The following article on the history and methods of torture, published originally in 1887, provides some decent insight into the types of torture, with a specific focus on the tortures used by the Church.
Methods of Torture
The term “torture” is derived from the Latin word torquere, which means to twist or bend. As used in this article the term applies to that inflicted in obedience to the mandate of the monarch or of the authorities of the state. The torture administered by individuals in their private capacity, therefore, will not be touched upon. In the sense in which the word is employed here torture was used by the state mainly to extract from persons tortured an avowed of guilt, a revelation of accomplices, or testimony in general.
Among the Greeks and Romans
Torture, for some one or other of the purpose named, was in vogue from a very early age. It was in such general vogue among the Greeks several centuries before the beginning of the Christian era, that it became incorporated in their legal procedure and grew to be a regular feature of the administration of their laws. Torture was one of the legacies which the Greeks bequeathed to their Roman conquerors.
Under the rule of these world subjugators the uses of torture and the implements by which it was inflicted increased. Among the Greeks it could be administered to slaves only. Immunity from torture was one of the most precious privileges of the free Helenic citizen in the days of Grecian greatness. An execution was made, however, in the case of persons suspected of crime against the state. To discover guilt in offenses of that character, torture was sometimes inflicted on persons without distinction of social status or rank.
Under Roman rule the free citizen did not enjoy the exemption from torture which was extended to him by the Greeks. By decrees of Nero, Domitian, and other despots, it was often inflicted for offenses pure imaginary. It was inflicted even on persons of high rank and on both sexes.
The Purpose of Torture
A word may be necessary here in explanation of the full purpose of torture. It was, as already intimated, inflicted with the object of discovering crime, whether committed by the person tortured or his accomplices. Sometimes, however, it had another purpose. In cases of religious persecutions it was employed to compel heretics to retract or unbelievers to subscribe to the tenets of some particular faith.
There were two grades of torture inflicted, the distinction being in their relative severity. One form was terms the “question ordinary” and the other the “question extraordinary.” The first involved a comparatively mild use of the instruments of torture. The second, however, included the extremist severity compatible with the preservation of life.
There was a distinction also made in the “threats of torture.” There was what was called “verbal territion,” in which the executioner described the torture, and the “real territion,” when the victim was put onon the rack, but the torture was not administered.
There was a distinction also regarding the time of the application of torture. For example, it was called in one phase the “question preparatory,” and in another the “question preliminary.” In the first case it was for the purpose of compelling the suspected person to confess that he himself was guilty, and in the second it was employed to induce him to reveal his confederated.
Spread of the System of Torture
The adoption of the system of torture by Rome, and its extension during the empire to all the countries dominated by that nation, gave it a firm foothold throughout Europe and part of Asia.
In the Middle Ages it was a feature of the examination of persons in every part of the world in which the code of Justinian formed the basis of law.
There is some doubt as to whether torture formed any part of the common law of England. Many British writers contend that it did not. However, the dispute on this subject seems to be upon a mere abstraction, for there was a system of procedure in law in England which was, in all essential respects, torture. This was known as peine forte et dure. These are French words denoting harsh and severe punishment.
It a prisoner indicted for any capital offense refused to answer to the charge preferred against him, and so prevented his trial taking place, he was condemned to the punishment of peine forte et dure. The prisoner was laid on his back, near naked, in a dungeon, with heavy weights put upon his breast, and while subjected to this ordeal he received a small allowance of water one day and a small portion of the coarsest and hardest bread next day. These rations were thus alternated until the victim either consented to plead or died.
This was the form which the punishment of peine forte et dure took when first introduced. Subsequently, though, the system was changed so that it became a death penalty. A person refusing to answer to an indictment, and thus becoming subjected to the ordeal, could not secure a release from it by consenting to plead. The punishment was continued until death.
The Era of Torture
Torture was recognized, either by law or custom, in the principal European countries for many centuries. it probably assumed more phases in Germany than in any other part of the world during the latter portion of the Middle Ages. A complete set of the implements of torture are still displayed in the town house of Ratisbon, in Bavaria. Torture was not formally abolished in Germany until about the beginning of the present century. Practically, it had gone out of use half a century earlier, although it was employed to some extent when Howard, the English philanthropist and prison reformer, visited Germany in 1770. It was abolished in France during the revolution. But it had gone into disuse in that country before that time, thanks to the efforts of Voltaire, Rousseau, Beccaria, and others. Russia abolished it in 1801. In Austria it was suspended about the middle of the last century, although instances are on record in which it was inflicted up to near the beginning of the present century.
The punishment of peine forte et dure was abolished by law in England in 1772, during the early portion of the reign of George III. It had been employed from time to time ever since the days of Edward I. in the latter part of the thirteenth century. The last time which it was judicially resorted to in that country, however, was in 1640.
Torture was in vogue in Scotland until after the restoration, but was abolished in the early days of the rule of Queen Anne.
Torture in the American Colonies
Torture, in the sense in which the word is generally employed, was seldom employed in the American colonies. It was frequently used as a punishment for necromancy, sorcery, or witchcraft. In that connection it was a death penalty, and was not torture proper. There are very few cases on record in which it was used in this country to compel a person to confess guilt or to reveal accomplices; and there are not many instances in which it was employed to induce the retraction of religious views opposed to the general belief of the community. Stories are told of its having been resorted to occasionally by the Spaniards during their dominance in the southern portion of the country, especially in Florida.
Here is one well authenticated case of the punishment of peine forte et dure being inflicted in this country. During the crusade against witches in Massachusetts, Giles Gorry, the husband of a woman accused of practicing witchcraft, refused to answer any questions put to him on his trial on the charge of aiding her in her conjurations. Neither threats nor blandishments could induce him to talk. The court, therefore, directed that this torture be administered to him. Although he was in feeble health and over eighty years of age, the pressure of the heavy weights upon his breast as he was stretched upon the floor of his prison rendered him all the more stubborn. The punishment was continued until his death.
Torture Under Ecclesiastical Direction
The most cruel and barbarous cases of torture on record were those inflicted by the authorities of the church. During the days of the Inquisition, nearly all devices of inflicting punishment which religious fanaticism and ignorance could suggest and ingenuity construct were employed to either extirpate heretics or to bring them under the spiritual control of the dominant faith.
The number of persons put to death in Spain, Germany and the Netherlands, France, Italy, and other places, in obedience to the decrees of the courts of the inquisition, during the centuries when those bodies were in existence, is believed to have gone up into the millions.
It is supposed that torture was never inflicted by ecclesiastical direction before 1252. In that year Pope Innocent IV called upon the secular powers to put to torture persons accused of heresy. This torture was not, at the time, intended as a death penalty. It was designed to compel the persons subjected to it to make confessions against themselves or others. Pope Clement V afterwards induced King Edward II of England to apply torture to certain Templars accused of heresy and apostasy. Edward insisted that no mutilation be practiced on the victims, and that it be suspended before serious physical injury to them should occur. The king, in this injunction, displayed humane feelings, but his request was frequently disregarded to such a degree that some of the Templars died from the effects of the torture which they were compelled to undergo.
The Rack
The most commonly used instrument was the rack. This consisted of an oblong frame, laid horizontally on which the victim was stretched. There was a roller on each end, laid at right angles to the direction in which the victim was stretched. These rollers came within about a foot of his feet and hands, respectively, when his legs and arms were extended at full length. Stout ropes were tied around the ankles and wrists, and attached to projections on the rollers. In the rollers were holes, into which levers were inserted. On each roller was a ratchet which prevented it from moving backward. By means of these levers, each often weirded by two powerful men, the victim was frequently subjected to such a strain that the joints of his wrists and ankles were dislocated.
This was the common form of the rack as it existed in most of the European countries. In Germany, it sometimes took another shape. The rollers were studded with long, sharp spikes, and over these the victim, who in this case, would be naked, would be drawn backward and forward until he either would give the desired information or die.
Still another form of rack was occasionally employed in Germany. This was the ordinary rack, ranged vertically instead of horizontally, the upper roller alone being used. The victim’s hands were tied behind his back and ropes extended from his arms to the roller. By the use of the roller and lever, he would be drawn up several feet, when he would be permitted to drop to within a few inches of the ground, where his fall would be arrested by a sudden jerk.
The Boot
The boot, as an instrument of torture, was employed in nearly all the countries of continental Europe, and there are instances of its use in England, also. It was in France and Spain where it was best known and most in vogue. It consisted of an iron instrument into which the foot was inserted, and which closed upon the leg up to near the knee, like a boot.
The leg portion was formed of iron rings, held in place by upright pieces extending from the foot. Between these rings and the leg, wooden or iron wedges were driven. The pressure, under this process, became so great, in many instances in which it was inflicted, as to reduce the muscles to a jelly and destroy the leg forever.
The boot sometimes assumed a different shape from this. The foot piece and rings were formed the same as in the instrument just described, but the pressure was imparted by a screw acting on each ring. This form was more ingenious than the other, and capable of inflicting more pain.
Among the devices for torture mentioned as being in existence in Ratisbon are two boots, one of each of the forms here referred to. The boot is not so ancient as the rack, the last named device having been in use in Italy and Spain during the second century, although it did not become known in England until several hundred years later. The boot appears to have been used in France as early as the eighth century.
Other Instruments of Torture
Among the other instruments of torture were the scavenger’s daughter, the thumbscrew, the pincers, the manacles and the wheel.
The scavenger’s daughter was derived from the name of the inventor, Sir William Skeffington, lieutenant of the Tower of London during the reign of Henry VIII., the name being corrupted into scavenger. This instrument so compressed the body that blood started from the nose and mouth of the victim.
The thumbscrew was used to exert pressure on the thumbs, and by twisting those members and by raising the body by them the torture was inflicted.
The pincers were employed to tear the flesh of the victim. Into the wounds thus made, boiling oil and melted metals were often poured. The manacles were used to shackle or bind the legs or arms. They thus served two purposes. They deprived the victim of all power of defense, and by the weight and pressure which they exerted they often inflicted great pain.
The instrument styled the “Duke of Exeter’s Daughter” was the rack. It was introduced into the Tower of London by the Duke of Exeter, who was constable at the time this occurred. Hence the name.
There was another device for inflicting torture called “little ease.” This was a cell so narrow that the prisoner confined in it was compelled to stand. On many occasions this punishment is known to have continued several days at a time. Still other forms of torture consisted of pulling the hair out in masses, in tearing off the finger or toe nails, in pouring water on some part of the body for many hours together without intermission, and in sticking pine skewers under the nails or into other portions of the body and then setting them on fire.
Was Galileo’s Torture Physical
The question as to the character of the torture inflicted upon Galileo is still in dispute. Was it merely moral, as shown in the history of the time, or was it physical, also? The records contain an account of the moral torture only.
Some writers of Galileo’s day contended that he had been placed upon the rack and literally subjected to the ordeal of punishment administered to contumacious witnesses or heretics. But whether this is or is not strictly accurate, it is certain that physical torture was promised him if he failed to retract his published opinions in favor of the Coppernican system of astronomy and all that that system implied.
This much is not disputed. Galileo, clad only in a shirt of sack clothe, was compelled to pronounce, on his knees and in the presence of the judges of the Roman court and a large assemblage of prelates, a most complete and humiliating recantation of the views which had been the fruits of a life spent in the search for scientific truth. At that time the distinguished astronomer was about seventy years of age. Tradition said that he uttered these words under his breath as he rose from his knees: “The world does move, nevertheless.”
Source: St. Paul daily globe. (Saint Paul, Minn.), 11 Dec. 1887.
