"Petrine" - an executed woman (?)
In
In the museum it is possible to get to know "Petrine", a woman who was probably executed in the 17th Century at the region’s place of execution, Galgebakken.
After the closure of the Monastery of Øm in 1560 the District Court, which had formerly functioned under the auspices of the monastery, was moved to Rye. It had been the secular town belonging to the Monastery of Øm and by the standards of the day it was a reasonably large town.
A District Court was the executive power as well as passing judgement. It carried out the punishment imposed on the accused. The punishments were harsh in those days. By our standards they were inhuman. The death penalty was imposed for even the smallest of crimes like stealing.
In order to carry out the judgement a place of execution was needed. It is this need that has given Gl. Rye the many, rather unpleasant, street and place names – Stejlehøjvej (Steep Hill Rd.), Kophøj (Cup Hill), Jammerdalen (The Vale of Tears), Tinghusvej (Courthouse Rd.) and Galgebakken (lit. Gallows Hill). The criminals regarded as unworthy of an honourable death by beheading were hanged on Galgebakken.
Galgebakken is the first place of execution in Denmark to be excavated and it was carried out in 1944. The gallows’ post holes were unearthed early in the excavation. The gallows consisted of two support posts and a cross bar – "the gallows’ hammer". Here the miscreants ended their days and it should be noted that there was room for more than one condemned at a time. "The gallows’ hammer" was 4 metres long! The victims remained hanging on the gallows as carrion for birds until such time as they fell down. The bodies were then buried in the hill.
During the excavation the skeleton of a woman was found buried about 1½ metres under the gallows. The skeleton was buried in a vertical position, huddled up but nearly undamaged apart from a couple of missing fingers. At a guess the woman had her hands bound behind her back and she was taken first through the Valley of Tears (Jammerdalen) to the entertainment of the crowd and then up to Gallows Hill (Galgebakken) where she was placed in a sack and buried alive under the gallows. She was of course a criminal but it was not right to hang a woman from a gallows. Respect for a "woman’s honour" still came first!
The name "Petrine" was given to the skeleton by Harald Nielsen, a senior teacher at the school in Gl. Rye. He had an extraordinary interest in the area’s local history and he carried out the excavation of Galgebakken in the company of a barrister from Skanderborg, Mr. Holtet. Harald Nielsen kept the skeleton in a wooden-box in his attic and from time to time used it in his lessons at the school.
"Petrine" and her wooden-box in the local archive in Ry.
Source:
Poul Kastberg Krogh: "Talt og skrevet - mest om Ry-egnen", 1997.