Medieval Torture

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During the medieval era, torture had been considered a legitimate practice in obtaining a confession or to gain the name of any accomplice in the crime committed. The form of torture depended upon what the crime committed was and the social class of the accused individual. Be that as it may individuals were primarily toured for acts of treason. Torture was only allowed to be practiced through the Church. Because, only Monarchs and the Highest nobles were granted permission to inflict torture. Torture had occurred so frequently during the medieval era that public holidays were declared for mass torture events. The most horrendous torture devices that were used during the medieval era were: the Judas cradle, the Scold’s Bridle, and Rat tortures. …show more content…

Yet, the Judas Cradle was most frequently used late in the medieval era. The Judas cradle is a wooden chair that possessed a pyramid shaped seat. Two torturers oversaw the Judas cradle in action. One torturer would strip all the clothes off the guilty individual. While the other torturer tied the hands of the guilty individual together, the feet of the guilty individual were tied together as well. Once the guilty individual was tied one of the torturers would slowly lower the naked individual onto the Judas Cradle. Being slowly lowered onto the Judas cradle forced the pyramid seat into the anus or vagina of the guilty individual. Some torturers would tie weights to the guilty individuals legs so that the Judas cradle would be even more agonizing. The Judas Cradle was not washed in between tortures which added even more humiliation to the guilty individuals. The primary reason for using the Judas Cradle was to extract information from an individual who had committed …show more content…

There was no noted first-time use of the rat tortures. There are many diverse methods in which Rat tortures can be performed. One method of Rat tortures is large rats were placed in a cage. The cage was placed on top of a guilty individual. The guilty individual was tied to the floor or the table so they could not move. The only opening to the cage was on the accused individual's stomach. Once the rats were inside the cage a heating element was placed on the side of the cage opposite of the guilty individual. The rats natural instinct was to break free from the extreme heat. In hopes to get free from the extreme heat the rats would naw the guilty individual’s stomach. When the rats nawed the stomach they would burrow through the intestines of the guilty individual. The second method of rat torture is very similar to the first form of rat torture. However, the torturer would cut slits into the stomach of the guilty individual instead of using heat. After the torture inflicted the slits starving rats were forced inside of the slits. When the starving rats were inside the slits the rat would eat the guilty individual alive. Both forms of torture were agonizing.Because, rat tortures took hours and in some cases days for the rats to chew through the guilty individual. Rat torture almost always resulted in death unless the torture was stopped immediately. Rat torture was a cheap and easily performed

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