By the time of Henry II( ), the system of law in England had been improved because Henry sent out his own judges from London to listen to cases throughout all England’s counties. Each accused person had to go through an ordeal. There were three ordeals…

Ordeal by Fire An accused person held a red hot iron bar and walked three paces. His hand was then bandaged and left for three days. If the wound was getting better after three days, you were innocent. If the wound had clearly not got any better, you were guilty!

Ordeal by Fire

Ordeal by Water An accused person was tied up and thrown into water. If you floated you were guilty of the crime you were accused of! Ordeal by water

Ordeal by combat This was used by noblemen who had been accused of something. They would fight in combat with their accuser. Whoever won was right. Whoever lost was usually dead at the end of the fight!

In 1215, the Pope decided that priests in England must not help with ordeals. As a result, ordeals were replaced with trials by juries. To start with, these were not popular with the people as they felt that their neighbours might have a grudge against them and use the opportunity of a trial to get their revenge. After 1275, a law was introduced which allowed people to be tortured if they refused to go to trial before a jury.

If you were found guilty of a crime you would expect to face a severe punishment. Thieves had their hands cut off. Women who committed murder were strangled and then burnt. People who illegally hunted in royal parks had their ears cut off and high treason was punishable by being hung, drawn and quartered. There were very few prisons as they cost money and local communities were not prepared to pay for their upkeep. It was cheaper to execute someone for bad crimes or mutilate them and then let them go.

Most towns had a gibbet just outside of it. People were hung on these and their bodies left to rot over the weeks as a warning to others. However, such violent punishments clearly did not put off people. In 1202, the City of Lincoln had 114 murders, 89 violent robberies and 65 people were wounded in fights. Only two people were executed for these crimes and it can be concluded that many in Lincoln got away with their crime.

An Interrogation Chair

Masks of Humiliation

Wooden wedges were forced underneath the toenails to help urge a confession from the criminal. The toenails often became infected and other tortures were applied if this was not enough for confession.

The name breast ripper explains itself.

The Juda Cradle is a horrible torture. The victim is hung above a cone pyramid type object and then is lowered upon it. The sharp tip of the cone or pyramid is forced into the area between the legs.

The Judas Cradle Here the victim was hung into the air by various ropes and dropped onto a point. This completely destroying the genital area. This process could be done with weights on the victim's arms or legs, and could be done multiple times.

The pear was a metal object that is shoved inside the mouth anal cavity and vagina. Once in place the screw at the end was turned and the pear opened up inside the cavity. This caused much damage and lead to death.

The victim was placed on the Spanish Donkey and then had extremely heavy weights tied to his or her legs until the force was so great that it destroyed the area between the legs.

These toothed bars squeezed the victim's testicles til they were destroyed.

This scissor type instrument was used to slice the tongue up after the victims mouth was forced open.

Executioner’s Mask

The Heritics Fork With the four sharp points rammed deep into the flesh under the chin and into the bone of the sternum. The fork prevented all movement of the head and allowed the victim only to murmur, in a barely audible voice

The iron maiden, often styled after the Madonna or a favourite daughter, was more an instrument of execution than torture. The device either enclosed the victim within, as the one here, or embraced with the victim with her arms. In either case, the point was to skewer the victim.

Cats Paw (Spanish Tickler) About as large as four fingers of a man’s hand, these devices, usually attached to a short handle, served to rip the victim’s flesh to shreds and to strip it off the bones. In any part: face, abdomen, back, limbs, breasts.

The Headcrusher

Thumb Screws There were many different types of thumb screws. Some would consist of the crushing of the thumb between two hard surfaces by the tightening of a screw, and some would consist of screws being forced through the skin surrounding the thumb and attaching it to a piece of wood.

Pressing This was a common torture. The victim would be placed flat on the ground, then a board or piece of flat metal would be placed on top of the victim. Next weights or rocks would be placed on top of the board, slowly squeezing the victim.

The Garotte This was a simple strangulation device. It consisted of a post with a hole through it. a collar would go around the post and the person's neck. Then the executioner would slowly screw a spike or knife into the victim's neck

Iran, March A judicial officer whips Mohammad Bijeh, just before the murderer was hanged, using a crane.

TASK  Design a torture device  Explain how it works  Explain for what crime this device would be used