1521: The rebel Ribbings
December 23rd, 2019 Headsman
On this date in 1521, the Swedish rebel brothers Lindorm and Peder Ribbing were beheaded in Jönköping.
This event fell during the brief reign of the Danish king Christian II over Sweden, notably distinguished by the previous year’s Stockholm Bloodbath. Christian held Sweden only by force of arms and his continual bloody exertions to put down resistance have blackened his name in Swedish annals as “Christian the Tyrant”.
While the Ribbings were merely minor rebels in a country teeming with umbrage, their executions contributed a particularly atrocious (albeit perhaps folklorish) episode to that tyrannous reputation.
Not only the brothers themselves but their children also were put to death … and the story has it that after Lindorm Ribbing’s eldest son lost his head, his five-year-old brother pitiably implored the headsman, “My good man. Please do not stain my shirt as you did my brother’s or my mother will spank me.” Moved to tears, the executioner then discarded his sword and exclaimed, “Never! Sooner shall my own shirt be stained then I would stain yours.” Both he and the little boy then got the chop from a less sentimental swordsman.
On this day..
- 1572: Johann Sylvan, Antitrinitarian - 2018
- 1856: Three Italian seamen in Hampshire - 2017
- 1569: Orthodox Metropolitan Philip II of Moscow - 2016
- 1736: Ana de Castro and two Jesuit effigies in a Lima auto de fe - 2015
- 1679: "A number of poor people for the crime of witchcraft" - 2014
- 1605: Niklaus von Gulchen, Nuremberg privy councillor - 2013
- 1926: Petrus Stephanus Hauptfleisch, mother-murderer - 2012
- 1799: Isaac Yeshurun Sasportas, anti-slavery insurrectionist - 2011
- 1942: Sasha Filippov, during the Battle of Stalingrad - 2010
- 1953: Lavrenty Beria, Stalin henchman - 2009
- 1948: Hideki Tojo and six other Japanese war criminals - 2008
- 1559: Anne du Bourg - 2007
Entry Filed under: 16th Century,Beheaded,Capital Punishment,Children,Death Penalty,Denmark,Execution,Executioners,History,Occupation and Colonialism,Power,Public Executions,Separatists,Sweden,Treason
Tags: 1520s, 1521, christian ii, december 23, family, lindorm ribbing, peder ribbing
Were there any other children executed by beheading in the history that have been documented?
Correction, it was played by Chicago Symphony Orchestra
There is a classical music piece about this execution event called the Ballad And nocturne of Christian the all incidental music. That was just played on WRR 101.1 in Dallas Texas (I heard it on their app) as part of the Cincinnati Ohio Symphony Orchestra concert.