Degradation Ceremony (Cashiering): History and Examples

Degradation or cashiering, is a disciplinary measure imposed on a member of an order. Through degradation, the convicted individual is permanently and perpetually expelled from the respective order. Throughout history, in various nations, nobles, members of knightly orders, magistrates, members of the clergy, and military personnel of all kinds and ranks have been subjected to degradation.

History of the Degradation Ceremony (Cashiering)

Paganism and Religion

The origin of degradation could be traced back to paganism since the vestal virgins condemned to death were not handed over to the executioner of the sentence without first being stripped by the pontiffs of the garments characteristic of their office. The degradation of ecclesiastics who have been condemned for some crime they have committed is prescribed by many ancient canons and pontifical decrees, by Roman law, and by ancient Spanish laws.

In Novel 83, Justinian I (482–565) expresses himself on this point as follows:

“It is evident that if the provincial governor considers someone brought before him to be guilty and judges them worthy of punishment, that person should first be deprived by him of the priestly dignity – and thus it is done under the authority of the laws.”

[PDF] Novel 83 (uwyo.edu)

According to ancient formalities, a certain number of bishops were required to degrade a clergyman elevated to sacred orders. However, as this circumstance led to delays and disputes due to the resistance of some bishops who demanded access to the trial to ascertain the truth of the offense, it was ultimately ordained by the Council of Trent that a single bishop would suffice for the execution of such a ceremony.

Thus, the offending priest would present himself wearing the vestments for saying Mass, and the bishop, vested in pontificals, would progressively remove the chasuble, stole, maniple, and alb, simultaneously uttering certain words that reproach him for his unworthiness. Finally, the crown falls off, and then the secular authorities seize the defendant and arrange the execution of the sentence pronounced against him.

There is real or actual degradation and verbal degradation: the first is carried out with the formalities prescribed by law or introduced by custom, and the second is declared by a competent judge in the final judgment, without any subsequent ceremony or formality.

Roman Republic and Roman Empire

There is evidence of degradation dating back to the time of the Roman Republic and Empire. Military personnel and public officials who had performed poorly in their duties could be subjected to three types of measures in increasing severity: militiae mutatio (to perform demeaning duties), gradus deiectio (reduction in rank) or regradatio, and the most severe, ignominiosa missio (dishonorable discharge).

Militiae mutatio involved a punitive transfer to another position; gradus deiectio or regradatio resulted in the loss of rank and honors acquired during one’s career, reducing, for example, a tribune to the rank of a simple soldier. Ignominiosa missio, also known as exauctoratio, meant expulsion from the army or the termination of the held public office.

The measure was celebrated with a ceremony in which the condemned individual was publicly deprived of the signs that characterized their status. The Roman writer Plutarch described in his work on the life of Cicero that the Roman praetor Lentulus, condemned to ignominiosa missio during the proscriptions after the Catilinarian conspiracy, was summoned to the Senate. There, he was stripped of the purple-colored garments that characterized his title and made to leave dressed in black attire.

The tradition of inflicting degradation with a public ritual of disrobing to emphasize the disgrace persisted into the Middle Ages. In ancient chivalry, a knight would be degraded publicly. On a specially erected platform, they were stripped of their weapons, which were then broken and trampled, and their shield was nailed upside down to a pole.

After descending from the platform, the condemned, covered with a mortuary drape, were transported to a church, where prayers for the dead were recited for them. Subsequently, they were ignominiously expelled from the church. Military organizations, drawing from medieval traditions, developed a ceremonial in various armed forces worldwide, in effect until the twentieth century, differing in some variations but sharing common primary gestures.

A unit armed with every corps attended the military degradation ceremony. The flag never participated, and there was neither music nor fanfares. A designated military member proceeded with the removal or destruction of status symbols; the condemned individual had their epaulettes, buttons, rank symbols, and badges removed. Medals were folded and thrown to the ground along with the headgear. Finally, the military member had their jacket removed, and if an officer, their saber was broken.

Stripped and with his head uncovered, the condemned individual was taken away for the continuation of the prescribed penalties. If there were multiple convicts, the ceremony was singular, but each one was individually named by the commander of the troops. If degradation was the accessory penalty for a death sentence, the convict had their military uniform removed before being taken to the execution site.

Famous Examples of Degradation Ceremony

Notable victims of the degradation ceremony included Alfred Dreyfus, Thomas Cochrane (Earl of Dundonald), and Francis Mitchell.

• Alfred Dreyfus underwent the public degradation ceremony in Paris at the Champ de Mars on January 5, 1895. Convicted of treason, the charges proved to be unfounded, and the officer was rehabilitated. The episode is known as the “Dreyfus Affair.”
• Thomas Cochrane A degrading ceremony was held at Westminster Abbey to remove Cochrane’s designation as Knight of the Order of the Bath, as per the commands of the Prince Regent. His banner was taken down and he was forcefully kicked out of the church and down the exterior stairs.
• Francis Mitchell was the last member of the English cavalry to undergo public degradation. Judged guilty of demanding money in exchange for granting licenses to innkeepers, in 1621, he was taken to Westminster Hall to be degraded. His spurs were removed, the belt was taken off, and the sword was broken over his head. This was followed by a transfer to prison in the Tower of London.

Degradation Ceremony Around the World

Degradation is one of the additional military penalties provided by the military criminal codes that render the convicted individual incompatible with belonging to the Italian armed forces. It can be one of the outcomes of a disciplinary state procedure, i.e., related to the legal status of the accused. The code also provides for another penalty of lesser severity: removal, in which the convicted individual is demoted to a simple soldier but retains their military status.

Degradation results in:

• Absolute incapacity to serve in the armed forces in any capacity. Often accompanied by the impossibility of holding any public office, also defined as disqualification from public offices.
• Loss of decorations (a distinction of honor granted by a state).

Russian Empire

1. On November 12, 1708, in Glukhov, a symbolic civil execution of Hetman Mazepa took place (in the absence of Mazepa himself, who had fled to Turkey).
2. In 1768, all social and property rights were defeated, and the Saltychikha family name was taken away from Darya Nikolayevna Saltykova (a Russian serial killer).
3. On the night of July 12 to 13, 1826, the Decembrists: 97 people in St. Petersburg and 15 naval officers in Kronstadt.
4. On December 12, 1861, Mikhail Mikhailov.
5. On May 19, 1864, Nikolay Chernyshevsky.
6. On May 15, 1868, Grigory Potanin.

France

1. December 1894 – Alfred Dreyfus, a French artillery officer.

In France, military degradation was the military counterpart of civic degradation, inheriting its effects. This penalty entailed, in addition to civic degradation, the perpetual exclusion from the army, the loss of rank and the right to wear associated insignia and uniforms, the forfeiture of decorations, as well as the loss of any pension rights. The most striking manifestation of this penalty was the public ceremony before the troops. It was abolished in 1965, replaced by the loss of rank and dismissal.

Italy

In judgments, the sentence of degradation is considered to be imposed concurrently with the main penalty and constitutes an accessory penalty. In the past, degradation also led to the loss of the pension for services rendered before the conviction, as happened to the Italian Admiral Carlo Pellion di Persano (1806–1883), defeated in the naval battle of Lissa in the Third Italian War of Independence (1866).

He lived his last years in poverty, alleviated only by an allowance that King Victor Emmanuel II assigned to him personally and in a confidential manner. The modern legal system, following the pronouncement of the Constitutional Court, no longer includes this additional accessory sanction, declared unconstitutional.