How women were abused in ancient times. Punishment of women and torture, striking in its cruelty in the Middle Ages. The most brutal torture for men

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For centuries, people have come up with sophisticated ways to beat information out of a person. Bamboo torture, iron maiden, cradle of Judas, rack - all these cruel torture capable of breaking even the most strong people. I suggest a little dip in dark side the history of mankind.
1 Chinese Bamboo Torture

The infamous way of the terrible Chinese execution all over the world. Perhaps a legend, because to this day 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 as much as a meter in a day. Some historians believe that the deadly bamboo torture was used not only by the ancient Chinese, but also by the Japanese military during World War II.

How it works?

1) Live bamboo sprouts are sharpened with a knife to make sharp "spears";

2) The victim is suspended horizontally, back or belly over a bed of young pointed bamboo;

3) Bamboo grows rapidly in height, pierce into the skin of the martyr and sprout through his abdominal cavity, the person dies very long and painfully.

2. Iron Maiden

Like torture with bamboo, many researchers consider the "iron maiden" a terrible legend. Perhaps these metal sarcophagi with sharp spikes inside only frightened the defendants, after which they confessed to anything. The "iron maiden" was invented at the end of the 18th century, i.e. already at the end of the Catholic Inquisition.

How it works?

1) The victim is stuffed into the sarcophagus and the door is closed;

2) The spikes driven into the inner walls of the "iron maiden" are rather short and do not pierce the victim through, but only cause pain. The investigator, as a rule, in a matter of minutes receives a confession, which the arrested person only has to sign;

3) If the prisoner shows fortitude and continues to be silent, long nails, knives and rapiers are pushed through special holes in the sarcophagus. The pain becomes simply unbearable;

4) The victim never confesses to his deed, then she was locked in a sarcophagus for a long time, where she died from blood loss;

5) In some models of the “iron maiden”, spikes were provided at eye level in order to quickly poke them out.

3. Skafism

The name of this torture comes from the Greek "skafium", which means "trough". Skafism was popular in ancient Persia. During the torture, the victim, most often a prisoner of war, was devoured alive by various insects and their larvae that were not indifferent to human flesh and blood.

How it works?

1) The prisoner is placed in a shallow trough and wrapped in chains.

2) He is force-fed with large amounts of milk and honey, which causes the victim to develop copious diarrhea that attracts insects.

3) A prisoner, shabby, smeared with honey, is allowed to swim in a trough in a swamp, where there are many hungry creatures.

4) Insects immediately start the meal, as the main dish - the living flesh of the martyr.

4. Terrible pear

“There is a pear - you can’t eat it,” it is said about the medieval European tool for “educating” blasphemers, liars, women who gave birth out of wedlock, and men of non-traditional orientation. Depending on the crime, the tormentor put the pear into the sinner's mouth, anus or vagina.

How it works?

1) The tool, consisting of pointed pear-shaped leaf-shaped segments, is thrust into the client's desired hole in the body;

2) The executioner slowly turns the screw on the top of the pear, while the “leaves”-segments bloom inside the martyr, causing hellish pain;

3) After the pear is opened, the completely guilty person receives internal injuries incompatible with life and dies in terrible agony, if he had not already fallen into unconsciousness.

5. Copper bull

The design of this death unit was developed by the ancient Greeks, or to be more precise, the coppersmith Perill, who sold his terrible bull to the Sicilian tyrant Falaris, who simply adored torturing and killing people in unusual ways.

Inside the copper statue, through a special door, they pushed a living person.

Falaris first tested the unit on its creator, the greedy Perilla. Subsequently, Falaris himself was roasted in a bull.

How it works?

1) The victim is closed in a hollow copper statue of a bull;

2) A fire is kindled under the belly of the bull;

3) The victim is roasted alive, like a ham in a frying pan;

4) The structure of the bull is such that the cries of the martyr come from the mouth of the statue, like a bull's roar;

5) Jewelry and amulets were made from the bones of the executed, which were sold in the bazaars and were in great demand ..

6. Torture by rats

Rat torture was very popular in ancient China. However, we will look at the rat punishment technique developed by the leader of the 16th century Dutch Revolution, Didrik Sonoy.

How it works?

1) The naked martyr is laid on a table and tied;

2) Large, heavy cages with hungry rats are placed on the prisoner's stomach and chest. The bottom of the cells is opened with a special valve;

3) Hot coals are placed on top of the cages to stir up the rats;

4) Trying to escape from the heat of hot coals, rats gnaw their way through the flesh of the victim.

7. Cradle of Judas

The Cradle of Judas was one of the most painful torture machines in the arsenal of the Suprema - the Spanish Inquisition. The victims usually died from the infection, due to the fact that the peaked seat of the torture machine was never disinfected. The cradle of Judas, as an instrument of torture, was considered "loyal", because it did not break bones and did not tear ligaments.

How it works?

1) The victim, whose hands and feet are tied, is seated on the top of a pointed pyramid;

2) The top of the pyramid pierces the anus or vagina;

3) With the help of ropes, the victim is gradually lowered lower and lower;

4) Torture continues for several hours or even days, until the victim dies from powerlessness and pain, or from blood loss due to rupture of soft tissues.

8. Elephant trampling

For several centuries, this execution was practiced in India and Indochina. The elephant is very easy to train and to teach him to trample the guilty victim with his huge feet is a matter of several days.

How it works?

1. The victim is tied to the floor;

2. A trained elephant is brought into the hall to crush the head of the martyr;

3. Sometimes before the "control in the head" animals squeeze the victims' arms and legs in order to amuse the audience.

9. Rack

Probably the most famous, and unsurpassed in its kind, death machine called "rack". It was first experienced around 300 AD. on the Christian martyr Vincent of Zaragoza.

Anyone who survived the rack could no longer use their muscles and turned into a helpless vegetable.

How it works?

2. Ligaments in the hands and feet of the victim are stretched and torn, bones pop out of the joints.

3. Another version of the rack was also used, called strappado: it consisted of 2 pillars dug into the ground and connected by a crossbar. The interrogated person was tied with his hands behind his back and lifted by the rope tied to his hands. Sometimes a log or other weights were attached to his bound legs. At the same time, the hands of a person raised on a rack twisted back and often came out of their joints, so that the convict had to hang on twisted arms. They were on the rack from several minutes to an hour or more. This type of rack was used most often in Western Europe.

4. In Russia, a suspect raised on a rack was beaten with a whip on the back, and “applied to the fire”, that is, they drove burning brooms over the body.

5. In some cases, the executioner broke the ribs of a person hanging on a rack with red-hot tongs.

10. Paraffin in the bladder

A savage form of torture, the actual use of which has not been established.

How it works?

1. Candle paraffin was rolled out by hand into a thin sausage, which was injected through the urethra;

2. Paraffin slipped into the bladder, where it began to precipitate solid salts and other filth.

3. The victim soon developed kidney problems and died of acute kidney failure. On average, death occurred in 3-4 days.

11. Shiri (camel cap)

A monstrous fate awaited those whom the Zhuanzhuans (the union of nomadic Turkic-speaking peoples) took into their slavery. They destroyed the memory of the slave with a terrible torture - by putting Shiri on the head of the victim. Usually this fate befell young guys captured in battles.

How it works?

1. First, the slaves shaved their heads, carefully scraping out every hair under the root.

2. The executioners slaughtered the camel and skinned its carcass, first of all, separating its heaviest, densest part.

3. Having divided the neck into pieces, it was immediately pulled in pairs over the shaved heads of the prisoners. These pieces, like a plaster, stuck around the heads of slaves. This meant putting on wide.

4. After putting on the width, the neck of the doomed was shackled in a special wooden block so that the subject could not touch his head to the ground. In this form, they were taken away from crowded places so that no one would hear their heartbreaking cries, and they were thrown there in an open field, with their hands and feet tied, in the sun, without water and without food.

5. The torture lasted 5 days.

6. Only a few remained alive, and the rest died not from hunger or even from thirst, but from unbearable, inhuman torments caused by drying out, shrinking rawhide camel skin on the head. Inexorably shrinking under the rays of the scorching sun, the width squeezed, squeezing the shaved head of a slave like an iron hoop. Already on the second day, the shaved hair of the martyrs began to sprout. Coarse and straight Asian hair sometimes grew into the rawhide, in most cases, finding no way out, the hair bent and again went into the scalp with its ends, causing even greater suffering. A day later, the man lost his mind. Only on the fifth day did the Zhuanzhuans come to check whether any of the prisoners had survived. If at least one of the tortured was caught alive, it was believed that the goal was achieved. .

7. The one who was subjected to such a procedure either died, unable to withstand the torture, or lost his memory for life, turned into a mankurt - a slave who does not remember his past.

8. The skin of one camel was enough for five or six widths.

12. Implantation of metals

A very strange means of torture-execution was used in the Middle Ages.

How it works?

1. A deep incision was made on a person’s legs, where a piece of metal (iron, lead, etc.) was placed, after which the wound was sutured.

2. Over time, the metal oxidized, poisoning the body and causing terrible pain.

3. Most often, the poor fellows tore the skin in the place where the metal was sewn up and died from blood loss.

13. Dividing a person into two parts

This terrible execution originated in Thailand. The most hardened criminals were subjected to it - mostly murderers.

How it works?

1. The accused is placed in a hoodie woven from lianas, and he is stabbed with sharp objects;

2. After that, his body is quickly cut into two parts, the upper half is immediately placed on a red-hot copper grate; this operation stops the blood and prolongs the life of the upper part of the person.

A small addition: This torture is described in the book of the Marquis de Sade "Justine, or the successes of vice." This is a small excerpt from a large piece of text where de Sade allegedly describes the torture of the peoples of the world. But why supposedly? According to many critics, the Marquis was very fond of lying. He had an extraordinary imagination and a couple of manias, so this torture, like some others, could be a figment of his imagination. But the field of this is not worth referring to Donatien Alphonse as Baron Munchausen. This torture, in my opinion, if it did not exist before, is quite realistic. If, of course, a person is drugged with painkillers before this (opiates, alcohol, etc.), so that he does not die before his body touches the bars.

14. Inflation with air through the anus

A terrible torture in which a person is pumped with air through the anus.

There is evidence that in Russia even Peter the Great himself sinned with this.

Most often, thieves were executed in this way.

How it works?

1. The victim was tied hand and foot.

2. Then they took cotton and stuffed the ears, nose and mouth of the poor fellow with it.

3. Bellows were inserted into his anus, with the help of which a huge amount of air was pumped into a person, as a result of which he became like a balloon.

3. After that, I plugged his anus with a piece of cotton.

4. Then they opened two veins above his eyebrows, from which all the blood flowed under great pressure.

5. Sometimes a bound person was placed naked on the roof of the palace and shot with arrows until he died.

6. Prior to 1970, this method was often used in Jordanian prisons.

15. Polledro

The Neapolitan executioners lovingly called this torture "polledro" - "colt" (polledro) and were proud that it was first used in their native city. Although history did not preserve the name of its inventor, they said that he was an expert in horse breeding and came up with an unusual device to pacify his horses.

Only a few decades later, lovers of mocking people turned the horse breeder's device into a real torture machine for people.

The machine was a wooden frame, similar to a ladder, the crossbeams of which were very sharp corners so that when a person is put on their back, they crash into the body from the back of the head to the heels. The staircase ended with a huge wooden spoon, in which, like a cap, they put their heads.

How it works?

1. Holes were drilled on both sides of the frame and in the “bonnet”, ropes were threaded into each of them. The first of them was tightened on the forehead of the tortured, the last tied the big toes. As a rule, there were thirteen ropes, but for especially stubborn ones, the number was increased.

2. With special devices, the ropes were pulled tighter and tighter - it seemed to the victims that, having crushed the muscles, they dug into the bones.

16. Dead man's bed (modern China)

The "dead man's bed" torture is used by the Chinese Communist Party mainly on those prisoners who try to protest their illegal imprisonment through a hunger strike. In most cases, these are prisoners of conscience who went to prison for their beliefs.

How it works?

1. The hands and feet of a naked prisoner are tied to the corners of the bed, on which, instead of a mattress, there is a wooden board with a hole cut out. A bucket for excrement is placed under the hole. Often, ropes are tightly tied to the bed and the body of a person so that he cannot move at all. In this position, a person is continuously from several days to weeks.

2. In some prisons, such as Shenyang City No. 2 Prison and Jilin City Prison, the police still place a hard object under the victim's back to increase the suffering.

3. It also happens that the bed is placed vertically and for 3-4 days a person hangs, stretched by the limbs.

4. Force-feeding is added to these torments, which is carried out with the help of a tube inserted through the nose into the esophagus, into which liquid food is poured.

5. This procedure is done mainly by prisoners on the orders of the guards, and not by health workers. They do it very rudely and not professionally, often causing more serious damage to the internal organs of a person.

6. Those who have gone through this torture say that it causes displacement of the vertebrae, joints of the arms and legs, as well as numbness and blackening of the limbs, which often leads to disability.

17. Collar (Modern China)

One of the medieval tortures used in modern Chinese prisons is the wearing of a wooden collar. It is put on a prisoner, which is why he cannot walk or stand normally.

The collar is a board from 50 to 80 cm long, from 30 to 50 cm wide and 10 - 15 cm thick. There are two holes for the legs in the middle of the collar.

The shackled victim is difficult to move, must crawl into the bed, and usually must sit or lie down, as the upright position causes pain and injury to the legs. Without assistance, a person with a collar cannot go to eat or go to the toilet. When a person gets out of bed, the collar not only presses on the legs and heels, causing pain, but its edge clings to the bed and prevents the person from returning to it. At night, the prisoner is not able to turn around, and in winter, a short blanket does not cover his legs.

An even worse form of this torture is called "crawling with a wooden collar." The guards put a collar on the man and order him to crawl on the concrete floor. If he stops, he is hit on the back with a police baton. An hour later, fingers, toenails and knees bleed profusely, while the back is covered with wounds from blows.

18. Impaling

Terrible wild execution that came from the East.

The essence of this execution was that a person was placed on his stomach, one sat on him to prevent him from moving, the other held him by the neck. A person was inserted into the anus with a stake, which was then driven in with a mallet; then they drove a stake into the ground. The weight of the body forced the stake to go deeper and deeper, and finally it came out under the armpit or between the ribs.

19. Spanish water torture

In order to best perform the procedure of this torture, the accused was placed on one of the varieties of the rack or on a special large table with a rising middle part. After the victim's hands and feet were tied to the edges of the table, the executioner went to work in one of several ways. One of these methods was that the victim was forced with the help of a funnel to swallow a large number of water, then beat on the inflated and arched stomach. Another form involved placing a rag tube down the victim's throat, through which water was slowly poured in, causing the victim to bloat and suffocate. If that wasn't enough, the tube was pulled out, causing internal damage, and then reinserted and the process repeated. Sometimes they used torture cold water. In this case, the accused lay naked on the table for hours under a jet of icy water. It is interesting to note that this kind of torment was regarded as light, and confessions obtained in this way were accepted by the court as voluntary and given to the defendants without the use of torture. Most often, these tortures were used by the Spanish Inquisition in order to knock out confessions from heretics and witches.

20. Chinese water torture

The person was seated in a very cold room, they tied him so that he could not move his head, and in complete darkness cold water was dripped on his forehead very slowly. After a few days, the person froze or went crazy.

21. Spanish chair

This instrument of torture was widely used by the executioners of the Spanish Inquisition and was a chair made of iron, on which the prisoner was seated, and his legs were enclosed in stocks attached to the legs of the chair. When he was in such a completely helpless position, a brazier was placed under his feet; with hot coals, so that the legs began to slowly roast, and in order to prolong the suffering of the poor fellow, the legs were poured with oil from time to time.

Another version of the Spanish chair was also often used, which was a metal throne, to which the victim was tied and a fire was made under the seat, roasting the buttocks. The well-known poisoner La Voisin was tortured on such an armchair during the famous Poisoning Case in France.

22. Gridiron (Torture by Fire Grid)

Torture of Saint Lawrence on the gridiron.

This type of torture is often mentioned in the lives of saints - real and fictional, but there is no evidence that the gridiron "survived" until the Middle Ages and had at least little circulation in Europe. It is usually described as a simple metal grate, 6 feet long and two and a half wide, set horizontally on legs so that a fire can be built under it.

Sometimes the gridiron was made in the form of a rack in order to be able to resort to combined torture.

Saint Lawrence was martyred on a similar grid.

This torture was rarely resorted to. Firstly, it was easy enough to kill the interrogated person, and secondly, there were a lot of simpler, but no less cruel tortures.

23. Pectoral

In ancient times, a pectoral was called a breast adornment for women in the form of a pair of carved gold or silver bowls, often strewn with precious stones. It was worn like a modern bra and fastened with chains.

By a mocking analogy with this decoration, the savage instrument of torture used by the Venetian Inquisition was named.

In 1985, the pectoral was red-hot and, taking it with tongs, put it on the chest of the tortured woman and held until she confessed. If the accused persisted, the executioners heated up the pectoral, cooled by the living body again, and continued the interrogation.

Very often, after this barbaric torture, charred, torn holes remained in place of the woman's breasts.

24. Tickle Torture

This seemingly harmless influence was a terrible torture. With prolonged tickling, a person’s nerve conduction increased so much that even the lightest touch caused at first twitching, laughter, and then turned into terrible pain. If such torture was continued for a long time, then after a while spasms of the respiratory muscles arose and, in the end, the tortured person died from suffocation.

In the simplest version of torture, sensitive places were tickled by the interrogated either simply with hands or with hairbrushes and brushes. Rigid bird feathers were popular. Usually tickled under the armpits, heels, nipples, inguinal folds, genitals, women also under the breasts.

In addition, torture was often used with the use of animals that licked some tasty substance from the heels of the interrogated. A goat was often used, because its very hard tongue, adapted for eating herbs, caused very strong irritation.

There was also a form of beetle tickling, most common in India. With her, a small bug was planted on the head of the penis of a man or on the nipple of a woman and covered with half a nut shell. After some time, the tickling caused by the movement of the legs of an insect over a living body became so unbearable that the interrogated person confessed to anything.

25. Crocodile

These tubular metal tongs "Crocodile" were red-hot and used to tear the penis of the tortured. At first, with a few caressing movements (often performed by women), or with a tight bandage, they achieved a stable hard erection and then the torture began.

26. Serrated crusher

These serrated iron tongs slowly crushed the testicles of the interrogated.

Something similar was widely used in Stalinist and fascist prisons.

27. Creepy Tradition

Actually, this is not torture, but an African rite, but, in my opinion, it is very cruel. Girls from 3-6 years old without anesthesia were simply scraped out the external genitalia.

Thus, the girl did not lose the ability to have children, but was forever deprived of the opportunity to experience sexual desire and pleasure. This rite is done “for the good” of women so that they will never be tempted to cheat on their husband

28. Blood Eagle

One of the most ancient tortures, during which the victim was tied face down and his back was opened, the ribs were broken off at the spine and spread apart like wings. In Scandinavian legends, it is stated that during such an execution, salt was sprinkled on the wounds of the victim.

Many historians claim that this torture was used by pagans against Christians, others are sure that spouses convicted of treason were punished in this way, and still others claim that the bloody eagle is just a terrible legend.

China is no exception in this regard. The variety and sophistication of the tortures used in this state caused attacks of horror even among the most experienced warriors. What is interesting, when torture was carried out in the squares, in order to warn everyone else about the consequences of crimes, a huge number of onlookers gathered to "stare" at the torment and death of a person. In this case, it becomes clear where such terrible pictures of bullying and death of criminals arose in the minds of Chinese executioners: the majority of the population of that time, especially the common people, were prone to unreasonable violence and curiosity about other people's suffering.

Story

Since the time when the Qin dynasty ruled in the Celestial Empire, Chinese torture has been considered a traditional way to punish a person for a crime. The code of the ruling dynasty included no less than four thousand crimes that deserved punishment.

Some were punished with beatings with light or heavy bamboo sticks, exile or hard labor. However, those whose crimes were, to use modern terminology, of minor gravity were subjected to this. Those who were condemned to death penalty, before death, experienced the most terrible torment from torture. And these tortures were so cruel that even now they cause trembling in the body.

Until the beginning of the 20th century, in the understanding of Chinese rulers and judges, there was no clear idea of what the presumption of innocence and the side of the prosecution were. That is why those confessions that a person gave under torture were considered irrefutable evidence of guilt. In addition, not only criminals were subjected to ancient Chinese torture, but also witnesses to their crimes. Chinese executioners simply did not take into account the fact that a person could slander himself, if only his torment would stop.

Who was tortured?

In ancient times, to torture or kill a person was almost a common thing. As in most ancient countries, China invented its own proprietary methods of Chinese torture and executions. They were so common because fines or the placement of convicts in prison were not considered worthy punishment. And they could torture any criminal: a thief, a murderer, a liar, a spy, a blasphemer, women who gave birth out of wedlock, gay men, someone who cheated on his spouse, or simply a person objectionable to the government.

Ancient China: types of torture

The variety of ancient Chinese torture is amazing modern people. The cruelty and composure with which the executioner did his job excites minds to this day. Torture in the Middle Kingdom was not just a way to “knock out” a confession from a criminal, over time it turned into an art. How else to explain the ingenuity with which judges and executioners came up with punishments for their victims?

It is not possible to list all the many variants of ancient Chinese torture, however, here are some of them:

They clamped their feet in steel sandals.
They squeezed the knees with a special vise.
They beat me on the calves with bamboo sticks.
They pierced the nails on the hands and feet with thin bamboo sticks.
They put the criminal on the so-called tiger bench: they tied him to the back of the bench and stretched his legs in different directions.
Laid on a bed-block. Several of the tortured were laid on one narrow bed, so that they could not move, and were pressed down with a wooden cover from above.
They crushed the bones of the fingers with a special vise.
They put red-hot steel shoes on the feet of the guilty person.
An iron hoop was tightly tightened on the head of the criminal and gradually clamped even more tightly.
They put their bare knees on metal chains.
The kneecaps were cut out with a sharp knife.
As an upper punishment, they branded the face and cut off the nose.
As a lower penalty - castrated.
Thrown into the water with eels.

And this is only a small fraction of what the justice of Ancient China was capable of.

Usually all the tortures took place in special rooms. Chinese torture chambers were cold, damp rooms with no windows or lighting. Lamps or candles were brought there only for the time of torture, the rest of the time the criminal was in complete darkness. Often people imprisoned there died of hypothermia.

The worst Chinese tortures include:

Water torture.
Torture with drops of water.
Bamboo torture.
Torture with boiled meat.
Torture with centipede.

Water as a means of torture

The tradition of using water torture goes back to the Middle Ages. Therefore, despite the fact that one of its most popular variants is called "Chinese water torture", it was not invented by Chinese executioners at all.

In ancient times, Chinese water torture was one of the most brutal. Museums of torture around the world put on public display, at first glance, seemingly unpresentable and boring, an instrument of water torture. It is a funnel made of copper or wood, which is covered with leather. Against the background of the instruments of torture surrounding it (for example, collars with spikes turned inward, chopping blocks with dents), this funnel looks at least harmless.

However, looking more closely, on its basis, you can distinguish a huge number of clear dents. They were left from the teeth of criminals who were subjected to this kind of torture, which was considered neat, humane and not violating decency. It is for these imaginary qualities that Chinese water torture was often used as a punishment for women, since for this they did not need to be undressed or dismembered.

How did she act?

The essence of Chinese water torture was that the victim was tied with his back to a bench or bed. They lifted her head, forcibly pushed the narrow edge of the funnel into her throat and poured water into it. There was plenty of water. In addition to the fact that the tortured person felt suffocation and pain in the stomach, from the fact that he was bursting with poured liquid, this torture could continue for a very long time. Gradually, the victim weakened, her consciousness clouded, and complete humility and suppleness appeared.

In addition to the traditional version, this Chinese torture had alternatives. One of them was the infusion of water not into the throat, but into the nose. In this case, the person either immediately confessed to everything (what he did and did not do), or choked.

Is a drop of water so scary?

In the cinema of the twentieth century, there was a stereotype that running (or walking) in the rain is a lot of fun. Perhaps this is so, but only if after that you go into a warm house in which firewood is crackling in the fireplace. In all other cases, it is not particularly welcome that water drips on the head for a long time. And in eastern countries, torture with dripping water was considered one of the most effective.

At first glance, the ancient Chinese drop of water torture seems harmless enough. Well, what is it about droplets falling on a person? It seems that it’s okay, but the executioners used the Chinese drop torture with enviable regularity, since its result was stunning and, importantly, effective.

How did the bullying happen?

The procedure of Chinese drop torture began with the fact that the offender was tightly tied either to a chair or to a bed so that he could not move and, more importantly, itch. In the case of the chair, the victim was still thrown back and also fixed it in a motionless state. A flask or some other vessel with water was hung over his head, in which there was a very small hole. From it constantly (without interruption) water dripped onto the forehead of the victim.

The first impression of such Chinese torture is that it is a strange and harmless procedure. However, in fact, constantly dripping drops on the forehead are one of the worst options for psychological torture. The bottom line is that after prolonged exposure to the forehead of the victim with drops of water, she begins to experience nervous tension and, as a result, a mental disorder. The reason for this is the victim's feeling that, falling at the same point on the forehead, the drop forms a notch at the place where it fell.

It is the psychological component of Chinese drop torture that affects its effectiveness and the positive result of the interrogation of criminals in ancient China.

China: linking bamboo and torture

The first place among the most cruel tortures used in the Celestial Empire is rightfully occupied by Chinese torture with bamboo and water, which gradually turns into execution. This terrible procedure is infamous in all corners of the world. However, there is an opinion that this is just one of the local frightening legends, since not a single documentary evidence that such Chinese torture existed and was used has survived to our time.

Many have heard of bamboo as one of the fastest growing plants. Some of its Chinese varieties are able to grow almost a meter in just one day.

Among historians, there is an opinion that the deadly Chinese bamboo torture was used not only by the Chinese of antiquity, but also by the Japanese military during the fighting of the Second World War.

How did the torture take place?

People were subjected to this torture, whose crimes, according to the judges, were very serious (espionage, high treason, murder of high-ranking officials).

Before starting the torture, a bed of young bamboo was sharpened with a knife so that the stems became sharp as spears. After that, the victim was hung over the bed in a horizontal position, so that the pointed bamboo sprouts were either under the stomach or under the back. The bamboo was well watered for rapid growth and waited.

Since bamboo sprouts, especially young ones, grow at an incredible speed, soon the sharp sprouts pierced the body of the criminal, delivering terrible torment to the victim. As it grew, the bamboo would grow through the peritoneum and kill the person. Such a death was very long and painful.

food torture

According to the rules of a healthy diet, it is preferable to eat boiled meat, and it is recommended to refuse fried meat altogether. However, you should not overeat even boiled meat. Chinese criminals, who knew first hand the consequences of such nutrition, would agree with this.

Most often, thieves were tortured with boiled meat, who attempted on food sold in street shops: vegetables, fruits, rice.

In addition, in addition to Chinese torture with boiled meat, there was another, no less sophisticated torture. Condemned to death, they regularly fed rice and watered clean water. However, it was not completely cooked, but only half. That is, the offender ate a full stomach of half-baked rice and washed it all down with water. As a result, his stomach swelled from the rice swollen in it, and the intestines and stomach simply burst, giving the criminal unbearable pain. The result was profuse internal bleeding and a long, painful death.

Process

Chinese meat torture could last for a whole month. Throughout this time, the victim suffered greatly.

The offender was locked in a narrow and low cell. In it, he could only be in a sitting or lying position, crouching. He was given clean water to drink. They fed the criminal with well-cooked meat, in which there were no veins, bones and fat. A month later, a dead body was found in a cage.

According to Chinese judicial directories, the effectiveness of this torture directly depends on what nationality the convicted person is. The reason for this is the nutritional habits of different peoples. Since the Chinese often ate food of plant origin, such a change in diet was very noticeable for them and, in the end, led to death. But the Mongols or Huns, accustomed to eating exclusively meat in the morning at lunch and in the evening, such torture would even be to their liking.

According to modern doctors, there may be several reasons why the victim died in the process of such torture. First of all, the fault may be insufficient production of enzymes that help digest food of animal origin. The result of poor digestion will be a failure in the functioning of the whole organism. The second reason may have been the immobilized stay in the cage for a long time. As you know, in order to digest heavy food, a person needs to move so that there is no stagnation in the intestines. In addition, a sedentary lifestyle and eating meat can lead to the accumulation of nitrogenous products in the blood. As a result, tachycardia, swelling and other pathologies of the body that can lead to the death of a person.

Insects in the service of executioners

Another way to "torture" the convict was Chinese torture with a centipede in the ear. So, often, they mocked criminals who were accused of espionage. Like torture with drops of water, this torture had a significant effect on mental condition a person, since an insect moving in the ear canal made the victim nervous and increased the level of anxiety. And if we take into account the fact that her claws are connected to poisonous glands, the presence of an insect in the ear also causes severe pain. Just by running through the body, the centipede leaves a trail of burning mucus behind it. What can we say about the place where she will feel uncomfortable.

For this sophisticated mockery of a person, the executioners always had a couple of red Chinese centipedes hidden, which practically did not feed, so that the insect always remained aggressive and hungry. On the first order, the executioner took out a centipede from the box, which, having felt freedom, began to actively behave, and once again falling into the closed space of the ear canal, became furious.

insect torture

The goal of Chinese torture with a red centipede in the ear is the complete psychological exhaustion of the victim, in which she agrees to do anything just to stop the torture.

Preparation for torture involves the complete immobilization of a person by tying him to a bed or bunk. The head is also fixed so that the criminal cannot shake the centipede out of the ear. After the executioner sticks the centipede into the ear hole of the victim. By irritating the receptors in the ear, the insect can cause bouts of nausea and vomiting, as well as dizziness. This causes considerable discomfort to the victim and increases her level of anxiety.

Since the centipede loses its sense of direction while in the ear canal, it begins to behave restlessly and may knock on the eardrum. In some cases, if she behaved calmly and did not move, the executioner deliberately disturbed and annoyed her so that she began to show aggression. As a result of such actions, she often gnawed through the eardrum and continued her way through the ear canals, making her way deeper into the head. At the same time, the victim felt terrible pain, her mind became clouded, and if she remained alive for some time, she went crazy.

Torture of women

Despite the cruelty of Chinese torture, they were often used to abuse women. The rulers of ancient China did not see the difference between criminals and criminals. This is not surprising, since some women were not inferior to men in terms of the severity of their crimes. They robbed, spied, sometimes killed, but most often women were tortured and executed for being unfaithful to their husbands.

Chinese torture of women was also distinguished by its originality, and the executioners showed particular ingenuity.

However, representatives of the weaker sex could be tortured and killed simply, for nothing. For example, there is a known case when, at the court of the rulers of the Ming Dynasty, two cooks were subjected to a monstrous execution. And their fault was that the rice that they served at the table of the nobles "was not as white as the wisdom of their master." Such an "omission", made when working for the rulers of the Celestial Empire, cost the cooks their lives. They were stripped and hung by the hands on rings, and just below the pelvis, between the legs, sharp saws were fixed. The convicts, unable to hang on bent arms for a long time (in order not to touch the saw, they had to pull themselves up), began to gradually lower themselves onto the blade. However, unable to sit still on a sharp saw, the women began to fidget and squirm, not realizing that by doing so they caused themselves even more pain. Thus, gradually the victims sawed themselves to the chest and died. Often, metal saws were replaced with bamboo ones, as the latter brought more pain.

There were cases when, instead of a woman sawing herself, she was put on the so-called "horse". This instrument of torture was a triangular log with legs. The top of the triangle was the place on which the woman was seated, having previously provided the seat with sharp spikes. Thus, feeling discomfort and pain, the woman fidgeted and cut her genitals.

The same fate befell a servant at the court of the emperor, who "dared to complain about bad weather and thereby spoiled the mood of her masters."

A woman who committed a serious crime sat on a pyramid. The offender was undressed and forced to sit on the tip of a metal pyramid, standing on a chair or some bench. At the same time, she did not just sit down, but first spread her legs so that the top of the pyramid fell exactly into the genitals. If a woman did not confess to the crime she had committed, then the executioner forcibly planted her on the pyramid to the very end, thereby tearing it apart. After that, the victim, most often, died from blood loss or pain shock.

Wives who cheated on their husbands or had a child out of wedlock were often put on a bamboo stake. This was done in the square so that every woman could see what kind of end awaits her if she decides to "go to the left."

Another very terrible punishment for unfaithful wives was mockery, in which snakes were used. The essence of this execution was that the woman was laid on a flat surface and tied so that she could not move. After that, milk was poured into her genitals. And, as the conclusion of the preparation, a snake was thrown at her feet. Feeling the smell of milk, the snake crawled inside the woman, causing unbearable pain. As a result of this torture, the victim died.

Prohibition of torture

The terrible tortures that were used in ancient China were subjected to both old and young, regardless of gender and position in society. Despite the fact that criminals were tortured in antiquity in almost all countries of the world, Chinese torture was considered the most sophisticated and cruel, before which even battered European military men and executioners trembled.

The use of such terrible, and even brutal, torture is currently not practiced by the Chinese authorities. However, knocking out confessions of criminals with the help of cold, hunger or beatings was carried out in the 21st century. And only on November 21, 2013, the Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China issued a statement in which an appeal was made to all judicial instances. It dealt with the exclusion of evidence and testimonies that were obtained through torture and exhaustion of the defendants. Torture and coercion under the influence of low temperature, hunger and fatigue became prohibited at the state level. It would seem that this is so, a self-evident thing, but in Chinese prisons and temporary detention centers they did not disdain to beat and mock criminals just some five years ago.

This term meant the clarification of the circumstances of the case by an investigation, usually through interrogations, often with the use of force. Torture had hundreds of varieties.

Chinese Bamboo Torture

The infamous way of the terrible Chinese execution all over the world. Perhaps a legend, because to this day 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 as much as a meter in a day. Some historians believe that the deadly bamboo torture was used not only by the ancient Chinese, but also by the Japanese military during.

Bamboo grove. (pinterest.com)

How it works?

1) Live bamboo sprouts are sharpened with a knife to make sharp "spears";
2) The victim is suspended horizontally, back or belly over a bed of young pointed bamboo;
3) Bamboo grows rapidly in height, pierces the skin of the martyr and sprouts through his abdominal cavity, the person dies very long and painfully.

"Iron Maiden"

The Iron Maiden was invented in late XVIII century, i.e. already at the end of the Catholic Inquisition.

"Iron Maiden". (pinterest.com)

How it works?

1) The victim is stuffed into the sarcophagus and the door is closed;
2) The spikes driven into the inner walls of the "iron maiden" are rather short and do not pierce the victim through, but only cause pain. The investigator, as a rule, in a matter of minutes receives a confession, which the arrested person only has to sign;
3) If the prisoner shows fortitude and continues to be silent, long nails, knives and rapiers are pushed through special holes in the sarcophagus. The pain becomes simply unbearable;
4) The victim never confesses to his deed, then she was locked in a sarcophagus for a long time, where she died from blood loss;
5) In some models of the "iron maiden" spikes were provided at eye level to gouge them out.

Skafism. (pinterest.com)

How it works?

1) The prisoner is placed in a shallow trough and wrapped in chains.
2) He is force-fed with large amounts of milk and honey, which causes the victim to develop copious diarrhea that attracts insects.
3) A prisoner, shabby, smeared with honey, is allowed to swim in a trough in a swamp, where there are many hungry creatures.
4) Insects immediately start the meal, as the main dish - the living flesh of the martyr.

Pear of suffering

This cruel tool was used to punish women who had abortions, liars and homosexuals. The device was inserted into the vagina in women or the anus in men. When the executioner turned the screw, the “petals” opened, tearing the flesh and bringing unbearable torment to the victims. Many died later from blood poisoning.

Pear of suffering. (pinterest.com)

How it works?

1) The tool, consisting of pointed pear-shaped leaf-shaped segments, is thrust into the client's desired hole in the body;
2) The executioner slowly turns the screw on the top of the pear, while the “leaves”-segments bloom inside the martyr, causing hellish pain;
3) After the pear is opened, the completely guilty person receives internal injuries incompatible with life and dies in terrible agony, if he had not already fallen into unconsciousness.

copper bull

Inside the copper statue, through a special door, they pushed a living person. And then Falaris first tested the unit on its creator, the greedy Perilla. Subsequently, Falaris himself was roasted in a bull.

Copper bull. (pinterest.com)

How it works?

1) The victim is closed in a hollow copper statue of a bull;
2) A fire is kindled under the belly of the bull;
3) The victim is roasted alive;
4) The structure of the bull is such that the cries of the martyr come from the mouth of the statue, like a bull's roar;
5) Jewelry and charms were made from the bones of the executed, which were sold in the bazaars and were in great demand.

Rat torture was very popular in ancient China. However, we will look at the rat punishment technique developed by the 16th century leader Didrik Sonoy.

Rats torture. (pinterest.com)

How it works?

1) The naked martyr is laid on a table and tied;
2) Large, heavy cages with hungry rats are placed on the prisoner's stomach and chest. The bottom of the cells is opened with a special valve;
3) Hot coals are placed on top of the cages to stir up the rats;
4) Trying to escape from the heat of hot coals, rats gnaw their way through the flesh of the victim.

Cradle of Judas

The Cradle of Judas was one of the most tormenting machines in the arsenal of the Suprema, the Spanish Inquisition. The victims usually died of infection, due to the fact that the peaked seat of the torture machine was never disinfected. The cradle of Judas, as an instrument of torture, was considered "loyal", because it did not break bones and did not tear ligaments.

Cradle of Judas. (pinterest.com)

How it works?

1) The victim, whose hands and feet are tied, is seated on the top of a pointed pyramid;
2) The top of the pyramid pierces the anus or vagina;
3) With the help of ropes, the victim is gradually lowered lower and lower;
4) Torture continues for several hours or even days, until the victim dies of impotence and pain, or from blood loss due to rupture of soft tissues.

Rack

Probably the most famous, and unsurpassed in its kind, death machine called "rack". It was first experienced around 300 CE. e. on the Christian martyr Vincent of Zaragoza.

Anyone who survived the rack could no longer use their muscles and turned into a helpless vegetable.

Rack. (pinterest.com)

How it works?

1. This instrument of torture is a special bed with rollers at both ends, on which ropes were wound, holding the wrists and ankles of the victim. When the rollers rotated, the ropes stretched in opposite directions, stretching the body;
2. Ligaments in the hands and feet of the victim are stretched and torn, bones pop out of the joints.
3. Another version of the rack was also used, called strappado: it consisted of 2 pillars dug into the ground and connected by a crossbar. The interrogated person was tied with his hands behind his back and lifted by the rope tied to his hands. Sometimes a log or other weights were attached to his bound legs. At the same time, the hands of a person raised on a rack twisted back and often came out of their joints, so that the convict had to hang on twisted arms. They were on the rack from several minutes to an hour or more. This type of rack was used most often in Western Europe.
4. In Russia, a suspect raised on a rack was beaten with a whip on the back, and “applied to the fire”, that is, they drove burning brooms over the body.
5. In some cases, the executioner broke the ribs of a person hanging on a rack with red-hot tongs.

Shiri (camel cap)

A monstrous fate awaited those whom the Zhuanzhuans (the union of nomadic Turkic-speaking peoples) took into their slavery. They destroyed the memory of the slave by a terrible torture - by putting Shiri on the head of the victim. Usually this fate befell young guys captured in battles.

Shiri. (pinterest.com)

How it works?

1. First, the slaves shaved their heads, carefully scraping out every hair under the root.
2. The executioners slaughtered the camel and skinned its carcass, first of all, separating its heaviest, densest part.
3. Divided into pieces, it was immediately pulled in pairs over the shaved heads of the prisoners. These pieces, like a plaster, stuck around the heads of slaves. This meant putting on wide.
4. After putting on the width, the neck of the doomed was shackled in a special wooden block so that the subject could not touch his head to the ground. In this form, they were taken away from crowded places so that no one would hear their heartbreaking cries, and they were thrown there in an open field, with their hands and feet tied, in the sun, without water and without food.
5. The torture lasted 5 days.
6. Only a few remained alive, and the rest died not from hunger or even from thirst, but from unbearable, inhuman torments caused by drying out, shrinking rawhide camel skin on the head. Inexorably shrinking under the rays of the scorching sun, the width squeezed, squeezing the shaved head of a slave like an iron hoop. Already on the second day, the shaved hair of the martyrs began to sprout. Coarse and straight Asian hair sometimes grew into the rawhide, in most cases, finding no way out, the hair bent and again went into the scalp with its ends, causing even greater suffering. A day later, the man lost his mind. Only on the fifth day did the Zhuanzhuans come to check whether any of the prisoners had survived. If at least one of the tortured was caught alive, it was believed that the goal was achieved.
7. The one who was subjected to such a procedure either died, unable to withstand the torture, or lost his memory for life, turned into a mankurt - a slave who does not remember his past.
8. The skins of one camel were enough for five or six widths.

spanish water torture

Water torture. (pinterest.com)

Another form involved placing a rag tube down the victim's throat, through which water was slowly poured in, causing the victim to bloat and suffocate. If that wasn't enough, the tube was pulled out, causing internal damage, and then reinserted and the process repeated. Sometimes cold water torture was used. In this case, the accused lay naked on the table for hours under a jet of icy water. It is interesting to note that this kind of torment was regarded as light, and confessions obtained in this way were accepted by the court as voluntary and given to the defendants without the use of torture. Most often, these tortures were used by the Spanish Inquisition in order to knock out confessions from heretics and witches.

spanish armchair

Spanish armchair. (pinterest.com)

Gridiron (grid for torture by fire)

This type of torture is often mentioned in the lives of saints - real and fictional, but there is no evidence that the gridiron "survived" until the Middle Ages and had at least little circulation in Europe. It is usually described as an ordinary metal grate, 6 feet long and two and a half wide, set horizontally on legs so that a fire can be built under it.

Sometimes the gridiron was made in the form of a rack in order to be able to resort to combined torture.

Saint Lawrence was martyred on a similar grid.

This torture was rarely resorted to. Firstly, it was easy enough to kill the interrogated person, and secondly, there were a lot of simpler, but no less cruel tortures.

blood eagle

Blood eagle. (pinterest.com)

"Catherine's Wheel"

Before tying the victim to the wheel, her limbs were broken. When rotating, the legs and arms finally broke out, bringing unbearable torment to the victim. Some died from pain shock, while others suffered for several days.

Wheel of Catherine. (pinterest.com)

spanish donkey

A wooden log in the form of a triangle was fixed on the "legs". The naked victim was placed on top of a sharp corner that cut right into the crotch. To make the torture more unbearable, weights were tied to the legs.

Spanish donkey. (pinterest.com)

spanish boot

This is such a fastening on the leg with metal plate, which with each question and subsequent refusal to answer it, as required, dragged on more and more in order to break the bones of the man'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.

Spanish boot. (pinterest.com)

Quartering by horses

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.

Quartering. (pinterest.com)

AT modern world there is no place for torture, it is no longer resorted to in the justice system in order to punish someone or get a confession to their deed. Now only the Museum of Torture can illustrate how the torture of the Inquisition took place.

Today, the most terrible torture is the electric chair, and what happened before ... it’s scary to imagine

The tortures were so cruel that not everyone has the willpower to look at their dummies, which the Museum of Torture provides so that everyone can see the face of justice in the Middle Ages.

It is difficult to determine the worst torture in the history of mankind, since each of them was quite painful and cruel, but you can still single out the 20 most horrific.

Let's start with torture, which can rightfully be included in the top twenty of the most inhuman abuse of people. The torture of the Inquisition included this method of punishing sinful people. In the Middle Ages, resorting to this cruel form of torture, the church punished sinners who were exposed in love with their own sex, for example, a woman with a woman or a man with a man. Such kind of love and relationships was considered blasphemy and a desecration of the church of God, so these people were in for a terrible punishment."SPICY PEAR"

A tool for terrible torture - "Sharp Pear"

Instruments of torture of this type had a pear-like appearance. Accused female blasphemers were placed in the vagina, and male sinners in the anus or mouth. After the instrument was introduced into the body of the victim, the executioner began the second stage of torture, which consisted in making the person suffer terribly after gradually, when the screw was unscrewed, the sharp leaves of the pear opened inside the flesh. Opening, the pear tore the internal organs of a woman or a man to pieces. The lethal outcome came from the fact that the victim lost a large amount of blood, or from the deformation of the internal organs formed during the opening of the deadly killer pear.

THE ANCIENT TORTURE OF THE WORLD INCLUDES THE PUNISHMENT OF THE GUILTY WITH THE HELP OF RATS

This is one of the most cruel tortures in the history of mankind, which was invented in China, and was especially popular among the Inquisition in the 16th century. The victim suffered terrible pain. Rats were the main instrument of torture. A person was placed on a large table, in the area of \u200b\u200bthe womb a rather heavy cage was placed, stuffed with rats, which must have been hungry. Of course, this is far from the end: then the bottom of the cage was removed, after which the rats ended up on the victim’s stomach, at the same time hot coals were laid out on top of the cage, the rats got scared from the heat and, trying to escape from the cage, gnawed through the belly of a person, so escaping way. People died in terrible agony.

METAL TORTURE

CAT'S CLAW

The sinner was gradually and slowly torn out in pieces of skin, flesh and ribs with an iron hook, passing along the back.

GRIM ROK

This instrument of torture is known in several forms: horizontal and vertical. If a vertical version was used on the victim, then the sinner was hooked under the ceiling, while twisting the joints, and weight was constantly added to the legs, stretching the body as much as possible. Usage horizontal version rearing provided a rupture of the muscles and joints of the convict.

CRANIAL PRESS

This is a kind of crushing machine for killing the convict. The principle of operation of the cranial press was to gradually compress the skull of the victim, this press crumbled the teeth, jaw, cranial bones of a person until the brain fell out of the sinner's ears.

JUDAH'S CRADLE

The very name of the weapon is quite insidious, but not only the name excites. This inquisitorial tool did not break or tear anything on the body of the victim. With the help of a rope, the sinner was lifted up and seated on a “cradle”, the top of which was in the shape of a triangle and quite sharp. This top was seated in such a way that the sharp edge went well into the anus or vagina of the victim. Sinners fainted from pain, they were brought back to consciousness and continued to be tortured.

IRON MAIDEN

The shape of this tool resembles a female figure - it is a sarcophagus, inside of which is empty, but not without spikes and many blades, the location of which is provided in such a way that they do not touch the vital parts of the body of the accused, while cutting other parts. The sinner died in agony for several days.

Thus, sinners, thieves and other people who were accused of this or that evil deed against the church, the king, and so on, suffered the most cruel fate. The condemned experienced the most terrible torments, being in the hands of a cruel executioner.

It’s good that today it’s only history and tools for torture are not used.

The Middle Ages is covered with a haze of romance. Partly to blame modern films and books in which brave knights are ready to do anything for the sake of a beautiful lady. However, if you look at the real chronicle of events, medieval society was horrifying with its cruelty to the fair sex. Legally, women were much more vulnerable than men, and in the event of any wrongdoing, they were threatened with immediate retribution.

Extramarital pregnancy? Go to the crazy house!

Out-of-wedlock pregnancy was condemned not only in the Middle Ages, but even literally in the last century. In Britain, noticing an excessively protruding belly in an unmarried girl, the family immediately sent her to a special maternity hospital. There, the unfortunate woman was obliged to wash clothes, scrub floors and perform other rough work until the very birth. And then - when the child was taken away for adoption - for a long time to work out the expensive services of the maternity hospital. But even after paying off all the debts, it was not so easy to get out of the special institution. Most women who gave birth before marriage were recognized as antisocial personalities and locked up in lunatic asylums for decades.

Forgot to compliment your husband's beard? Get hit with sticks!

One of the most ridiculous, perhaps, was the law of medieval Wales about the disrespectful attitude to the beard or teeth of the husband. Women who forgot to praise their spouses' facial hair, or accused them of excessive dirt on their teeth, were punished with caning.

Striking with a stick for blaming a man's beard.

The process was clearly regulated: the law predetermined the length and thickness of the retaliation weapon, as well as the number of permissible strikes. According to the rules, the guilty wife could be whipped no more than three times, using a stick as thick as the husband's middle finger, and no longer than his hand.

If you want to stay with your nose - do not cheat on your husband!

This is not to say that in the past marriages were stronger and happier, but adultery was indeed less common. The thing is that women were reluctant to enter into extramarital affairs, fearing punishment.

In Sicily during the reign of Frederigo II, a married lady had her nose cut off for adultery, and all property and children were taken away. With aristocrats, they were a little more on ceremony. They were not physically harmed, but they could be sent to a monastery, and already there they could persuade the right people to pour poison into a glass or strangle a traitor in a dream. Interestingly, the adventures of married men were not updated in any way and, moreover, were tacitly encouraged.

Has entered into a relationship with a non-Christian - to the stake!

The Spanish King Alfonso X of Castile had an incredible passion for creating new laws and codes. Most good example- a set of legal norms called Seven Partidas. It regulated not only civil, legal and canon law, but also the relations of women with men.

According to the code of the Seven Partides, Spanish women were forbidden to share a bed with Jews and Moors. Pleasant moments in the company of a non-Christian man threatened them with great trouble. If an unmarried girl or widow was first seen in a vicious relationship, half of her property was immediately taken away from her. For prostitutes, despite the nature of their earnings, the punishment was tougher: beating with rods.

It was usually enough to discourage women from falling in love with the wrong men. If feelings flared up with renewed vigor, the second time became the last. When re-convicted of violating the law, the type of activity and class of the woman did not play any role: they were sentenced to death by burning at the stake.

To married ladies, Alfonso the Wise was more merciful. Their personal property was not confiscated, and the choice of punishment was completely shifted to the shoulders of the spouse. Many saw salvation in this and hoped to beg pardon at home. However, the prayers of repentant harlots were rarely rewarded with forgiveness. Deceived husbands considered themselves dishonored and often after the first time they sent unfaithful wives to the stake.

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For the birth of a child with mental disorders - deprive of parental rights!

Against the background of stories of cruelty that reigned in medieval Europe, the atrocities of contemporaries look even more terrible. Literally in the twenties of the last century, American women were terribly afraid of discovering a mental illness in their children. In the diagnosed schizophrenia or autism of the child, scientists immediately blamed the mother and, as a result, deprived her of parental rights. The verdict was the same for all the already unfortunate mothers: their excessive coldness led to illness.

For grumpiness - torture with ice water or an iron cap with a gag

In medieval Europe, excessive quarrelsomeness was considered a serious female misconduct. For inciting squabbles with neighbors, swearing in the market or dissatisfaction with her husband, a woman was threatened with a terrible retribution. Suspected of wrongdoing, they were dragged by force to court, and there they were condemned to a shameful punishment. There was even a special legal term for this: communis rixatrix.

In dark medieval times, executions and executions were elevated to the rank of folk amusements, so their execution took place in public. The accused woman was tied to a special chair in front of the eyes of the crowd, smeared with mud and sewage. Then, to the amusement of city onlookers, she was dragged along the main streets to the nearest river and abruptly thrown into the icy water. The case was not limited to one time - depending on the severity of the misconduct, the judge appointed a different number of dives. However, usually no one worried more than ten, since women died from shock and hypothermia.

The alternative punishment was no better, although less radical. A woman convicted of quarreling was put on a heavy metal cap with an impromptu sharp gag around her mouth. The design of the cap was designed in such a way that it was not possible to remove it on her own, and the woman had to wear a shameful mask everywhere until the judge recognized her as reformed.