 Less severe offenders would be cudgelled "top down", with a lethal first blow to the neck.More heinous criminals were punished "bottom up", starting with the legs, and sometimes being beaten for hours.The number and sequence of blows was specified in the court's sentence (for example, in 1581, the arch-serial killer Peter Niers, found guilty of 544 murders was, after two days of extended torture, given 42 strikes with the wheel, and was, at last, quartered alive).