The Faithful Executioner

Name: The Faithful Executioner
Author: Joel F. Harrington

by Joel F. Harrington

Social Science

Meet Frantz Schmidt: executioner, torturer and, most unusually for his times, diarist. Following in his father’s footsteps, Frantz entered the executioner’s trade as an Apprentice. 394 executions and forty-five years later, he retired to focus his attentions on running the large medical practice that he had always viewed as his true vocation. Through examination of Frantz’s exceptional and often overlooked record, Joel F. Harrington delves deep into a world of human cruelty, tragedy and injustice. At the same time, he poses a fascinating question: could a man who routinely practiced such cruelty also be insightful, compassionate – even progressive? The Faithful Executioner is the biography of an ordinary man struggling to overcome an unjust family curse; it is also a remarkable panorama of a Europe poised on the cusp of modernity, a world with startling parallels to our own.

Bridges

Books that connect different domains

Bridges summary

Delving into the multifaceted world of Frantz Schmidt, history's most unusual executioner, Joel F. Harrington's *The Faithful Executioner* invites a fascinating exploration of the men and women who occupy the often challenging and morally complex roles that underpin societal structure. This biography, rich with the details of a 16th-century European landscape teetering on the brink of modernity, resonates with a surprising breadth of connected narratives, suggesting a discerning reader's appreciation for characters who navigate arduous, often contradictory, existences. Perhaps the most striking connection emerges with Haruki Murakami's *What I Talk About When I Talk About Running*. While the subject matter couldn't be more different – the grim grimace of justice versus the solitary stride of a runner – both books illuminate a profound dedication to a specific, demanding role. Through Frantz's meticulous record-keeping and Murakami's introspective marathon training, we see the shared human drive for self-mastery, finding meaning and identity within the often stark embrace of prescribed duties and the internal architecture of endurance. You’ve rated both highly, signaling an appreciation for narratives that excavate the depths of commitment, whether to a life of sanctioned violence or a life of personal discipline.

Further cementing this cluster is Lewis Hyde's *Trickster Makes This World*. Hyde's examination of disruptive figures and their essential role in societal evolution finds an unexpected echo in the sanctioned disruptor that was Frantz Schmidt. While Hyde delves into mythology and archetype, *The Faithful Executioner* offers a grounded, historical ethnography of a figure who, through his very office, embodies both the upholding and the disruption of order. Both books, in their distinct ways, dissect the liminal figures who, by embodying the necessary but often unsettling functions within a society, paradoxically maintain its structures while simultaneously facilitating its transformation. Your engagement with these works suggests a deep-seated curiosity about the mechanics of societal order and the individuals who, through their unique positions, both uphold and subtly reshape the very systems they inhabit.