Torture Methods and Dungeons

Figure 1: Pillory

           It's the 12th century and you just committed a crime, stealing a pig from someone else's land, what happens next? Well, there is no question about it, people in the medieval time period favored violence and punishment. Think about it, pillories were a common way to punish petty crimes in the face of public humiliation, petty crimes like stealing the neighbor's pig. Near some pillories there would even be a stand to purchase rotten vegetables in which they would throw at the criminals inside of the pillories... that is if you didn't bring any rotten vegetables from home yourself. However, there were many different crimes than just larceny like, secret-holding, slander, treason, arson, murder, and more; and with each different type of crime came a different torture method to bring the offender to justice.

Rat Torture

Figure 2: Rat Torture

    One of the more gruesome forms of punishment during the middle ages would have been rat torture. The typical image of rat torture would consist of the wrongdoer's limbs secured down to a table and a rat placed atop of their abdomen with a barrier to keep the rat from escaping (1). Whether the rat would be covered by a pot or cage, that barrier would become heated - causing the rat to flee from the warmth (2). Since the rat would be trapped in a cage-like barrier the only way for the rat to escape would be to dig down through the offender's abdomen - causing excruciating pain for the offender as the rat would gnaw and scratch deeper and deeper into the gut. 

Iron Maiden

Figure 3: Iron Maiden

    More than likely you have seen a version of an Iron Maiden before as a popular torture method to re-enact in movies or television shows, have you ever watched the movie Matilda? This torture operation would be best described as a "human-sized box" (2) filled with needles and spikes that would impale the offender when the door would come to a close (3). The most interesting aspect of this device is that there is no solid evidence to support the Iron Maiden was ever actually used in the medieval ages - though many link this device with the time period. 

The Rack

Figure 4: The Rack

     When people think of torture devices from medieval times, 'The Rack' may be the most popular contraption that comes to mind. This method of torture would consist of the wrongdoer's wrists and ankles being tied down to a table with axles at both ends - and for every limb. The punishers would insert poles into the axles that would cause them to turn, stretching the offender's body. Often times this device would stretch the offender's limbs to the point of dislocation and even the ripping of their limbs (4).

Figure 5: The Cage

The Cage/Coffin Torture

   One of the less grisly devices of torture would be 'The Cage' or as some others would call it, 'Coffin Torture'. This device would often be used as a type of public humiliation yet almost always ended up in death. The offender would be forced into a cage, that just barely fit their body, and the cage would typically be hoisted onto the branch of a tree or somewhere for the cage to hang. The result of death was either caused by dehydration, hunger, elements, or birds pecking at the flesh of the left-to-die wrongdoer (5).

Figure 6: Thumbscrew

Thumbscrew 

    Though small, this device is mighty and very useful when trying to force the offender to a confession. The device's name is exactly the description of the tool, this device would be operated by the punisher which could control the speed of the screw drilling into the offender's thumb (6).

For a look at other torture devices not listed, click the names below:

- The Judas Cradle

- Iron Chair

- The Saw

- Knee Splitter

- The Catherine Wheel

Dungeons

Figure 7: Structure of an Oubliette

    During medieval times, dungeons would be located at the bottom of a castle. Dungeons were typically underground, dark, damp, and filled with small rooms to cater to the uncomfortableness of prisoners. In the dungeons would be where the torture would endure - underground and at the bottom of castles so no one could hear the horrific screams and cries from the wrongdoers (7). Typically there would be another separate space to the dungeon, or if a castle did not have a dungeon they'd usually have this area instead - the oubliette. The oubliette would only be accessible through a trapdoor, often times a grate, that was placed at the top of a wine-bottle shaped room. Prisoners would be placed in an oubliette to be isolated, to be confined, to be tortured due to the tight space, to be exposed to the elements like flooding, to be starved/dehydrated, and to be forgotten (8).

For a look at the structure and entrance to an oubliette, click here.

Figure 1: "Pillory." Pinterest, https://www.pinterest.com/pin/9499849190283939/. Accessed 30 Nov. 2020. 
 

Figure 2: "Rat Torture." Discover Information, 31 May 2016, https://discoverinformation.com/tag/rat-torture/. Accessed 30 Nov. 2020. 

 

Figure 3: "Nuremberg. The Iron Maiden of Nuremberg, vintage engraving." Adobestock, https://stock.adobe.com/images/nuremberg-the-iron-maiden-of-nuremberg-vintage-engraving/125659224. Accessed 30 Nov. 2020. 
 

Figure 4: "The Rack." Torture Museum, http://torturemuseum.net/en/the-rack/. Accessed 30 Nov. 2020.  

 

Figure 5: "Human Skeleton in Steel Cage for Torture." Huffpost, https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2016/04/29/medieval-torture-methods_n_9801708.html. Accessed 30 Nov. 2020. 

 

Figure 6: "17th-Century Thumbscrew." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thumbscrew_(torture). Accessed 30 Nov. 2020. 

 

Figure 7: "A Diagram of a Castle Oubliette. This Was Wider Than Many - A Bell-Jar Prison, If You Like." ExploringCastles, https://www.exploring-castles.com/castle_designs/castle_dungeon/. Accessed 30 Nov. 2020. 
 

(1) "Torture in the Middle Ages." SkyHistory, https://www.history.co.uk/shows/britains-bloodiest-dynasty/articles/torture-in-the-middle-ages. Accessed 30 Nov. 2020. 

(2) Redd, Wyatt. "The Stomach-Turning History Of Rat Torture - Perhaps History's Worst Way To Die." ati, 30 Nov. 2017, https://allthatsinteresting.com/rat-torture-method. Accessed 30 Nov. 2020. 

(3) Dhwty. "The Iron Maiden: This Medieval Torture Device Was Used as Recently as 2003!" Ancient Origins, 20 Feb. 2019, https://www.ancient-origins.net/artifacts-other-artifacts/iron-maiden-0011517. Accessed 30 Nov. 2020. 

(4) Abbott, Geoffrey. "Rack." Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/topic/flogging. Accessed 30 Nov. 2020. 

(5) Fulton, Will. "16 Actual Medieval Torture Techniques, Ranked By Insanity." thrillest, 8 July 2015, https://www.thrillist.com/culture/the-most-evil-medieval-torture-methods-iron-maiden-brazen-bull-rat-torture-spanish-donkey-pear-of-anguish. Accessed 30 Nov. 2020. 

(6) DeLong, William. "Thumbscrews: Not For Carpentry, But For Torture." ati, 20 April 2018, https://allthatsinteresting.com/thumbscrew. Accessed 30 Nov. 2020. 

(7) "Castle Dungeon." Medieval Chronicles, https://www.medievalchronicles.com/medieval-castles/medieval-castle-parts/medieval-castle-dungeons/. Accessed 30 Nov. 2020. 

(8) "The Oubliette - History's Most Brutal Torture Method?" YouTube, uploaded by TheUntoldPast, 31 Oct. 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRXh7tEjM2s.