Medieval Torture

Warning Some Content/Images may not be Suitable for Young Children

Punishments for crimes of any sort were brutal in medieval times, mainly to keep the peasants in their place at the bottom of the feudal system’ The nobility were scared of an uprising so fear was the name of the game!

The nobility was well aware that they were seriously outnumbered and wanted to avoid a peasant’s revolt and keep the pitchforks firmly at the peasant’s small landholdings.

The punishments for most crimes were therefore extremely terrifying!

*Most medieval European countries used some form of torture as part of their country’s legal proceedings.

There were many different types of medieval torture devices developed during medieval times and people were often tortured in cases of hearsay as a way of extracting a confession from an accused person.

Medieval torture devices were very gruesome and torture techniques advanced as the medieval period progressed. Burning, beating, and suffocating were very common techniques that were used in medieval torture methods, surprisingly, the Roman Catholic Church was heavily involved in medieval torture.

Torture Devices *Medieval Dungeons

Medieval torture could have taken place anywhere in medieval times however most torture that took place during this period was in the many Castle dungeons across Europe.

Dungeons were the ideal place to keep all the instruments of torture and torture devices used on medieval prisoners imprisoned in the castle. Instruments of torture used on medieval prisoners included nasty things such as Racks, Scavenger’s Daughter, and Collar.

People of medieval times could also be whipped, Boiled in water, oil, or even lead. Starvation and cutting off various items of the anatomy such as hands, ears, etc were also common, whatever would cause the most pain and distress was a viable option.

13 Terrifying Medieval Torture Devices List

Torture Rack (1)

A popular medieval torture device was the infamous torture rack, which was very successful in extracting confessions from people. The victim was stretched out on a rack, tied by the ankles and wrists across a flat board that had rollers at both sides.

The torture rack operator would then turn the rollers on each side; immense pain was transmitted to the victim as the pulling mechanism of the torture device dislocated every joint in a person’s body.

The torture rack was a truly gruesome torture device; unbelievably the victim could also be subjected to additional forms of torture at the same time as being stretched on the torture rack.

One of the most famous and widely known uses of the torture rack was in the infamous Spanish Inquisition.

The Stocks Torture (2)

The stocks became a very popular medieval torture device because confessions could be extracted from the person without them actually dying *The person being tortured had their feet put into the stocks two pieces of wood that were then clamped together.

The torturers could then burn the soles of their feet, which were blistered and fried by a medieval torture device called a blazing brazier!

The Pillory

The Pillory was similar to the Stocks but the person would be standing with arms and head exposed as shown*

The Pear of Anguish

The Pear of Anguish was another gruesome little torture device that was invented mainly to be used to torture women. It was basically a metal clamp-type device shaped like a pear that was inserted into the mouth or other open areas.

The torturer turned a screw to make the pear-shaped metal object expand by force inside the victim’s body, this was a very effective torture device that would rip the tissue flesh, and membranes inside a person’s body.

This was another torture device used widely in the infamous Spanish Inquisition and was particularly effective in forcing women to confess to crimes that they had or had not committed such as being a witch or committing adultery.

The Branks (4)

The Branks also commonly known as the Scold’s bridle was a medieval torture device that you may have seen in medieval films, it was a metal facial mask of some description, usually, they had a spiked mouth depressor.

The Branks were usually used in cases of misbehavior by a wife and could be used in most circumstances, even just disagreeing with her husband could mean that the husband would be able to use the Branks torture device on his wife.

The victim could be humiliated as well if the husband felt it was necessary by being chained to a market Cross or paraded through the streets for public ridicule.

The Breaking Wheel (5)

The wheel or ‘Breaking Wheel’ was also called the execution wheel or Catherine wheel

It was another infamous medieval torture device that was particularly gruesome, one of the most popular and gruesome methods of torture used in the medieval period and that is saying something.

The Breaking Wheel was a giant wheel with spikes on it that was able to break bodies by virtually snapping them to pieces as it rolled forward, it caused a very slow and painful death to the victim that usually lasted a very long time.

The braided wheel was also used as a torture device in medieval times, the victim was tied to an execution Dock or platform and their limbs spread and then tied using iron rings were firmly implanted in the ground.

Sections of Wood were placed carefully under wrists, ankles, knees, hips, and elbows. Every joint would then be smashed to pieces using the edge of the wheel. The executioner however was careful not to kill the person outright, as they wanted them to suffer a long and painful death.

After the victim had been subjected to the bone-crushing effects of the wheel the body was like a lump of jelly and they were often then just hung up and left to die if they were still alive, literally tied up on the wheel.

Hanging Cage (6)

Hanging cages were used a lot during medieval times, these hanging cage torture devices were placed around the town usually outside important and popular buildings such as town halls and cathedrals.

Victims were usually mutilated before being put into the cages to scare other people and to stop them from committing crimes.

The victims were usually naked and exposed to the elements and they would usually either die from hunger or thirst also due to the weather, especially in winter if it was very cold when they would quickly die from frostbite.

The Garrotte (7)

The garrotte was another name for hanging in the Middle Ages during the middle Ages lawmakers were always looking for ways to improve punishment techniques and in the 18th century, the idea of slow strangulation was an idea that became popular amongst lawmakers.

The Head Crusher (8)

The head crusher was yet another gruesome medieval torture device that was made of metal and was a mechanism to crush the skull, the victim had their chin placed on a bar and the screw action of the head crusher forced pressure downwards on the head.

The head crusher would crush teeth and jaws and force eyes out of their sockets.

Burned at the Stake (9)

Being burned at the stake was not very good at all for victims as survival was pretty much non-existent, surprisingly being burned alive was something that people wanted to watch as it was deemed entertaining Being burned at the stake would give someone his or her five minutes of fame and it was considered quite entertaining.

The accused was tied to a stake and a fire was lit around them, as people cheered the person was set alight and burned to their death, quite a simple method really for medieval torture but also one of the Terrifying Medieval Torture Devices of the time.

The Iron Maiden or Virgin of Nuremberg (10)

The iron maiden was a torture device that was also known as the virgin of Nuremberg, it was basically like a giant coffin or container that had two doors that opened from the middle out, like a double door cupboard, and Inside the doors were talons similar to spikes.

The poor victim was forced inside the iron maiden and then the iron maidens’ doors were closed, as the doors closed the talons would enter the victim’s body all over, as you can imagine this was a very painful way to die.

However, it was made worse by the fact that the iron maidens’ talons were specifically designed to cut into the skin but not to kill the victim so that the victim was left to die slowly in excruciating pain.

If that was not enough some other, models of the iron maiden had two spikes positioned to stick through the eyes of the victim.

The Judas Cradle (11)

The Judas cradle was an iron pyramid with belts attached, the victim was usually naked and placed on top of the pyramid, hoisted above and then lowered.

The victim dropped down onto the pointed pyramid capstone after their legs had been stretched out over it and sometimes their legs had weights put on them so that the point of the pyramid would penetrate both orifices.

Obviously, due to the pain that the victims were in, they were unable to sleep or relax on the Judas Cradle

The Strappado (12)

The strappado was another stretching torture device where the victim would be hung from a sturdy rafter by their wrists with a rope and their arms would be bound behind their backs.

The rope would be dropped from height after it had been tossed over the beam repeatedly. The Strappado method used was designed so that the victim’s arms and shoulders would be dislocated, this form of torture was practiced until around 1820.

Medieval Dungeons (13)

As we can see in medieval times, there was a lot of barbaric cruelty towards torture victims who in many cases were innocent of any crime.

The torture devices that were invented were particularly sickening and it beggars belief that human beings could have used torture devices like this to inflict maximum pain on their fellow man.

The use of medieval torture devices is one of the darker aspects of medieval times although it is interesting to read about these 13 Terrifying Medieval Torture Devices.

Torture: Persuasion at its Most Gruesome Paperback