During the Middle Ages, Reasons why it seen improper for the executioner to live in town

An executioner did the will of such a central authority. In this transitional period, though, someone might get it into their heads that the executioner was a valid target for retributive justice. Under the new paradigm he was NOT meant to be, but old ways die hard.

So, one way to protect him was to segregate him, at least a bit, from the people who might have reason to be embittered towards him.

Killing people is disgusting and frightening. Thus there is symbolic contamination in being an executioner. But we still want to kill people. Solution, for most of civilization: we have particular people who kill people and we make them stay away from us, so their impurity can’t contaminate us.

Executioners were treated as pariahs. But they were well compensated. Executioner families in different European towns exchanged daughters for marriage. It was similar to India's caste system.

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