An illuminated german legal code of 12 20 to 12 35 a d shows beheading, hanging and hacking. It is not evident from the saxon spegel that these punishments attracted crowds. But there is no reason to think that they did not. If these executions in the middle ages and the renaissance did indeed draw crowds, and i don't see why they wouldn't. What were the crowds there for? What was the draw what did they expect to have happend? What did they hope to have happen?