Author Topic: (Warning: Not for kids or weak stomachs) Your Favorite Medieval Torture Device  (Read 42260 times)

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Offline Graham

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Ok, retyped my torture report, remember this was for a christian school so i dulled it a bit, but its still very graphic thing to read for immature minds... read at your own risk. I suck at grammar btw...

"Torture is the use of mental or physical pain to punish, to get information, or to draw out a confession.  Torture has been used for around 2000 years.  The laws of the early Roman and Greek civilizations allowed the torture of dishonorable people, slaves, and also foreigners.  In the 200’s and 300’s, the Roman Empire spread torture to different classes of people, until the fall of the empire in the 400’s.  In many parts of Europe in the 1100’s, torture had a rebirth in religious and civil courts, and torture was used legally to obtain confessions until around 1800.

   Torture was used to inflict pain of victims in order to get confessions or as punishment.  The most widespread use of torture was during the Inquisitions, hundreds of supposed heretics and witches were killed.  Kramer and Sprenger, who were two of the most famous inquisitors of their day, wrote the Malleus Monleficarum. In 1484, the book was used for witch hunting and inquisitions, it gave precise information of how to recognize and punish witches.
   
   The devices of torture were cruel and extremely painful. The boots also know as the cash claws or bootikens, were large wedges fitted from the ankle to the knees.  A large hammer would be used to hitt he wedges, driving the wedges closer together.  Each time the wedge was hit, the inquisitor would repeat his question. The wedges cut into the skin and shattered the bone, and on some occasions, marrow would come out of the legs which made the legs useless.
      
   The ducking stool was mostly for women prisoners.  The prisoner would be fastened to a chair that was attached to a free moving arm.  The prisoner would be dunked into a local pond or local river; the amount of time the prisoner stayed underwater was completely up to the person that was operating the arm.  Elderly women usually died from shock of cold water.
   Pressing, also known as “Piene forte etdure” was used to draw out confessions, and also it was used to execute prisoners.  Pressing reached its zenith when Henry IV took the throne, until 1772, when pressing was abolished in Britain. The turcas is a device that is simply used to tear out fingernails. A device similar to the turcas is the thumbscrews.  Thumbscrews were used to obtain confessions.
   
   The Rack was used to extract confessions.  The victim would be laid on a board and tied at the wrists and at the ankles.  At either end of the table there would be rollers placed.  As the rollers were turned the victim’s body would be pulled in opposite directions.  This would dislocate the joints in the body.
   
   The scold’s bridle was first used in Scotland.  It was also called the witches bridle or brank.  It was a cage for the head with a gagging device that was built in.  The appearance of the device varied.  Some of these decives had spikes that would pierce the tongue some even had a bell to draw attention to the victim. 

“in the old-fashioned, half-timbered houses in the borough, there was generally fixed on one side of the large open fireplaces a hook so that when a man’s wife indulged her scolding propensities, the husband for the town goaler  to bring the bridle and had her bridled and chained to the hook until she promised to behave herself for the future.”

It is not known why men did not have similar charges.

   The heretic’s fork was a device with sharp points that stuck into the flesh under the chin and in the bone of the sternum.  The points prevented the victim from moving his head; the victim could only mutter “I recant.” If the victim refused to recant, the victim would usually be burnt or hung.  If it was a Spanish Inquisition the accused would be forced to wear a costume.

   The Judas Cradle is called many things in different languages.  It was called the “la veille” in French, “culla di gida” in Italian, and “Judaswiege” in German.  The victim would be hoisted up and set on the point of a pyramid, either on the anus or coccyx, the law few vertebrae.  The victim could be rocked back and forth or dropped on the point of the pyramid repeatedly.
   
   The pear was a device used in the mouth, anus, or vagina.  The pear would expand by the force of a screw; the flesh of the throat, anus, or vagina would be mutilated.  The pear could stretch the flesh so much it could become fatal.  The device would have prongs at the end which would further mutilate the flesh.

   The more common methods of torture were easy to set up.  Bastinado, also known as caning, was a form of punishment that is still used in the middle and Far East.  The accused was stripped and tied in a way to receive blows to the soles of the feet, back on the legs, or backside.  The victim would be struck with a heavy shaft of bamboo or ratton. Often breaking the pelvis bones.  In some instances, the wounds would be agitated with scalding water, hot colds, itching dust, or even red ant bites.

   Knotting was used specifically for women with long, thick hair.  A stick would be tied in the woman’s hair and the inquisitor would twist the hair until the inquisitor got tired and handed the stick to a stronger person to twist or the hair or scalp was completely pulled off; exposing the skull.

   Scalding was used in catholic countries; it was believed that the soul of the witch or heretic was filthy.  The accused were made to consume heated substances such as: fire brands, hot water, fire brands and sometimes hot soaps. The term “washing the mouth out with soap” came from this torture.

   The strappado was one of the easiest methods of torture.  All that was needed for this torture was a rope thrown over a rafter.  The accused person would be tied by the wrists and dropped from a height, which caused the shoulders to dislocate.  Another form of torture that was used with the strappado was substation.  Squassation would be used while the victim was being tortured by the strappado; weight would be hung from the victim. The weight range could be anything from 5 to 500 pounds.

   The witches cradle was used to torture accused witches.  The witch was tied in a sack and a rope was thrown over a limb.  The sack was lifted into the air and was swung.  The rocking motion caused disorientation and helped to get confessions.  Also most that were given this torture would have hallucinations.

   The devices of a torturous execution where meant to prolong the suffering and pain.  The garotte was basically a hanging, at first the garotte was used to end the lives of the men that were on the wheel.  Europeans lawmakers got the idea of slow strangulation.  The first garottes were just beans of wood with a hole drilled through at one point.  The victim would be seated or stood in front of the beam and a rope would be brought around the neck and both ends put through the hole.  The executioner would pull the ends of the rope, slowly choking the victim.  Modification could be made to the garotte; a metal spike in the beam would part the vertebrae while the victim was strangled.

   The iron maiden was a tomb-sized container; in the doors were mutilating spikes.  A prisoner was put inside and the doors were shut.  The prisoner would be pierced along the length of his body.  The spikes were not meant to give a quick death.  The prisoner was left to die in excruciating pain.

   The wheel was a popular form of capital punishment in Germany and France.  The prisoner was stripped of everything but a pair of linen pants.  Then the prisoner was bound to the side of a wheel on a scaffold.  The executioner would break the limbs with an iron bar or weapon.  Before the torture was ended, the wheel would be propped  upright for the onlookers so they could see the last breaths of the criminal.  Later the executioner, would end the torture with one or two strikes to the chest.  The wheel could also include other tortures also; the could be suspened and turned over nails or fire.

   The methods of a torturous  execution were severely painful, and simple yet effective.  Roasting or boiling was popular in many civilizations, victims would be cooked to death in large frying pan or boiled in a caldron of oil.  A popular form of roasting was to fasten the victim to an iron chair, which was above a fire pit.  Henry VII was a fan of boiling.  The death penalty for prisoners was boiling.  Henry’s son abolished this when he took the throne.

   Burning was believed to be the only way to nullify a witches power.  This brought about burning at the stake; this method was used with heretics also.  One of the most famous deaths by buring was Joan d’Arc. 

   Impalement was used in barbaric regions if a person was guilty of treason.  A sharp stake would be inserted into the posterior and forced through the body; the stake would coem through the  head or throat.  Then the stakes would be planted into the ground.  The accused would live in pain for days until they died.  Later, prisoners under the same charge would get a splint inserted into the anus, and left to crawl until they died.

   The saw was simple execution, the victim would be hung upside down, which caused oxygen to travel tot eh brain and caused the loss of blood.  Then the executioner would saw through the victims body.  Also, according to accounts from the eighteen hungreds, the victims would not lose consciousness until the navel or even then breast was reached.

   Torture was a brutal and terrible punishment.  Many people confessed to crimes they did not commit due to the pain they were subjected to, especially during the Inquisition.  The line between punishment and drawing a confession is hard to draw.  Punishment has come a long way since medieval times."
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Offline Ebby

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From what I scanned over, you have a pretty broad variety, but there's not many details. Sure, some info on how they worked, but what about the history of it all and such.

I'am not impressed. ^^
« Last Edit: June 11, 2006, 10:47:38 pm by Ebby »

Boredy, ordey.

Offline n00bface

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Your knowledge on torture is so subpar, Gram.

*gives Vltava a big hug*  You know what you are talking about ^___^

Offline Graham

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Its a high school report... its not gonna be a novel guys...
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Offline jrgp

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dude you are fuking SICK.
There are other worlds than these

Offline Krillious

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There is a museum with some of these devices where I live :D

Offline Zegovia

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Id go for water torture!

There is no way i would manage being strapped to a board and having water dripping on my forhead for a couple of days, alone (and probably butt naked!) in a murky, cold dugeoun....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_torture

Offline Graham

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dude you are fuking SICK.
No, just  curious :D
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Offline RabidTreeFrog

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Add my  thumbscrews info.
not around

Offline Hello There

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Theres one device i know of that you didnt put in the report.

Its some thing that is a triangular prism, constructed of wood, measuring about to a person's ribs, that were supportes by four legs made of steel.



The person would be forced to sit in the reigon that the arrow is pointing, a leg on each side of the Prism. Then 75-100 pound wieghts would be attached to each leg, and slowly, the person would be split in half.

Ill look for a pic
« Last Edit: June 12, 2006, 04:35:33 pm by Hello There »

Offline Ebby

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That's been added. Don't be silly, if you read all of it you'd understand that is here. :P

Boredy, ordey.

Offline xurol

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oo, my favorite isn't medieval so to speak, but I suppose they might have had a similar method back then. I always thought the worst way to be tortured would be having bamboo shards hammered under your nails. My uncle was briefly in a POW camp in Vietnam and they hammered the shards so far into the finger that a few of his fingers are damaged beyond repair beyond the third knuckle.


Offline Kyklis

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That was interesting, and I enjoyed reading it :D. I'm glad I didn't live back then, because some of those tortures sound unbelievably cruel and painful.

...remind me to never, EVER, make fun of  . *shudders*

Offline Hello There

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...i read evey single post in the thread and i didnt find the device i said...

Offline Graham

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Hello, your prolly talking about the Judas Cradle, go find that in my report, I left that hole pulling or adding weights to the legs for content reasons, this was a high school report for a christian school, soo yeah i left some delicate imformation out on purpose...
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Offline n00bface

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Going to list my personal favourites that I've been trying to remember for the past few daysss

First off - The BLOOD EAGLE!  Technique admittedly used before the medieval times, but it involves cutting the ribs by the spine, breaking the ribs outwards, and pulling the lungs out.  Then you sprinkle salt on the wounds.  It was supposed to look like bloody wings!  Woo for VIKINGS!!!!

Actually that's all I'm going to list now because I'm getting the others mixed up.

There's another one I'm thinking of where a hollow brass bull was made, a door was cut in the side, and the victim is placed inside the bull and sealed in.  Then they light a fire underneath the bull and let the person inside slowly melt on the hot brass.

Offline Ebby

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Going to list my personal favourites that I've been trying to remember for the past few daysss

First off - The BLOOD EAGLE!  Technique admittedly used before the medieval times, but it involves cutting the ribs by the spine, breaking the ribs outwards, and pulling the lungs out.  Then you sprinkle salt on the wounds.  It was supposed to look like bloody wings!  Woo for VIKINGS!!!!

Actually that's all I'm going to list now because I'm getting the others mixed up.
Ooh wah. Those sound gruesome, but in a cool gruesome way.
Very kvlt. ;)
Think the brass bull sounds like an awful way to die, but just wondering if something else will kill the individual first before the heat gets to the rest of their body.
The Blood Eagle just sounds creative.

Boredy, ordey.

Offline Captain Ben

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It's actually called the 'butterfly cut'. Vikings did it to running victims, because if they managed to do it properly, the lungs would come out on their own.
Thank god for my year nine social studies book.

Offline n00bface

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No, it's called the Blood Eagle, mother fucker.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_eagle

Offline Graham

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noobace.. wikis are definalty not the best place for torture info....
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