This transcript describes the horrific events of a botched execution that involved an executioner delivering two blows to a woman's neck before she finally died. The account also mentions another gruesome execution, where a hangman in northern France required over 20 blows to cut off a victim's head.
The Eye for an Eye concept was still applied symbolically during the Middle Ages and Renaissance in the form of executioners using the same murder weapon as the criminal and also providing psychological torture before the execution.