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Renaissance Punishment/Torture

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Renaissance Punishment/Torture Torture devices were used all throughout the Middle Ages as a way to punish criminals and get a confession from someone. The word torture comes from the Latin word ‘tortura’ ultimately deriving from the word ‘torquere’ meaning “to twist”. The torture and punishment depended on the victim’s crime and social status. Torture was the most common form of punishment in the Middle Ages, only being abolished in England in 1640. Torture reached its peak around the 12th century. From the mid-18th century it was the most common method used and was allowed by the Roman Catholic Church. Torture wasn’t exclusively for criminals, it was also used by the Knights Templar, a member of a religious and military order founded by Crusaders in Jerusalem about 1118 and suppressed in 1312; the Spanish inquisition to punish a person who speaks disrespectfully of sacred things, and liars. The well-known torture devices are the Head Crusher, Cat’s Paw (or Spanish Tickler), Knee Splitter, Scavenger’s Daughter, Judas Chair, Spanish Donkey, Choke Pear, Lead Sprinkler, Breast Ripper, and Crocodile Shears. With the Head Crusher the device was a helmet like hat they placed on top of the victims head and the chin was placed above a metal bar, then the device would slowly turn compressing the skull tightly. First the teeth are destroyed, shattering and splintering into the jaw. Then the eyes are squeezed from the sockets. Lastly the skull fractures and the contents of the head are forced out. This torture device was used widely during the middle ages especially in the inquisition. Some of the torture devices for women were the Brank, Pear, Breast Ripper, and The Saw Torture. Women were tortured for miscarriages, adultery, dishonesty, nagging to their husbands, and gossiping untruthfully. The Breast Ripper did just as its name promotes, often used to punish women accused of conducting a miscarriage or those accused of adultery. The device had claws that would be fastened to the exposed breasts and were either cold or hot. If the victim wasn’t killed she would be horribly mutilated, the breasts being torn apart most literally. The Saw Torture was simple and only required two men, a rope and a saw, this torture was common because there were no complex tools needed. It was a cheap and effective way to kill a person who was accused of witchcraft, adultery, murder, and sometimes theft. The victim’s ankles were tied to a board in an inverted way, causing the blood to flow to the head and was to extract confessions, if they didn’t confess they would slowly be cut in half from the pelvis to the abdomen. The Thumbscrew, Judas Chair, Breaking Wheel, Brazen Bull, Judas Cradle were used for mostly thieves and criminals. The most wanted criminals had the Breaking Wheel used for them, which always killed the victim but did so slowly. The wheel originated on Greece and quickly spread to Russia, England and Sweden. The wheel was a very sordid torture device, it consisted of a large wooden wheel with many bars or wire rods connecting the center of the wheel it its outer edge, the victim’s limbs were tied to the wheel and it was sometimes spun. The limbs would be placed on a post for animals to feed on their still living body. It would take two or more days to die of dehydration. The wheel was such a well-known and excruciating device that it was common for prisoners to commit suicide rather than terminate the torture. I abhor the torture devices in the Middle Ages, can’t imagine how bad the experience was for the people. They would suffer for days on end knowing that they were going to die, most would just expedite their death so they wouldn’t suffer. I’m glad that I was not living back in the renaissance days. These malignant devices were used all throughout the Middle Ages as a way to punish criminals and get a confession from someone. Can you imagine if we used torture today instead of the governmental system, how different things would be?

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