Tarring and feathering is a physical punishment, at least as old as the Crusades, used to enforce formal justice in feudal Europe and informal justice in Europe and its colonies in the early modern period, as well as the early American frontier, mostly as a type of mob vengeance (compare Lynch law). Look up Punishment in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Feudalism comes from the Late Latin word feudum, itself borrowed from a Germanic root *fehu, a commonly used term in the Middle Ages which means fief, or land held under certain obligations by feodati. ... World map showing the location of Europe. ... This article refers to a colony in politics and history. ... In the United States and Canada the frontier was the term applied until the end of the 19th century to the zone of unsettled land outside the region of existing settlements of European immigrants and their descendants. ... Lynch law is an extralegal means of maintaining the established social order. ...

The Bostonians Paying the Excise-Man, 1774 British propaganda print referring to the tarring and feathering of Boston Commissioner of Customs John Malcolm four weeks after the Boston Tea Party. The men also poured hot tea down Malcolm's throat as can be seen. Note the noose hanging on the Liberty Tree, and the Stamp Act posted upside-down

Image File history File links 1774_lynching. ... Look up Excise in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Soviet Propaganda Poster during the World War II. The text reads Red Army Fighter, SAVE US! Chinese propaganda poster from during the Cultural Revolution. ... Nickname: City on the Hill, Beantown, The Hub (of the Universe)1, Athens of America, The Cradle of Revolution, Puritan City, Americas Walking City Location in Massachusetts, USA Counties Suffolk County Mayor Thomas M. Menino(D) Area    - City 232. ... Commissioner is a designation that may be used for a variety of official positions, especially referring to a high-ranking public (administrative or police) official, or an analogous official in the private sector (e. ... Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting customs duties and for controlling the flow of animals and goods (including personal effects and hazardous items) in and out of a country. ... John Malcolm was a Bostonian who worked for the British customs service at the time of the American Revolution who was the victim of one of the most publicized tarring and feathering incidents during the unrest leading up to the Revolutionary War. ... The Boston Tea Party was a direct action protest by the American colonists against Great Britain in which they destroyed many crates of tea bricks on ships in Boston Harbor. ... Tea leaves in a Chinese gaiwan. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The Sons of Liberty tarring and feathering a tax collector underneath the Liberty Tree The Liberty Tree (1646–1775) was a famous elm tree that stood in the commons of Boston, Massachusetts Colony, in the days before the American Revolution. ... A stamp act is a law enacted by a government that requires a tax to be paid on the transfer of certain documents such as property deeds. ...

Description

Both pine tar, used in early industry, and feathers from edible fowl sources (such as chickens) were plentiful. In a typical tar-and-feathers attack, the subject of a crowd's anger would be stripped to the waist (if not below). Hot tar was either poured or painted onto the person while he (rarely she) was immobilized. Then the victim either had feathers thrown on him or was rolled around on a pile of feathers so that they stuck to the sticky tar. Often the victim was then paraded around town on a cart or a rail. The feathers would stick to the tar for days, making the person's degradation clear to the public and ongoing. The aim was to hurt and humiliate a person enough to leave town and cause no more mischief. Tar can be produced from corn stalks by heating in a microwave. ... Two feathers Feathers are one of the epidermal growths that form the distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on birds. ... A fowl is a bird of any kind, although some types of birds use the word specifically in their names (for example, Guineafowl and Peafowl). ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Humiliation is literally the act of being made humble, or reduced in standing or prestige. ...

The practice was never an official punishment in the United States, but rather a form of vigilante justice. It was eventually abandoned as society moved away from public, corporal punishment and toward rehabilitation of criminals. For other uses, see Vigilante (disambiguation). ... This theory of punishment is based on the notion that punishment is to be inflicted on a offender so as to reform him, or rehabilitate him so as to make his re-integration into society easier. ...

There were examples of tarring and feathering during The Troubles in Northern Ireland. In these cases hospitals could clean the mess off quickly. For other uses, see Troubles (disambiguation) and Trouble. ...

• A more brutal derivation called pitchcapping, designed to badly damage skin and flesh on the head, was used by British soldiers against suspected rebels during the period of the Irish Rebellion of 1798.
• Sometimes only the head was shaven, tarred and feathered.
• In a milder form, avoiding wounds by fixing the tar on (under)clothing, it is still occasionally used, as a humiliating or jocular punishment, as for disobedient fraternity pledges (compare hazing).

First degree burns are sustained after a split second contact with a material that is about 70 ºC (160 ºF). The same is also sustained after thirty seconds of contact with 55 ºC (130 ºF) material. The tar of that period was of such a quality that it only melted at about 60 ºC (140 ºF). At temperatures of 60 °C (140 °F) burns can be created with a three second contact. The thin tar layer presumably cooled quickly; nevertheless, the victims possibly sustained some burns in addition to their humiliation. Pitchcapping refers to a form of torture devised by British forces in 18th century Ireland which was widely used against suspected rebels during the period of the 1798 Rebellion, most famously on Anthony Perry, one of the leaders of the Wexford rebels. ... Combatants United Irishmen French First Republic Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Commanders Local leaders, General Humbert Cornwallis Lake Strength  ? Various, at peak mid-June c. ... Hazing is an often ritualistic test, which may constitute harassment, abuse or humiliation with requirements to perform meaningless tasks, sometimes as a way of initiation into a social group. ... This article includes a list of works cited or a list of external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ...

History

The earliest mention of the punishment occurs in the orders of Richard I of England, issued to his navy on starting for the Holy Land in 1191. "Concerning the lawes and ordinances appointed by King Richard for his navie the forme thereof was this… item, a thiefe or felon that hath stolen, being lawfully convicted, shal have his head shorne, and boyling pitch poured upon his head, and feathers or downe strawed upon the same whereby he may be knowen, and so at the first landing-place they shall come to, there to be cast up" (transcript of original statute in Hakluyt's Voyages, ii. 21). Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 6 July 1189 to 6 April 1199. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Holy Land (Biblical). ... // Events May 12 - Richard I of England marries Berengaria of Navarre. ... Richard Hakluyt (~1552 - November 23, 1616) was an English writer, famous for his Voyages which provided William Shakespeare and others with material. ...

A later instance of this penalty being inflicted is given in Notes and Queries (series 4, vol. v), which quotes one James Howell writing from Madrid, in 1623, of the "boisterous Bishop of Halberstadt," who, "having taken a place where there were two monasteries of nuns and friars, he caused divers feather beds to be ripped, and all the feathers thrown into a great hall, whither the nuns and friars were thrust naked with their bodies oiled and pitched and to tumble among these feathers, which makes them here (Madrid) presage him an ill-death." In 1696 a London bailiff, who attempted to serve process on a debtor who had taken refuge within the precincts of the Savoy, was tarred and feathered and taken in a wheelbarrow to the Strand, where he was tied to the maypole which stood by what is now Somerset House, as an improvised pillory. Notes and Queries (originally subtitled a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc) is a correspondence magazine where scholars and interested amateurs exchange miscellaneous knowledge. ... James Howell James Howell (c. ... Liebfrauenkirche Halberstadt is a city in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. ... Bailiff (from Late Latin bajulivus, adjectival form of bajulus) is a governor or custodian (cf. ... In economics a debtor (or a borrower) owes money to a creditor. ... The Liberties of the Savoy were one of several areas in London known as liberties in which the rule of law was different to the rest of London. ... A common wheelbarrow Older wheelbarrow Wheelbarrows on the Belomorkanal A wheelbarrow is a small one-wheeled, hand-propelled vehicle, designed to be pushed and guided by a single person using two handles to the rear. ... Strand, May 2001 St. ... Dancing around the maypole, in Ã…mmeberg, Sweden The maypole is a tall wooden pole (traditionally of hawthorn or birch), sometimes erected with several long coloured ribbons suspended from the top, festooned with flowers, draped in greenery and strapped with large circular wreaths, depending on local and regional variances. ... The central courtyard of Somerset House in London. ... It has been suggested that Pranger be merged into this article or section. ...

The first recorded incident in America was in 1766: Captain William Smith was tarred, feathered, and dumped into the harbor of Norfolk, Virginia, by a mob that included the town's Mayor. He was picked up by a vessel just as his strength was giving out. He survived, and was later quoted as saying that "…[they] dawbed my body and face all over with tar and afterwards threw feathers on me." As with most other tar-and-feathers victims in the following decade, Smith was suspected of informing on smugglers to the British Customs service. Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting customs duties and for controlling the flow of animals and goods (including personal effects and hazardous items) in and out of a country. ...

The punishment appeared in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1767, when mobs avenged themselves on low-level employees of the Customs service with tar and feathers. In October 1769, a mob in Boston attacked a Customs service sailor the same way, and a few similar attacks followed through 1774 (the tarring and feathering of customs worker John Malcolm received particular attention in 1774). Such acts associated the punishment with the Patriot side of the American Revolution. In March 1775, a British regiment inflicted the same treatment on a Massachusetts man they suspected of trying to buy their muskets. There is no case of a person dying from being tarred and feathered in this period. Nickname: Location in Massachusetts Coordinates: , Country State County Essex County Settled 1626 Incorporated 1626 Government  - Type Mayor-council city  - Mayor Kimberley Driscoll Area  - City  18. ... John Malcolm was a Bostonian who worked for the British customs service at the time of the American Revolution who was the victim of one of the most publicized tarring and feathering incidents during the unrest leading up to the Revolutionary War. ... Go to american revolution at wiki to get the same information provided below! This article concerns Patriots in the Revolutionary War. ... John Trumbulls Declaration of Independence, showing the five-man committee in charge of drafting the Declaration in 1776 as it presents its work to the Second Continental Congress The American Revolution refers to the period during the last half of the 18th century in which the Thirteen Colonies that...

Joseph Smith, the founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was tarred and feathered for alleged acts of depravity against 15 year old Marinda Johnson in February 1832 by the brothers of the victim. Joseph Smith, Jr. ...

In the 1920s, vigilantes opposed to IWW organizers at the harbor of San Pedro, kidnapped at least one organizer, subjected him to tarring and feathering, and left him in a remote location. The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or the Wobblies) is an international union currently headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. At its peak in 1923 the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. ... San Pedro is connected to Los Angeles by a thin strip of land called the Harbor Gateway which roughly follows the 110 freeway. ...

Also in the early 20th century many African Americans were subjected to this treatment as a form of punishment, often for unjust and circumstantial reasons.

Following the Liberation of France in WW2 there were instances of alleged German collaborators being tarred and feathered by street mobs. Most of the victims of this practice were women accused of a Collaboration horizontale, i.e. fraternization with German soldiers. The military history of France during World War II covers the period from 1939 until 1940, which witnessed French military participation under the Third Republic, and the period from 1940 until 1945, which was marked by colonial struggles between Vichy France and the Free French Forces under Charles de Gaulle...

Similar tactics were also used by the IRA during the early years of the Northern Ireland conflict. Many of the victims were women who had been in sexual relationships with Policemen or British Soldiers. The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Irish: Óglaigh na hÉireann) (IRA; also referred to as the PIRA, the Provos, or by some of its supporters as the Army or the RA.[2]) is an Irish Republican, left wing[3] paramilitary organisation that, until the Belfast Agreement, sought to end Northern... Northern Ireland (Irish: ) is a part of the United Kingdom lying in the northeast of the island of Ireland, covering 5,459 square miles (14,139 km², about a sixth of the islands total area). ...

Ryan Dunn was tarred and feathered on an episode of Jackass. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Look up jackass in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

The character of Jonesy was tarred and feathered by Depression-era Midwestern vigilantes on an episode of the HBO series Carnivale.

On Sunday the 26th of August 2007, an unnamed man was tarred and feathered in south Belfast for alleged drug dealing activities. ^[1] WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: , Statistics Province: Northern Ireland County: District: Belfast UK Parliament: Belfast North Belfast South Belfast East Belfast West European Parliament: Northern Ireland Dialling Code: 028, +44 28 posttown = Belfast Postal District(s): BT1-BT17, BT29 (part of), BT58 Area: 115 km² Population (2001) Website: www. ...

Metaphorical uses

The image of the tarred-and-feathered outlaw is so vivid that the expression remains a metaphor for a humiliating public castigation, many years after the practice disappeared. An example (in a story serial in a web forum) is: "The last episode was meant to be a cliffhanger, but readers' comments showed that they would tar and feather me if I did not quickly rescue the hero and show what happened next.". For other senses of this word, see outlaw (disambiguation). ... Look up metaphor in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Etymology: Late Latin humiliatus, past participle of humiliare, from Latin humilis low. ... Public is of or pertaining to the people; belonging to the people; relating to, or affecting, a nation, state, or community; opposed to private; as, the public treasury, a road or lake. ... This page meets Wikipedias criteria for speedy deletion. ... A typical Internet forum discussion, with common elements such as quotes and spoiler brackets A forum discussion heavy in emoticons and Internet slang An Internet forum is a web application for holding discussions and posting user generated content. ... For other uses, see Cliffhanger (disambiguation). ... “Heroine” redirects here. ...

References

1. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6966493.stm BBC NEws "Belfast man tarred and feathered" Retrieved on Aug. 28, 2007

Sources and external links

• Text of law of Richard I http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/medieval/richard.htm
• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
• "Has anyone actually ever been tarred and feathered?" at Straight Dope
• Richard L. Bushman, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling., Alfred Knopf, 2005, ISBN 1-4000-4270-4