Burning at the stake was practiced mostly in European countries with protestant or catholic religions such as France (Jean D’Arc/Joan of Ark) England, Germany, Italy and a few Nordic countries. The infamous bloody burnings of English king Henry VII, Mary Tudor- where she got the nickname Bloody Mary.
There were three methods of burning:
1. Burning wood was piled around a stake driven into the earth. The prisoner hung from the stake from chains or iron hoops.
2. Prisoner hung from a stake, wood is piled high around the victim so the observers could not see her pain and suffering as she burned.
3. He victim was tied to a ladder which was tied to a frame above the fire. The ladder was then swung down into the flames.
During the 16-17th century at the time witch hunts were most popular nearly 200,000 people were burned. Though law required the victims to be strangled dead before burned but they were usually burned alive on purpose. This method was to scare other criminals from crime.
Though America doesn’t have as much a report of burnings as Europe it still had it as a quite common punishment considerably used for black men. The last legalized burning at the stake was held in 1922.