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TORN APART BY HORSES
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A person is attached to four horses, one to each limb of the body. The horses are then made to gallop in opposite directions in the aim that the person will become dismembered. Not a very effective method unless certain tendons in the limbs are pre-cut. If they are not, then this torment would work in a way akin to the rack, simply stretching and dislocating the joints. Often an executioner would assist in the dismemberment by using a sword or an axe to cut through flesh and tendons and as such, the pull of the horses would literally tear the victim apart. (See illustration.)
TORTURE BY WATER
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BOILING
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How far in the past the first poor soul was boiled alive as punishment for their crimes is unknown and unknowable. The effects of boiling water (or oil or other substances) must have been obvious since the day when the first Neolithic cook inadvertently shoved their hand into a crock of boiling soup – the possibility of subjecting enemies to the same pain would have been instantly apparent. Records exist showing that the ancient Assyrian king, Antiochus Epiphanies, boiled Hebrew captives and the Romans boiled Christians in public displays of unimaginable cruelty commonly known as ‘the games’. In 1531, England’s Henry VIII passed a special statute declaring boiling to be the execution of choice for poisoners. This came about when the Bishop of Rochester’s cook, Richard Roose, attempted to poison seventeen members of the Bishop’s household. According to the records, it took Roose more than two hours to die so we can assume that he was not simply thrown into a cauldron of boiling water, but placed in a tepid bath only to have the temperature raised slowly. The Japanese took a slightly more leisurely approach to scalding their victims; they doused them with buckets full of boiling water, one at a time, over a period of days. An account from 1662 tells us that a number of Japanese converts to Christianity were killed in this manner as part of a larger mass execution.
Boiling.
Ducking stool.
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DUCKING
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Although the punishment of ducking women in the local pond came into use in southern England as early as the Anglo-Saxon period, when it was known as the scealding (or scolding) stool, ducking came into its own during the Middle Ages when its use spread throughout England and Europe. During this period prostitutes and shrewish women were publicly punished in ways ensured to teach them a lesson in decorum and good manners without inflicting permanent, bodily harm. One of the more popular methods of teaching a communis rixatrix (common scold) to hold her tongue was by giving her a good ducking in the local lake or mill pond. Slanderers and what were known as ‘makebayts’ (gossips) were subjected to the same treatment. The condemned was tied to a chair, or stool (commonly called a ‘ducking stool’ but properly termed a ‘scolding stool’, ‘trebucket’ or ‘castigatory’) to which two ropes were tied. Woman and stool were then heaved into the water and immediately dragged to the safety of dry land.
At some sites where duckings seem to have been carried out fairly regularly the ducking stool was permanently affixed to the end of a long, counterbalanced pole, much like a see-saw. With such advanced technology three or four stout lads could submerge and retrieve a nagging woman in a matter of ten or fifteen seconds. The main point of this exercise was to subject the victim to as much public humiliation as possible. Once she had become a figure of derision and jokes, it was hoped that her snide tongue would, hopefully, lose its sharp edge. Ducking should not be confused with the ‘swimming’ of suspected witches. (See opposite.)
Tortue of the funnel.
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KEELHAULING
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This uniquely naval punishment meant exactly what its name implies: the victim was dragged beneath a ship, along or across the keel (the backbone of the ship that extends beneath the bottom of the hull) and hauled up the other side. When a sailor had committed a crime severe enough to warrant keelhauling, a rope was looped beneath the ship and the condemned man was tied to the rope and then tossed overboard. Appointed members of the crew then hauled in the rope from the opposite side of the ship, effectively dragging the victim across the bottom of the vessel. If the rope was hauled in slowly, the condemned man might sink low enough to avoid having his back ripped to shreds by the sharp shells of the barnacles that attached themselves to the submerged portion of wooden ships, but was in danger of drowning. If, on the other hand, the rope was pulled faster, the time under water was shorter, but the chance of being slashed to pieces by the barnacles was far greater. For the most serious offences, a sailor might be condemned to be keelhauled stern to bow, along the length of the ship, rather than from side to side; this was effectively a death sentence as there is a limit to how long anyone can hold their breath. The first mention of keelhauling is found in Dutch naval records dating from 1560 and the practice was not formally abolished until 1853. Another variation of this torture involved tying a miscreant by his wrists or ankles (or both) and then dragging or ‘towing’ him behind a ship in full sail for a set period of time. The inability of a man to keep his head above water in such circumstances means that this would likely equate to a death sentence – even IF the waters were devoid of sharks.
Baker’s punishment in ducking stool.
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SWIMMING
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There were many ways to identify a witch but one of the more popular was to ‘swim’ the suspect. As in the practice of ‘ducking’, described above, the victim was either tied to a chair or had bound hands and feet, and tossed into a lake or pond. Unlike ducking, where the dousing only lasted long enough to thoroughly humiliate the victim, swimming required the victim to remain in the water long enough for the judge or clergymen to determine whether or not she was a witch. The prevailing theory of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was that water, which was the source of life and the medium used in Christian baptismal rites, was holy and, as such, would not accept an evil person into its depths. With this simple, but ultimately flawed, guideline the determination of guilt or innocence was decided upon by whether the victim floated or sank. If they floated (that is, if the water rejected them) they must be a witch and would be placed on trial as such – usually resulting in execution. If, on the other hand, they sank (and remained submerged long enough to satisfy the judges and bystanders) they must be innocent. Swimming was, invariably, a Catch 22 situation. How many innocent women and men were allowed to drown before they were deemed innocent of witchcraft can never be determined.
Torture of the funnel.
Torture of the funnel
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TORMENTO DE TOCA
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Drowning, or choking to death, are horrible prospects that make anyone shudder to contemplate. It was this specific fear, and the pain and panic associated with it, that led the Spanish Inquisition to invent a torture known as Tormento de toca. In the Tormento, the victim was strapped down and then a length of fine-mesh cloth (usually linen) was stuffed down his throat and up his nostrils; not enough so as to suffocate him, but certainly enough to make him panic. Once the cloth was in place, a fine stream of water was allowed to trickle onto the exposed ends of the cloth, causing the moisture to be absorbed into the victim’s throat and nostrils. Once the victim had nearly reached the point of unconsciousness the cloth was removed. According to eye-witness accounts, the extracted cloth was frequently covered with blood and the sensation was reported to be ‘like pulling his bowels through his mouth’. In a nasty variation of this torture a funnel, rather than a rag, was forced down the victim’s throat. Into the funnel more and more water was poured. Instantly the victim would start to gag and retch, but the pouring continued until the victim’s stomach was bloated and distended and the water backed up into their throat and gushed from their mouth. When the victim was ‘full’, a noose was placed around his throat, or a gag inserted into his mouth, to prevent him from vomiting up
the water. After removing the poor creature from the torture table, the torture masters rolled him back and forth across the dungeon floor, producing horrible pain in his water-filled stomach. Eventually, the gag, or noose, was removed and the victim was allowed to vomit up the water before being subjected to another round of questioning.
Presumably, some who were subjected to this horrible procedure died from ruptured stomachs or choked to death before they could answer the questions. A similar torture was used in France at the same period, although the horrible abuse of the victim seems not to have been so severe. In the first stage, known as Question Ordinaire, the victim had four pints of water funnelled down their throat. If this failed to elicit the desired answers the quantity was doubled and referred to as Question Extraordinaire.
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TRIAL BY WATER
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See section on ‘Torture by Burning and Branding’ under the entry ‘Trial by Fire & Water’.
TORTURE BY WHIPPING
Because all forms of whipping are, by definition, similar, this section will not be broken down by method but by the types of whips used by various civilisations throughout history. Virtually since the beginning of civilisation, whipping has been employed as one of society’s most common forms of punishment. Generally it has been confined to non-lethal uses but in some instances the whip has proven as lethal as hanging or burning at the stake.
From the time of Ancient Egypt and the Babylonian king, Hamumurabi, (reigned from 1792–1750 BC) up until the present day, virtually every culture has possessed and employed at least some variety of whip to punish wrongdoers. In almost every case the number of lashes to be administered was in direct proportion to the severity of the crime; the more serious the offence the greater the number of lashes.
Public flogging
EGYPT
In Pharaonic Egypt, whippings were generally carried out with bundles of reeds. While this may sound like a fairly mild punishment, records indicate that in extreme cases the punishment could result in the death of the victim, usually as a result of post-punishment infection. The risk of infection setting into the dozens, if not hundreds, of open lacerations caused by a whip were a common side effect of whippings throughout all cultures until well into the nineteenth century.
Bastinado (caning the feet) in Persia.
PERSIA
Ancient Persian courts punished offenders with the bastinado, a lightweight whip made of reeds, wherein the convict had the soles of their feet slapped repeatedly with the whip. While this punishment was never considered lethal it would seem, judging from surviving records, that prolonged whippings could literally drive the victim out of their mind.
Flails
ROME
Although the Romans seldom punished free men and women with the whip, the varying types of Roman whips – each designed to inflict a different type, and degree, of physical damage – display an innovative cruelty seldom matched in history. These whips were used almost exclusively on slaves, prisoners of war, citizens of subject nations who transgressed Roman law and recalcitrant Roman soldiers. The Romans may well have been the first to make whipping a part of a greater punishment, such as by whipping a condemned person while they were being dragged to their execution. Most accounts claim that Jesus was scourged prior to his interview with Pontius Pilate, as well as on his way to the cross, with the plumbatae described below.
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FERULA
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For the most insignificant offences a simple, flat whip, known as the ferula, was employed and while it was undoubtedly painful and raised welts, the physical damage was temporary at worst.
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SCUTICA
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The scutica was a Roman whip made of braided strips of parchment which, like the world’s worst paper cuts, could flay the hide from a victim’s back with terrifying efficiency.
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PLUMBATAE
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The plumbatae were multi-thonged whips not dissimilar to the later cat-o-nine tails. On some occasions small lead balls were attached to the end of the thongs or thorns or tiny slivers of sharp metal were braided into the leather (in which case the whip was called the ungulae); any such variation was guaranteed to make the punishment vastly more painful and physically damaging.
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FLAGELLUM
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While nearly any whipping, if carried to the extreme, is capable of causing death, the Romans are the only society we have come across that had a whip designed specifically as a weapon of execution. Like a monstrous bull-whip, the flagellum could literally tear a victim to pieces. Frequently used as a combat weapon in the gladiatorial arena, the flagellum was also used to shred condemned groups of Christians before the leering crowds who gathered at ‘the games’ during the reign of Nero (54–68 AD).
CHINA
The Chinese, from ancient times until the fairly recent past, administered whippings with a whip made of lengths of split bamboo. Heavier and more substantial than the Egyptian reed whip, there is no record that the Chinese whipped to the point of death. The level of damage inflicted by Chinese bamboo whips – partly due to the limited number of lashes that were usually administered – seems to have been to turn the victim’s back, or upper thighs, into a mass of welts and blood-blisters. In both China and Japan, whippings were almost universally administered while the victim was laying, face down, on the ground. During the period of the Manchu dynasty (1644–1911) the art of the bamboo whip was developed to its most effective height. Manchu flogging masters were taught how to use their whip by flogging a block of Tofu (bean curd) until they could strike it without breaking the surface.
Chinese punishment of flogging through the streets.
JAPAN
Like the Chinese, the Japanese used whips made of split bamboo, but in Japan the strips of bamboo were arranged so the sharp edges of the strips were aligned outward. The effect of the razor-sharp bamboo on human flesh seems obvious enough. According to Japanese law, judicially imposed floggings could range from a few strokes up to no more than 150; but even at that point the survival of the victim was probably a matter of sheer luck.
Flogging post.
MEDIEVAL EUROPE
From the early Middle Ages through the eighteenth century, Britain and Europe punished lesser offences with a good, public whipping. The condemned party was generally tied, or manacled, to a public whipping post – conveniently painted bright red – thus ensuring that they could not try to escape while punishment was being administered. In some cases the whipping was only one facet of a larger, more complex punishment and might come during a specified period spent in the public pillory, or the whipping might be enhanced by having vinegar or salt rubbed into the open lacerations left by the whip – while both salt and vinegar would act as defence against infection, the pain of having such astringent substances ground into open wounds could well be as painful as the whipping itself.
ENGLAND
The Act Against Vagrants, passed in 1530, singled out one specific group whom the choleric King Henry VIII deemed to be in particular need of hard and regular floggings. To punish these vagrants (a catch-all term generally applied to Gypsies, vagabonds who wandered aimlessly from town to town and others who simply refused to work) an additional dimension was often added to the standard public whipping. The condemned party had their hands bound and were then tethered to the back of a cart with a length of rope; as the cart was led through the streets of the town the exposed back of the victim was whipped. The punishment could last as long as it took the cart to move from one specified place to another (i.e. from the local court to the village church) or until sufficient damage had been inflicted for the blood to run freely down the victim’s back and legs and leave a visible trail on the roadway.
Running the gauntlet.
Occasionally, even a punishment as straightforward as a whipping, could go completely, and sometimes hysterically, wrong. Duri
ng the late eighteenth century, English poet William Cowper wrote a letter to a friend describing one such incident. ‘The fellow’, Cowper wrote,
seemed to show great fortitude; but it was all an imposture. The beadle [local watchman] who whipped him had his left hand filled with red ochre [a rust-coloured, dry pigment used in dyes and paint], through which, after every stroke, he drew the lash of the whip, leaving the appearance of a wound upon the skin, but in reality not hurting him at all. This being conceived by the constable, who followed the beadle to see that he did his duty, he (the constable) applied his cane … to the shoulders of the beadle. The scene now became interesting and exciting. The beadle could by no means be induced to strike the thief hard, which provoked the constable to strike harder; and so the double flogging continued, until a lass … pitying the beadle, thus suffering under the hands of the pitiless constable, seized him (the constable) … and pulling him backwards … slapped his face with Amazonian fury … the beadle thrashed the thief, the constable the beadle, and the lady the constable and the thief was the only person who suffered nothing.
The Big Book of Pain: Torture & Punishment Through History Page 24