has a chance to be exempt from punishment, as one would argue that the animal did not consent and therefore it was not its fault.
There is also an interesting story here, in 1750, the Frenchman Jacques Feren was caught red-handed during bestiality with a female donkey. Both sides went to trial, and the prosecution demanded the death penalty for Feren and Donkey.
When Feren was sentenced to be burned at the stake, the donkey was released for not voluntarily participating in the crime with Phelen.
In addition, the parish priest confirmed the good character of the donkey, saying that he had known the donkey for four years, that it was a virtuous and cultured animal that had never created "gossip" for anyone.
●○Who is in charge of animal trials? ○●
Trials of animals were usually conducted by secular courts, which had the power to sentence animals to death, and ecclesiastical courts were also granted the power to judge animals.
But the judges who judge animals are bishops and other church officials, and these pastors usually deal with cases related to pests, such as rodents and insects.
Compared to other animals, insects tend to take advantage of the trial.
Towns or areas infested by pests may take the perpetrators of the "crime" to church courts, and insects suffer.
Under the government's investigation, if there is enough evidence, they will take the insects to court, assign a defense lawyer to the insects, and the court will then issue a summons, which will be read by court officials in places where pests are frequented.
These pests have three appearances in court and can be defended by a lawyer. As one might expect, pests rarely appear in court, so they lose the case.
Church court trials of pests have also led to a hint that animal trials are used as a means of helping communities cope with crises. Plagues, crop destruction and other problems can all be blamed on pests.
Although these trials hardly solve the problem, the courts spend a lot of time dealing with these matters because, in their view, maintaining law and order gives them a certain sense of security.
It's worth mentioning that trying and punishing pests sounds a bit impractical, but there are many ways to treat them.
Some ways to deal with pests during this period include: sprinkling weasel ash on fields to drive away mice, castrating a mouse and then releasing it to scare off other rats in the area, and planting castor oil plants in fields infested by these creatures to drive away moles.
Even after the end of the medieval period, animal trials continued to exist to a greater or lesser extent.
There is also an example of the Hatterpool monkey in the post-medieval trial and the story is said to take place during the Napoleonic Wars.
The story goes like this: a French ship wrecked off the coast of Hartlepool in England, and since the monkey was the ship's mascot, it became the sole survivor.
But the people of Hartlepool believed the monkey was a French spy because the monkey's chirping sounded like French. As a result, the monkey was tried, convicted of espionage, and hanged on the beach.
While some believe that the monkey hangings did happen, others are less certain, and in any case, the story is closely linked to Hartlepool, a story that has been circulating in the city ever since.
●○Summary○●
Animal trials and experiments in the Middle Ages were an innovative and absurd history that produced great malice towards animals and now seems immoral and cruel, reflecting the legal regulation and oppression of the society of the time.
Through the description of these animal trials, we can understand the social system and people's cognitive problems under the society at that time, as well as the imperfections in the process of human civilization.
However, we should also have a correct and scientific attitude towards animal trial experiments, which is more conducive to the improvement of judicial means in modern society and the reflection of humanistic morality.
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