torture

=__//**Torture in Medieval ages (warning: may be gruesome)**//__= Most people think that in the medieval ages torture was a common way of punishment, but it was not. Even though thousands died in unimaginably painful ways, torture wasn't as frequent as most of us believe. During the [|inquisition] only 1 or 2 percent of the heretics or criminals were subject to long periods of torture - the rest were simply incarcerated or punished in other ways. The Medieval period of the Middle Ages was violent and blood thirsty. In many castles there were [|torture chambers]. The torture a person got depended on the crime they committed and their social status. Torture was used to get the truth out or someone or to just punish them for a crime. The objetive of torture was to punish, [|deter], intimidate or to just get revenge.

=Some torture devices:=


 * //[|The Breast Ripper]// || [|The brazen bull] || [|The maiden] ||
 * //[|The Pear of Anguish]// || -[|The water torture] || [|The spanish tickler] ||
 * //[|The Breaking Wheel]// || [|Exposure] || [|Garrotte torture] ||
 * //[|Saw Torture]// || [|The chair of torture] || [|Toe wedging] ||
 * //[|The Head Crusher]// || [|Crocodile Shears] || [|The brank] ||
 * //[|The Knee Splitter]// || [|The rat torture] || [|Foot roasting] ||

=**Torture Tools:**=



//**[|Impalement]**:// a pole that was pushed, bottom upwards, through the victim’s body.
Victims were forced to sit on the pole. This method would not kill right away. It would take up to 3 days for a victim to die leaving him/her in pain for days. The person who used this method the most was [|Dracula]. Vlad was so cruel that he would sometimes impale children and then make their mothers eat themthey would get severe infecions as a result. At the same time, he would be having a feast while watching the victims be impaled right in front of him. For this reason and others, Vlad is known today as Dracula, the blood-thirsty vampire.



//[|Judas Cradle]//: The victim’s orifice is painfully stretched, flesh ripped
This method would be used to stretch the victims body. Depending on the person it depends on the amount of hours or days it would take for someone to die. If the victim did not die by this method they would die by infections because they never washed the device. The person had to sit on the Judas Craddle forcing the victims anus to strech and sometime rip. If they did not bleed to death the would of died from infection.



//[|Coffin Torture]//: Torture in a metal cage, pecked at by preying birds
This was used to humiliate a person. The person would be put in there and they would be eaten up by birds or animals. Serious crimes, such as [|heresy] or [|blasphemy], were punished by death inside the coffin where the victim was placed under the sun allowing birds or animals to eat his or her flesh.



//[|The Rack]//: designed to dislocate every joint in its victim’s body
This device was said to be the most painful in torture. The ropes would be pulled until a loud cracking noise would be heard. That loud cracking noise were the bones being cracked. Sometimes the ropes would be pulled more, causing some of the limbs to get torn right off the body. In the later Middle Ages, a new variant of rack appeared. Spikes that penetrated the victim's back were when he/she were forced to lie on table. As the limbs were pulled apart, so was the spinal cord, increasing not only the physical pain, but the psychological pain of knowing that, even if he or she were to survive, mobility of any kind would be lost forever.



[|The Pear of Anguish]- was used as a torture for crimes involved around miscarrage, liars, blasphemers and homosexuals. They stuck the pair of anguish into the orifices of the convicted. the vagina for the women of miscarrage,the anus of homosexuals,or the mouth of the liars and blasphemers. __//**The cro**//**s**__**//__s(stake__)//** : The victim was bound to a cross and tortured with specific instruments. (hammer, sharp items such as: knives, nails, etc) Nails: To prolong suffering, nails were hammered or slowly pushed into the bones. Most of the time, the victim or criminal was hit repeatedly, until they went numb, then they'd switch limbs.

__//**burned alive**//__ : Burning at the stake was a very common way to execute thieves and supernatural beings(witches, vampires, etc). It was used for centuries. A large fire meant that they would die fast, so the victims were normally burned in a smaller fire so at they would suffer until the end.(though the victim was not always killed.) When the fire was small, death occurred from blood loss or heatstroke, which could take some time. __//**hanged, drawn and quartered**//__ :the suspected(most cases were of treason) were fastened to a or wooden panel, and drawn by horse to the execution destination, where they were hanged(near death), emasculated, disemboweled, beheaded, and any other torture left (quartered). Their remains were left for all to see.

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