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By definition, torture is an act causing excruciating pain, either for punishment, getting confessions or information, or simply out of cruelty (Webster’s Universal College Dictionary 1997). Torture has been used since the time of the Egyptians (about 1300 BC), and it is possible that it has been used even before that. Many cultures all over the world have used torture, and unfortunately, some of it is still practiced today (The Inquisition Chamber). During the Middle Ages and throughout the time that it has been used, its main purpose was to acquire confession out of the accused (Newman 1983). Although torture is thought to just be a mutilation of the body, it can be any form of punishment, to any degree (Mannix 1964).
The Church is the most well-known for its torture (The Inquisition Chamber), via Holy Inquisitions, specifically during the Middle Ages. These Inquisitions were court processes of the Roman Catholic Church, used to seek out and punish/execute heretics. In these Inquisitions, one person was usually both prosecutor and judge, and decided the sentence of heresy. If an inquisitor came upon a district full of heretics, a 40 day grace period went into place in which heretics were able to confess and recant. After this grace period, the inhabitants of the district were called to the inquisitor. Those still accused of heresy would then be brought to the Inquisition prison for further evaluation (The Christian Enterprise). The judge would often question the accused while being tortured. A legal representative, and sometimes a physician, would be present as well. The accused would not be allowed a legal representative of his or her own. The judge selected the form of torture, and how long it would last. Sometimes, the victim would give a quick confession just after being shown the instruments planned on being used (Peters, 1985). If heretics were mute, or refused to confess, they were subject to quite grotesque and painful procedures. Some examples of these were Juda’s Cradle, the wheel, and tongue removal (The Christian Enterprise).
One example of these torturous devices was Juda’s Cradle. First, the victim is stripped, and their hands are bound (The Christian Enterprise). Their ankles were bound to a stick, with his legs slightly open, so that he/she could only move them both at the same time. In some cases, weights were placed on the victim’s ankles instead of having them bound to a stick. An iron belt was put on their upper waist, and they were hoisted up with a pulley. They were then lowered on to a pointed pyramid placed on a rack (The Christian Enterprise, Punishment, Torture, and Ordeal). When lowered, the point of the pyramid either penetrated under the coccyx (the last two or three vertebrae), under the scrotum, into the vagina, or into the anus. Because of this, the muscles could not relax, and the victim could not fall asleep (Christian Enterprise). According to the interrogator’s liking, the torturer could vary the pressure, up to full body weight. Sometimes the victim could be rocked, or made to fall on the tip repeatedly (Punishment, Torture, and Ordeal). The torturer often took advantage of their high position of authority to indulge in their own sexual power over the heretics (The Christian Enterprise).
In the Netherlands, sometimes the “Bronze Bowl” was used. The accused’s hands and feet would be bound to a table. Then, an iron bowl would be placed on their stomach, and mice were slipped underneath. The torturer(s) would slowly heat the iron bowl, which also heats the mice. The mice sense the intense rise in heat, but have no way out. So, in their panic, they begin to burrow through the stomach of the victim. Some burrowed through the side of the body, and some burrowed further into the chest cavity. Eventually, the mice would slowly burrow into the heart or lungs, thus finally killing the victim (The Inquisition Chamber).
Another method used during inquisitions was disembowelment. The accused is staked to the ground, is unable to move, a device, similar to a spit (or revolving meat-roaster) is placed over their abdomen. A cut, just large enough for the torturer’s hand, is made into the victim’s stomach. The torturer then carefully, so as not to destroy any vital organs, and thus cause a premature death, take out the intestine, and hook it on to the rotating pole. The “spit” device is then rotated until all of their intestinal entrails are wrapped around the pole. The victim lives through most of this process, and was quite popular, of course, due to the excruciating pain and cruelty involved with it (The Inquisition Chamber).
One of the most horrific forms of torture during the Middle Ages was “the wheel.” It was ideal for capital punishment, especially in France and Germany (Punishment, Torture, and Ordeal). The prisoner was stripped, and triangular blocks of wood are placed beneath each of the joints. The executioner would smash each of the joints with an iron bar, avoiding any fatal blows. Then, the victim would be woven or “braided” through the spokes of a huge wheel, and bound in place. They were then left to die, and scavengers often picked at the body while they were still alive (Punishment, Torture, and Ordeal, The Inquisition Chamber, The Christian Enterprise).
French “witches” (usually accused of carrying satan’s child) were forced to face “the saw.” First the accused was hung by their feet, until all the blood rushed to the head. Then, two men with a two-person saw with begin to saw her in half, vertically. The victim usually did not die until the saw reached their navel, and according to some accounts, even until it reached their breast (Punishment, Torture, and Ordeal). Other such heretics and blasphemers were subject to tongue removal. Their mouths were mechanically forced open, and their tongues removed with a red-hot iron (The Christian Enterprise).
One infamous torturer was Vlad Dracula. He was the son of Prince Vlad Dracul (Dracul, meaning “the dragon” or “the devil”), and was therefore called Vlad Dracula (Columbia, The Christian Enterprise). He was also known as Vlad Tepes, meaning “Vlad the Impaler,” and for good reason. Before his birth, King Sigismund of Hungary (who became the Holy Roman Emperor in 1410) founded a secret order of knights called the "Order of the Dragon,” who were dedicated to fighting Turks and heretics, and to defend the Roman Empire, as well as to uphold Christianity. Vlad Dracula’s father, Vlad II, because of his cruelty and ruthlessness in fighting the Turks, was admitted to the Order of military governor of Transylvania. It was because of being admitted that he became known as "Vlad Dracul," or "Vlad the dragon." In 1447, Vlad II and his son Mircea were killed. 12 years later, on St. Bartholemew’s Day, Vlad III (Vlad Dracula) had his revenge on the boyars, by having having 30,000 merchants and Boyars impaled outside of Brasov. One famous woodcut of Vlad Dracula was of him eating amongst thousands of impaled victims outside of Brasov, while an executioner cuts open a few other victims. It was estimated that about fifty to one-hundred victims total were impaled, tortured, and killed (Christian Enterprise).
Torture has been used all throughout history (The Inquisition Chamber). During the Middle Ages and throughout the time that it has been used, its main purpose was to acquire confession out of the accused (Newman 1983). The Church was the most famous for its torture (The Inquisition Chamber), especially via inquisition (The Christian Enterprise). There were also many different torturous devices, and torture methods, some being excruciatingly painful, used during such inquisitions, and all throughout the Middle Ages (The Inquisition Chamber, The Christian Enterprise, Punishment, Torture, and Ordeal).
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