Grand Duke of Tuscany

On this day, after having de facto blocked capital executions (the last was in 1769), Leopold I, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, promulgated the reform of the penal code that made Tuscany the first nation in modern history to abolish the death penalty. He also ordered the destruction of all the instruments for capital execution in his land and banned all forms of torture. This act has been commemorated since 2000 by a regional custom known as the Feast of Tuscany, held every 30th November. Although not particularly popular with his Italian subjects, Leopold’s steady, consistent and intelligent administration, which included the removal of the ruinous restrictions on industry and personal freedom imposed by his predecessors of the House of Medici, brought the grand duchy to a high level of material prosperity. The historian Paul W. Schroeder has called him “one of the most shrewd and sensible monarchs ever to wear a crown”.