In the market square of a town in Normandy in 1386 a pig, dressed formally in jacket and breeches, was strung up on a gallows and hanged. The unfortunate creature had been tried before a court and convicted of murder.
It was not alone. All over Europe throughout the Middle
Ages and into the 19th century, animals were tried and punished for human crimes.
Dr Nicholas Humphrey explores this peculiar phenomenon.
Extracts read by ROBERT EDDISON BILL FRASER and SIMON WILLIAMS Producer GEOFF DEEHAN
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