Gibbet of Maubignon
(a.k.a Gibet de la Motte Maubignon1) (Brock?)
Standing on a high spur of land, a few hundred metres north of the walls of Vantery and easily seen from the roads leading to Meore, Thours and Braeburg, the gibbet (or gallows) of Maubignon displays the dead bodies of criminals as a warning to the population and to raiders from the mountains.
The gibbet (or gibet in Beaulangue) was first built in the late 9th Century AS by Lord Garmond I de Bellecour, Viscomte of Vantery2, and was a less substantial structure built of wood. This was replaced in the mid-10th Century under King Henri I, who ordered the building of the current stone structure.
A stone base supports ten stone pillars, between which wooden beams act as the gallows. A short flight of stairs leads up through a grim doorway to the platform inside the structure. While criminals are hanged here, the structure is also used to display bodies of those hanged elsewhere. Once displayed for a suitable length of time, the bodies are taken down and, while those of important people might be returned to their families, most are buried in graves nearby. The graves are not always dug deeply enough (especially during busy periods), and the area has become the haunt of ghouls that come to feed during the hours of darkness. When the number of ghouls swells to become a tangible threat, sellswords are hired to eliminate them. This is a job not without risks as, aside from the danger posed by the ghouls themselves, it is rumoured the aura of the place has attracted far worse creatures to the area. While no-one lingers within a league of the place after dark, even hardened mercenaries baulk at going near the place on the darkest nights of the year.
1 The Gallows of Maubignon are based on the Gibet de Montfaucon, which once stood to the north-east of Paris, close to where the Canal Saint-Martin now flows. ⇑
2 More accurately, the vicecomites, deputy or vicar of the Count of Vantery. Not to be confused with the English title of viscount, which is different, being a noble rank between baron and earl. ⇑
This article first appeared in Casket of Fays Issue 9.
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