Gibbet of Montfaucon

The Gibbet of Montfaucon consists of a massive stone platform supporting sixteen rectangular pillars linked by heavy chains. This was the largest permanent gallows in the kingdom of France, constructed to display the bodies of those executed by the royal courts. In the thirteenth century, Enguerrand de Marigny, the chamberlain to King Philip the Fair, oversaw its expansion to accommodate victims on three levels. Years later, he was convicted of sorcery and embezzlement, and ended his own life hanging from the very structure he improved.