Torture and execution were commonplace in the Middle Ages and were used for a wide range of violations and crimes, including even minor infractions.
Welded alive
Boiling alive is a very slow and painful torture. It was not as widespread as other methods of this type, but was used in both Asia and Europe for two thousand years. Historical literature talks about three types of this execution: in the first case, a person was lowered into a boiling cauldron with boiling water, tar, and oil. Basically, according to the laws of the Hansa, this was how they dealt with counterfeiters. This set of laws did not give any privileges to the female half of society - in the 15th century in the city of Lübeck, Margaret Grimm was thrown into boiling tar alive for selling several counterfeit coins. This method was considered very merciful - people instantly lost consciousness from shock and piercing pain due to a large burn on almost the entire surface of their body.In the second type of torture, a pre-tied condemned person was placed in a huge cauldron with cool liquid, but in this case water was mainly used. The executioner lit a fire under this cauldron so that the water slowly began to boil. During such torture, the convict remained aware of everything that was happening and suffered terribly and greatly for up to two hours.
But there was also the most painful third type - they took a woman, tied her up and placed her over a bubbling cauldron of liquid, then began to slowly lower her there so that her body would slowly cook for several painful times. During the reign of Genghis Khan, this was the most famous, popular and protracted form of torture and execution. In those days, these tortures could last about one, or even one and a half days. During all this, the doomed person was taken out of the cauldron and poured with cold water, which led to the flesh of the sufferer peeling off from the bones, although the person was still alive all this time and could feel all this.
Impalement.
This type of torture came to Europe from the east, where it found wide popularity and application. A wooden stake was driven into the victim's anus. Then this stake was also driven into the ground, and under the weight of the body the condemned person began to slowly be impaled on it. At the end of this procedure, the stake could appear both in the neck and in the armpits, or it could come out of the martyr’s chest.Sawing
As a rule, this torture ended in death. It was usually applied to witches and the like, that is, to the female half of society who were suspected of having a connection with Satan and who conceived a child from evil spirits during their Sabbath ritual. The woman was hung upside down and slowly began to quarter her. This torture had no equal and, doomed, they begged to be burned at the stake due to unbearable pain and torment.Skull under pressure.
This method of torture is simple. The convict's head was placed and fixed so that the mechanism with the press was in the center of the victim's skull. Slowly the screw of the mechanism was turned until the jaw and teeth, and then the skull itself and the bones consisting of it, began to burst with a strong crack, and at the same time the brain began to be forced out of the holes in the skull. The main use of this method of torture existed in Germany and nearby states.Chest laceration.
This type of torture was used on women in the Middle Ages. The woman was tied up and a special device was installed on her chest. In this case, the breasts turned from luxurious into bloody rags of blood and flesh.Pear.
This type of torture was also very painful and was a type of sexual torture. A special device with an opening mechanism was placed into the convicted woman's mouth, anus or vagina and the screw began to be turned. The blades of this mechanism began to slowly open and tear apart the flesh.Pectoral bowl.
A bowl made of metal was heated over a flame until red and then, taking it with special clamps, it was placed on the woman’s chest. They kept this cup until the woman confessed to what she had done. If the woman did not confess, the torture was repeated again. As a result of this torture, charred holes of a ragged nature formed in place of the woman’s chest.Wheeling.
This torture involved breaking and crushing human bones. The convict was placed on a special star-shaped surface and his limbs were fixed. The executioner, using a metal mallet, beat the limbs of the arms, thighs, forearms, legs and sternum, breaking and crushing them. After this, the person was moved onto a wooden wheel mounted on a pole. The convict's crushed limbs were fixed with a rope behind his back and placed facing the sky so that he would accept death in this position. It happened that after this procedure the person was killed themselves, and sometimes, on the contrary, the victim was placed on the fire in addition to everything else.Information about capital punishment is approximately the same age as information about the first states. As a legal form of punishment, the death penalty appeared during the transition of society to legal relations. Later arose "the talion principle" according to which the punishment must be equal to the crime. Further, the death penalty was associated with ritual murder and sacrifice to the gods. In many ancient and medieval states, the type of death penalty depended on the personality and position of the convicted person. Many types of executions were aimed not at alleviating, but at prolonging suffering.
Public executions for the crowd turned into a kind of sporting competition: the convict’s antics that showed contempt for death (an indecent gesture addressed to girls, asking the priest to bring a drink instead of a cross, statements like “for me, death is no worse than an enema,” etc.) were greeted with applause. ), and the skill of the executioner - a successful blow is a successful blow both in the stadium and on the scaffold. It happened that hysterical individuals deliberately committed crimes in order to be the center of such flattering attention.
The death penalty was so demonstrative, spectacular, it had so many conventions, allegories, symbols, and humor, albeit primitive: bake a person in a hollow copper bull so that his screams imitate the roar of an animal, roast on a spit like a hare, fry in flour , like crucian carp.
1. "The Iron Maiden"
The “Iron Maiden” is an instrument of capital punishment or torture of the Middle Ages, which was a cabinet made of iron in the form of a woman dressed in the costume of a 16th-century townswoman. It is assumed that having placed the convict there, the cabinet was closed, and the sharp long nails with which the inner surface of the chest and arms of the “iron maiden” were seated were pierced into his body; then, after the death of the victim, the movable bottom of the cabinet was lowered, the body of the executed person was thrown into the river and carried away by its current.
Moreover, apparently, the nails inside the “iron maiden” were located in such a way that the victim did not die immediately, but after quite a long time, during which her judges had the opportunity to continue the interrogation.
According to the stories of ancient writers, a similar method of execution was first invented by the Spartan tyrant Nabis. The device he invented looked like a woman sitting on a chair and was called "Apegoy", named after the tyrant's wife. As the condemned man approached, Apega stood up and threw both her arms over his back, studded, like her chest, with sharp nails that tore the body into pieces.
2. Torture by hunger
Poor workers in a poor home were lifted in a basket above the table where the more industrious ones ate.
3. Torture and waterboarding
Drowning was used when it was necessary to execute many people at the same time. This is how the murderers of parents were executed in Ancient Rome and Greece, and in the Middle Ages the water test was used in relation to witches: the bound woman was thrown into the water, if she drowned, then she was innocent, and if not, then she was hanged.
4. Burying alive
Even in Ancient Rome and Ancient China, burying alive in the ground was used for Vestals for the loss of virginity.
In medieval Russia, such an execution was applied to a wife who killed her husband. The victim, buried in the ground up to his shoulders, usually died on the second or third day from dehydration and starvation.
5. Quartering
Quartering was prescribed for crimes against power, treason, and rebellion in medieval China and Russia. The criminal's arms and legs were first cut off, and then his head.
6. Wheeling
From 1450 to 1750, at least one person died on the wheel every day in Europe. Wheeling consisted of breaking each limb of the convict in two places and the spine with an iron crowbar, then the body was tied to the wheel so that the heels met the back of the head, and was left to die.
7. Throat congestion
Pouring the throat with molten metal was used in Russia until 1672 against counterfeiters. Other liquids were also added.
8. Impalement
Impalement involved the slow penetration of a stake inside a person, the agony lasting several days. This execution was used in medieval Russia and the Ottoman Empire.
9. Hanging
One of the brutal methods of killing slaves. They are hung with a hook so that they die of thirst and hunger.
10. Decapitation
It was used for a very long time as the main type of execution throughout almost the entire second millennium AD.
Death of King CharlesI.
Execution of Lady Jane Grey, 1557
If in England they cut off heads in a simple “clumsy” way, then in France they went further and invented a special device - guillotine .
Execution of LouisXVI, 1793
11. Gallows
In medieval France, a stationary gallows served as a sign of the lord's power: the duke had six pillars, the baron had four, the chatelain had three, and other small fry had only two. In Ancient Rome, slaves had a separate executioner. In many countries, the thief was hanged higher or lower depending on the size of the theft.
Hanging was considered a dishonorable execution, and beheading was considered a privileged execution, although in China, for example, everything was the other way around: there it is considered shameful to lose any member, and perhaps that is why such a surgical execution, requiring high qualifications, as cutting into a thousand pieces arose - on a marble table, using knives of various shapes, each of which is intended for one operation: for tearing out eyes, for removing genitals, “for hands”, “for feet”.
Gallows executioners often prided themselves on being able to get everything right on the first try. They came up with formulas to determine the length of the hatch, which took into account the weight of the convict. The arms and legs were tied so that the body fell vertically. The executioners also experimented with the thickness of the rope and the placement of the noose with the sole purpose of achieving instant loss of consciousness by displacing the spinal column and severing the spinal cord. Captain Kidd was executed in 1701, the rope broke and he fell to the ground, but he was raised and hanged again, this time successfully. It is noteworthy that the bodies of the hanged were left on the gallows for some time, established in the order of execution. On execution docks in 18th-century England, the bodies of pirates were left hanging until the tides washed them away.
12.
Garrotte
Garrote (Spanish: “garrote”, “dargarrote” - twisting, tightening; execute) is a Spanish method of execution through strangulation. Initially, the garrote was a noose with a stick, with which the executioner killed the victim. Over time, it transformed into a metal hoop, driven by a screw with a lever at the back. Before execution, the convict was tied to a chair or pole; a bag was placed over his head. After the sentence was carried out, the bag was removed so that spectators could see the victim's face.
Later, the garrote was improved. Thus, the Catalan garrote appeared, where the screw was equipped with a point, which, when turned, gradually screwed into the neck of the convicted person and crushed his cervical vertebrae. Contrary to popular belief, such a device was “more humane”, since the victim died faster.
During the conquest of America by the conquistadors, garrote became widespread in the Spanish colonies.
In 1828, King Ferdinand VII abolished hanging and introduced the garrote as the only legal method of execution in Spain for criminals. The execution was only abolished in 1974.
12. Burning at the stake
Burning was actively used in ancient times in many countries, but it flourished in the Middle Ages, since this was how the Inquisition executed heretics. Throughout Europe, this execution reached enormous proportions: thousands of people were burned alive, often en masse, on charges of witchcraft, cohabitation with the devil, blasphemy, and even deviance. The most famous example is the burning of Joan of Arc.
In Russia, burning was also used for religious criminals, and the execution was more painful, as it was carried out over low fire.
Landscape with a man on fire, and soldiers around him; illustration, Florence, 1619
13. Torture and execution using animals
One of the most ancient types of execution. The Romans, Assyrians and Babylonians staged public spectacles by placing prisoners in lion pits. In the East, criminals were killed by allowing elephants to crush their heads and tear them to pieces with their feet and trunks. In the book "Man Victim"James Clark retells the story of civil unrest in Brazil, during which locals cut the skin of local prisoners and tied them waist-deep in a piranha-infested river.
In India, a criminal was crushed with the help of a trained elephant. Well, the devouring of criminals by wild animals in Ancient Rome actually took place in the circus and was a favorite spectacle of the Roman people.
Dog baiting
Torture with a cat, London, 1651
Torn apart by horses
14. Torture and execution for faith
Some of the most severe tortures occurred in the Middle Ages during the discord in various movements of Christianity.
Example: Torture of Catholics by Huguenots in the south of France
A - tortured by hungerin pairs in shackles so that they eat each other.
B -naked is pulled along a tightly taut rope, which acts like a knife, cutting the body in half.
C - slow roasting on a spit.
The role of the executioner coincided with the role of the priest - this is what surrounded the executioners with respect, the charm of which cannot be returned by any pure heart and cold hands. Only the reflection of the sacred rite made it possible to turn mass burnings of heretics into attributes of state celebrations: on the occasion of accession to the throne or marriage, on the occasion of the birth of an heir, etc. The work went on for several days, they burned in hundreds and thousands, for greater brightness they dressed up “means of illumination” into sulfur-soaked shirts and stuffing flammable substances “into secret parts of the body.”
Monarchs did not disdain the role of executioner: Darius personally cut off the nose, lips and ears of the Median king, Ivan the Terrible also loved to have fun, Peter I personally cut off the heads of five archers (and Alexander Menshikov boasted that he had dealt with as many as twenty). It was thanks to the mystical, royal glow, and not to executioner virtues, that in some places in Germany executioners acquired the title of nobility, and in France they occupied an honorable place in solemn processions. Their prestige began to decline when they began to attach only earthly, utilitarian significance to executions. The executioners were still surrounded by superstitions, but already unflattering ones. They were afraid to live next to them, they were afraid even to accept money from them, looking for bloody stains on them. In Russia, it became difficult to find assistant executioners, who were previously simply pulled out of the crowd, and in 1768 a decree was issued generally prohibiting the use of executioners on a voluntary basis - due to “disorders and grievances.”
With the development of civilization, human life acquired value regardless of social status and wealth. It is all the more terrible to read about the dark pages of history, when the law did not simply deprive a person of life, but turned execution into a spectacle for the amusement of the common people. In other cases, the execution could be ritual or edifying in nature. Unfortunately, there are similar episodes in modern history. We have compiled a list of the most brutal executions ever practiced by people.
Executions of the Ancient World
Skafism
The word “scaphism” is derived from the ancient Greek word “trough”, “boat”, and the method itself went down in history thanks to Plutarch, who described the execution of the Greek ruler Mithridates at the behest of Artaxerxes, the king of the ancient Persians.First, the person was stripped naked and tied inside two dugout boats in such a way that his head, arms and legs remained outside, which were thickly coated with honey. The victim was then force-fed a mixture of milk and honey to induce diarrhea. After this, the boat was lowered onto still water - a pond or lake. Lured by the smell of honey and sewage, insects clung to the human body, slowly devoured the flesh and laid larvae in the resulting gangrenous ulcers. The victim survived for up to two weeks. Death occurred from three factors: infection, exhaustion and dehydration.
Execution by impalement was invented in Assyria (modern Iraq). In this way, residents of rebellious cities and women who had an abortion were punished - then this procedure was considered infanticide. 
The execution was carried out in two ways. In one version, the convict was pierced through the chest with a stake, in the other, the tip of the stake passed through the body through the anus. Tormented people were often depicted in bas-reliefs as edification. Later, this execution began to be used by the peoples of the Middle East and the Mediterranean, as well as by Slavic peoples and some European ones.
Execution by elephants
This method was used mainly in India and Sri Lanka. Indian elephants are highly trainable, which is what the rulers of Southeast Asia took advantage of. 
There were many ways to kill a person with the help of an elephant. For example, armor with sharp spears was put on the tusks, with which the elephant pierced the criminal and then, while still alive, tore him into pieces. But most often, elephants were trained to crush the condemned with their feet and alternately tear off limbs with their trunks. In India, a guilty person was often simply thrown under the feet of an angry animal. For reference, an Indian elephant weighs about 5 tons.
Tradition to the Beasts
Behind the beautiful phrase “Damnatio ad bestias” lies the painful death of thousands of ancient Romans, especially among the early Christians. Although, of course, this method was invented long before the Romans. Typically, lions were used for execution; bears, panthers, leopards and buffaloes were less popular. 
There were two types of execution. Often, a person sentenced to death was tied to a pole in the middle of the gladiatorial arena and wild animals were unleashed on him. There were also variations: they were thrown into the cage of a hungry animal or tied to its back. In another case, the unfortunate man was forced to fight against the beast. Their weapons were a simple spear, and their “armor” was a tunic. In both cases, many spectators gathered for the execution.
Death on the Cross
Crucifixion was invented by the Phoenicians, an ancient seafaring people who lived in the Mediterranean. Later, this method was adopted by the Carthaginians, and then by the Romans. The Israelis and Romans considered death on the cross to be the most shameful, because it was the way to execute hardened criminals, slaves and traitors. 
Before the crucifixion, the person was undressed, leaving only a loincloth. He was beaten with leather whips or freshly cut rods, after which he was forced to carry a cross weighing about 50 kilograms to the place of crucifixion. Having dug the cross into the ground by the road outside the city or on a hill, the person was lifted with ropes and nailed to a horizontal bar. Sometimes the convict's legs were first crushed with an iron rod. Death occurred from exhaustion, dehydration or pain shock.
After the ban of Christianity in feudal Japan in the 17th century. the crucifix was used against visiting missionaries and Japanese Christians. The execution scene on the cross is present in Martin Scorsese's drama Silence, which tells exactly about this period.
Execution by bamboo
The ancient Chinese were champions of sophisticated torture and execution. One of the most exotic methods of killing is stretching the culprit over growing shoots of young bamboo. The sprouts made their way through the human body for several days, causing incredible suffering to the executed person. 
Ling-chi
“Ling-chi” is translated into Russian as “sea pike bites.” There was another name - “death by a thousand cuts.” This method was used during the reign of the Qing dynasty, and high-ranking officials convicted of corruption were executed in this way. Every year there were 15-20 such people. 
The essence of “ling chi” is the gradual cutting off of small parts from the body. For example, having cut off one phalanx of a finger, the executioner cauterized the wound and then proceeded to the next one. The court determined how many pieces needed to be cut from the body. The most popular verdict was cutting into 24 parts, and the most notorious criminals were sentenced to 3 thousand cuts. In such cases, the victim was given opium: this way she did not lose consciousness, but the pain made its way even through the veil of drug intoxication.
Sometimes, as a sign of special mercy, the ruler could order the executioner to first kill the condemned with one blow and then torture the corpse. This method of execution was practiced for 900 years and was banned in 1905.
Executions of the Middle Ages
Bloody Eagle
Historians question the existence of the Blood Eagle execution, but mention of it is found in Scandinavian folklore. This method was used by residents of Scandinavian countries in the early Middle Ages. 
The harsh Vikings killed their enemies as painfully and symbolically as possible. The man's hands were tied and he was placed on his stomach on a stump. The skin on the back was carefully cut with a sharp blade, then the ribs were pryed with an ax, breaking them out into a shape that resembled an eagle's wings. After this, the lungs were removed from the still living victim and hung on the ribs.
This execution is shown twice in the TV series Vikings with Travis Fimmel (in episode 7 of season 2 and episode 18 of season 4), although viewers noted the contradictions between the serial execution and the one described in the folklore Elder Edda.
"Bloody Eagle" in the TV series "Vikings"
Tearing by trees
Such execution was common in many regions of the world, including Rus' in the pre-Christian period. The victim was tied by the legs to two leaning trees, which were then abruptly released. One of the legends says that Prince Igor was killed by the Drevlyans in 945 - because he wanted to collect tribute from them twice. 
Quartering
The method was used as in medieval Europe. Each limb was tied to horses - the animals tore the condemned person into 4 parts. In Rus' they also practiced quartering, but this word meant a completely different execution - the executioner alternately chopped off with an ax first the legs, then the arms, and then the head. 
Wheeling
Wheeling as a form of death penalty was widely used in France and Germany during the Middle Ages. In Russia, this type of execution was also known at a later time - from the 17th to the 19th centuries. The essence of the punishment was that first the guilty person was tied to the wheel, facing the sky, with his arms and legs fastened to the spokes. After that, his limbs were broken and in this form they were left to die in the sun. 
Flaying
Flaying, or skinning, was invented in Assyria, then moved to Persia and spread throughout the Ancient World. In the Middle Ages, the Inquisition improved this type of execution - with the help of a device called the “Spanish tickler,” a person’s skin was torn into small pieces, which were not difficult to tear off. 
Welded alive
This execution was also invented in ancient times and received a second wind in the Middle Ages. This is how they executed mostly counterfeiters. A person caught counterfeiting money was thrown into a cauldron of boiling water, resin or oil. This variety was quite humane - the criminal quickly died from painful shock. More sophisticated executioners put the condemned man in a cauldron of cold water, which was heated gradually, or slowly lowered him into boiling water, starting from his feet. The welded leg muscles were coming away from the bones, but the man was still alive. 
Execution by rats
The prisoner's legs and arms were tightly tied to a metal bench, and a rat cage with the bottom broken off was placed on his stomach. Then the executioner brought the burner to the cage, and the animals began to panic and look for a way out. And there was only one - through the body of the victim. 
Modern executions
Dissolution in acid
It is generally accepted that the Sicilian Mafia began dissolving victims in acid. In this regard, the name of the mafia killer Giovanni Brusca is well known. Suspecting that his comrade was “dropping” into the police, Brusca kidnapped his 11-year-old son and dissolved him alive in an acid-filled bathtub.This execution is also practiced by extremists in the East. According to Saddam Hussein's former bodyguard, he witnessed an acid execution: first, the victim's legs were lowered into a pool filled with a caustic substance, and then they were thrown whole. And in 2016, militants of the banned organization ISIS dissolved 25 people in a cauldron of acid.
Cement boots
This method is well known to many of our readers from gangster films. Indeed, they killed their enemies and traitors using this cruel method during the mafia wars in Chicago. The victim was tied to a chair, then a basin filled with liquid cement was placed under his feet. And when it froze, the person was taken to the nearest body of water and thrown off the boat. Cement boots instantly dragged him to the bottom to feed the fish. 
Death flights
In 1976, General Jorge Videla came to power in Argentina. He led the country for only 5 years, but remained in history as one of the most terrible dictators of our time. Among other atrocities of Videla are the so-called “death flights”. 
A man who opposed the tyrant’s regime was pumped full of barbiturates and, in an unconscious state, carried on board an airplane, then thrown down - certainly into the water.
We also invite you to read about the most mysterious deaths in history.
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The Middle Ages are considered the period in history with the most ruthless attitude towards people. For the slightest offense they were subjected to sophisticated torture. This review features 13 torture devices that will make people confess to anything.
1. “Pear of Suffering”
This cruel tool was used to punish abortionists, liars and homosexuals. The device was inserted into the vagina for women or the anus for men. When the executioner turned the screw, the “petals” opened, tearing the flesh and bringing unbearable torture to the victims. Many then died from blood poisoning.
2. Rack
The victim was tied to a wooden frame by the arms and legs and the limbs were stretched in opposite directions. At first, the cartilage tissues were torn, and then the limbs were torn out. A little later, spikes were attached to the frame, which dug into the victim’s back. To intensify the pain, the thorns were smeared with salt.
3. "Catherine's Wheel"
Before tying the victim to the wheel, his limbs were broken. During rotation, the legs and arms were completely broken off, bringing unbearable torment to the victim. Some died from painful shock, while others suffered for several days.
4. Crocodile pipe
The victim's legs or face (sometimes both) were placed inside this pipe, thereby immobilizing him. The executioner gradually heated the iron, forcing people to confess to anything.
5. Copper Bull
The victim was placed in a copper statue of a bull, under which a fire was lit. The man died from burns and suffocation. During the torture, the screams coming from inside resembled the mooing of a bull.
6. Spanish donkey
A wooden log in the shape of a triangle was fixed on “legs”. The naked victim was placed on top of a sharp angle that cut straight into the crotch. To make the torture more unbearable, weights were tied to the legs.
7. Torture coffin
The victims were placed in metal cages, which completely immobilized them. If the torture coffins were not the right size for people, this caused them additional torment. This death was long and painful. Birds pecked at the flesh of the victims, and the crowd threw stones at them.
8. Head crusher
The unfortunate man’s head was pinched under this “cap.” The executioner slowly tightened the screws, and the upper part of the “crusher” pressed on the skull. The jaw was the first to break and teeth fell out. After this, the eyes were squeezed out, and finally, the skull was broken.
9. "Cat's Paw"
The "cat's paw" was used to tear the flesh down to the bones.
10. Knee crusher
This instrument of torture was especially popular during the Inquisition. The victim's knee was placed between the teeth. When the executioner tightened the screws, the teeth pierced the flesh and then crushed the knee joint. After such torture, it was no longer possible to stand up.
11. "Judas' Cradle"
One of the most brutal tortures was called the “Cradle of Judas” or “Judas’ Chair.” The victim was forcibly lowered onto an iron pyramid. The point would go straight into the anus or vagina. The resulting ruptures led to death after some time.
12. Chest “claws”
This instrument of torture was used on women accused of adultery. The "claws" were heated and then pierced into the victim's chest. If a woman did not die, she would remain with terrible scars for the rest of her life.
13. "Expletive Bridle"
This peculiar iron mask was used to punish grumpy women. There could be spikes inside it, and in the hole for the mouth there was a plate that was placed over the tongue so that the victim could not speak. Usually the woman was escorted through noisy squares. The bell attached to the mask attracted everyone's attention, prompting the crowd to laugh at the one being punished.
Medieval torture is a terrible phenomenon. But it’s even worse if people deliberately do this. So at all times, to correspond to the canons of beauty of your people.
This term meant clarifying the circumstances of a case by investigation, usually through interrogation, often with the use of force. The torture of the Inquisition had hundreds of varieties.
Chinese bamboo torture
A notorious method of terrible Chinese execution throughout the world. Perhaps a legend, because to this day not a single documentary evidence has survived that this torture was actually used.
Bamboo is one of the fastest growing plants on Earth. Some of its Chinese varieties can grow a full meter in a day. Some historians believe that the deadly bamboo torture was used not only by the ancient Chinese, but also by the Japanese military during World War II.
Bamboo grove. (pinterest.com)
How it works?
1) Sprouts of living bamboo are sharpened with a knife to form sharp “spears”;
2) The victim is suspended horizontally, with his back or stomach, over a bed of young pointed bamboo;
3) The bamboo quickly grows high, pierces the skin of the martyr and grows through his abdominal cavity, the person dies for a very long time and painfully.
Like torture with bamboo, the “iron maiden” is considered by many researchers to be a terrible legend. Perhaps these metal sarcophagi with sharp spikes inside only frightened the people under investigation, after which they confessed to anything.
"Iron Maiden"
The “Iron Maiden” was invented at the end of the 18th century, i.e. already at the end of the Catholic Inquisition.
"Iron Maiden". (pinterest.com)
How it works?
1) The victim is stuffed into the sarcophagus and the door is closed;
2) The spikes driven into the inner walls of the “iron maiden” are quite short and do not pierce the victim, but only cause pain. The investigator, as a rule, receives a confession in a matter of minutes, which the arrested person only has to sign;
3) If the prisoner shows fortitude and continues to remain silent, long nails, knives and rapiers are pushed through special holes in the sarcophagus. The pain becomes simply unbearable;
4) The victim never admits to what she had done, so she was locked in a sarcophagus for a long time, where she died from loss of blood;
5) Some Iron Maiden models had spikes at eye level to poke them out.
The name of this torture comes from the Greek “scaphium”, which means “trough”. Scaphism was popular in ancient Persia. During the torture, the victim, most often a prisoner of war, was devoured alive by various insects and their larvae who were partial to human flesh and blood.
Skafism. (pinterest.com)
How it works?
1) The prisoner is placed in a shallow trough and wrapped in chains.
2) He is force-fed large quantities of milk and honey, which causes the victim to have profuse diarrhea, which attracts insects.
3) The prisoner, having shit himself and smeared with honey, is allowed to float in a trough in a swamp, where there are many hungry creatures.
4) The insects immediately begin their meal, with the living flesh of the martyr as the main course.
Pear of suffering
This cruel tool was used to punish abortionists, liars and homosexuals. The device was inserted into the vagina for women or the anus for men. When the executioner turned the screw, the “petals” opened, tearing the flesh and bringing unbearable torture to the victims. Many then died from blood poisoning.
A pear of suffering. (pinterest.com)
How it works?
1) A tool consisting of pointed pear-shaped leaf-shaped segments is inserted into the client’s desired body hole;
2) The executioner little by little turns the screw on the top of the pear, while the “leaf” segments bloom inside the martyr, causing hellish pain;
3) After the pear is completely opened, the offender receives internal injuries incompatible with life and dies in terrible agony, if he has not already fallen into unconsciousness.
copper bull
The design of this death unit was developed by the ancient Greeks, or, to be more precise, by the coppersmith Perillus, who sold his terrible bull to the Sicilian tyrant Phalaris, who simply loved to torture and kill people in unusual ways.
A living person was pushed inside the copper statue through a special door. And then Phalaris first tested the unit on its creator - the greedy Perilla. Subsequently, Phalaris himself was roasted in a bull.
Copper bull. (pinterest.com)
How it works?
1) The victim is closed in a hollow copper statue of a bull;
2) A fire is lit under the bull’s belly;
3) The victim is roasted alive;
4) The structure of the bull is such that the cries of the martyr come from the mouth of the statue, like a bull’s roar;
5) Jewelry and amulets were made from the bones of the executed, which were sold at bazaars and were in great demand.
Torture by rats was very popular in ancient China. However, we will look at the rat punishment technique developed by the leader of the 16th century Dutch Revolution, Diedrick Sonoy.
Torture by rats. (pinterest.com)
How it works?
1) The stripped naked martyr is placed on a table and tied;
2) Large, heavy cages with hungry rats are placed on the prisoner’s stomach and chest. The bottom of the cells is opened using a special valve;
3) Hot coals are placed on top of the cages to stir up the rats;
4) Trying to escape the heat of hot coals, rats gnaw their way through the flesh of the victim.
Cradle of Judas
The Judas Cradle was one of the most torturous torture machines in the arsenal of the Suprema - the Spanish Inquisition. Victims usually died from infection, due to the fact that the pointed seat of the torture machine was never disinfected. The Cradle of Judas, as an instrument of torture, was considered “loyal” because it did not break bones or tear ligaments.
Cradle of Judas. (pinterest.com)
How it works?
1) The victim, whose hands and feet are tied, is seated on the top of a pointed pyramid;
2) The top of the pyramid is thrust into the anus or vagina;
3) Using ropes, the victim is gradually lowered lower and lower;
4) The torture continues for several hours or even days until the victim dies from powerlessness and pain, or from blood loss due to rupture of soft tissues.
Rack
Probably the most famous and unrivaled death machine of its kind called the “rack”. It was first tested around 300 AD. e. on the Christian martyr Vincent of Zaragoza.
Anyone who survived the rack could no longer use their muscles and became a helpless vegetable.
Rack. (pinterest.com)
How it works?
1. This instrument of torture is a special bed with rollers at both ends, around which ropes are wound to hold the victim’s wrists and ankles. As the rollers rotated, the ropes pulled in opposite directions, stretching the body;
2. Ligaments in the victim’s arms and legs are stretched and torn, bones pop out of their joints.
3. Another version of the rack was also used, called strappado: it consisted of 2 pillars dug into the ground and connected by a crossbar. The interrogated person's hands were tied behind his back and lifted by a rope tied to his hands. Sometimes a log or other weights were attached to his bound legs. At the same time, the arms of the person raised on the rack were turned back and often came out of their joints, so that the convict had to hang on his outstretched arms. They were on the rack from several minutes to an hour or more. This type of rack was used most often in Western Europe.
4. In Russia, a suspect raised on the rack was beaten on the back with a whip and “put to the fire,” that is, burning brooms were passed over the body.
5. In some cases, the executioner broke the ribs of a man hanging on a rack with red-hot pincers.
Shiri (camel cap)
A monstrous fate awaited those whom the Ruanzhuans (a union of nomadic Turkic-speaking peoples) took into slavery. They destroyed the slave's memory with a terrible torture - putting a shiri on the victim's head. Usually this fate befell young men captured in battle.
Shiri. (pinterest.com)
How it works?
1. First, the slaves' heads were shaved bald, and every hair was carefully scraped out at the root.
2. The executors slaughtered the camel and skinned its carcass, first of all, separating its heaviest, dense nuchal part.
3. Having divided it into pieces, it was immediately pulled in pairs over the shaved heads of the prisoners. These pieces stuck to the heads of the slaves like a plaster. This meant putting on the shiri.
4. After putting on the shiri, the neck of the doomed person was chained in a special wooden block so that the subject could not touch his head to the ground. In this form, they were taken away from crowded places so that no one would hear their heartbreaking screams, and they were thrown there in an open field, with their hands and feet tied, in the sun, without water and without food.
5. The torture lasted 5 days.
6. Only a few remained alive, and the rest died not from hunger or even from thirst, but from unbearable, inhuman torment caused by drying, shrinking rawhide camel skin on the head. Inexorably shrinking under the rays of the scorching sun, the width squeezed and squeezed the slave's shaved head like an iron hoop. Already on the second day, the shaved hair of the martyrs began to sprout. Coarse and straight Asian hair sometimes grew into the rawhide; in most cases, finding no way out, the hair curled and went back into the scalp, causing even greater suffering. Within a day the man lost his mind. Only on the fifth day did the Ruanzhuans come to check whether any of the prisoners had survived. If at least one of the tortured people was found alive, it was considered that the goal had been achieved.
7. Anyone who underwent such a procedure either died, unable to withstand the torture, or lost his memory for life, turned into a mankurt - a slave who does not remember his past.
8. The skin of one camel was enough for five or six widths.
Spanish water torture
In order to best carry out the procedure of this torture, the accused was placed on one of the types of racks or on a special large table with a rising middle part. After the victim's arms and legs were tied to the edges of the table, the executioner began work in one of several ways. One of these methods involved forcing the victim to swallow a large amount of water using a funnel, then hitting the distended and arched abdomen.
Water torture. (pinterest.com)
Another form involved placing a cloth tube down the victim's throat through which water was slowly poured, causing the victim to swell and suffocate. If this was not enough, the tube was pulled out, causing internal damage, and then inserted again and the process repeated. Sometimes cold water torture was used. In this case, the accused lay naked on a table under a stream of ice water for hours. It is interesting to note that this type of torture was considered light, and the court accepted confessions obtained in this way as voluntary and given by the defendant without the use of torture. Most often, these tortures were used by the Spanish Inquisition in order to extract confessions from heretics and witches.
Spanish armchair
This instrument of torture was widely used by the executioners of the Spanish Inquisition and was a chair made of iron, on which the prisoner was seated, and his legs were placed in stocks attached to the legs of the chair. When he found himself in such a completely helpless position, a brazier was placed under his feet; with hot coals, so that the legs began to slowly fry, and in order to prolong the suffering of the poor fellow, the legs were poured with oil from time to time.
Spanish armchair. (pinterest.com)
Another version of the Spanish chair was often used, which was a metal throne to which the victim was tied and a fire was lit under the seat, roasting the buttocks. The famous poisoner La Voisin was tortured on such a chair during the famous Poisoning Case in France.
Gridiron (grid for torture by fire)
This type of torture is often mentioned in the lives of saints - real and fictitious, but there is no evidence that the gridiron “survived” until the Middle Ages and had even a small circulation in Europe. It is usually described as an ordinary metal grate, 6 feet long and two and a half feet wide, mounted horizontally on legs to allow a fire to be built underneath.
Sometimes the gridiron was made in the form of a rack in order to be able to resort to combined torture.
Saint Lawrence was martyred on a similar grid.
This torture was used very rarely. Firstly, it was quite easy to kill the person being interrogated, and secondly, there were a lot of simpler, but no less cruel tortures.
Bloody Eagle
One of the most ancient tortures, during which the victim was tied face down and his back was opened, his ribs were broken off at the spine and spread apart like wings. Scandinavian legends claim that during such an execution, the wounds of the victim were sprinkled with salt.
Bloody eagle. (pinterest.com)
Many historians claim that this torture was used by pagans against Christians, others are sure that spouses caught in treason were punished in this way, and still others claim that the bloody eagle is just a terrible legend.
"Catherine's Wheel"
Before tying the victim to the wheel, his limbs were broken. During rotation, the legs and arms were completely broken off, bringing unbearable torment to the victim. Some died from painful shock, while others suffered for several days.
Catherine's Wheel. (pinterest.com)
Spanish donkey
A wooden log in the shape of a triangle was fixed on “legs”. The naked victim was placed on top of a sharp angle that cut straight into the crotch. To make the torture more unbearable, weights were tied to the legs.
Spanish donkey. (pinterest.com)
Spanish boot
This is a fastening on the leg with a metal plate, which, with each question and subsequent refusal to answer it, as required, was tightened more and more in order to break the bones of the person’s legs. To enhance the effect, sometimes an inquisitor was involved in the torture, who hit the fastening with a hammer. Often after such torture, all the bones of the victim below the knee were crushed, and the wounded skin looked like a bag for these bones.
Spanish boot. (pinterest.com)
Quartering by horses
The victim was tied to four horses - by the arms and legs. Then the animals were allowed to gallop. There were no options - only death.
Quartering. (pinterest.com)