In the Middle Ages, the law was enforced by means of quite harsh punishments, one of which was beheading. The National History Museum of Transylvania keeps in its collection the executioner's sword of the city of Cluj, which dates back to the 16th century, a sword with a broad blade, with a slightly rounded tip, with two edges and a long handle, covered in leather, which he was holding on with both hands. How it was used, according to which law and who could be beheaded, historian Andrei Fărcaș tells us. Dr. Diana Varga tells us about the punitive mechanisms in Transylvania of the Middle Ages in the context of the medieval legal system and thus we learn that the city of Cluj had "jus gladii", meaning the right to apply capital punishment, a privilege granted by the king to important cities. Our colleague also tells us about some instruments of penance from the museum collection, used in the environment of Catholic monks, for self-flagellation.
