In history, there have been a number of punishments used which were aimed to heap shame and humiliation
onto a person.
For example during executions, often there was an element of public humiliation in the
ordeal, as during hangings, drawing and quarterings, before a condemned person would be brought
to the scaffold they were paraded throughout a town of a city.
The public would jeer and sometimes throw things as they were taken through a settlement
on horseback attached to a hurdle.
But this was often so dangerous that a number of people could arrive at their execution
almost dead as their heads had smashed against the cobbled streets.
For women, there was some seriously dangerous forms of punishment used in England especially
for those women who were accused of witchcraft.
Sometimes possible witches were placed onto a ducking stool, a see saw style device where
they would be plunged in deep water to see if they could survive.
Often those women who survived were deemed witches anyway, and a number of women even
died from the ducking stool.
There was one device which was used to punish women that was devised to make them suffer
and also quiet them, and the Scold’s bridle was a metal muzzle that a woman would be forced
in for a significant amount of time.
People would laugh at the Scold and then would even subject them to a harsher ordeal.
Join us today as we look at the Scold’s bridle, and remember to support our channel,
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Normally the Scold’s Bridle or the Frank was made from iron and it was a mask style
device that was placed on a woman’s head.
It enclosed the head, and the bridle part of the mask would be placed into a woman’s
mouth, and then it would press down and apply pressure to the top of the tongue.
This was designed to be painful, and one element of the bridle was that it would stop a woman
from speaking to people well, and could even silence them for a significant amount of time.
It was a very torturous thing for a woman to wear, and many women wore this as they
were forced to submit to the rules inside of a village, town or city.
Sometimes the bridle part in side the mouth sometimes had a spike that could cause injury
to the tongue or mouth and could even pierce a woman’s tongue making a hole in it.
Many men and husbands petitioned local authorities to ask for their wives to wear it if they
were becoming argumentative and difficult, and the men would relish the women wearing
it for a number of possibly even days, and many women suffered in the device.
Women would be forced to wear the Scold’s bridle out in public, and to attract more
attention the authorities would put bells on the mask so that people would come and
see that was happening.
In a rather disturbing part of the punishment, some women were even led around towns on a
lead like a dog would be, and it shows how backwards society was at the time.
It first originated in Scotland in the 16th century, and could have been used earlier
in England.
But what made women subject to the device?
Many women who were considered to have been nagging, or rude were forced into the Scold’s
bridle, and others who were deemed to have been troublesome or opinionated from the lower
classes were put in it.
Women who gossiped and spread rumour were also placed in it, as they were considered
to have been spreading bad news, and it became also known as the Gossips bridle.
But some women who were even accused of witchcraft were placed in the device.
It was administered inside of female workhouses as a punishment and often the people in charge
would also administer beatings onto the women as well as forcing them in the iron muzzle.
It was said in one account from a town that, ‘If ever the said Elizabeth shall be found
scolding or railing, she shall sit upon the throne in the rank and be banished from the
town.’
So a number of women were well known as being gossips in towns, and the device was used
as a deterrent for them and the local townsfolk were keen to keep an eye on women in this
predicament.
But it wasn’t just women subject to the Scold’s Bridle as in Scotland there was
an example of a man being placed in the metal mask.
It was said, ‘Patrick Pratt shall sit bound to the cross of the burgh in the brank locked.’
The people would flock to come and see the punishment being administered, and it would
have been rather upsetting to have seen with the person inside the iron muzzle being unable
to streak and visibly becoming more stressed and restricted by the iron device.
Also often their mouth would bleed as the rough edges cut their mouths, and the edges
were sharp causing a number of problems also with infection as it was not the cleanest
thing to be used.
In some cases if infection was caused by the metal cage, then it could even possibly lead
to death as medical care was considered rather poor.
Also teeth would be knocked out, and some men and women to add to their shame were also
displayed in the Scold’s Bridle in a prominent place inside of a village or settlement.
For example they may be tied to the village cross so that people all around could come
and see them, and they would be then pelted with stones and other items if they were particularly
disliked.
Similarly to the pillory, this punishment could be even more serious if a person was
disliked as they would be hit with stones and other dangerous projectiles.
It was often the local town’s magistrates who worked out how long someone would be forced
into the device, and as mentioned it could be even days.
The Scold’s Bridle wasn’t just exclusive to England and Scotland as it was also used
in other places.
In America it was used in particular, and a number of slaves were forced to wear the
device when they misbehaved.
Other devices similar to the Scold’s bridle was also used on them, and they were forced
to wear iron muzzles often.
Other examples of people being forced into the device include Bessie Telfer in Scotland
in 1567 who was said to have spoken ill about Bailie Thomas Hunter and slandered him inside
of Edinburgh.
She claimed that Hunter’s alehouse had been using false measures and ripping people off
for their whisky and their ale.
He was also accused of watering down his ale and therefore giving people weak drinks to
maximise his profits.
For this Bessie Telfer was placed in the Scold’s Bridle and was tied to Edinburgh’s cross
for an hour to be subject to punishment for her bad words against Hunter and his pub.
But in most settlements across England the most common form of punishment like the Scold’s
Bridle was the stocks or the pillory.
But today the Scold’s Bridle is seen as a symbol of oppression against women, and
as a backwards and painful punishment method that was excruciating in it’s pain but also
very scary.
To see someone walking around a town in the iron muzzle must have been rather terrifying
to have seen, and it shows that women who voiced an opinion could be punished for it.
The Scold’s Bridle was a backwards and scary method of punishing people throughout history.
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