Torturers in the Middle Ages used a bit of everything: from devices that stretched the victims’ bodies to dislocating the joints to piercing objects of all kinds. A good part of the methods of punishment already existed since Antiquity, but medieval executioners also developed new forms of torment, incorporating the technological advances of the time, such as the newly emerged clockwork devices. The practice of torture was common, as the confession was considered the most important evidence in the courts, so it needed to be extracted at any cost. Trapped in dark dungeons, in the basement of fortresses, the suspects were subjected to torture for weeks and the terror only ended when they recognized their guilt, generally related to cases of robbery, political treason or murder. At first, the Church was against torture to extract confessions, but by the end of the Middle Ages, it was already using the practice unceremoniously to punish heretics and suspected witches or frame preachers who deviated from its official doctrine. In the year 1252, Pope Innocent IV published a bull (solemn letter from the pontiff) authorizing the torture of suspected heretics. It was not considered a sin to inflict physical punishment on the accused, the only recommendation was that the priests not be responsible for the dirty work… The height of the use of torture in interrogations would happen outside the medieval period. From the 15th century, the Inquisition – courts of the Catholic Church that punished those who deviated from its norms – even had manuals to guide executioners. It is worth remembering that, in addition to physical torment, psychological methods were also used, involving psychotropic drugs, extracted from plants such as mandrake or weed. These potions provoked terrible delusions, serving to “confirm” that the defendant had ties with the devil.
dive into it
At the bookshop:
Medieval History, Jacques Heers, Bertrand Brasil, 2000
The History of Torture and Execution, Jean Kellaway, The Lyons Press, 2002
On the Internet:
https://www.shanmonster.com/witch/torture/index.html
In dungeons, victims had dislocated joints and ripped scalps.
FIRE WHEEL
The wheel was a widely used torture from the 12th century onwards. The prisoner was tied to the outside of a large wooden disk, placed over a container containing glowing embers. By slowly turning the wheel, the executioner exposed the tortured body to heat until the defendant died as a result of the burns suffered.
CRUEL TECHNOLOGY
The development of watchmaking in the Middle Ages inspired new instruments in the service of pain. The “pear” was a device with small mechanisms and springs inside. It was introduced into the victim’s rectum or vagina and, with the use of screws, clockwork mechanisms were activated to expand the volume of the object, causing serious lacerations.
FEMALE NIGHTMARE
Some forms of torture were applied exclusively to women. Mastectomy (removal of the breasts) was one of them. The victim’s breasts were torn apart and then pulled out using tweezers and other heated iron instruments. On certain occasions, the woman was forced to swallow her own breasts and ended up suffocating to death.
KNOCKING THE BOOTS
A form of torture popular in medieval Scotland, boots were a type of “footwear” with the interior lined with metallic spikes. The condemned was obliged to place them on his legs, while the executioner adjusted them with a heavy hammer, causing the points to penetrate the flesh. The few defendants who survived such a nightmare were crippled or maimed.
PAULEIRA URN
If you like rock, you certainly know the group Iron Maiden, “Iron Maiden” in English. But maybe you don’t know that the band was named after an instrument of torture. It was an urn, shaped like a woman, with the inside filled with metal stakes. The prisoner was forced to enter the urn and the doors were closed, pressing the stakes against his body, which caused painful injuries.
RADICAL STRETCHING
The dais was a wooden plank with mechanisms to stretch the victim’s body. After having the wrists and ankles tied by ropes at the ends of the board, the mechanisms were activated slowly and pulled the body in opposite directions. The victim had dislocated joints and ruptured tendons and in the end could be dismembered
EUROPEAN SCALP
Another form of torture used only against women was the snare. It appeared in the Middle Ages, but was used in Russia until the beginning of the 20th century. During interrogation sessions, executioners would tangle the hair of women accused of some crime in pieces of metal, which were twisted until the scalp was ripped off.