Medieval Torture

While doing the research for this paper, I stumbled across a website that had an article called, "Medieval Torture's 10 Biggest Myths" (Whipps). This site was a wealth of information and I feel these myths are very important if someone wants to truly understand medieval torture.

1. People were sent directly to jail. This is false; they actually held trials back in the Medieval Times. The trails were short, but they were still there.

2. Medieval villages had no authority. Actually, if a person had been wronged, the whole town had to participate in process of finding evidence, going to the hearing, and convicting the criminal.

3. Churches only convicted felons. Sometimes criminals could seek sanctuary inside a church and avoid prosecution.

4. Criminals were given a life sentence, even for small offenses. Actually, if a criminal committed a small crime, three times, they were banished from the town/village.

5. All criminals were executed. Actually, medieval times were a lot like today. Execution was only carried out on the worst criminals.

6. Kings and queens were above prosecution. In movies, we see royalty doing as the please, but this wasn't the case. Commoners had laws in place that kept royalty from doing as they pleased.

7. People in medieval times went to beheadings every week. Beheadings were a privilege and commoners would not be murdered this way. Beheading rarely took place, most people were hung.

8. Medieval times were known as "The Burning Times". This is really big because of witchcraft, but the fact is, people were rarely burned at the stake. Hanging was the preferred method of execution.

9. Body parts were rarely cut off. Law enforcers would threaten to cut off the criminal's ear, but this was merely a threat.

10. The rack. When you think of medieval torture, you may think of the rack, but the rack wasn't used until the medieval period was almost over.

Reasons for Medieval Torture

According to Woodcock (1999) there were three reasons why people were tortured in medieval times:

To Force confessions or secret information from those accused
To discourage dissent and intellectual freedom
To Persuade Jews, Muslims, and other non-believers to accept Christianity

Thankfully, times have changed, at least here in America. Can you imagine being tortured for not believing certain views? The medieval times were certainly different from today's world. During the Black Plague, Jews were blamed for the disease. Englishmen tortured Jews until they confessed that they had poisoned the water supply, which is, of course, ludicrous. (I have no idea which History Channel show this came from, but that's where I learned the line about Jewish prosecution). Now that we know the reason why people were tortured, let's move into the most popular ways to torture people.

Popular Medieval Torture Techniques

Some of the following descriptions may in fact curl your toes. I learned about these torture techniques from two websites: Medieval Times and Castles ("Medieval Torture", 2005) and The Medieval Torture Museum ("The Saw"). The articles "Medieval Torture" and "The Saw" found on these websites discuss the most popular torture techniques and one of the most disturbing techniques I stumbled upon (the saw). I will discuss the saw technique first, because it isn't listed on the most common list, but I feel it must be discussed. When the saw technique was chosen, the criminal was hung upside down, by the feet. This ensured that the person wouldn't pass out before the torturing was over and it ensured that there was very little blood loss. The torturer would start sawing through the criminal's genitals and straight through their body.

"Medieval Torture" (2005) gives a long list of some of the most common torture devices. I've decided to list and describe some of the most interesting devices.

1. Boiled Alive: People were not simply thrown into boiling water. No, this is torture and it was a drawn out process. The accused was placed into a metal cauldron and cold water was placed up to their necks. The torturer would slowly raise the temperature of the water, using a fire. The longer it took, the more the accused would suffer.

2. Rat: This form of torture is truly worth shivering over. The rat was placed on the stomach of the accused and a metal box was placed over the rat. The box was heated, causing the rat to start digging through the stomach of the accused. The rat would become lost in the intestines and would keep digging long after the accused had died.

3. The Coffin: This isn't a coffin like people use to bury the dead. This is a semi-hollow coffin and people were forced into these coffins and kept there for hours or days, depending on their crime. Some people were left there to die, while animals feasted on their flesh.

4. The Chair: These chairs were covered in roughly 400 spikes. The spikes were placed all over the chair so that every piece of skin that touched the chair would be pierced. The torturer would use a metal bar to weigh down the accused so that the spikes penetrated even deeper. People could stay in this chair for hours or even weeks, making this a very slow and painful torturing device.

5. Water: People are always saying that we need to get more water into our diets, but did you know that too much water could kill you? The torturer would pour water directly down the accused throat, trying to force them to speak. If the accused refused to speak the torturer would keep pouring water down into their stomachs until they died.

These, of course, were just a few of the gruesome ways people were tortured in medieval times, but what about real life examples?

The Torturing of William Wallace A.K.A. Braveheart

In the movie Braveheart (Wallace, 1995) we see what we think to be the execution of William Wallace. In the movie, Wallace is drug behind a horse, hung, put on the rack, has his intestines cut out, and is then beheaded, but there was more to it than that.

In the article, William Wallace ("Braveheart") Chapter 13 The Execution (Bos, 1999), we get some of the real details of what happened to Wallace. The movie was mostly accurate when it came to the execution, but it left out certain parts that were too rough, even for a Hollywood movie. Bos puts it best, so I will use her words to describe his execution (Bos, 1999):

Immediately after the "trial," Wallace was taken to the place of execution. Today that place is known as Smithfield, in London . He was stripped naked, bound and dragged face down four miles, under the tails of two horses. As he was led to the scaffold, William asked for his psalter to be held open where he could see it.

To ensure Wallace felt the most extreme effects of the sentence, officials made sure William hanged but did not die. While he was still alive, his genitals were cut off with a dull blade. His intestines were cut out and burned in his presence. Only after he had endured torture, beyond human comprehension, was beheaded. After he died, his body was quartered. The body parts were sent to Newcastle, Stirling, Berwick and Perth, as specified in the sentence.
Wallace was tortured without mercy. Today he is one of Scotland's biggest hero's.

References

Bos, C. (1999). WILLIAM WALLACE ("BRAVEHEART") CHAPTER 13 - EXECUTION. Retrieved November 17, 2006 from Law Buzz Web site: http://www.lawbuzz.com/justice/braveheart/execution.htm

Medieval Torture. (2005).
Retrieved November 17, 2006 from Medieval Times and Castles Web site:
http://www.medievality.com/torture.html

The Saw.
Retrieved November 17, 2006 from The Medieval Torture Museum Web site:
http://www.corkscrew-balloon.com/misc/torture/25.html

Wallace, R. (1995). Braveheart Motion Picture.
Paramount, Hollywood

Whipp, H. Medieval Torture's 10 Biggest Myths.
Retrieved November 17, 2006 from Life Science Web site: http://www.livescience.com/history/top10_medieval_myths.html

Woodcock, T. (1999) Torture Devices.
Retrieved November 17, 2006 from Medieval Pubnishment/Torture Web site: http://www.fidnet.com/~kawlaw/devices.html