The methods used by the Inquisition in "enlightened" Europe are probably known to many, although, unfortunately, even now there are those who sincerely believe that the "light" comes and always came exclusively from the West, and Russia has always been the focus of "darkness. ". I understand that it is no longer possible to convince these people, therefore they may not read this post of mine (and not watch). And to everyone who knows how to think and compare facts, I recommend it for reading.

The struggle of the "Holy Inquisition" with sorcerers and witches in Europe continued for centuries. At the end of the 15th century, in 1485 reputable church specialists in demonology, inquisitors Spenler and Institoris a special guide was drawn up for the extermination of the servants of the "devil's offspring" - "Hammer of witches" , which gives detailed instructions on how to recognize witches and how to deal with them.

By the way, pay attention to the title of the book - "The Hammer of the Witches"! Why witches and not sorcerers? The authors give an explanation for this: "We are talking about the heresy of witches, not sorcerers; the latter do not really matter" ... In their opinion, widespread in Western Europe at that time, it was the woman who was the culprit of the original sin, therefore she far surpasses the man in superstition, revenge, vanity, deceit, passion and insatiable sensuality.

One hundred years after Hammer of the Witches was published, in 1588 his main ideas are repeated "Manual on the Interrogation of Witches" , included in the composition of the Baden zemstvo code. This "Instruction" advises first to obtain a confession from the accused of witchcraft that she knows about the existence of witches and their "art", and then conduct interrogation according to the following standard (I give it in a small abbreviation):

"Didn't she herself do some of these things, at least the most trifling - did she not, for example, deprive cows of milk, did they let the caterpillars or fog ...?
From whom and under what circumstances did she manage to learn this?
Since when and for how long has she been doing this and what means does she use?
What about the union with the unclean?
Did she deny God, and in what words?
Did you get an unclean commitment from her?
Was it written in blood?
Did he wish for marriage to her or simple debauchery?
How long has she celebrated a wedding with her unclean lovers?
How many small children were eaten with her participation?
Where were they obtained?
From whom were they taken - or were they dug in the cemetery?
How did they cook them - fried or boiled?
Did they get lard from these children, and what is it to them?
Since she flew, then with the help of what?
How is this ointment prepared and what color is it?
Do they always need human fat from dead or living people for the ointment? "

It is absolutely clear that only a mentally ill woman who really imagined herself a witch could voluntarily confess and answer all questions in such a way as to fully satisfy the inquisitor. In most cases, ordering could only be obtained under torture.

The corresponding "Instruction" said: "The servants of Divine Justice can count on the most desirable answers when the master Oh-oh, tickling boy appears and tickles the stacked damn wives neatly and neatly, according to all the rules of art, with vise on handles and legs, a ladder and a goat."

Before the torture, the executioner shaved off all the hair from the woman's body so that she could not hide the "satanic literacy" that made her insensitive to suffering. The inquisitor carefully examined the victim's body in search of a "wedge seal", for which any birthmark went. This was already considered "iron" proof of guilt.

If men accused of witchcraft and fell into the hands of the inquisitors had, albeit negligible, chances of salvation, then women had no such chances at all. Nobody and nothing could save a woman accused of witchcraft, her fate was predetermined in advance.

German jesuit Friedrich Spe who professed hundreds of "witches" who passed through the dungeons of the Inquisition in Würzburg, wrote in his treatise "Cautio criminalis" (1631) :

"If the accused led a bad way of life, then, of course, this proved her connection with the devil; if she was pious and behaved approximately, then it is clear that she pretended with her piety in order to distract from herself suspicion in connection with the devil and in the night traveling to the Sabbath.
If she discovers fear during interrogation, then it is clear that she is guilty: her conscience betrays her. If she, confident in her innocence, keeps herself calm, then there is no doubt that she is guilty, for, according to the judges, witches tend to lie with impudent calmness.
If she defends herself and acquits herself against the accusations against her, this indicates her guilt; if, in fear and despair from the enormity of the slander being erected on her, she becomes discouraged and silent, this is already direct evidence of her crime.
If a woman being tortured from unbearable torment wildly rolls her eyes, for the judges it means that she is looking for her devil with her eyes; if she remains tense with motionless eyes, it means that she sees her devil and looks at him.
If she finds the strength to endure the horrors of torture, this means that the devil supports her and that she needs to be tormented even more. If she does not stand up and gives up her spirit under torture, it means that the devil killed her so that she would not make confessions and reveal secrets. "

It is surprising that the executioners-inquisitors did not always achieve the desired result.
In the protocols of the Inquisition, it is understood that some women endured torture without changing their faces or making a sound. "It's easier to chop wood than to deal with these awful women!" , - considered one Bavarian inquisitor of the XVII century.

This is explained not only by the fact that the victims were in a state of shock, but also by their genuine heroism. Many of the women who fell into the hands of the Inquisition preferred torment and death than to ruin and dishonor themselves and their loved ones by false testimony.
Moreover, the difference in the execution consisted only in the fact that the repentant and testified "witch" was first beheaded or strangled, and then burned, and the "persistent" was simply burned alive or mutilated beforehand, cutting off limbs or pulling out pieces of meat with hot tongs.

All these atrocities were carried out in public, with a huge crowd of people, in the presence of children, and the audience was obliged to express their approval so as not to become the next victims of the fight against witches.

As it is, I am not surprised that nowadays in modern Europe the so-called "tolerance" is flourishing, understood, alas, as an opportunity for a homosexual minority to dictate the rules of life to normal people!
However, draw your own conclusions.

And to make it easier, a few eloquent pictures.

What do you think was the worst during the Middle Ages? Lack of toothpaste, good soap or shampoo? That medieval discos were held to the tedious music of mandolins? Or maybe the fact that medicine did not yet know vaccinations and antibiotics? Or endless wars? Yes, our ancestors did not visit cinemas or send each other emails. But they were also inventors. And the worst thing that they have invented is the instruments for torture, the instruments with which the system of Christian justice was created - the Inquisition. And for those who lived in the Middle Ages, "Iron Maidn" is not the name of a heavy metal band, but one of the most disgusting gadgets of the time.

The term "inquisition" comes from lat. Inquisitio, meaning interrogation, inquiry. The term was widespread in the legal field even before the emergence of medieval church institutions with that name, and meant the clarification of the circumstances of the case, investigation, usually by interrogation, often with the use of force. And only over time, the Inquisition began to be understood as spiritual judgments over anti-Christian heresies.

The torture of the Inquisition had hundreds of varieties. At the same time, the interrogations were carried out in secret, and the execution in the squares was visually familiar to contemporaries, so the artists of those times sketched it with reliability. But the torture of the Inquisition was drawn based on hearsay, often based on imagination. Some medieval instruments of torture have survived to this day, but more often than not even museum exhibits have been restored according to descriptions. Their variations are amazing. Before you are twenty instruments of torture of the Middle Ages.

Above are the iron shoes with a sharp spike under the heel. The spike could be unscrewed with a screw. With the thorn twisted, the torture victim had to stand on the toes for as long as he could. Get on your toes and check how long you can stretch.
Central Europe is the main place of his popularity. The sinner was stripped naked, seated on an armchair studded with thorns. It was impossible to move - otherwise, not only puncture wounds, but also tears appeared on the body. If this was not enough for the inquisitors, they took thorns or forceps in their hands and tormented the victim's limbs. Of course, you will not have “reverse hairpins” under your heels, so sinners endured much longer. But when their strength was exhausted, the body itself rested on the heel. Then everything is clear - pain and blood.

2. Heretic's Fork

Four thorns - two, digging into the chin, two - into the sternum, prevented the victim from making any head movements, including dropping his head lower.

3. Chair for witch bathing

The sinner was tied to a chair suspended from a long pole, and lowered under the water for a while, then they gave a little breath of air, and again - under the water. A popular time of year for such torture is late autumn or even winter. An ice-hole was made in the ice, and after a while the victim not only suffocated under water without air, but also in such a desired air was covered with a crust of ice. Sometimes the torture lasted for days.

4. Spanish boot

This is such a fastening on the leg with a metal plate, which with each question and the subsequent refusal to answer it as required, tightened more and more in order to break the bones of the legs. To enhance the effect, sometimes an inquisitor was connected to the torture, who hit the mount with a hammer. Often, after such torture, all the bones of the victim below the knee were shattered, and the wounded skin looked like a bag for these bones.

5. Water torture

This method was "spied" by the inquisitors in the east. The sinner was tied with barbed wire or strong ropes to a special wooden device such as a table with a strongly raised middle - so that the sinner's belly would stick out as far as possible. His mouth was stuffed with rags or straw so that it would not close, and a tube was inserted into his mouth through which an incredible amount of water was poured into the victim. If the victim did not interrupt this torture in order to confess something or the purpose of the torture was unambiguous death, at the end of the test the victim was removed from the table, laid on the ground, and the executioner jumped on her swollen belly. The ending is clear and disgusting.

6. Iron hook (cat's claw)

It is clear that it was not used to scratch the back. The victim's flesh was torn apart - slowly, painfully, to the point that with the same hooks they pulled out not only pieces of the body, but also the ribs.

7. Buck

The same rack. There were two main options: vertical, when the victim was suspended from the ceiling, twisting the joints and hanging more and more weights from her legs, and horizontal, when the sinner's body was fixed on a rack and stretched by a special mechanism until her muscles and joints were torn ...

8. Quartering by horses.

The victim was tied to four horses - by the arms and legs. Then the animals were allowed to gallop. There were no options - only death.

9. Pear

This device was inserted into the holes of the body - obviously, not into the mouth or ears - and opened so as to inflict unthinkable pain on the victim, tearing these holes.

10. Cleansing the soul

In many Catholic countries, the clergy believed that after all, the soul of a sinner could be cleansed. For these purposes, they had to use either pouring boiling water down the sinner's throat, or throwing hot coals there. You yourself understand that in caring for the soul there was no place for caring for the body.

11. Hanging cage

It assumed two extreme modes of operation. In cold weather, like a chair for a witch's bathing, a sinner in this cage, suspended from a long pole, was lowered under the water and pulled out of it, making him freeze and suffocate.

And in the heat, the sinner hung in it in the sun for as many days as he could endure without a drop of water to drink.

12. Skull press

How a sinner could somehow repent of something, when first his teeth clenched and crumbled, then his jaw crumbled, followed by the bones of the skull - until the brain poured out of his ears - I do not understand. Even more inaccessible to my consciousness is the information that in some countries a version of this grinder is still used as an interrogation tool.

13. Bonfire

This was the main way to eradicate the witch's influence on other people's sinless souls. A burnt soul excluded any possibility of confusion or staining a sinless soul. What doubts can there be?

14. Vigil or Cradle of Judas

The know-how belongs to Hippolyte Marsili. At one time, this instrument of torture was considered loyal - it did not break bones, did not tear ligaments. First, the sinner was lifted on a rope, and then he sat on the Cradle, and the top of the triangle was inserted into the same holes as the Pear. It hurt to such an extent that the sinner lost consciousness. He was lifted, "pumped out" and put back on the Cradle. I don’t think that in moments of enlightenment, sinners thanked Hippolytus for his invention.

15. Cradle

Cousin of the Cradle of Judas. I don’t think the picture leaves room for the imagination of how this instrument of torture was used. Also decent disgusting.

16. Iron Maidn. Iron Maiden. Maiden of Nuremberg.

These are not "three girls under the window." This is a huge sarcophagus in the form of an open empty female figure, inside which numerous blades and sharp thorns are fixed. They are located in such a way that the vital organs of the victim imprisoned in the sarcophagus were not affected, therefore the agony of the sentenced to death was long and painful.

The "Virgin" was first used in 1515. The convict died for three days.

17. Interrogation chair

Central Europe is the main place of his popularity. The sinner was stripped naked, seated on an armchair studded with thorns. It was impossible to move - otherwise, not only puncture wounds, but also tears appeared on the body. If this was not enough for the inquisitors, they took thorns or forceps in their hands and tormented the victim's limbs.

18. Number

This terrible execution was invented in the east. The fact is that a person who was skillfully put on a stake - his end had to stick out from the victim's throat (and not as depicted in this picture) - could live for several more days - suffer physically and mentally, since this execution was public.

19. Saw

The executioners and inquisitors of those years showed remarkable ingenuity in their work. They knew better than ours why a person experiences pain, and they knew that in an unconscious state he would not feel pain. And what is the execution in the Middle Ages without sadism? A person could meet ordinary death everywhere, it was not uncommon. And an unusual and very painful death is sawing. The victim was hung upside down so that the blood did not stop supplying oxygen to the head, and the person experienced all the horror of pain. Sometimes, he lived up to the moment when they slowly, slowly managed to cut his body to the diaphragm.

20. Wheeling

A person sentenced to the wheel with an iron crowbar or a wheel broke all large bones of the body, then they tied him to a large wheel, and set the wheel on a pole. The convict found himself face up, looking at the sky, and died like that from shock and dehydration, often for quite a long time. The suffering of the dying man was aggravated by the birds that pecked at him. Sometimes, instead of a wheel, they just used a wooden frame or a cross made of logs.
And, although it is believed that the instruments of torture were more often demonstrated than used, nevertheless, it is not for nothing that the UN proclaimed 26 June since 1997 the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.

Humanity was not characteristic of medieval justice. To obtain the necessary confession, even in minor cases, the judges often used torture, and then no less cruel executions. They did not stand on ceremony with the fairer sex, they were executed on an equal footing with men, and sometimes more cruel executions were invented for them.

Breast tearing
Medieval executioners invented a special device especially for women. With his help, the victim's chest was turned into bloody rags. Most often, a woman died from blood loss due to ruptured arteries.

Welding alive
For about two thousand years, both in Asia and in enlightened Europe, people have been boiled alive. And they did not spare anyone, neither children nor women. Welding was so widespread that it even has three types:

The person was dipped into a cauldron of boiling water, oil, or resin. In Germany, for example, this execution was applied mainly to counterfeiters. Medieval Europeans considered this punishment merciful, because due to the shock caused by the burn of the entire surface of the body, the person immediately lost consciousness.

The second way to die was longer. The tied victim was placed in a cauldron filled with cold water and only after that a fire was made from below. In this case, the victim did not immediately lose consciousness, and the execution process itself lasted about two hours.

The third type of human welding is recognized as the most cruel. The tied victim was placed over a cauldron of boiling liquid and gradually lowered there. This was done gradually so that the victim would not lose consciousness and die immediately. After some time, the unfortunate man was taken out of the boiler in order to pour cold water. At the same time, the scalded flesh peeled off, bringing great suffering to the still living sacrifice. This method was one of the most popular and involved a day and a half of torment.

Impalement

This method is today known and "popularized" by the stories of the notorious Vlad Tepes, the prince of Wallachia called Dracula.

Having come to the Europeans from the east, impaling found wide application. The process was simple: through the anus, a person was put on a stake and driven into the ground. Under his own weight, the victim itself was strung on him more and more.

Sawing

During the triumph of the Inquisition, women suspected of witchcraft and connections with evil spirits were hung upside down and quartered with a saw. The process was so painful that the women were ready to confess to anything and begged to be burned at the stake.

Skull under pressure

Skull crushing mechanisms were popular in Germany and surrounding countries. The head of the unfortunate man was fixed in a mechanism with a screw press. First, the teeth and jaw were crushed, and then the skull.

Pear

Sexual torture was very popular with women. The "pear" was a mechanism with a screw, which was inserted into the victim's mouth, anus or vagina. The screw turned, and the iron mechanism opened like a flower, tearing flesh and delivering hellish torment. It was impossible to survive after that.

Bowl of pectoral

The metal bowl was heated in a fire and then applied to the woman's chest, leaving torn charred holes in place of the chest. The procedure was repeated until the woman gave the necessary recognition.

Wheeling

This execution was also widely used in Europe. The victim was fixed on a five-pointed structure, and then his arms, hips, sternum were crushed, but so that he still remained alive. After that, the sentenced person was transferred to a wheel fixed on a pole, and the broken limbs were tied up behind his back. It is noteworthy that some time after this procedure, depending on the circumstances, a still living person was sometimes burned at the stake, or simply finished off.

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

Their life was not like the fairy-tale world of knightly romances. Girls were more often accused of witchcraft and, under torture, confessed to acts that they did not commit. Sophisticated corporal punishment is striking in savagery, cruelty and inhumanity. The woman has always been guilty: 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 gain information and intimidate the public.

The worst torture of women in human history

Most of the instruments of torture were mechanized. The victim suffered tremendous pain and died from his injuries. The authors of all the creepy instruments knew well the structure of the human body; each method brought unbearable suffering. Although, of course, these tools were applied not only to women, but they suffered more than others.

Pear of Suffering

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

The trauma caused by the device was incompatible with life. Usually torture was applied to girls accused of being in connection with the devil. At the sight of such a weapon, the defendants confessed to cohabitation with the devil, the use of the blood of babies in magical rituals. But confessions did not save the poor girls. They died in the fire anyway.

Witch chair (Spanish chair)

Applied to girls convicted of witchcraft. The suspect was fixed with belts and handcuffs on an iron chair, in which the seat, back, side parts were covered with thorns. The person did not die immediately from blood loss, the thorns slowly pierced the body. The cruel suffering did not end there, they put hot coals 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 in such a chair, but she died without confessing to the crime.

Throne

A special device for prolonged 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: the blood rushed to the head, the muscles of the neck and back were stretched. But there were no signs of torture on the suspect's body.

A fairly harmless tool, reminiscent of a modern vise, delivered 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 drawn to her stomach. This position caused muscle spasms. Prolonged pain, convulsions, slowly drove me crazy. Additionally, the victim could be tortured with a red-hot iron.

Spiked heel shoes

The torture shoes were fixed on the leg with shackles. With the help of a special device, spikes were screwed into the heel. For some time, the victim could stand on his fingers to relieve pain and prevent deep penetration of the thorns. But in such a position it is impossible to stand for a long time. The poor sinner faced severe pain, blood loss, sepsis.

"Vigil" (torture by insomnia)

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

The torture lasted for hours, the woman who had lost consciousness was revived and returned to the pyramid, which tore apart her body and injured her genitals. To increase 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 pyramidal wooden block, to enhance the effect, a weight was tied to her legs. 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. Then they jumped on the unfortunate woman, which could cause rupture of the stomach and intestines. Boiling water and molten metal could be poured through the funnel. Often ants and other insects were launched into the mouth or vagina of the victim. Even an innocent girl confessed to any sins in order to avoid a terrible fate.

Pectoral

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

The device, made in the form of metal hooks, was often used to interrogate girls who were convicted of witchcraft or manifestations of lust. Such a tool could punish a woman who cheated on her husband and gave birth outside of marriage. A very tough measure.

Bathing witch

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

Was there torture of women in the Middle Ages in Russia?

In medieval Russia there was no persecution of witches and heretics. Such sophisticated tortures were not applied to women, but for murder and state crimes they could bury them up to their necks in the ground, punish them 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 it is unlikely that now any of the fair sex would want to be transported to the Middle Ages to the valiant knights.

Inquisition (from lat. inquisitio - investigation, search), in the Catholic Church a special church court for heretics, which existed in the 13-19 centuries. As early as 1184, Pope Lucius III and Emperor Frederick 1 Barbarossa established a strict procedure for the bishops to search for heretics and to investigate their cases by the episcopal courts. The secular authorities pledged to carry out their death sentences. For the first time, the Inquisition as an institution was spoken of at the 4th Lateran Council convened by Pope Innocent III (1215), which established a special process for persecuting heretics (per inquisitionem), a sufficient basis for which defamatory rumors were declared. From 1231 to 1235, Pope Gregory IX, by a series of decrees, transferred the functions of persecuting heresies, previously performed by bishops, to special commissioners - inquisitors (originally appointed from among the Dominicans and then from the Franciscans). In a number of European states (Germany, France, etc.), inquisition tribunals were established, which were entrusted with the investigation of cases of heretics, the passing and execution of sentences. This is how the institution of the Inquisition was formalized. Members of the inquisitorial tribunals had personal immunity and immunity from local secular and ecclesiastical authorities, and were directly dependent on the pope. Due to the secret and arbitrary course of the proceedings, the accused by the Inquisition were deprived of any guarantees. The widespread use of cruel torture, the encouragement and reward of informers, the material interest of the Inquisition itself and the papacy, who received huge funds through the confiscation of the property of convicts, made the Inquisition a scourge of Catholic countries. Those sentenced to death were usually handed over to the secular authorities to be burned at the stake (see Autodafe). In the 16th century. I. became one of the main weapons of the counter-reformation. In 1542, the Supreme Inquisitorial Tribunal was established in Rome. Many outstanding scientists and thinkers (G. Bruno, G. Vanini, etc.) became victims of the Inquisition. The Inquisition was especially rampant in Spain (where from the end of the 15th century it was closely associated with the royal power). In just 18 years of activity of the main Spanish inquisitor of Torquemada (15th century), more than 10 thousand people were burned alive.

The tortures of the Inquisition were very varied. The brutality and ingenuity of the inquisitors is amazing. Some medieval instruments of torture have survived to this day, but more often than not even museum exhibits have been restored according to descriptions. We present to your attention a description of some of the known instruments of torture.

The "interrogation chair" was used in Central Europe. In Nuremberg and Fegensburg, prior to 1846, preliminary investigations with its use were regularly carried out. The naked prisoner was seated on a chair in such a position that, at the slightest movement, thorns pierced his skin. The executioners often intensified the torment of the agonizing victim by making a fire under the seat. The iron chair heated up quickly, causing severe burns. During interrogation, the victim's limbs could be pierced using forceps or other instruments of torture. Such chairs were of various shapes and sizes, but they were all equipped with spikes and means of immobilizing the victim.

Dyba-bed

It is one of the most common instruments of torture found in historical accounts. Dyba was used throughout Europe. Usually this tool was a large table with or without legs, on which the convict was forced to lie down, and his legs and arms were fixed with wooden dies. Immobilized in this way, the victim was "stretched", causing unbearable pain, often until the muscles tore. The rotating drum for tensioning the chains was not used in all rack options, but only in the most sophisticated "modernized" models. The executioner could cut the muscles of the victim in order to hasten the final rupture of tissues. The victim's body stretched more than 30 cm before ripping apart. Sometimes the victim was tied tightly to the rack to make it easier to use other methods of torture, such as forceps for pinching the nipples and other sensitive parts of the body, cauterizing with a hot iron, etc.

This is undoubtedly the most common torture, and was often used in legal proceedings in the beginning, as it was considered an easy form of torture. The accused's hands were tied behind his back, and the other end of the rope was thrown over the winch ring. The victim was either left in this position, or the rope was firmly and continuously pulled. Often, additional weight was tied to the victim's notes, and the body was torn with forceps, such as, for example, the "witch's spider", to make the torture less gentle. The judges thought that witches knew many ways of witchcraft that allowed them to endure torture calmly, so it was not always possible to get a confession. We can refer to a series of trials in Munich at the beginning of the 17th century in relation to eleven people. Six of them were incessantly tortured with an iron boot, one of the women was dismembered, the next five were wheeled, and one was impaled. They, in turn, reported on twenty-one more people, who were immediately interrogated in Tetenwang. Among the new accused was a very respected family. The father died in prison, the mother, after being tested on the rack eleven times, confessed to everything she was accused of. The daughter, Agnes, twenty-one, stoically endured a rack test with the extra weight, but did not admit her guilt, and only spoke of her forgiving her executioners and accusers. It was only after several days of incessant ordeals in the torture chamber that she was told of her mother's full confession. After attempting suicide, she confessed to all horrible crimes, including cohabitation with the Devil from the age of eight, devouring the hearts of thirty people, participating in sabbaths, causing a storm and denying the Lord. Mother and daughter were sentenced to be burned at the stake.

The use of the term "stork" is attributed to the Roman Court of the Most Holy Inquisition in the period from the second half of the 16th century. until about 1650. The same name was given to this instrument of torture by L.A. Muratori in his book Italian Chronicles (1749). The origin of the even stranger name "The Janitor's Daughter" is unknown, but it is given by analogy with the name of the identical device in the Tower of London. Whatever the origin of the name, this weapon is an excellent example of the vast variety of enforcement systems that were used during the Inquisition.

The victim's position was carefully thought out. Within a few minutes, this position of the body led to severe muscle spasm in the abdomen and anus. Further, the spasm began to spread to the area of \u200b\u200bthe chest, neck, arms and legs, becoming more and more painful, especially at the site of the initial onset of the spasm. After some time, attached to the "Stork" passed from a simple experience of torment to a state of complete madness. Often, while the victim was tormented in this terrible position, she was additionally tortured with a hot iron and in other ways. The iron bonds cut into the victim's flesh and caused gangrene and sometimes death.

The "chair of the inquisition," known as the "witch chair," was highly regarded as a good remedy against silent women accused of witchcraft. This common instrument was especially widely used by the Austrian Inquisition. The chairs were of various sizes and shapes, all equipped with spikes, handcuffs, blocks for restraining the victim and, most often, with iron seats that could be heated if necessary. We found evidence of the use of this weapon for slow killing. In 1693, in the Austrian city of Gutenberg, Judge Wolf von Lampertisch led the trial on charges of witchcraft to Maria Vukinets, 57 years old. She was put on a witch's chair for eleven days and nights, while the executioners burned her legs with a red-hot iron (inslеtрlаster). Maria Vukinets died under torture, going mad with pain, but not confessing to the crime.

According to the inventor, Ippolito Marsili, the introduction of the Vigil was a watershed moment in the history of torture. The current recognition system does not involve bodily harm. It has no broken vertebrae, twisted ankles, or shattered joints; the only substance that suffers is the victim's nerves. The idea of \u200b\u200bthe torture was to keep the victim awake for as long as possible, a kind of torture with insomnia. But Vigil, which was not originally seen as cruel torture, took various, sometimes extremely cruel, forms.

The victim was raised to the top of the pyramid and then gradually lowered. The top of the pyramid was supposed to penetrate into the area of \u200b\u200bthe anus, testicles or coxus, and if a woman was tortured, then the vagina. The pain was so intense that the accused often lost consciousness. If this happened, the procedure was postponed until the victim woke up. In Germany, "vigil torture" was called "cradle guard".

This torture is very similar to the "vigil torture." The difference is that the main element of the device is a wedge-shaped pointed corner made of metal or hard wood. The person being interrogated was suspended over an acute angle so that this angle rested against the crotch. A variation of the use of the "donkey" is to tie a load to the legs of the interrogated, tied and fixed at an acute angle.

A simplified type of "Spanish donkey" can be considered a stretched rigid rope or a metal cable, called "Mare", more often this type of tool is applied to women. The rope stretched between the legs is lifted as high as possible and the genitals are rubbed to blood. The rope torture is quite effective because it is applied to the most sensitive parts of the body.

Brazier

In the past, there was no Amnesty International association, no one intervened in the affairs of justice and did not protect those who fell into its clutches. The executioners were free to choose any, from their point of view, a suitable means of obtaining confessions. Often they also used a brazier. The victim was tied to a grate and then "fried" until they received sincere repentance and recognition, which led to the discovery of new criminals. And the cycle continued.

In order to best carry out the procedure for this torture, the accused was placed on one of the types of rack 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 proceeded to work in one of several ways. One of these methods was to force the victim with a funnel to swallow a large amount of water, then beat the inflated and arched abdomen. Another form involved placing a rag tube in the victim's throat, through which water was slowly poured, which caused the victim to swell and suffocate. If that was not enough, the tube was pulled out, causing internal damage, and then reinserted, and the process repeated. Sometimes they used cold water torture. In this case, the accused lay for hours on the table naked under a stream of ice cold water. It is interesting to note that this kind of torture was considered easy, and the confessions obtained in this way were accepted by the court as voluntary and given to the defendants without torture.

The idea to mechanize torture was born in Germany and there is nothing to be done about the fact that the Maid of Nuremberg has such an origin. She got her name because of the external resemblance to the Bavarian girl, and also because her prototype was created and first used in the underground of the secret court in Nuremberg. The accused was placed in a sarcophagus, where the body of the unfortunate was pierced with sharp thorns, located so that none of the vital organs was hurt, and the agony lasted quite a long time. The first case of a trial involving the Virgin is dated 1515. It was described in detail by Gustav Freytag in his book "bilder aus der deutschen vergangenheit". The punishment befell the guilty of forgery, who was tormented inside the sarcophagus for three days.

Wheeling

A person sentenced to the wheel with an iron crowbar or a wheel broke all large bones of the body, then they tied him to a large wheel, and set the wheel on a pole. The convict found himself face up, looking at the sky, and died like that from shock and dehydration, often for quite a long time. The suffering of the dying man was aggravated by the birds that pecked at him. Sometimes, instead of a wheel, they just used a wooden frame or a cross made of logs.

For wheeling, vertically mounted wheels were also used.

The wheel is a very popular system of both torture and execution. It was used only on charges of witchcraft. Usually the procedure was divided into two phases, both quite painful. The first consisted of fractures of most of the bones and joints with the help of a small wheel called a crushing wheel and equipped with many spikes on the outside. The second was designed in case of execution. It was assumed that the victim, broken and crippled in this way, literally like a rope, would slip between the spokes of the wheel onto a long pole, where he would remain awaiting death. A popular version of this execution combined wheeling and burning at the stake - in this case, death came quickly. The procedure was described in the materials of one of the court proceedings in Tyrol. In 1614, a vagabond named Wolfgang Selweiser of Gastein, convicted of intercourse with the devil and sending a storm, was sentenced by the Leinz court to both wheeling and burning at the stake.

Extremity press or "knee crusher"

A variety of devices for crushing and breaking joints, both knee and elbow. Numerous steel teeth, penetrating into the body, inflicted terrible puncture wounds, due to which the victim would bleed.

The "Spanish boot" was a kind of manifestation of "engineering genius", since the judiciary during the Middle Ages made sure that the best craftsmen created more and more perfect devices that made it possible to weaken the will of the prisoner and gain recognition faster and easier. The metal "Spanish boot", equipped with a system of screws, gradually squeezed the victim's shin until the bones were broken.

The Iron Shoe is a close relative of the Spanish boot. In this case, the executioner "worked" not with the shin, but with the foot of the interrogated. Overuse of the device usually resulted in fractures of the tarsus, metatarsus and toes.

This medieval device, it should be noted, was highly valued, especially in northern Germany. Its function was quite simple: the victim's chin was placed on a wooden or iron support, and the cover of the device was screwed onto the victim's head. At first, the teeth and jaws were crushed, then, as the pressure increased, the brain tissue began to flow out of the skull. With the passage of time, this instrument has lost its significance as a murder weapon and has become widespread as an instrument of torture. Despite the fact that both the cover of the device and the lower support are lined with soft material that does not leave any marks on the victim, the device brings the prisoner into a state of "ready to cooperate" after a few turns of the screw.

The pillar of shame was a widespread method of punishment at all times and in all social systems. The convict was placed at the pillory for a certain time, from several hours to several days. The bad weather that fell during the period of punishment aggravated the situation of the victim and increased the torment, which was probably viewed as "divine retribution." The pillar of shame, on the one hand, could be considered a relatively mild method of punishment, in which the perpetrators were simply exhibited in a public place for general ridicule. On the other hand, those chained to the pillar of pillory were completely defenseless before the "court of the people": anyone could offend them with a word or action, spit at them or throw a stone - a teak treatment that could be caused by popular indignation or personal enmity, sometimes leading to injury or even the death of a convicted person.

This instrument was created as a pillar in the shape of a chair, and is sarcastically named "Throne". The victim was placed upside down, and her legs were strengthened with wooden blocks. This torture was popular among judges who wanted to follow the letter of the law. In fact, the laws regulating the use of torture only allowed the Tron to be used once during an interrogation. But the majority of judges bypassed this rule, simply calling the next session a continuation of the same first one. The use of the "Throne" made it possible to declare it in one session, even if it lasted 10 days. Since the use of the "Throne" did not leave irreparable marks on the victim's body, it was very suitable for long-term use. It should be noted that simultaneously with this torture, the prisoners were also tortured with water and hot iron.

It could be made of wood or iron, for one or two women. It was an instrument of mild torture with a rather psychological and symbolic meaning. There is no documentary evidence that the use of this device resulted in physical injury. It was applied mainly to those guilty of libel or insulting the person, the hands and neck of the victim were fixed in small holes, so that the punished person found herself in a prayer position. One can imagine the suffering of the victim from circulatory disorders and pain in the elbows when the device was worn for a long time, sometimes for several days.

A brutal instrument used to fix an offender in a cruciform position. It is credible to say that the Cross was invented in Austria in the 16th-17th centuries. This follows from the book "Justice in Old Times" from the collection of the Museum of Justice in Rottenburg an der Tauber (Germany). A very similar model, which was in the castle tower in Salzburg (Austria), is mentioned in one of the more detailed descriptions.

The suicide bomber was seated on a chair with his hands tied behind his back, an iron collar rigidly fixed the position of his head. During the execution, the executioner tightened the screw, and the iron wedge slowly entered the prisoner's skull, leading to his death.

A neck trap is a ring with nails on the inside and a trap-like device on the outside. Any prisoner who tried to hide in the crowd could easily be stopped with this device. After being caught by the neck, he could no longer free himself, and he was forced to follow the overseer without fear that he would resist.

This instrument really resembled a double-sided steel fork with four sharp spikes piercing the body under the chin and in the sternum. It was tightly fastened with a leather strap to the criminal's neck. This type of fork was used in legal proceedings on charges of heresy and witchcraft. Penetrating deep into the flesh, she hurt at any attempt to move her head and allowed the victim to speak only in an illegible, barely audible voice. Sometimes on the fork it was possible to read the Latin inscription "I renounce."

The tool was used to stop the shrill screams of the victim, which bothered the inquisitors and interfered with their conversation with each other. The iron tube inside the ring was tightly pushed into the victim's throat, and the collar was locked with a bolt at the back of the head. The hole allowed air to pass through, but if desired, it could be plugged with a finger and cause suffocation. This device was often applied to those condemned to be burned at the stake, especially in a large public ceremony called the Autodafe, when heretics were burned in dozens. The iron gag made it possible to avoid the situation when the condemned drowned out the sacred music with their screams. Giordano Bruno, guilty of being overly progressive, was burned to death in Rome in Piazza Campo dei Fiori in 1600 with an iron gag in his mouth. The gag was equipped with two thorns, one of which, piercing the tongue, came out under the chin, and the second shattered the palate.

There is nothing to say about her, except that she caused death even worse than death at the stake. The cannon was operated by two people who sawed off a convict suspended upside down with his legs tied to two supports. The very position itself, causing blood flow to the brain, made the victim experience unheard-of anguish for a long time. This tool was used as a punishment for various crimes, but it was especially readily used against homosexuals and witches. It seems to us that this remedy was widely used by French judges against witches who became pregnant from the "devil of nightmares" or even from Satan himself.

Women who committed an abortion or adulterer had a chance to get acquainted with this subject. White-hot his sharp teeth, the executioner tore apart the chest of the victim. In some areas of France and Germany, up to the 19th century, this instrument was called "Tarantula" or "Spanish spider".

This device was inserted into the mouth, anus or vagina, and when the screw was tightened, the segments of the “pear” were opened as much as possible. As a result of this torture, internal organs were severely damaged, often resulting in death. In the opened state, the sharp ends of the segments dug into the wall of the rectum, into the pharynx or cervix. This torture was intended for homosexuals, blasphemers and women who had abortion or sinned with the Devil.

Cells

Even if the space between the rods was enough to push the victim into it, there was no chance of getting out of there, since the cage was hung very high. Often the size of the hole in the bottom of the cage was such that the victim could easily fall out of it and break. The anticipation of such an end aggravated the suffering. Sometimes the sinner in this cage, suspended from a long pole, was lowered under water. In the heat, the sinner could be hung in it in the sun for as many days as he could endure without a drop of water to drink. There are cases when prisoners, deprived of food and drink, died of hunger in such cages and their dried remains terrified their comrades in misfortune.