Gibbet

A gibbet. (GAME: The Gunpowder Plot ^[+]Loading...["The Gunpowder Plot (video game)"])

A gibbet was a metal frame in which the bodies of executed criminals were displayed. The general idea behind public executions was to set an example to everybody else. "Live gibbeting" was when a criminal - usually a murderer - was suspended in the cage and left to starve to death. (GAME: The Gunpowder Plot ^[+]Loading...["The Gunpowder Plot (video game)"])

In 1400, participants in a rising on Richard II's behalf had their bodies gibbeted around Oxford. (AUDIO: The Doctor's Tale)