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A guillotine (; ) is an apparatus designed for efficiently carrying out executions by beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame in which a weighted and angled blade is raised to the top and suspended. The condemned person is secured with stocks at the bottom of the frame, positioning the neck directly below the blade. The blade is then released, to fall swiftly and forcefully severing the head of the victim from the body with a single pass. The device is best known for its use in France, in particular during the French Revolution, where it was celebrated as the people's avenger by supporters of the Revolution and vilified as the pre-eminent symbol of the Reign of Terror by opponents.〔R. Po-chia Hsia, Lynn Hunt, Thomas R. Martin, Barbara H. Rosenwein, and Bonnie G. Smith, ''The Making of the West, Peoples and Culture, A Concise History, Volume II: Since 1340'', Second Edition (New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2007), 664.〕 The name dates from this period, but similar devices had been used elsewhere in Europe over several centuries. The guillotine continued to be used long after the Revolution and remained France's standard method of judicial execution until the abolition of capital punishment in 1981.〔 (Loi n°81-908 du 9 octobre 1981 portant abolition de la peine de mort ). Legifrance.gouv.fr. Retrieved on 2013-04-25.〕 The last person guillotined in France was Hamida Djandoubi, on 10 September 1977. ==Precursors== The use of beheading machines in Europe long predates the French revolution of 1792. An early example of the principle is found in the ''High History of the Holy Grail'', dated to about 1210. Although the device is imaginary, its function is clear.〔 The text says: The Halifax Gibbet was a wooden structure of two wooden uprights, capped by a horizontal beam, of a total height of . The blade was an axe head weighing 3.5 kg (7.7 lb), attached to the bottom of a massive wooden block that slid up and down in grooves in the uprights. This device was mounted on a large square platform high. It is not known when the Halifax Gibbet was first used; the first recorded execution in Halifax dates from 1280, but that execution may have been by sword, axe, or the gibbet. The machine remained in use until Oliver Cromwell forbade capital punishment for petty theft. It was used for the last time, for the execution of two criminals on a single day, on 30 April 1650. Holinshed's Chronicles of 1577 included a picture of "The execution of Murcod Ballagh near to Merton in Ireland 1307" showing a similar execution machine, suggesting early use in Ireland.〔(History of the guillotine ), The Guillotine Headquarters 2014.〕 The Maiden was constructed in 1564 for the Provost and Magistrates of Edinburgh, and was in use from April 1565 to 1710. One of those executed was James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton, in 1581, and a 1644 publication began the legend that Morton himself had commissioned the Maiden having seen the Halifax Gibbet.〔Maxwell, H ''(Edinburgh, A Historical Study )'', Williams and Norgate (1916), pp. 137, 299–303.〕 The Maiden was readily dismantled for storage and transport, and it is now on display in the National Museum of Scotland. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「guillotine」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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