Torture of women in the Middle Ages in Rus'. The most terrible tortures in the history of mankind (21 photos)

Speaking about torture, it would be unfair to ignore Mother Rus'. Yes, of course, it was not marked in history on such a scale as the ever-memorable Spanish Inquisition, but it also had its bright moments. To the misfortune of those being tortured, yes.

First of all, of course, the rack. Everyone loved the rack - both the harsh Spanish inquisitors and the Russian entertainers-executioners. In general, it’s not surprising - it’s simple to make, impressive in appearance, and useful in practice.

Strictly speaking, in Rus', the log to which the accused was chained was originally called a rack - it was formulated as “put on a rack.” The arms, legs and neck were secured so that the person could not move, and were left for a while. As a rule, this was a punishment for thieves - not fatal, but unpleasant, and numb hands restored sensitivity for a long time afterwards. And only from the second half XVII century, the rack began to be called a full-fledged instrument of torture.

But in general, there are two types of racks: rack-bed and rack-pillar. The first option was just widespread in Western Europe and was a special bed, with gate rollers at both ends. The tortured person's ankles and wrists were secured with ropes, which, in turn, were wound around rollers. With each turn the ropes tightened, dragging their arms and legs along with them. As a result, the body was stretched in opposite directions, and the main “impact” fell on the muscles and tendons. There were several methods of torture on the rack - slowly stretching, abruptly stopping the impact, or jerking sharply. In all three cases, the person experienced excruciating pain and as a result, the matter could have ended in painful shock, deformation of the limbs, or even death.

The version of the rack, common in Russia, was no less savage, although it looked completely different. These were two pillars dug into the ground, connected at the top by a crossbar. They threw a rope over the crossbar, secured it to the tortured person’s hands tied behind his back, and lifted him up. The techniques are the same - slowly, jerkily or sharply drop down. It was still possible to tie a weight to the legs - which made the torture completely unbearable. Hanging in this way could last for five minutes, an hour, or even a whole day, depending on the willpower of the victim. In addition, it was possible to diversify the sensations by beating on the back with a whip or batogs, burning with burning bunches of straw, or simply tearing out pieces of meat with hot tongs. Yes, yes, you recognized the strappado, which is already mentioned. Yes, this is such a cultural exchange.

By the way, there is a version that the executioner was called a “master of the back” because in order to hang him on the rack he would break the man’s arms from the shoulder joints (another version is that this was the nickname for the whip fighters who swung from behind the shoulder). Despite the fact that it sounds creepy and generally feels like hellish torment, in reality it was not the most terrible of torture manipulations. The fact is that the hands could then be straightened and after some time the person could more or less recover and return to normal life. Both in case of a miscarriage of justice and in case of work force may still be useful.

By the way, it was precisely for reasons of practicality that they proceeded when they developed the practice of hitting only on the back. The head is a fragile object, the stomach and chest - if you poke it in the wrong place and take away the finished product, if you hook your legs unsuccessfully - you will become lame and crippled for the rest of your life. So they only looked after my back and butt.

But there they really allowed themselves to roam. Firstly, they beat us with batogs. Modest and tasteful. It was possible to break ribs and grind the flesh into porridge - how things would go. Secondly, a whip, finger wide and five cubits long (2-2.5 meters). By the way, beating with a whip was considered more painful than with batogs - a hitch in the laws of physics, or rather, in the lever of force. Our ancestors, of course, did not know such sophisticated words, but they learned the pattern “whip = fierce pain” well.

Another, semi-legendary torture was associated with the back, the invention of which is attributed to Ivan the Terrible - they say, he tried it on the boyars. Grozny is not Grozny, but the very fact of this idea delights experts - an ordinary... broom was used. Most often, a bathhouse one, but if one didn’t come to hand, then an ordinary broom could do, or even just bunches of dry straw. This structure was set on fire and they began to whip it on the victim’s back. It seems that at first glance there is nothing special - not red-hot inquisitorial tongs, after all? But no, there was a catch here. The fact is that they whipped for a very long time, gradually moving along the back from the buttocks to the head and back - as a result, the skin was covered with numerous, first small, and then deeper and deeper burns, until it turned into a mess of scorched and scorched flesh. The pain was much more excruciating than when applying torches or hot iron.

If the person still did not want to confess (or there was nothing to confess, but these are trifles), then they moved on to other types of torture - many of which are also known to us from the same Inquisition. And the memory of which remains in the Russian language.

I think that many people, no, no, even use the phrase “find out the lowdown” in conversation. She isolated herself from the proverb-sentence “If you don’t say the real thing, you’ll say the ins and outs.” When other methods of persuasion did not work, they began to drive needles or nails under the tortured person’s nails - and many broke at this stage.

And the cute saying “there is no truth at our feet,” which we are often greeted at guests and invited to sit down, takes on an eerie connotation if we know that it is also connected with legal proceedings. Debtors were stripped of their shoes and beaten on their heels and feet, or forced to stand barefoot in the snow. Despite the fact that this punishment seems like sweet fun compared to the same rack, in fact it brought no less torment. There are several tens of thousands (!) of nerve endings in the human foot, and any long and strong impact on them soon reverberates throughout the sciatic nerve.

Torture in Rus' is usually associated with Ivan the Terrible (like torture in Europe with the Inquisition), but in fact it appeared quite a long time ago - in fact, like everywhere else. Already in legal documents Kievan Rus you can find out that the torture-punishments were beating with batogs, rods or a whip and branding. Magi or unwanted elders were tortured by slowly tearing out their beards, drowning and torture by fire were practiced.

But yes, Ivan the Terrible made a special mark in this field. The time was dark and cruel, the childhood of the future tsar passed in an atmosphere of betrayal, arrests, torture and executions - so it is not surprising that he could not grow into a white and fluffy cutie. As an adult, he saw treason everywhere - not unreasonably, by the way - and brutally dealt with those who were suspected.

One of the favorite options for public torture is execution (yes, this is the same case when public execution is also a way of social regulation - by intimidation to eliminate treasonous sentiments among the people) Ivan the Terrible was impaled. The method is very ancient, it was widely used in Ancient Egypt, in the East (especially in Assyria), then in Byzantium, and in modern popular culture He was glorified by the ruler Vlad the Impaler, the Same One. In the territory of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and in Sweden it was used right up to the 17th-18th centuries. The essence of this execution-torture is simple - they took a thick stake with a rounded and oiled end and inserted it into the victim's anus (in the vagina much less often - there were too many vessels and women quickly died from blood loss). The man, under his own weight, slowly slid down the stake - and that was the essence of the rounded end, that it did not pierce or tear the vital organs, but crushed them, gradually going deeper into the body. If it was not a mass execution, but a public, demonstrative one, of an important person, then the executioner could even periodically come up and correct the body so that it would not tilt and the stake would not quickly come out from under the ribs (and Peter I generally ordered this for someone who was imprisoned in March count Stepan Glebov, the lover of his wife Evdokia, to put on a hat and sheepskin coat so as not to die in the cold ahead of time). Thus, victims could suffer for ten to fifteen hours, and if a crossbar was installed under their feet, then two to three days.

Ivan the Terrible generally loved (it’s not a fact, of course, that he came up with it himself; it may well be that ideas were planted from the outside) to use “historical” torture. Almost from the times of Ancient Rome, the execution of the Novgorod and Pskov Archbishop Leonid was taken - according to the Pskov chronicler, he was sewn up in a bearskin and hunted to death by dogs.

There were tortures associated with changing the position of the body - for example, the tortured person was bent over, his head was tied to his legs, a stick was threaded into the knot and twisted so that his head touched his legs. They say that this is where the expression “bent into three dooms” came from (as part of the phrase “bent into three dooms, rolled into a duck”).

We should also talk about such torture-punishment as “toad legs”. It was applied to parsley-makers, the first comedians in Rus'. The stern Ivan the Terrible had a specific sense of humor and ordered the parsley growers’ fingers to be squeezed out of their joints with special pliers—precisely those on which the doll was put. After this execution, the fingers withered and could only be cut off.

In general, during the time of Ivan the Terrible, it was difficult to distinguish torture from royal amusement or the amusement of the guardsmen. Purely theoretically, torture was regulated by judicial regulations, but the guardsmen, bypassing the court, could mock those they disliked or were suspected of something. And here there were already a huge variety of options for corporal punishment: dousing them with boiling and ice water alternately, tearing off the skin, cutting out belts from the back, stabbing, grinding with ropes, hanging upside down... But, we must pay tribute, the system of punishment and humiliation worked.

Another instigator of torture cases was Peter I. His childhood was even more troubled than that of Ivan Vasilyevich, so the boy quickly acquired paranoia and was keen on reprisals. But he also got an inheritance. For example, since the middle of the 17th century, burying alive in the ground was used for husband-killing wives. Usually up to the throat, a little less often - up to the chest. This was usually carried out either in markets or in city squares - why deprive people of such a wonderful spectacle? — a guard was placed nearby so that no one would help the tortured woman. But giving money for candles and a coffin was encouraged.

First of all, this, of course, was torture - firstly, the person experienced the agony of gradual cooling, and secondly, the earth squeezed the chest and prevented him from breathing fully. If it was necessary to end the victim as quickly as possible, the executioner was ordered to “beat the earth,” and he would trample it around the half-buried torso, or even hammer it in with a large wooden hammer. As a result, death could occur within three to four hours. With the usual method, a person suffered for three to four days, depending on the weather. True, there is a legend about how a certain Euphrosyne was buried in Moscow on August 21, 1730, and died only on September 22. Either this is pure legend, or there was something wrong with the guard’s conscientiousness. Sometimes - very rarely, but still - upon special petition, a convicted woman could be pardoned, removed from the ground and tonsured as a nun.

In the Peter the Great era, various types of self-mutilation were especially popular - cutting off the tongue, ears, nose, and tearing out the nostrils. In 1724, an order appeared to remove the nostrils “to the bone” - allegedly, many criminals had them “not removed enough.” And then not only thieves, murderers and rioters came under attack, but also malingerers and drug evaders. civil service and drunkards who blurted out something unnecessary about the sovereign.

Having traveled around Europe, Peter brought to Russia punishment with spitzrutens - long flexible rods made of willow. It was used mainly in the army - two lines of soldiers armed with spitzrutens were lined up, and between them they led the convict tied by the hands to the butt of a gun. Everyone had to hit once, or even twice, and as a result, the person’s back turned into a bloody mess. Often, punishment with spitzrutens became an unspoken death sentence - no one could withstand two or three thousand blows, but in documents there are instructions for ten to twelve thousand! By the way, it survived until the middle of the 19th century.

But the tortures of deep antiquity, although they cause disgust (I hope that they still cause disgust, and not erotic awe, because, as already said, there is nothing sexually attractive in real torture), still, centuries have passed since then do not allow us to fully understand the horror that the people of that time felt. But, unfortunately, in our history, quite recently there were tortures that would have forced Ivan the Terrible and Peter I to respectfully shake hands with their inventors.

Burning with cigarettes; beating with rubber truncheons and sandbags on the body, limbs, and genitals; pinched fingertips and nails; rape of both women and men, either independently or by placing them in a cell with criminals; torture by sleep deprivation (hallucinations and headaches appeared); placing a tied person in a closet or box containing bedbugs; torture by starvation (up to two weeks!); torture by light (constant bright, blinding lighting in the cell and the same bright light, hit in the face during interrogations); noise torture (forcing the tortured person to yell answers to questions or shout in his ear using a megaphone or bullhorn, as well as constant loud noise in the cell); torture by thirst (not only deprivation of water, but also feeding with very salty food); torture by body position (kneel or stand at attention for several days; sit on a stool and not move; stand in a cramped room with fifty people for a week or two, being squeezed so tightly that the dead did not fall to the floor); a week-long punishment cell with knee-deep water and a temperature just above two or three degrees; a series of interrogations that lasted for days, replacing each other, not giving the victim a break...

To be honest, I don’t want to comment on this in any way. You can, of course, indulge in moralizing and shock with facts, chanting: “We don’t want this to happen again!” But it’s better to just remain silent.

Too many words were said during the torture itself.

Read the final part of the article in the December issue.

28.06.2017

- What was sex like in Rus'? Unfortunately, we don’t know much about this, but we can say with absolute certainty: sex has always existed in Rus'. Otherwise we wouldn't exist!
  In part, our weak knowledge of Russian folk erotic culture can be explained simply. Firstly, at first there was no one to document all this. Writing among the Slavs appeared along with Christianity, and the new religion did not approve of pagan rituals associated with carnal pleasures. And secondly, the first to master writing were monks who were not interested in mastering a different kind and in general in matters of gender. Therefore, in principle, there could not have been ancient literature devoted to sex. The only document relating to family affairs (but not to say intimate ones) was “Domostroy”, but even it appeared much later - in the middle of the 16th century. And before that there was only common folklore: sayings, fairy tales, riddles, sayings... And yet the ancestors had something to do...
  Not only on holidays
  The Slavs had a more than positive attitude towards sex. They also encountered bigamy (or bigamy), and even polygamy. The latter is mentioned, in particular, in the chronicle “The Tale of Bygone Years”: “And the Radimichi, Vyatichi and Northerners had a common custom: they lived in the forest... and they did not have marriages, but they organized games between villages, and converged on these games, and here they kidnapped their wives in agreement with them... they had two and three wives.” The Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea in his writings says that the Slavs could have from two to four wives. Vladimir I Svyatoslavovich, who baptized Rus', had twelve of them - and these are only official ones (plus 800 concubines, "300 in Vyshegorod, 300 in Belegorod, 200 in Berestovy"). True, only noble and/or wealthy people could afford such a luxury.
  In pagan times sex played important role, but at the same time it was a completely common occurrence. That is, without chastity, but also without extremes and liberties. Sex was directly related to the Slavs’ ideas about the world around them. Fire, water, sun, wind, trees - all elements and objects, according to ancient people, had a soul and sex, and, therefore, everything human and living things in general were not alien to them.
  Many rituals, customs, celebrations and holidays were unimaginable without sexual connotations. For example, there are festivities in honor of Lada, the goddess of fertility and at the same time a successful marriage, which happened several times a year, from March to mid-September. During such holidays, they either called for spring, or asked for rain (or rejoiced at the first shoots and the last ears of grain), walked, sang, burned bonfires, danced in round dances, jumped and danced. Moreover, as they jumped and skipped, the loose clothing of the dancers fluttered, exposing parts of the body... It is not difficult to imagine the finale of this evening performance.
  At the end of winter, on Maslenitsa - the holiday of meeting the Sun, not only were they baked pancakes resembling the shape of a solar disk, but they also rolled lighted wheels, again danced in circles and jumped over the fire. They jumped, often lifting the bottom of their clothes so that they wouldn’t get burned.
  In ancient times, the Eastern Slavs settled along the banks of rivers. Historians, describing the life, rituals and holidays of our ancestors, mention that men and women swam together, naked and made love. “Water” sex surprised Mauritius the Strategist, a Byzantine historian of the 6th century, so much that he noted it in his works.
  By the way, about clothes. Sowing work, according to Igor Kon, sociologist, sexologist and author of the book “Sexual Culture in Russia. Strawberry on a birch tree,” they were often led naked - completely or half naked. In the case of men, this symbolized marriage with the plowed land - in this way they tried to summon the harvest. During the sowing period, the spouses made love right on the field or rolled over it. To preserve the harvest and protect it from evil spirits, naked girls and women walked around the fields in the dead of night, singing appropriate songs. It was believed that human fertility and everything connected with it stimulates the forces of the earth and causes it to produce a harvest.
  No nonsense and under supervision
  With the arrival of Christianity on Russian soil (988) and the strengthening of the power of the church (12th century), attitudes towards sex began to change. Not right away, but still. “Christianization brought with it previously unknown restrictions and a negative attitude towards sex as such,” writes Igor Kon. Only spouses in a legal, church marriage were allowed to cohabit, and solely for the sake of “childbirth” and not “weakness.” Sexual abstinence was mandatory on church holidays, during Lent, on Sundays, Saturdays and Fridays. With strict observance of all prohibitions on sex, there remained no more than 50-60 days a year. To make it easier for husband and wife, some clergy recommended that they sleep separately, which, however, was difficult to do at that time: the living space did not allow such luxury, except that one of the spouses would go to sleep in the hallway, in the hayloft or in the field. However, it was there that the couples usually retired: in the hut itself, on the stove and floors, old people and children slept. As for city houses, there was even less room for maneuver. For example, in Novgorod, the estate of a wealthy citizen, built in the 12th century, was excavated. The house occupied an area of about 63 m2 - a large “kopeck piece” or a modest “three ruble” by today’s standards, and the families were quite large. Ordinary townspeople were content with a house (house!) 4x4 m, that is, 16 m². How intimate is this...
  Sex in marriage was now allowed only in one position - face to face, missionary style. Other options were considered sinful. Moreover, during confession people were asked how and what they were doing (breviaries containing standard questions that the priest had to ask parishioners have been preserved); for offenses, punishment was imposed: long-term repentance (from 3 to 10 years) with numerous daily bows. Sex while standing was also forbidden and called unnatural, because it is more difficult to conceive in such a position. And it was also recommended that the Slavs exclude kisses: both on the lips and on the intimate parts of the body. Anal sex was considered a great lawlessness.
  The elders were not too happy with the morals of the youth at all times. Thus, one venerable elder complained to the authorities about the events of the night of Ivan Kupala. Like, not only do they bang on tambourines and scream, splash in the water and dance (“wiggle their spines, jump and trample with their feet”), they also love each other. IN physical sense. “Here is great deception and fall for men and youths, lawless defilement for married women, and corruption for virgins.”
  And if relatively recently (on the scale of history, several centuries are not a long time) an unmarried girl who entered into an intimate relationship was called a harlot without any negative connotation (since she was simply wandering and looking for a suitable husband), now virginity before marriage and marital fidelity in it have become the main family virtues, especially for women. In the 18th century, the word “harlot” became a dirty word.
  According to Domostroy, everyone present at the wedding had to find out whether the newlywed was a virgin - this was a mandatory ritual. Bed attendants remained near the room where the bed was made for the bride and groom. Half an hour later, as “the newlywed goes about his business - the thing from which children will be born,” the groom sent his groomsman to his father-in-law and mother-in-law and conveyed to them words of gratitude for “saving” his daughter. The next day, the groom’s father “gave a blessing to his son and daughter-in-law on the occasion of the autopsy.” Good word- “autopsy”...
  Feelings are expressed
  People reacted violently to numerous sexual prohibitions: they expressed emotions freely - they simply cursed. In abusive speech, every word has a sexual context. Lubok jokers (sort of old Russian comics) - popular in Rus' in the 15th-16th centuries - were also filled with obscene scenes. Some fairy tales were also notable for their vivid sex scenes: a wife would cheat on her husband, and he would find out about it; then they decide to marry a fool, but he doesn’t know how to behave on the first wedding night. Obscenity and swearing, seasoned with humor, are in almost every sentence.
  These tales were common in Russian everyday life and were passed on from mouth to mouth. Researcher of folk art, literature and folklore, historian of the 19th century Alexander Nikolaevich Afanasyev even compiled and published (though abroad) a separate collection “Russian Treasured Tales”, in which he included folk stories of erotic content. For the first time in Russia, this collection was published only in the 90s of the last century, that is, almost in our days.
  What a marriage should be like is described in “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom”, 16th century, author Ermolai-Erasmus. So, in one of the episodes, the couple are sailing on a boat. A certain man looked at Fevronia with lust. In response, she said: “Scoop up water from the river on this side of the ship. And have a drink. Scoop up water from the other side of the boat. And drink again. Are the waters the same or is one sweeter than the other? He replied that it was the same. “Feminine nature is the same. Why are you, having left your wife, thinking about another?”
  In a word, sex itself has ceased to be a festive and natural thing, moving into the category of intimate, secret, cherished and even indecent.
  In the “Military Regulations” of 1715, Peter I condemned fornication, incest, bigamy, visiting brothels, etc. (once he condemned it, it means that all this was actively practiced...). Subsequent monarchs issued no less strict decrees on the topic of morality. Part of the final chord was Catherine the Great’s ban on the use of public baths (1784). From now on, men and women had to visit separate soap shops: steaming, washing, and showering together were no longer allowed.
  But in fairness it should be noted that decrees and prohibitions were issued by those in power and the clergy more and more for common people. The aristocracy's personal life remained turbulent. Much is known about the official favorites and secret lovers of Anna Ioannovna, Elizaveta Petrovna and Catherine II (and her generous gifts to them). Passions and intrigues were also in full swing in the noble houses. Both literature and art of that time are filled with erotic overtones.
  Half a century later, the first brothels appeared in Russia. Since 1843, in a number of large cities (starting with St. Petersburg), the police began to issue official permits for the opening of legal and medically supervised brothels, following the French model. Vladimir Gilyarovsky in his book “Moscow and Muscovites,” describing the life of the capital since the mid-19th century, more than once talks about luxurious brothels and street marukhas (prostitutes), about dating rooms at luxurious restaurants like the Hermitage and the brothels of Khitrovka.
  In 1924, the book “The Twelve Sexual Commandments of the Revolutionary Proletariat” was published, which said that love is free. But it was recommended to get married no earlier than 20-25 years old. Informal sex was not welcomed, nor was sexual diversity. In addition, frequent lovemaking was prohibited, because it could deplete the physiological and creative forces person, which he could spend for the benefit of the state. The “Commandments” also regulated the issue of jealousy. She couldn’t exist in a relationship between two adults. Just as there could not be elements of flirting, courtship, coquetry and other methods of conquest. But the main thing: “the prelude to sexual intercourse should have been a heightened sense of all-round intimacy, deep ideological and moral cohesion... Social, class ahead of the animal, and not vice versa!”
  Actually, this is how it was, emotions and instincts were suppressed for a long time in the Soviet Union, sexual desires were restrained and condemned in every possible way public opinion. Today we are all learning to be natural and open again, and most importantly, we are trying to return the aura of the holiday to intimate life. And, of course, we believe that we will succeed.
  Substitute for me
  Some researchers argue that in the 12th-16th centuries the relationship between son-in-law and mother-in-law was different from today. Today they don’t like each other, but back then everything was exactly the opposite. Loved. In the literal sense of the word.
  Daughters were married off at the age of 9–12, often before menstruation began. Young men were married at 12–15. Until the moment when the daughter physically matured, the marital duty was performed for her by... her mother. Such relationships (mother-in-law - son-in-law) could last 2-3 years. But in 1714, Peter I forbade nobles to marry before 20, and to marry before 17. In 1775, by decree of Catherine II, all classes were forbidden to marry men under 15 years of age, and women under 13. In the middle of the 19th century, it was allowed to marry brides only according to reaching the age of 16, and the grooms are 18. So the mother-in-law is no longer needed. And beloved.
  It's like a fairytale
  Afanasiev’s “Treasured Tales” contains many symbols and stories associated with pagan rituals. This makes us look differently at familiar stories.
  The expression “eating peas” meant “getting pregnant” among our ancestors, because in fairy tales the pea stalk increases in size to the sky, symbolizing fertility (read - the male penis).
  Manhood in fairy tales it was often called a comb, a comb, or a comb. The logic is simple: hair, according to the mythological association, is abundance, and therefore fertility. That’s why as soon as the main character of the fairy tale threw a comb into an open field, a forest immediately grew in this place.
  And feminine nature was often associated with a golden ring, a golden hole, a well. In one of the epics, a wife says to her husband: “...you and I were playing with a matchmaker. My ring was gilded, yours was silver.” Poetic...

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.
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) 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.
2. Iron Maiden

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. The "Iron Maiden" was invented at the end of the 18th century, i.e. already at the end of the Catholic Inquisition.
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 models of the “iron maiden” were provided with spikes at eye level in order to quickly poke them out.
3. Skafism
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.
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 dish.
4. The Terrible Pear

“The pear is lying there - you can’t eat it,” it is said about the medieval European weapon for “educating” blasphemers, liars, women who gave birth out of wedlock, and gay men. Depending on the crime, the torturer thrust the pear into the sinner's mouth, anus or vagina.
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 “leaves” 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 you have not already fallen into unconsciousness.
5. 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.
So
Phalaris first tested the unit on its creator, the greedy Perilla. Subsequently, Phalaris himself was roasted in a bull.
How it works?
1) The victim is closed in a hollow copper statue bull;
2) A fire is lit under the bull’s belly;
3) The victim is fried alive, like a ham in a frying pan;
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..
6. Torture by rats

Torture by rats was very popular in ancient China. However, we will look at the rat punishment technique developed by 16th century Dutch Revolution leader Diedrick Sonoy.
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.
7. 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, as a result of 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.
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.
8. Trampling by elephants

For several centuries, this execution was practiced in India and Indochina. An elephant is very easy to train and teaching it to trample a guilty victim with its huge feet is a matter of just a few days.
How it works?
1. The victim is tied to the floor;
2. A trained elephant is brought into the hall to crush the martyr’s head;
3. Sometimes before the “head test,” animals crush the victims’ arms and legs in order to amuse the audience.
9. Rack

Probably the most famous and unrivaled death machine of its kind called the “rack”. It was first tested around 300 AD. on the Christian martyr Vincent of Zaragoza.
Anyone who survived the rack could no longer use their muscles and became a helpless vegetable.
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.
10. Paraffin in the bladder
A savage form of torture, the exact use of which has not been established.
How it works?
1. Candle paraffin was rolled by hand into a thin sausage, which was inserted through the urethra;
2. Paraffin slipped into the bladder, where solid salts and other nasty things began to settle on it.
3. Soon the victim began to have kidney problems and died from acute renal failure. On average, death occurred within 3-4 days.
11. 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.
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 the neck into pieces, it is immediately pairs They pulled them over the shaved heads of 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.
12. Implantation of metals
A very strange means of torture and execution was used in the Middle Ages.
How it works?
1. A deep incision was made on a person’s legs, where a piece of metal (iron, lead, etc.) was placed, after which the wound was stitched up.
2. Over time, the metal oxidized, poisoning the body and causing terrible pain.
3. Most often, the poor people tore the skin in the place where the metal was sewn up and died from blood loss.
13. Dividing a person into two parts
This terrible execution originated in Thailand. The most hardened criminals were subjected to it - mostly murderers.
How it works?
1. The accused is placed in a robe woven from vines and stabbed with sharp objects;
2. After this, his body is quickly cut into two parts, the upper half is immediately placed on a red-hot copper grate; This operation stops the bleeding and prolongs the life of most people.
A small addition: This torture is described in the book of the Marquis de Sade “Justine, or the successes of vice.” This is a small excerpt from a large piece of text where de Sade allegedly describes the torture of the peoples of the world. But why supposedly? According to many critics, the Marquis was very fond of lying. He had an extraordinary imagination and a couple of delusions, so this torture, like some others, could have been a figment of his imagination. But this field should not refer to Donatien Alphonse as Baron Munchausen. This torture, in my opinion, if it did not exist before, is quite realistic. If, of course, the person is pumped up with painkillers (opiates, alcohol, etc.) before this, so that he does not die before his body touches the bars.
14. Inflating with air through the anus
A terrible torture in which a person is pumped with air through the anus.
There is evidence that in Rus' even Peter the Great himself sinned with this.
Most often, thieves were executed this way.
How it works?
1. The victim was tied hand and foot.
2. Then they took cotton and stuffed it into the poor man’s ears, nose and mouth.
3. Bellows were inserted into his anus, with the help of which a huge amount of air was pumped into the person, as a result of which he became like a balloon.
3. After that, I plugged his anus with a piece of cotton.
4. Then they opened two veins above his eyebrows, from which all the blood flowed out under enormous pressure.
5. Sometimes a bound person was placed naked on the roof of the palace and shot with arrows until he died.
6. Until 1970, this method was often used in Jordanian prisons.
15. Polledro
Neapolitan executioners lovingly called this torture “polledro” - “foal” (polledro) and were proud that it was first used in their hometown. Although history has not preserved the name of its inventor, they said that he was an expert in horse breeding and came up with an unusual device to tame his horses.
Only a few decades later, lovers of making fun of people turned the horse breeder’s device into a real torture machine for people.
The machine was a wooden frame, similar to a ladder, the crossbars of which had very sharp angles, so that when a person was placed on them with his back, they would cut into the body from the back of the head to the heels. The staircase ended with a huge wooden spoon, into which the head was placed, as if in a cap.
How it works?
1. Holes were drilled on both sides of the frame and in the “cap”, and ropes were threaded into each of them. The first of them was tightened on the forehead of the tortured, the last tied the big toes. As a rule, there were thirteen ropes, but for those who were especially stubborn, the number was increased.
2. Using special devices, the ropes were pulled tighter and tighter - it seemed to the victims that, having crushed the muscles, they were digging into the bones.
16. Dead Man's Bed (modern China)

The Chinese Communist Party uses the “dead man’s bed” torture mainly on those prisoners who try to protest against illegal imprisonment through a hunger strike. In most cases, these are prisoners of conscience, imprisoned for their beliefs.
How it works?
1. The arms and legs of a stripped prisoner are tied to the corners of a bed on which, instead of a mattress, there is a wooden board with a hole cut out. A bucket for excrement is placed under the hole. Often, a person’s body is tied tightly to the bed with ropes so that he cannot move at all. A person remains in this position continuously for several days to weeks.
2. In some prisons, such as Shenyang City No. 2 Prison and Jilin City Prison, police also place a hard object under the victim's back to intensify the suffering.
3. It also happens that the bed is placed vertically and the person hangs for 3-4 days, stretched out by his limbs.
4. Added to this torment is force feeding, which is carried out using a tube inserted through the nose into the esophagus, into which liquid food is poured.
5. This procedure is performed mainly by prisoners on the orders of the guards, and not by medical workers. They do this very rudely and unprofessionally, often causing serious damage to a person’s internal organs.
6. Those who have gone through this torture say that it causes displacement of the vertebrae, joints of the arms and legs, as well as numbness and blackening of the limbs, which often leads to disability.
17. Yoke (Modern China)

One of the medieval tortures used in modern Chinese prisons is the wearing of a wooden collar. It is placed on a prisoner, causing him to be unable to walk or stand normally.
The clamp is a board from 50 to 80 cm in length, from 30 to 50 cm in width and 10 – 15 cm in thickness. In the middle of the clamp there are two holes for the legs.
The victim, who is wearing a collar, has difficulty moving, must crawl into bed and usually must sit or lie down, since the upright position causes pain and leads to injury to the legs. Without assistance, a person with a collar cannot go to eat or go to the toilet. When a person gets out of bed, the collar not only puts pressure on the legs and heels, causing pain, but its edge clings to the bed and prevents the person from returning to it. At night the prisoner is unable to turn around, and in winter time a short blanket does not cover your legs.
An even worse form of this torture is called “crawling with a wooden clamp.” The guards put a collar on the man and order him to crawl on the concrete floor. If he stops, he is hit on the back with a police baton. An hour later, his fingers, toenails and knees are bleeding profusely, while his back is covered in wounds from the blows.
18. Impalement

A terrible, savage execution that came from the East.
The essence of this execution was that a person was laid on his stomach, one sat on him to prevent him from moving, the other held him by the neck. A stake was inserted into the person's anus, which was then driven in with a mallet; then they drove a stake into the ground. The weight of the body forced the stake to go deeper and deeper and finally it came out under the armpit or between the ribs.
19. 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, using a funnel, to swallow a large number of water, then they hit the swollen and arched belly. 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.
20. Chinese water torture
They sat a man in a very cold room, tied him so that he could not move his head, and in complete darkness cold water was very slowly dripped onto his forehead. After a few days the person froze or went crazy.
21. 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.
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.
22. GRIDIRON (Grid for torture by fire)

Torture of Saint Lawrence on the gridiron.
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.
23. Pectoral

In ancient times, a pectoral was a female breast decoration in the form of a pair of carved gold or silver bowls, often sprinkled with precious stones. It was worn like a modern bra and secured with chains.
In a mocking analogy with this decoration, the savage instrument of torture used by the Venetian Inquisition was named.
In 1985, the pectoral was heated red-hot and, taking it with tongs, they put it on the tortured woman’s chest and held it until she confessed. If the accused persisted, the executioners heated up the pectoral again cooled by the living body and continued the interrogation.
Very often, after this barbaric torture, charred, torn holes were left in place of the woman’s breasts.
24. Tickle torture

This seemingly harmless effect was a terrible torture. With prolonged tickling, a person's nerve conduction increased so much that even the lightest touch initially caused twitching, laughter, and then turned into terrible pain. If such torture was continued for quite a long time, then after a while spasms of the respiratory muscles occurred and, in the end, the tortured person died from suffocation.
In the simplest version of torture, the interrogated person was tickled in sensitive areas either simply with their hands, or with hair brushes or brushes. Stiff bird feathers were popular. Usually they tickled under the armpits, heels, nipples, inguinal folds, genitals, and women also under the breasts.
In addition, torture was often carried out using animals that licked some tasty substance from the heels of the interrogated person. The goat was very often used, since its very hard tongue, adapted for eating grass, caused very strong irritation.
There was also a type of tickling torture using a beetle, most common in India. With it, a small bug was placed on the head of a man's penis or on a woman's nipple and covered with half a nut shell. After some time, the tickling caused by the movement of insect legs on a living body became so unbearable that the interrogated person confessed to anything
25. Crocodile

These tubular metal crocodile pliers were red-hot and used to tear the penis of the person being tortured. First, with a few caressing movements (often made by women), or with a tight bandage, a persistent, hard erection was achieved and then the torture began
26. Tooth crusher

These serrated iron tongs were used to slowly crush the testicles of the interrogated person.
Something similar was widely used in Stalinist and fascist prisons.
27. Creepy tradition.

Actually, this is not torture, but an African ritual, but, in my opinion, it is very cruel. Girls aged 3-6 years old simply had their external genitalia scraped out without anesthesia.
Thus, the girl did not lose the ability to have children, but was forever deprived of the opportunity to experience sexual desire and pleasure. This ritual is done “for the benefit” of women, so that they will never be tempted to cheat on their husbands
28. 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.
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.

Torture has been used throughout the world since time immemorial. Inflicting physical torture helped in obtaining information, intimidation and punishment. The prohibition of torture was officially enshrined by the UN General Assembly in 1984. Not all states supported this decision.

Over many millennia, many methods have been invented and improved to inflict pain, suffering, and humiliation. One of them was a rack. The instrument of torture has gained popularity in many large countries, including Russia.

Application

During the existence of the weapon, it was modified. Two main types were used: bed and suspension. Their essence was similar.

The rack (an instrument of torture) was used to stretch the human body, which led to tearing of soft tissues and loss of limbs from the joints. The victim felt extreme pain. Most people confessed to all crimes, if they did not die earlier from painful shock.

Roman origins

In ancient times, the rack (an instrument of torture) was quite widespread. The Romans used it as a tool to punish criminals and slaves. With the advent of Christianity, it began to be used on them.

Over time, it was Christians who widely used the rack. During the Middle Ages, the weapon became the most popular among inquisitors.

Distribution in Europe

The rack as an instrument of torture very quickly spread throughout Europe. There were two main types of the described instrument:

The bed - the structure consisted of boards and bolsters. Ropes were wound around the rollers, which held the person by the wrists and ankles. The rollers rotated and pulled the ropes in opposite directions. The victim's body was stretched, causing severe pain.
Hanging - the structure consisted of two pillars connected by a crossbar. The man's hands were tied behind his back and hung on a rope. An additional weight could be hung at the feet. The victim's arms were twisted and pulled out of their sockets. The victim hung on his broken arms for a long time.

Both options were used in different countries until the seventeenth, and in some places the eighteenth century.

English version of the gun

The rack came to the island as an instrument of torture (photo below) in 1447. According to legend, John Holland, Duke of Exeter, began to use it, holding the highest position in the Tower of London. The instrument began to be called the “Duke’s Daughter.”

According to the description, the English rack had the following characteristics:

base material - oak;
the frame is large, installed horizontally;
the frame is raised 3 feet above the floor;
cylindrical gates are installed at the edges of the frame;
ropes were tied to the wrists and ankles.

The rotation of the levers tightened the ropes, the victim's body stretched and rose to the height of the frame. At this time, questions were asked to the person. If there were no answers or they did not satisfy the jailers, the torture continued until the joints popped out of their places. The victim heard tendons in her body tearing.

German version

The German executioners also liked torture on the rack. The most famous design was used in the city of Nuremberg. It has been improved compared to earlier versions.

Description:

the rack is made of wood;
was ten feet long;
on one side a powerful winch was installed;
the winch was rotated by levers
a “hare with spikes” could be used.

Before torture, the victim was stripped naked, laid face down, his arms were attached to a crossbar, and his legs were tied to a winch. The executioners began to turn the winch in complete silence. Soon the victim's body stretched, and the silence was interrupted by a groan. As the first tendons stretched, the victim began to scream. After this, the executioners rotated the winch slowly, since the slightest movement brought unbearable pain. The official stopped the procedure from time to time, asking his questions. Having not received an answer to them, he continued the torture.

If the official did not receive an answer, a cylinder with one-inch spikes was rolled over the victim's body. To kill a person, the executioner could place a "spike hare" under the stomach and continue to turn the winch until the body exploded from the punctures.

To inflict even greater torment on the rack, they tortured the person with water, tightened a cord on his body, which was pulled so that it dug deep into the body. Sometimes a person confessed to everything just because of the type of construction.

Russian rack

The rack was also used as an instrument of torture in Rus'. It was preceded by stocks in which criminals were shackled. The weapon has been used as a form of punishment since the thirteenth century. The deliberate infliction of suffering on the accused became especially widespread under Ivan the Terrible. This was due to the emergence of the oprichnina, which served as the secret police since 1565. Torture on the rack began to be used for inquiries. The method of obtaining information was preserved under Peter the Great.

Questioning on the rack "in Russian"

According to the description of Grigory Kotoshikhin (who wrote an essay on the history of Russia), in the seventeenth century punishment was used for thieves.

The person's shirt was taken off, his hands were tied behind his hands, and his legs were fastened with a belt. The structure resembled a gallows. The victim was hung on it. One executioner stepped on the belt, and the second lifted the man, so that he remained hanging on the rack with dislocated arms.

Punishment was sometimes supplemented by blows to the back with a whip. At the site of each blow there was a deep mark. The blows were applied at intervals in order to prolong the torture as long as possible. If necessary, the victim was brought to life. If the culprit did not confess, he was hanged again and tortured again, but this time with the use of fire. The executioner heated the iron pincers and broke the ribs. They also lit a fire under the victim and tied a log to his feet. Not only men, but also women were subjected to torture.

Famous people who “met” the rack

The rack as a weapon for punishment was used more often on slaves and criminals. Many people went through torture, most of whom nothing is known about.

List of known rack victims:

Saint Juliet - it is known about the woman that she was a Christian. For this, she and her child were brought to Alexander, who ruled the city of Tara. She confessed to him that she was a member of a Christian sect and was sentenced to torture. At the end of the torture, hot tar was poured onto her feet and her flesh was mutilated with iron hooks. In the end, the victim was decapitated. The ruler killed the woman’s child because he kept repeating that he was a Christian. He smashed the boy's head on the stone floor. After a while, Juliet was called a saint.
Jan Sarkandera - was a Catholic priest, proclaimed a martyr. Lived in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. He was accused of being loyal to Poland and tortured. He was supposed to break the secret of confession, but did not do so and died in captivity in 1620.
William Ligtow - was arrested in Malaga for espionage in 1620. He was a Protestant and refused to convert to Catholicism. He passed the torture of the Inquisition and remained alive. At that time, it was allowed to use torture if the prisoner was half proven guilty. At the same time, it was impossible to use the same method for one person, so the torment was extended over a long time. To begin with, the person was intimidated with information about the upcoming interrogation, then they were shown the equipment. If a person did not want to confess, they began to prepare him for interrogation. The torture on the rack continued for many hours. The victim's tendons were torn, bones were broken, and limbs fell out of their joints. Ligtow spent several months in prison and was tortured eleven times. He was saved thanks to a servant who told the English ambassador about the prisoner.
Guy Fawkes is an English nobleman who became a Catholic. Lived at the end of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth centuries. Known for his participation in the conspiracy against James the First in 1605. Due to prolonged torture on the rack, he betrayed his brothers. The men were sentenced to be hanged followed by drawing and quartering. Fox was able to jump from the scaffold so as to break his neck and prevent the execution from continuing.

Thanks to the sleeping prisoners and their testimony, the world became aware of the methods of the Spanish Inquisition not only in relation to its subjects, but also to its guests. Representatives of the Inquisition recorded many interrogations themselves. They prove inhumanity on the part of some church ministers. No less cruel were the rulers who, for the sake of their interests, were ready to put even their close people on the rack.

Torture in cinema

Only descriptions and images of what a man on a rack could look like have survived to this day. Reconstruction of torture can be seen in museums in Europe, as well as in cinema.

Films that show torture using the rack:

"The Tudors" is a television series that aired in 2008-2010. The historical project was directed by Michael Hirst. It tells the story of events in England in the sixteenth century during the reign of Henry the Eighth. It was at this time that the rack was a popular interrogation tool.
“The Tsar” is a 2009 film. The historical one presents many tortures and executions that are attributed to the era of Ivan the Terrible. The picture describes two years in the life of the king at the time of his struggle with the opposition.

Of course, art cannot convey the horror that happened to people subjected to torture on the rack. The structure itself is preserved in the Tower of London. You can see it by taking a tour.

In the Middle Ages, the church played a key role in politics and public life. Against the backdrop of the flourishing of architecture and scientific technology, the Inquisition and church courts persecuted dissidents and used torture. Denunciations and executions were widespread. Women were especially helpless and powerless. Therefore, today we will tell you about the most terrible medieval tortures for girls.

Their life was not like the fairy-tale world of chivalric romances. Girls were more often accused of witchcraft and, under torture, confessed to acts they did not commit. Sophisticated corporal punishment amazes with savagery, cruelty and inhumanity. The woman has always been to blame: for infertility and a large number of children, for an illegitimate child and various bodily defects, for healing and violation of biblical rules. Public corporal punishment was used to obtain information and intimidate the population.

The most terrible torture of women in the history of mankind

Most instruments of torture were mechanized. The victim was in terrible pain and died from his injuries. The authors of all the terrible instruments knew the structure of the human body well, each method caused unbearable suffering. Although of course these tools were used not only on females, they suffered more than others.

Pear of suffering

The mechanism was a metal bulb divided into several segments. There was a screw in the middle of the bulb. The device was inserted into the offending woman's mouth, vagina or anus. The screw mechanism opened the segments of the pear. As a result, internal organs were damaged: vagina, cervix, intestines, pharynx. A very terrible death.

The injuries caused by the device were incompatible with life. Usually torture was used on girls accused of having connections with the devil. At the sight of such a weapon, the defendants admitted to cohabitation with the devil, using the blood of babies in magical rituals. But confessions did not save the poor girls. They still died in the flames of the fire.

Witch chair (Spanish chair)

Applied to girls convicted of witchcraft. The suspect was secured with belts and handcuffs on an iron chair, in which the seat, back, and sides were covered with spikes. The person did not die immediately from loss of blood; the thorns slowly pierced the body. The cruel suffering did not end there; hot coals were placed under the chair.

History has preserved the fact that at the end of the 17th century, a woman from Austria, accused of witchcraft, spent eleven days in agony on such a chair, but she died without confessing to the crime.

Throne

A special device for long-term torture. The “throne” was a wooden chair with holes in the back. The woman's legs were fixed in the holes, and her head was lowered down. The uncomfortable position caused suffering: blood rushed to the head, the muscles of the neck and back became tense. But there were no traces of torture left on the suspect’s body.

A fairly harmless weapon, reminiscent of a modern vice, caused pain, broke bones, but did not lead to the death of the person being interrogated.

Stork

The woman was placed in an iron device that allowed her to be fixed in a position with her legs pulled to her stomach. This position caused muscle spasms. Prolonged pain and cramps slowly drove me crazy. Additionally, the victim could be tortured with a hot iron.

Shoes with spikes under the heel

The torture shoes were secured to the leg with shackles. Using a special device, spikes were screwed into the heel. The victim could stand on his toes for some time to relieve the pain and prevent the thorns from penetrating deeply. But it is impossible to stand in this position for a long time. The poor sinner was in for severe pain, blood loss, and sepsis.

"Vigil" (torture by insomnia)

For this purpose, a special chair with a pyramid-shaped seat was created. The girl was seated on the seat; she could not sleep or relax. But the inquisitors found a more effective way to achieve confession. The bound suspect was seated in such a position that the tip of the pyramid penetrated the vagina.

The torture lasted for hours; the unconscious woman was revived and returned to the pyramid, which tore her body and injured her genitals. To intensify the pain, heavy objects were tied to the victim’s legs and a hot iron was applied.

Goats for witches (Spanish donkey)

The naked sinner was seated on a pyramid-shaped wooden block, and a weight was tied to her feet to enhance the effect. The torture caused pain, but unlike the previous one, it did not tear the woman’s genitals.

Water torture

This method of inquiry was considered humane, although it often led to the death of the suspect. A funnel was inserted into the girl's mouth and a large amount of water was poured in. Then they jumped on the unfortunate woman, which could cause a rupture of the stomach and intestines. Boiling water and molten metal could be poured through the funnel. Ants and other insects were often placed into the victim's mouth or vagina. Even an innocent girl confessed to any sins in order to avoid a terrible fate.

Pectoral

The torture device is similar to a chest ornament. Hot metal was placed on the girl's chest. After interrogation, if the suspect did not die from painful shock and did not confess to a crime against faith, charred flesh remained instead of the chest.

The device, made in the form of metal hooks, was often used to interrogate girls caught in witchcraft or manifestations of lust. This instrument could be used to punish a woman who cheated on her husband and gave birth out of wedlock. A very tough measure.

Witch bathing

The inquest was held in cold season of the year. The sinner was seated in a special chair and tied tightly. If the woman did not repent, dipping was carried out until she suffocated under the water or froze.

Was there torture of women in the Middle Ages in Rus'?

In medieval Rus' there was no persecution of witches and heretics. Women were not subjected to such sophisticated torture, but for murders and state crimes they could be buried up to their necks in the ground, punished with a whip so that their skin was torn to shreds.

Well, that's probably enough for today. We think that now you understand how terrible medieval torture was for girls, and now it is unlikely that any of the fair sex will want to travel back to the Middle Ages to the valiant knights.