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Rating of terrible tortures of the Middle Ages. Rating of terrible tortures of the Middle Ages 10 most cruel tortures

The Middle Ages was not a particularly good period of life by modern standards. Most of the people were poor, they suffered from diseases, and their freedom belonged to the rich landowners. And if a person committed a crime and could not afford to pay a fine, they simply chopped off his hand or cut out his tongue and lips. Torture was not used as often as many people think, but God forbid if the authorities need to get confessions! The Middle Ages were the golden age of torture methods and devices that inflicted terrible pain. Today's "sanctioned" torture methods are designed to cause psychological or emotional distress. But the devices used in the Middle Ages were really frightening, scary and inflicted physical torment and deformity on a person. Warning: These descriptions are not for the faint of heart!

1. Impaling

Vlad the Impaler (better known as Dracula), who ruled in the 15th century in Romania, simply impaled his victims, forcing them to sit on a thick and sharp stake. A person in a horizontal position was tied at the top of the stake, and then lifted to a vertical position and the victim was left to slide further along the stake under his own weight. Often the point of the stake came out through the sternum of a person so that its tip rested on the chin and prevented further slipping. From such cruel torture, the victim died for three days. Vlad Tepes executed about 300,000 of his opponents in this way.

2. Cradle of Judas.

The Cradle of Judas was perhaps a little less sadistic than impalement, but still scary enough. The victim was tied with ropes over the pyramid with an anus, and then the ropes were slowly lowered. The victim was naked during the torture and the Cradle of Judas slowly entered the body. Sometimes, to improve the effect, additional weights were tied to the victim's legs. This torture could last from several hours to the end of the day.

3. Coffin torture

Coffin torture was feared in the Middle Ages and is often shown in films depicting the Middle Ages. The victim was placed in a metal cage made in the form human body. The cage was hung on a tree or gallows. This torture was used on people accused of serious crimes such as heresy or blasphemy. In the scorching sun, the victim was immobilized in a cage, which allowed birds or animals to peck and tear the unfortunate person's flesh. Sometimes spectators threw stones and other objects at the dying man for their amusement.

Who can forget the terrible rack, which was the most painful form of medieval torture? It consisted of a wooden frame, with ropes for fixing the victim and a collar at the top. As the executioner turned the crank of the gate, the ropes pulled on the victim's arms, eventually dislocating the bones with a loud crack. If the tormentor twirled the handles too hard, then the limbs could come off the person's body. In the late Middle Ages, a new version of the rack was invented. Metal spikes were added to it, which penetrated the back of the victim.

5. Breast Ripper.

The breast ripper was used as a terrible punishment for women, it caused pain, blood loss and abuse of the victim's chest. Torture was typically used on women accused of performing abortions or adultery. The claws were fixed on the open chest of the victim, the spikes, penetrating the body, crushed the bones and tore the internal ligaments. If the victim did not die, then he was left with terrible scars for life.

6. Pear of suffering.

This cruel tool has been used to torture women who have had abortions, and has also been used to torture liars, blasphemers, and homosexuals. A pear-shaped instrument was inserted into one of the victim's orifices: the vagina for women, the anus for homosexuals, and the mouth for liars and blasphemers. The device consisted of four petals, which were slowly parted to the sides under the action of a screw and a gate. The device would tear the skin or expand and mutilate the victim's orifices. The Pear of Suffering could break a man's jaw. This torture has rarely resulted in death, but other methods of torture often follow.

7. Wheel of death.

Also called Catherine's Wheel, this device always killed its prey, but it did so very slowly. The limbs of the victim were tied to the spokes of a large wooden wheel. The wheel then slowly turned, and the executioner smashed the limbs of the victim with an iron hammer, breaking them in many places. After the bones were crushed, the victim was left on the wheel to die. Death came in two or three days. Sometimes the executioner 'mercifully' struck the criminal in the chest and stomach with blows, known as coup de Grace (French for "blow of mercy"), as a result of which the victim died.

8. Torture with a saw.

Saws were a common torture device because they were easy to find in most homes and didn't require any elaborate devices. It was a cheap way to torture and kill a victim accused of witchcraft, adultery, murder, blasphemy, or even theft. The victim was tied upside down, allowing blood to drain into the brain. This ensured that the victim would remain conscious for as long as possible. The torture could last several hours.

9. Puzzler.

The head crusher was a popular method of torture for the Spanish Inquisition. The victim's chin was placed over the bottom panel, and the head under the top cover of the device. The tormentor slowly turned the screw. The head was slowly compressed by the bars of the device, first destroying the teeth and jaw. This tool was effective way to obtain confessions, as the unbearable pain could last for many hours. If the torture stopped halfway, the victim often suffered irreparable damage.

10. Knee splitter.

Another tool much loved by the Spanish Inquisition for its versatility was the Knee Splitter. It was a tool with sharp spikes on both sides of the handle. As the tormentor turned the handle, the spikes slowly pressed against each other, penetrating and maiming the skin and bones of the knee. Although the use of this torture device rarely led to death, nevertheless, a person’s knees became unusable and he was doomed to move around on crutches all his life. The device has also been used on other parts of the body including elbows, hands and even lower legs. Sometimes metal spikes were pre-heated on fire to increase the pain of a person.

We all know that at different times different people very cruel tortures and punishments were used. They were carried out for various purposes, mostly it was just a painful execution. In any case, those who were tortured, as a rule, wanted to die faster than suffer like that. For many of us, the worst torture in the world is to serve a full-time job, for someone to listen to a boring lecture. But let's see what were the most terrible and cruel tortures in the world.

1. Pear. Not the most pleasant tool. It was inserted into the anus of a person and gradually unclenched, tearing this passage, thereby delivering unbearable pain.

2. Copper bull. This Greek device was made of metal. A victim was placed inside and a fire was lit from below under the bull. The metal was heated and the man was roasted inside, uttering terrible screams and screams.

3. Rats. The victim was stripped naked and laid in a horizontal position. A cage without a bottom with rats inside was placed on the victim. After that, hot coals were placed on top of the cage, which caused the rats to panic and, wanting to break free, began to gnaw their way to freedom through human flesh. This brutal torture It was very popular in ancient China.

4. Impaling First, this stake is driven into the anus of a person, after which this stake is dug into the ground. As a result, under the weight of the body, the person begins to slide, thereby forcing the stake to dig even deeper. As a result, the stake came out somewhere in the armpits.

5. Spanish chair. The victim was seated in a metal chair, and the legs were shackled in stocks. A fire was kindled under their feet, periodically adding fuel to the fire. Here are your fried legs.

6. Metal crocodile. This tool was heated to red, after which the victim was brought to an erection state so that the penis was hard and elastic. And then they grabbed a member with this crocodile, after which they pulled it out.

7. Notched crusher. Here, I think it is clear what it was used for. But who did not understand. They crushed the eggs of the victim.

8. Water torture. The victim was laid on a table, tied, and water was poured through a funnel. After the victim's belly swelled up, he was bludgeoned with sticks. Sometimes they did without sticks. Simply, water was slowly poured into the patient's throat through a tube, i.e. victim, causing the person to suffocate the intestines.

9. Iron Maiden. This is a wooden box made to look like a female figure, inside of which a bunch of blades and sharp spikes were stuffed. The victim was placed there and the sarcophagus was closed. Sharp spikes pierced the body, but it was planned that they did not touch the vital organs. As a result, the victims died from a painful death, sometimes even for several days.

By modern standards, the Middle Ages is not the best period to live. Most of the people were poor, suffering from disease, their freedom dependent on wealthy landowners. And if you committed a crime and were not able to pay a fine, then you could cut off your hand, tongue, or cut out your lips ... The Middle Ages is the heyday of sophisticated torture and devices for causing terrible pain. Modern "legalized" torture is designed to inflict psychological or emotional suffering and has limited physical impact. But the devices used in the Middle Ages were really creepy. And in those days there were quite a few people who took pleasure in inventing the most terrifying contraptions.

Warning: The descriptions below are not intended for the faint of heart!

1. Impaling: a pointed stick is driven end up into the body of the victim

If you were Vlad the Impaler (better known as Dracula) in 15th century Romania, you would simply force your victims to sit on a thick, pointed stick. Then the stick was raised high, and under the influence of its own weight, the victim fell lower and lower onto the stake.

Also, the stake was stuck into the chest so that its tip was located under the chin to prevent further slipping. The victim died about three days later. Thus, Vlad executed from 20,000 to 30,000 people. According to eyewitnesses, Vlad liked to watch the impalement while eating.

2. Cradle of Judas: the anus of the victim is painfully stretched, the flesh is torn off

It's entirely possible that Judas' Cradle was less sadistic than impalement, but no less creepy. The anus or vagina of the victim was placed on the end of the cradle, then with the help of ropes the person was lifted above it. The device was intended for long-term stretching of the hole or for slow fitting.

Usually the victim was completely naked, thus, humiliation was added to the torture itself, and sometimes extra weight was tied to her legs, which increased pain and hastened death. Such torture could last from several hours to several days. The device was rarely washed, so often the victim also became infected with some kind of infection.

Source 3Coffin of Torture: Birds of Prey Pecked at the Victim in a Metal Cage

The coffin of torture was used in the Middle Ages, and is often seen in films from that time (for example, in the movie "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"). The victim was placed in a metal cage made like a human body. The executioners closed overweight people in a smaller device, or made the "coffin" a little larger than the victim's body to make her feel uncomfortable. Often the cage was hung on a tree or gallows.

Violent crimes such as heresy or blasphemy were punishable by death in such a coffin, by placing the victim in the sun and allowing birds or animals to eat their flesh. Sometimes onlookers threw stones or other objects at the victim to further increase her suffering.

4. Rack: designed to dislocate all the joints in the body of the victim

Who can fail to remember the terrifying rack, which is considered the most terrible device for medieval torture? It consists of a wooden frame with four ropes: two attached to the bottom and two tied to a handle at the top. When the executioner turned the handle, the ropes would taut, dragging the victim's arms with them, causing their bones to dislocate with a loud crunch. If the executioner continued to turn the handle (sometimes he skidded), then the limbs simply came off the body.

In the Late Middle Ages, a new version of the rack appeared. Spikes were added that dug into the back of the victim as soon as she lay down on the table. When the limbs were torn off, the same thing happened with the spinal cord, thus increasing not only the physical, but also the psychological pain that came from the victim's realization that even if she managed to survive, he or she would forever lose the ability to move.

5. Breast Cutter: Painfully tears or mutilates a woman's breasts

Used as a terrible punishment for women. The chest cutter was used to inflict pain and mutilation of the chest. Commonly applied to women accused of performing abortions or violating marital fidelity.

Red-hot tongs were placed over the bare chest of the victim, the spikes dug into the skin for a better grip. Then the executioner pulled them towards himself in order to tear off or mutilate the chest. If the victim was not killed, she was permanently mutilated, as her chest was completely torn off.

The most common version of this device was called "Spider", it was soldered to the wall. The woman's chest was attached to the tongs, the executioner pulled the victim away from the wall, while her chest was either torn off or severely mutilated. It was a very cruel punishment that often resulted in the death of the victim.

6. Pear: rips holes, displaces jawbones

This horrific device has been used to torture women who have had abortions, liars, blasphemers, and gay people. A pear-shaped instrument was thrust into one of the victim's orifices: a woman's vagina, a homosexual's anus, a liar's or blasphemer's mouth.

The device consists of four petals, which are slowly separated from each other while the executioner turned the screw at its base. At a minimum, the device tore the skin, but at maximum expansion it mutilated the opening of the victim, could displace or break the jaw bones.

Pears that have come down to us are distinguished by engraving or decorations. According to them, the executioners distinguished between anal, vaginal or oral pears. This torture rarely led to death, more often other methods of torture were used along with it.

7 Crushing Wheel: Used To Mutilate The Victim's Limbs

Also called Catherine's wheel. This device always killed the victim, but did it very slowly. The human limbs were tied to the spokes of a large wooden wheel. Then the wheel began to spin slowly, while the executioner beat the limbs with an iron hammer, crushing the bones in several places.

Once all of the victim's bones were broken, they were left to die on the wheel. Sometimes the wheel was placed on a long stick so that the birds could peck at the flesh of the still-living person. It could take two or three days before the victim died of dehydration.

Sometimes, out of pity, the executioner was ordered to deliver a blow to the victim's chest or stomach, known as coups de grâce (French for "blow of mercy"). These blows inflicted mortal wounds and led to the death of the victim.

8 Saw: saws the victim in half

The saw was the most common instrument of torture, since it could be found in almost every home, and for its use there was no need to invent complex devices. This is a fairly simple way to torture and kill a victim accused of witchcraft, adultery, murder, blasphemy, and even theft.

The victim was tied upside down in order to increase blood flow to the brain. This allowed the victim to remain conscious for as long as possible, reduced blood loss, and contributed to maximum humiliation. The torture could last for hours.

Some victims were cut in half, but most were cut only to the abdomen in order to delay the moment of death.

9. Head press: compresses the skull, crushes the teeth, gouges out the eyes

The head press was a popular instrument of torture used by the Spanish Inquisition, among others. The chin was placed on the lower crossbar, and the head was placed under the cap located at the top. The executioner slowly turned the bolt, while the beam began to put pressure on the cap. The head was slowly compressed, at first the teeth were crushed, and only after some time the victim died from excruciating pain. Some models of this device had special eye containers that were squeezed out of the victim's eye sockets.

This device was effective for knocking out confessions, since torture, at the request of the executioner, could be stretched out for an indefinite time. If the torture was stopped halfway, then irreparable damage was done to the brain, jaw or eyes.

10. Knee crusher: separated knees and other limbs

Another tool favored by the Spanish Inquisition due to its versatility is the knee crusher. This is a strong fixture made of two planks with sharp spikes. The executioner turned the handle - and the planks began to slowly shrink, penetrating the skin and crippling the bones of the knee. It rarely resulted in death, but its use left the knee completely inoperative. It has also been used for other parts of the body such as elbows, arms and even legs.

The number of spikes varied from three to twenty. Sometimes the spiked planks were pre-heated to increase the pain, or they were used with hundreds of thin needles, which penetrated the skin more slowly and were more painful.

Your attention is the top 10 most terrible torture of all time.

10th place

Heretic's Fork - This device was used during the Spanish Inquisition. The device looked like a 2-sided fork, which was fixed on the neck with something similar to a collar. One of the forks would be placed under the chin, penetrating the skin and the other end would penetrate the flesh in the chest. It did not pierce the vital organs, so death will not take place while using this method. Penetrating deep into the flesh of the victim, she caused terrible pain with any attempt to move her head and allowed her to speak only in an unintelligible and barely audible voice. The fork was engraved with the inscription: "I renounce." Wearing this device, a person's hands would be tied at the back, so he could not take it off. This torture severely damaged the skin of a person and quite often the victim died from infection and infection.

9th place

Knee Crusher - The purpose of this device was to make people forget about such a thing as knees. This device was used mainly during the Exploration Time (Light Interrogation). This device looked like 2 strips with faceted spikes inside, there were from 3 to 20 of them, the number of spikes depended on the crime. This tool had a handle that the torturer used to close the device. From the beginning, the spikes pierced the skin, and then they began to crush the knees. It was also used on the elbows. There have even been cases where this device was heated to induce the maximum amount of pain. The crusher could not kill, but if a person refused to cooperate, other measures were used.

8th place

The Iron Maiden is an iron case with a front wall that opens. The torture took place while standing, that is, the device was in a vertical position. Usually there was a hole at the level of the head, which the investigator could open and close during interrogation. Inside the maiden there were spikes and the prisoner had to to stand straight and not move, therefore he could not lean against and soon he was ready for anything (in terms of interrogation) or fainted and sat on the spikes.

7th place

Torture Coffin - This device was used in the Middle Ages. The condemned would be placed in a metal coffin and left there for the appropriate time. Depending on the crime, the person could be left inside there until his death, during which time the animals ate his flesh. The coffin was also hung in crowded places. The people who surrounded the person in the coffin threw stones at him and poked him with sharp objects, until he died.

6th place
A pear is a terrible instrument of torture. No one survived after being tortured by this weapon. There were pears: for insertion into the mouth, anus and larger pears for the vagina. When introduced into a person's hole, it opened and sharp tips tore the insides (throat, cervix, rectum), which naturally led to a painful death. The fear of this terrible weapon was so great that the suspects in most cases confessed to everything immediately after its introduction. The anal pear was used mainly in the torture of men accused of homosexuality, and the vaginal pear was used in the torture of women leading a frivolous lifestyle or accused of witchcraft. It is still used today, it has not undergone any changes for many centuries.

5th place

Rack - this device is an oblong rectangle with a wooden frame. Hands were firmly fixed from below and from above. As the interrogation progressed, the executioner twisted the lever, with each turn the person was stretched and hellish pain set in. Usually, at the end of the torture, the person either simply died from pain shock, i.e. to. all his joints were pulled out.

4th place

4th place goes to Torture Saw - this method has been applied to the torture and murder of people who are usually accused of witchcraft, adultery, murder, blasphemy, theft or loss. The accused was hung upside down - this slowed down the loss of blood and sawed.

3rd place

Bronze goes to Torture by rats - it was very popular in ancient China. Below, however, we will talk about the technique of rat punishment, developed by the leader of the 16th century Dutch Revolution, Didrik Sonoy. The martyr, stripped to the naked, is placed on the table and tied. Large, heavy cages with contagious hungry rats are placed on the stomach and chest of the arrested person. Cells open from the bottom. Hot coals are placed on top of the cage to excite the rats. Trying to escape from the heat of hot coals, rats gnaw their way into the flesh of the victim.

2nd place

And the Copper Bull received silver - the design of this death unit was developed by the ancient Greeks, namely the coppersmith Perill, who sold the terrible bull to the Sicilian tyrant Falaris so that he could execute criminals in a new way. Inside the copper statue, through the door, a living person was placed. And then ... Falaris first tested the unit on its developer, the unfortunate greedy Perilla. Subsequently, Falaris himself was roasted in a bull. Well, rightly so, the executioners ...
The victim is closed in a hollow copper statue of a bull. Under the belly of the bull, a fire is kindled. The victim is roasted alive. The structure of the bull is such that the cries of the martyr come from the mouth of the sculpture, like a bull's roar. Jewelry and amulets are made from the bones of the executed, which are sold in the bazaar.

1 place

And so now what we have been waiting for gold has received the Chinese torture with bamboo - the infamous method of "heavy" execution throughout the world. Perhaps a legend, because not a single documentary evidence has survived that this torture was actually used.
Bamboo is one of the fastest growing plants on Earth. Some of its Chinese varieties can grow up to a meter in a day. Some torturologists believe that the deadly bamboo torture was used not only by the ancient Chinese, but also by the Japanese military during World War II.
Live bamboo sprouts are sharpened with a knife to make sharp "spears". The victim is hung horizontally, back or belly over a bed of young pointed bamboo. Bamboo shoots pierce the martyr's skin and grow through his abdomen, causing an extremely painful death.

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

The torture of the Inquisition had hundreds of varieties. Some medieval instruments of torture have survived to this day, but most often even museum exhibits have been restored according to descriptions. Their variations are amazing. Before you are twenty instruments of torture of the Middle Ages.

These are iron shoes with a sharp spike under the heel. The spike could be unscrewed with a screw. With the spike unscrewed, the torture victim had to stand on his toes as long as he had the strength. Stand on your tiptoes and see how long you can last.

Four spikes - two digging into the chin, two - into the sternum, did not allow the victim to make any head movements, including lowering his head lower.

The sinner was tied to an armchair suspended from a long pole, and lowered under water for a while, then they were allowed to take a breath of air, and again - under 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 even in such a welcome air was covered with a crust of ice. Sometimes the torture lasted for days.

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 to break the bones of the person's 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 crushed, and the wounded skin looked like a bag for these bones.

This method was "peeped" 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 stomach 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 to something, or the purpose of the torture was unequivocal 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 stomach. The ending is understandable and disgusting.

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

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

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

This device was inserted into the holes of the body - it is clear that not in the mouth or ears - and opened so as to inflict unimaginable pain on the victim, tearing these holes.

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

Assumed two extreme ways of exploitation. In cold weather, like a witch's bathing chair, the sinner in this cage, suspended from a long pole, was lowered under water and taken 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.

How a sinner could somehow repent of something, when at 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 - it is not clear. There is information that in some countries a version of this crusher is still used as an interrogation tool.

This was the main way to eradicate the witch's influence on other people's sinless souls. The burnt soul ruled out any possibility of embarrassing or soiling the sinless soul. What doubts can there be?

The know-how belongs to Hippolyte Marsili. At one time, this instrument of torture was considered loyal - it did not break bones, it did not tear ligaments. First, the sinner was lifted on a rope, and then he sat down 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. It was lifted, "pumped out" and again planted on the Cradle.

15. Cradle

Cousin of the Cradle of Judas. It is unlikely that the picture leaves room for imagination, how this instrument of torture was used. Also a fair amount of crap.

This is a huge sarcophagus in the form of an open empty female figure, inside which numerous blades and sharp spikes are fixed. They are located in such a way that the vital organs of the victim imprisoned in the sarcophagus are not affected, so the agony of the condemned to death was long and painful.

The Virgin was first used in 1515. The condemned man died for three days.

Central Europe is the main place of its popularity. The sinner was stripped naked, put on a chair studded with spikes. It was impossible to move - otherwise, not only stab wounds appeared on the body, but also tears. If this was not enough for the inquisitors, they took spikes or tongs in their hands and tormented the limbs of the victim.

In the East they came up with this terrible execution. The fact is that a person who was skillfully impaled - his end had to stick out of the victim's throat (and not as shown in this picture), could live for several more days - suffer physically and mentally, since this execution was public.

The executioners and inquisitors of those years showed remarkable ingenuity in their work. They knew perfectly well what a person experiences pain from, 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 would not stop supplying oxygen to the head, and the person experienced the full horror of pain. It used to happen that he lived to see the moment when they slowly, slowly managed to saw his body up to the diaphragm.

Sentenced to wheeling with an iron crowbar or wheel, all the large bones of the body were broken, then he was tied to a large wheel, and the wheel was mounted on a pole. The condemned would end up face up, looking up at the sky, and die like that from shock and dehydration, often for quite a long time. The suffering of the dying man was aggravated by the birds pecking at him. Sometimes, instead of a wheel, they simply used a wooden frame or a cross made of logs.