'annoy'ans of medieval europe

I went along the romantic road (?!) of germany and visited an old town named Rothenburg. It has the typicalities to be called itself a medieval town. There is also criminal museum here about maintaining law and order in medieval europe. Few things i infered from there...
* I was surprised to find a high number of japanese population here!
* Some punishments were biased towards stronger people
* Some punishments were superstitious.
* Medieval europeans were good in calligraphy. I dont know why that art has faded now even with the advent of computers.
* Some punishments for school children mentioned in the museum are still popular in indian schools.
* The laws were somewhat partial towards males.
* Ridiculing was one of the punishments not seen nowadays.
* Some punishments were funny. (Tickling convict's leg after locking!)
* Torture methods were used to bring out the truth!
* Needless to mention, some punishments were cruel (iron maiden)

The european anniyan would give the following death sentences for the respective crimes:
Murder - Wheeling (running a sharp edged wheel several times)
Manslaughter - Beheading
child murder - drowning
Arson - Burning
(major) Theft - Hanging
counterfeiting - boiling or fire death
witchery - burning
Bigamy, treason, blashphemy and heresy were also punishable by death depending upon the severity.