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When Boys Wore Dresses, and Other Fascinating Traditions and Conventions From History

Khalid Elhassan May 16, 2024 29 min

Tradition - A young King Louis XIV, in male clothes after he was breeched, and his young brother, the Duc d Orleans, in a dress before he was breeched — A young King Louis XIV, in male clothes after he was breeched, and his young brother, the Duc d Orleans, in a dress before he was breeched. Pinterest

The Tradition of Animal Trials

Tradition - A sow and her piglets at trial in Savigny, 1457, for the murder of a child — A sow and her piglets at trial in Savigny, 1457, for the murder of a child. Chambers Book of Days

In medieval Europe, animals that misbehaved could be criminally tried in court. For example, in 1457, a sow in Savigny, France, along with her six piglets, attacked and killed a five-year-old. Nowadays, the pig’s owner might face criminal negligence charges. Medieval Europeans had different ideas about law and justice. The authorities in Savigny charged the porcine with murder, and the piglets with being accomplices. A lawyer was appointed to defend the accused, and after testimony was heard, a judge found the sow guilty. In accordance with local custom, he sentenced her to be hanged to death by her hind legs. If it was any relief to the sow, her execution was less painful than that of another pig convicted of homicide in Falaise, Normandy, in 1386. It was sentenced not only to hang, but to also be maimed in the head and forelegs before it was hanged.

Fortunately for the piglets, they did not share their mother’s fate. Although they had been found covered in blood, their participation in the murder was not proven, so they were acquitted. Today, to criminally try an animal seems ridiculous, because we know that animals lack the moral agency necessary to make them culpable for crimes. In Middle Ages Europe, however, people thought differently. All involved, judges, lawyers, bailiffs, and hangmen in case the animal was found guilty, took the proceedings quite seriously. The Savigny sow had been imprisoned pending the trial, and the jailer charged the same daily rate for the pig’s board as that of human prisoners. The court hired a professional hangman to carry out the sentence, and he charged the same fees as those charged for the execution of a human.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.