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In a society dominated by the symbolic, the patibulary forks are not only objects – the instrument to apply the death penalty to a non-privileged population –, they also have a significant meaning: they are the symbol of the power that applies it. Indeed, the one who is in charge of the juridiction in the Catalan county may show his privilege by erecting gallows, signa denotantia merum et mixtum imperium et omnimodam aliam iurisditionem. When the owner changes, the forks must be knocked down and replaced by others, erected by the new lord, as part of a tangible ceremonial. Embellished, the forks bear the blazons of the lord or the urban power on which they depend. Used to execute and expose the body, they are subject of jurisdictional competition and serve also intimidation politics.