The Tudor Period was an incredibly brutal time in England when there were scores of
executions and public punishments brought about to bring the public into line.
The most famous King, Henry VIII ordered the execution of over 70,000 people during his
time on the throne, and other monarchs such as Bloody Mary I continued the bloodshed.
One aspect of the legal system within Tudor England was that torture was used in order
to get a confession for a crime, or to get more information about a crime.
One of the most famous uses of torture used during the period, was during the reign of
Elizabeth I who needed to extract information from conspirators who plotted to overthrow
her.
Often torture was administered by those in charge of fortifications, such as the Constable
of the Tower of London.
But it could be incredibly bloody and there were a number of different devices and methods
used during the Tudor Period.
So join us today as we look at 10 Horrific Tudor torture devices and methods, and remember
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The most infamous torture device of them all is the Rack.
Prominently used at the Tower of London, the rack was not used as often as most people
believe during the Tudor times.
It was used as a way of extracting information from a high profile prisoners, and it was
incredibly feared.
A prisoner would have their arms and legs fastened by ropes to the device at each end,
and then with every turn of the rack their limbs would stretch, and the point of the
rack was to stretch someone.
Limbs would come out of their sockets, arms would snap and bread, and muscles would tear.
It was so dangerous that there are accounts of people being killed on the rack, as their
ordeal was so severe.
The sight of the device was often believed to have been enough to get someone to give
over information.
Brutally, there is an account of a woman being tortured on the rack, Anne Askew who during
the reign of Henry VIII was racked so severely that she could not stand and walk.
She was even carried to her execution when she was later burned at the stake.
It was incredibly savage and brutal and the rack was the most famous torture device used.
Invented during the reign of King Henry VIII by the LEftenant of the Tower of London, Sir
Leonard Skevington, the Scavenger’s daughter was a device used in opposition to the rack.
The rack intended to stretch, but the scavenger’s daughter intended to compress.
It was an A frame shaped with a hole for the head at the top of the A, the hands were held
in the middle, and the legs at the lower end.
When the frame was folded, it would swing the head down, and force the knees up in a
sitting position, locking the body of the prisoner into a compressed position.
It would cause the nose and ears to bleed and was very very painful.
It was used a number of times during the Tudor Period for different criminals, and was a
brutal form of torture which was devised to inflict as much pain as possible.
Thumbscrews were a torture device which were used for centuries in England and other countries.
They were a vice in which someones fingers would be placed into and there were crushing
bars attached to the thumb screw, which would press and crush the fingers.
Also they had metal sharp points attached which would puncture the finger nails, and
also rip open the flesh.
Thumbscrews were often used as the first form of torture, to get someone to confess, but
they were also used in conjunction with other devices such as the rack.
They were incredibly painful, and could maim someone for life.
Little Ease was a small and tiny cell found inside The Tower of London.
It was practically a cupboard which was incredible cramped and compact, and it was so tiny that
someone could not sit and was forced to crouch in it for days on end.
This would have been incredibly painful and ardous, being fixed in one position for days
on end.
Today the location of Little Ease is not known and its assumed to be in the basement of the
White Tower.
The prisoner inside here would not have any room to move and it would serve as a brutal
form of psychological torture also, playing on the mind of the prisoner.
Little Ease was used alongside the rack and prisoners were thrown in there after suffering
horrendous pains on the other torture devices, but being locked in a small cell with no room
to move would be enough to break anyone.
Flaying typically was a method of execution where someone could be killed by a number
of painful cuts onto someones body.
But cutting someone and wounding them was used in torture within the Tudor Period.
It was often used on the rack, and someone could be wounded whilst they were tied to
the rack initially as it was regarded as a lesser torture than using the infamous device.
The Dunking stool was used as a punishment for witches and witchcraft, and a victim would
be tied to a chair which was held over a pond or river, or even a barrel of water.
The victim would be lowered into the water until they were underwater, and would then
be raised if the victim was about to lose consciousness.
This was seen as a method of torture as just before death someone would be brought out
the water and were given a chance to confess their crimes.
People even had fruit and gags stuffed in their mouth and nose to make sure they didn’t
get a good breath, and this could sometimes lead to drowning.
It was a risky torture method intended to bring about a confession.
The Manacles were a form of torture which suspended a prisoner from his or her wrists
in the air.
They would be secured in the form of an iron handcuff around a prisoners wrists, and then
they were suspended in the air.
Jesuit priest John Gerard was tortured inside the Tower of London using the manacles and
he wrote, ‘Then they put my wrists into iron gauntlets and ordered me to climb two
or three wicker steps.
My arms were then lifted up and an iron bar was passed through the rings of one gauntlet,
then through the staple and rings of the second gauntlet.
"This done, they fastened the bar with a pin to prevent it slipping and then, removing
the wicker steps, they left me hanging by my hands and arms fastened above my head."
It was incredibly painful and would lead to someone sometimes having their shoulders dislocated,
and their ligaments tearing.
Psychological torture differed from phsyical torture.
It targeted the brain and mental stability of a prisoner, and was different from devices
such as the thumbscrews brought to bring about pain from part of the body.
Psychological torture could occur in the form of someone being locked up for a long time
being deprived of food and also their freedom and other luxuries.
The Tower of London for many during the Tudor times was linked to psychological torture.
For example Margaret Pole, the Countess of Salisbury was tortured with her possible execution
for years being held in the Tower in a basic and small cell.
Also as mentioned cells such as Little Ease were used for this, but the psychological
torment often was more severe than physical pain for many prisoners.
Hanging in chains was often a brutal and barbaric ordeal which was linked to public humiliation
and shaming of an individual.
However it was also an execution method used on people such as Robert Aske the leader of
the pilgrimage of grace.
It was a brutal ordeal for someone to witness, and someone could be suspended by the arms
in chains, and would be left to the elements.
One of the most shocking forms of torture used that most definitely resulted in the
death of an individual was a device known as the Gibbet.
Gibbetting someone was done sometimes after death to display the remains of a criminal,
however it was used for hundreds of years.
The point of this was to suspend someone in the air and display them for being a criminal,
but it acted as a form of torture if someone was gibbeted alive.
They would be left in the air for days, weeks and months until they died and succumbed to
their fate.
They would be starving to death, and would be left to succumb to the elements, and most
died from dehydration, exhaustion and exposure to the elements.
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