Saturday, July 4, 2015

Reflection - Inquisition, Unimaginable Medieval Torture

PHOTO: Inquisition, Prison
Picture by Bessonov Nicolay. Confessor. Canvas. 1991. 

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTyMDPejtI12LlwQJh7vi1V4N2s1JdPdI5l9nPdCGUnKCnSpLaaJ4PYBONWWEgXAlBhb7qNBfxbpbe2ynUnE8ndUlw59k7p_uG9D5AzEOO5ipjf8mUfNMenw4BGW1_T7Ks_iFEE9XcUPE/s1600/prison-n06.jpg
http://www.inquisition-art.net/gallery/prison-n06.jpg
http://www.inquisition-art.net/eng/gallery/gallery07_09.htm



Here is terrible world of inquisition: barefoot girls in chains, cruel hangmans, gloomy torture-chambers, prisons, dungeons, irons, stocks, collars and of course burning at stake. Visual information found in museums or in ancient engravings, with restored dress, interiors, coiffures and torture instruments as it was.

Occurring every day for centuries, tens of thousands ended up being tortured and executed because of witchcraft.



Inquisition, Prison
PHOTO: Inquisition, Prison
Picture by Bessonov Nicolay. Confessor. Canvas. 1991.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg19EAl3RBt5qmQ3r4TCcuECGIuPeWE3_GsZl6ZJnGOhtO5FoDKegFCcVsc4IGFzAklmp5OFHqWcijkxMtIH5BeVgUZ12L1HcxyAo95In5RCmJZOShRS61W6Xe9zabOPMe1Z09LfXFPJ0w/s1600/index-girl.jpg
http://www.inquisition-art.net/images/index-girl.jpg
http://www.inquisition-art.net/eng/index01_rus.htm



During the Medieval Ages mainly nobles and royalty had pretty much power over society. Although when it came to "justice" it wasn't any different. Most people with low resources such as peasants, labour workers and farmers, had little to no rights, when it came down to the "law".



Inquisition, Arrest
PHOTO: Inquisition, Arrest
Girl in front of inquisition tribunal.
Picture by Bessonov Nicolay. Interrogation. Paper, ink. 1988.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT5N_5RoPn8FGdH5pHnxghZMQ47a_dow8eQm_TY-4nR_gqpNtKz28jEIrx6T5_VDAIEKn8qlC5FCJa1jmYleofYJE6mGc_57QevDNCMCJOpVHpOO7FOBfoNE50E8FyQ1snntjV7iLnGh8/s1600/arrest-n04.jpg
http://www.inquisition-art.net/gallery/arrest-n04.jpg
http://www.inquisition-art.net/eng/gallery/gallery04_04.htm



The dark age torturers and executioners that created these devices, were really imaginative when it came down to torturing others and apparently it payed off because millions of people suffered the unimaginable when it came to their deaths.



From the beginning, the new church that Jesus set up had a struggle. The Gospel was a revolution to the Jews and in the Roman Empire.
PHOTO: Inquisition, Arrest
From the beginning, the new church that Jesus set up had a struggle. The Gospel was a revolution to the Jews and in the Roman Empire.
God poured out His Holy Spirit in a wonderful way with "tongues of fire" on the "Day of Pentecost". Jesus workers were given an explosion of power to witness about Jesus. This burst of God’s power led to miracles and healing. When needed, the workers were miraculously given new languages to share their faith. [Acts 2:1-4]

Preaching had the power of the Holy Spirit behind it. But, the Jewish leaders tried to stop the work. Many Christians were put in prison. Later, some like Stephen, were killed.
Texts by John and Alberta Blake, of Clive, Alberta, Canada, the Deaf ministry,  

http://www.deafhope.org/theatre/theatre11NewPlan.php
Picture from BIBLIA ONLINE.NET
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-073aPM8tvn8RNzBqFZnhF2oJtpH1TI3uQEqvbqujICWkec2bjc_W4lEywYbxPdeP3m0hIUd9RZ4IcpmbzijYBfjoS-KaLSUDs9OAjcBUMM1CU-WXxSQ802ROpE1ImnnyDi5Q6Aha2b4/s1600/0096%252B-%252BSANTA%252BINQUISI%25C3%2587%25C3%2583O-1.JPG
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXXLIOMRJcM_9ECXTnpyGeNSQGwLAfAoGdrJnr9WR_e6T3zpBRnfLCu0KPvyX4AUwlG5UtvYZiQRy_7iQIJuy-EJEve3lLQKsw_YaPWHqZSx1RaX2YNQO_VJCN2NEhwmKbrd3AnKScisjO/s1600/0096+-+SANTA+INQUISI%C3%87%C3%83O.JPG
http://iasdverdadeeterna.blogspot.sg/2010/11/igreja-catolica-assassina-do-povo-de.html



Inquisition, Dungeon - Months and years were spent in dark dungeons, seperated from the rest of the world, waiting for martyrdom.

PHOTO: Inquisition, Arrest
Inquisition, Dungeon - Months and years were spent in dark dungeons, separated from the rest of the world, waiting for martyrdom.
Picture from Biblical and Christian images
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeB1ZyDgDgTZqYRe6oPoZo3QGvyL8VgKSAT9NrEOi7Zxnz3t8Qa5s2BbCaPbitC4qp5-jx6THrXIFk2q8PPkmiF6BCBfph1riFCHSEn3EtoZGrOz1UZ1H4JFRtzS3yzo5L1BD_HBh9Wi4/s1600/929621865.jpg
http://biblephoto.ucoz.ru/_ph/34/929621865.jpg
http://biblephoto.ucoz.ru/photo/biblejskie_kartinki/gonenija/34



Most of them highly painful and very slow, while others were used as means of interrogation. Unfortunately many people died when these devices were used, but the ones that didn't still suffered a great amount of pain and were scarred for life.



Beginning of the interrogation. Illustration. XIX.
PHOTO: Beginning of the interrogation. Illustration. XIX.
Picture by Bessonov Nicolay
Posted by Sizif  Вадим on 22 April 2012 at 00:16

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5LyviWXdzytrFP_9oe6KISDmDyxEG7yxWSJoTPQB5iKXiqyCqB8XGPelkG4Z5lSPkUp4kzPvAkY-6WItHGqe76qOqpUjSI1-o6RwSTBgUn-E26J7g4cHNwNzI90L1zksjlmKMnqyh9_4/s1600/tmpYe1jqh.jpeg
http://maxpark.com/static/u/article_image/12/04/22/tmpYe1jqh.jpeg
http://maxpark.com/community/1190/content/1317124
http://www.inquisition-art.net/eng/ispitan.htm



[1] The word ‘witch’ is usually applied to a woman who is deemed capable of performing “…some operation beyond human power by the agency of evil spirits…” (Thompson, 1927).

Two German monks called Jacob Sprenger and Heinrich Kramer composed the Malleus Maleficarum in 1486. Published by Heinrich Institutoris. a German Dominican inquisitor, it was more commonly known by its English title the ‘Hammer of the Witches’. [1]



Witch identification (Hunt)
PHOTO: Witch identification (Hunt)
The process of formally persecuting witches followed the grinding inquisitional procedure. Once accused of witchcraft, it was virtually impossible to escape conviction. After cross-examination, the victim's body was examined for the witch's mark.
The historian Walter Nigg described the process: "...she was stripped naked and the executioner shaved off all her body hair in order to seek in the hidden places of the body the sign which the devil imprinted on his cohorts.
Warts, freckles, and birthmarks were considered certain tokens of amorous relations with Satan. Should a woman show no sign of a witch's mark, guilt could still be established by methods such as sticking needles in the accused's eyes. The confession was then extracted by the hideous methods of torture already developed during earlier phases of the Inquisition.
" [5]
Picture posted by Sizif  Вадим on 22 April 2012 at 00:16 

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNjHDTuUJKDVlEbgIYcM6FO9nq05U2AUvSmxX5LML6_8FTipMlTwSv6c8oOZpQ_x-Whjo_gaOoas6qfzwZH8LpAEm4ZvzRp7uuY4E1Y27IBSRbHEkH8npWiYinRhw-WwhFGpse98Y1rP8/s1600/tmpa8czBP.jpeg
http://maxpark.com/static/u/article_image/12/04/22/tmpa8czBP.jpeg
http://maxpark.com/community/1190/content/1317124



[1] Used for hundreds of years, by both Protestant and Catholic alike it was a manual of witch identification, as well as a denunciation of superstition and demonology, and also became the hand-book of the secular courts.

The manual defined a witch, whether guilty or not, as a typically evil female. It contained explanations about why more women than men were witches.

The manual detailed how to put a witch on trial and the punishments to be meted out. Confessions were permitted to be obtained by torture . . . . . [1]



Witch identification (Hunt)
PHOTO: Witch identification (Hunt)
Large birthmarks on the body was enough to get charge of witchcraft.
"Witch Trials". Painting of the 19th century, by artist Thompkins H. Matteson.
Posted by True To Life on 22 July 2013
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw5N0EeaZFyd4KfDnrYzEwFbV4nWUb1exx9qA8uLaRE2Rxfh_K-jJQsNcIC2mFHyVhyphenhyphenrY94VNbyuw-TAGyok7NZTk1mjJWfwRaMk2NgAXAKwcgIG3CBINovm9bG1NWurfMC3As6AYk28g/s1600/1644_4.jpg
http://www.pravdazhizni.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/1644_4.jpg
http://www.pravdazhizni.com/1644.html



Witch, according to popular belief (supported by medieval Christian theologians), the woman - servant of the devil, allegedly had an uncanny ability to harm people and animals.

Attribution (in some cultures) women malicious magical power is connected, apparently, with the fight against the usual feminine principle. In medieval Europe, the Christian church, gazing at the woman is considered as a sin (lust) and as being depraved. Man tried in every way to maintain and strengthen their "purity". [2]



Finding of devil's mark. Canvas. 1995.
PHOTO: Finding of devil's mark. Canvas. 1995.
The first stage of the inquisition, accompanying the preliminary questioning was the  removal of clothes and the display and demonstration to the prisoner of what could be inflicted on them.

Pins were then stuck into every part of victims body. The excuse for this was that heretics with satanic powers are supposed to have areas of their body where they can feel no pain. The inquisitors claimed that they are searching for such areas! This painful procedure made it necessary to use some form of bondage to immobilise the victim.

The bondage itself is used as a form of torture. In its persecution of Cathars the inquisition targeted women in particular. Many women were Cathar Perfects. Other Women hosted Cathar ceremonies. One of the first tortures applied was the gripping of sensitive areas with red hot tongs. Nipples and the clitoris were favoured targets.
Texts posted by ximene.net, http://ximene.net/home/research-topics/history/genocide-in-occitan/the-holy-inquisition/
Picture by Bessonov Nicolay
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvypN2H3KP8bOTYfckSqe3juzRuccTXH8tAZF3TKEbeAJHk6Vq80Z49pMemf-lOZpeIp_-0zc-GdmvzJL5j4gbaryooPZPWXSTyrDcFw_chggddw_lZBfBTBtO5zkI6wAFgx0d4dXN_BA/s1600/probe-01.jpg
http://www.inquisition-art.net/gallery/probe-01.jpg
http://www.inquisition-art.net/eng/gallery/gallery05_01.htm



Witch signs, may take the form of extra breasts (polymastia) or nipples (polythelia), hemorrhoidal cones, warts and so on. Wart can be interpreted by the Inquisition as "the nipple of Satan", for feeding the demons.


Medieval inquisitors in the witch trials routinely stripped an accused witch of clothing and shaved all body hair so that no potential mark could be hidden. Pins were driven into scars, calluses and thickened areas of skin: the practice of “pricking a witch”. Customarily, this routine was performed in front of a large crowd. Medieval inquisitors also believed that the Devil left invisible marks upon his followers. If after stripping and shaving, the accused witch was found to have no likely blemishes, pins were simply driven into her body until an insensitive area was found. The search for witches' marks had disappeared by 1700.


Medieval inquisitor stripped an accused witch to find the Devil's marks

PHOTO: Medieval inquisitor stripped an accused witch to find the Devil's marks
The entire body was suspect as a canvas for a mark, an indicator of a pact with Satan. Witches’ marks were commonly believed to include moles, scars, birthmarks, skin tags, supernumerary nipples, natural blemishes and insensitive patches of skin. Experts, or inquisitors, firmly believed that a witches’ mark could be easily identified.
Picture posted by COVEN DIGITAL 

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb9qojVbLkWWC363n7uOBI8hI12OLsQKvmqiTeoZFaROBtBEebPyaYLyc32VWE0xVEA7YH5LqqafkMVUaqPGt5HV0a7Lq8GN2WBtX0_Z2hEpzQFR_pCc1LvUTo5GX8Y4cXlOP8n6xWRec/s1600/0047+-+SANTA+INQUISI%25C3%2587%25C3%2583O.JPG
http://files.covendigital.webnode.com.br/200000083-0c4b60d457/0047%20-%20SANTA%20INQUISI%C3%87%C3%83O.JPG
http://covendigital.webnode.com.br/inquisi%C3%A7%C3%A3o/



In England witch hunting would reach its apex in 1644 to 1647 due to the work of Matthew Hopkins.

PHOTO: In England witch hunting would reach its apex in 1644 to 1647 due to the work of Matthew Hopkins. Although operating without an official Parliament commission, Hopkins (calling himself Witchfinder General) and his accomplices charged hefty fees to towns during the English Civil War. Hopkins' witch hunting spree was brief but impressive: 300 convictions and deaths are attributed to his work.[42] Hopkins wrote a book on his methods, describing his fortuitous beginnings as a witch hunter, the methods used to extract confessions, and the creative tests he employed to test the accused: stripping them naked to find the Witches' mark, the "swimming" test, and pricking the skin.
Texts from Wikipedia, Witch-hunt, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch-hunt
Picture posted by Jeremy Forson on Wednesday, 24 November 2010, That’s Witchcraft’!
Painting by Jos. A. Smith titled, Innocent Have I Been Tortured

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp2Itz8bcze4uBG6fbAg4Jo-2EdV70e0QbSGtIJcBBvqJaWFCb7qqHiHKjJSmPBpLHzR9J5EP5pCbJUKSd1kYuWdSgl2rOcf28rL0KcnBrCFh9mTaPhecaZfu0V_c68AbC1kU1vxAXjlA/s1600/IMG_0238-1.png
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcV_2hGfvDUlhcTRuqy3rvvnPCa0ZtoO1aEWhq7v-tjpe7RRWoxC7wxg5x9wjOJ-1s_abh72OzXsZrh6YsU6YbB2ceEkfEFHI1ahNCs7g2_4T4Sk6GYluGe4ijvPK0mC6ATFgyYqbQ8kVM/s1600/IMG_0238.JPG
http://jeremyforson.blogspot.sg/2010_11_01_archive.html



Defendant went through hunger, cold and poor hygiene conditions. The strongest victims, who remained firm in their faith and principles that the Roman Church did not accept, were "given the opportunity" to go through the torture. Many of the techniques were created or copied from military practices. The tortures were applied before a senior representative of the church, to see whether the victim renounce their faith and accept the faith of the Roman church. If this still did not produce the favourable result, the defendant was then further punished by the executioner without mercy, and subsequently burnt on the stake.



Torture with pointed object

PHOTO: Torture with pointed object
The 1975 film Story of O (an erotic film) from which Jos. A. Smith referenced his painting, Innocent Have I Been Tortured
This meant that anything from a birthmark or a mole could provide the inquisitor with damning evidence that you were part of a satanic pact.
Picture posted by Dennis Dread on Wednesday, 06 November 2013
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB77ZQnqlFeMSIOvXSBJLBPuJbWX1x83z4L5GqmWddGeC6Q0nm_-qAOnaVXZGvPcej3snDrUziQ915fEQ5L5GPWXZpyxUIb4R9u743PEht0IptFGuAq8I4jIZHvTAvVMSbLUUXmdlJevM/s1600/Story%252Bof%252BO%252B3-11.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSVLJnJSiOUhrao9fP6G545njRSzuDkyvelGrINoXwMOBbOThpOuB9MQYC-jQg2vOOyMhKGskMGdtbZmqGFk4OvldfkSZgfXxdWUsc1gkTdU0RZYwXbD68seFzocAhWziqvKA7OfD_01s/s1600/Story+of+O+3.jpg
http://dennisdread.blogspot.sg/2013/11/the-occult-roots-of-metal-iconography.html



In the Middle Ages it was believed that every witch has on her body a special sign ("V"). Such signs were called witch characters. The word "V" at the beginning - from the verb "to know",  probably meant a wise, knowledgeable woman. According to legends, "V" women usually hide their harmful activities and looks no different from the others.

Hundreds of thousands of innocent women were burned at the stake during the "V" Inquisition period (15-17 cc.).



Water-ordeal. Engraving. XVII.
PHOTO: Water-ordeal. Engraving. XVII.
The accused had their hands and feet tied together. They were then thrown into water. If they floated they were guilty but if they sank they were innocent. 
Picture by Bessonov Nicolay
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivLq7CIx3nkAzDkRcV3W-nTE-ZxvevnjJcRrdQLl40JsWKiTU4xVON09lmN67hP4vVqZvkeHv3RkY-T9n4h2l2a-91Lhq_arnWNRyu1_iVKFsGeB0gPxQ2-ZSlDYxyIoYKrbvqqFk4X98/s1600/probe-01-1.jpg
http://www.inquisition-art.net/images/ispitanie/probe-01.jpg
http://www.inquisition-art.net/eng/ispitan.htm



In 17th Century, scientists like Issac Newton, Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek and Pascal came into prominence. They made tremendous contribution in field of astronomy, mathematics, physics and biology. [7]

At the same time King James I of England got interested in science (actually pseudoscience, a collection of  beliefs or practices) of Witchcraft. He travelled to other countries of Europe to understand how they dealt with witches. He wrote a book called Daemonologie in which he approves and supports the practice of witch hunting. James personally supervised the torture of women accused of being witches.

James came up with his own version of Physics, which was quite different from Physics studied by Issac Newton. James believed that water was purest of elements and therefore repelled guilty. Now if a lady accused of witchcraft, was indeed a witch, then water will repel her and she will start floating. If she was not a witch, she will drown. So if witch somehow managed to escape drowning, then she was declared witch and was put to death!

So for witch, it was thankless situation, if she was innocent, she will drown to death, if she survived; she was declared witch and then put to death. Such stupid theories were not confined to Europeans; their Americans counterparts matched them in ignorance. In Salem Witch trials around twenty people were executed after they were accused of witchcraft. Indian version of witch is called as Daayan. There are elaborate rituals to get rid of Daayan. [7]



Before a water-ordeal. Drawing. 2000.
PHOTO: Before a water-ordeal. Drawing. 2000.
The defendant was bound in the fetal position before thrown into a body of water.  
Picture by Bessonov Nicolay
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhid309Wp9yIPJ57rC9e8wEJX9C4dvGBNNRjEMITTs63Gl-vzNgNoM51NCCn7pheaesMMxIH2LvBERuyHJjURa2PsSGL1V0mSEs3hca-4kENN1ofVCELSWTAlIr0aDD3cTfGgVNB4tfbqI/s1600/probe-02.jpg
http://www.inquisition-art.net/gallery/probe-02.jpg
http://www.inquisition-art.net/eng/gallery/gallery05_02.htm



Trial by water [6]
The defendant was bound in the fetal position and thrown into a body of water. Contrary to popular belief, those that sank weren’t drowned but were hauled out of the water, and those that floated didn’t float because they could swim: If he or she floated, they were guilty, and if they sank, they were presumed innocent.

This was the most common ordeal undergone in the New World, and was seen during the time of the Salem witch trials. A surprisingly high number of people were deemed “innocent” by this method, but it was largely the younger women and the men who were exonerated (acquit) in these trials. Their lower body fat levels probably helped them sink down in the water. [6]


 
Water-ordeal. Drawing. 2001.
PHOTO: Water-ordeal. Drawing. 2001.
James 1 of England came up with his own version of Physics, which was quite different from Physics studied by Issac Newton. James believed that water was purest of elements and therefore repelled guilty. Now if a lady accused of witchcraft, was indeed a witch, then water will repel her and she will start floating. If she was not a witch, she will drown. So if witch somehow managed to escape drowning, then she was declared witch and was put to death!
Picture by Bessonov Nicolay 
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT6vb70RlJQ2SK3IXTy5ibhJlcvF6jHscNS0Ql3uKkaUi7vuOQCWQHrHERdyx9m4ILoOciYNiqSz0Y0VrdOOGcG0QX7MBo-kht1kgy0uG0jrBmp_T_yIFpRZpdo5P12pqvJymm745J27E/s1600/probe-03.jpg
http://www.inquisition-art.net/gallery/probe-03.jpg
http://www.inquisition-art.net/eng/gallery/gallery05_03.htm


[1] Witchcraft was suppose to have originated in anciently held heretical beliefs such as Catharism, the Waldensians , Gnosticism, and Manichaeism. The charge of heresy was allegedly based on the dualist concept of the struggle between good and evil.

The belief was that the Devil and witches were party to a diabolical pact whereas in truth “…witchcraft is a Christian heresy…” (Robbins, 1959). The pursuit of witches, their hunting down and subsequent trials and executions can often be traced to panic, popular delusion, and social and mass hysteria. [1]


Famous execution methods: Burning at stake [8]
Burning at the stake was a capital punishment method mostly used in the Middle Ages. This type of execution was usually preceded by a long torture(with different devices and instruments) and was a common way to punish blasphemers, thieves and witches, but it was also practiced for adultery and murder. Those who were in favor of burning at stake believed that it was a good way to scare and keep people from committing crimes.

There was, however, a law that required strangulating the person before burning them at stake, but there were many cases when victims were deliberately slowly burned alive. Approximately 200,000 people were burned at the stake for witchcraft because people believed that such an act would cleanse the soul of the condemned heretic; however, it was also a punishment since it meant that those condemned lost the body they would have taken into the afterlife.
[8]

 

At stakes. Burning of witches
PHOTO: At stakes. Burning of witches
Burning at the stake was a capital punishment method mostly used in the Middle Ages. 
Picture by Bessonov Nicolay. At stakes. Canvas. 1994.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAyg0wL66VDeAoibGLSk1R_k-NCUJ_Q3ELS6GTb_7uZN_kdNuErkFvndDBovPBLifV961GYAYLgOXqosJycCIr5dhzrDMcUhrEnS0nEzNudJ9HyHF0JrxRkTVFSw0QixrocL707RtZqmk/s1600/burning-n02.jpg
http://www.inquisition-art.net/gallery/burning-n02.jpg
http://www.inquisition-art.net/eng/gallery/gallery08_05.htm



A stake was erected for the victim on a spot designed for the following execution and around the stake piles of straw and wood were placed. The victim had their clothes removed and dressed in a shirt imbibed in sulphur; then the executioner would bound them to the stakes. After this, the fire was lit and the victim burned to death. [8]

There were different ways of burning at the stake: the first method used a heap of faggots piled around a wooden stake (it seems that British and Spanish Inquisition had a special preference for this method because of its visual impact). Unfortunately for the victim, this was an extremely agonizing death because they were alive for a long time before the fire reached the head. The second method was more “humane” as it led to a quicker death since the victim died from carbon monoxide poisoning before suffering extreme pain. The third method involved a ladder with the victim tied on it, which was let down onto the fire. [8]


[1] In pursuit of their Satanic quest witches are “…said to make two covenants with the devil, one public and one private.” (Scott, 1865). Demons are perceived to be fallen angels, an incubus or a succubus, malevolent revenants and ghosts, ancestral spirits or lost souls, as well as vampires and spectres.

Therefore the term ‘demoniac’, from the Latin daemoniacus, means possessed by an evil spirit, a supernatural power. Arising out of this came the belief that witches regularly participated in obscene satanic gatherings. Assemblies to which they flew through the air to reaffirm their allegiance to the Devil. [1]



Sentenced to death by burning at the stake
PHOTO: Sentenced to death by burning at the stake
A stake was erected for the victim on a spot designed for the following execution and around the stake piles of straw and wood were placed. The victim had their clothes removed and dressed in a shirt imbibed in sulphur; then the executioner would bound them to the stakes. 
She was taken from the hurdle and secured to a stake, set in the ground a few yards from the gallows, by an iron chain around her body. A cord was put round her neck and passed through a hole bored in the stake, for the purpose of strangling her, in accordance with the normal practice of the time. Two cartloads of faggots (bundles of dry brushwood) were piled around her and at the signal the fire was lit.

After this, the fire was lit and the victim burned to death. [8]
Picture by Bessonov Nicolay. Sentenced to death. Drawing. 1992.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4lOa-uNz09i9bdNb7udOrnZ35iFKfjFcs1vmGHF4oiW08TnlxO2Jjg91SyPivsUTmcXGIOG1XjNveNnC4Gll0-gota-AHxI7JsPvZBFWqoVyw6YN5c72ThQX67oCe21arZdAl_JbUgBk/s1600/burning-n01.jpg
http://www.inquisition-art.net/gallery/burning-n01.jpg
http://www.inquisition-art.net/eng/gallery/gallery08_04.htm



Skillful Cruelty [8]
There were different methods that were known to shorten the sufferings of the condemned person: the executioner placed a large iron bar that would have pushed against the victims and killed them faster or he placed gunpowder in the wood or at the victim’s neck to be sure of a quick death. However, the most fortunate were strangled to death before being burned. 

Other executioners were ordered to prolong their victim’s suffering and they managed to do this by making the fire burn progressively(with green wood) from the calves to the face. There were records of victims that agonized over 2 hours before death.  Some were simultaneously strangled and burned while others were only burned after being hanged for some time. [8]

[1] During the period around 1560 to 1680 attitudes toward and opinions concerning witchcraft varied according to religious persuasion. The popular concept of witchcraft that is pre-eminent is derived from the Old testament and the tenets of early Christianity.

This ethic proposed that evil was associated with the devil as a manifestation of the eternal conflict between good and evil. In early Modern Europe belief in witchcraft led to wide-spread persecution of witches based on the belief that it represented a diabolical conspiracy against established Christianity. [1]


Famous people burned at stake: Giordano Bruno,  Thomas Cranmer, Joan of Arc, Girolamo Savonarola, and Patrick Hamilton. [8]


Joan of Arc – A poor peasant girl, who at a very young age rose from obscurity to shape the course of French and European history.
PHOTO: So-called heretics often resulted in torture and execution. Thousands of people were imprisoned and burned at the stake.
From “Joan of Arc Biography“, Oxford, UK – www.biographyonline.net, 21 October 2013
Picture from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Joan of Arc's Death at the Stake, by Hermann Stilke (1843)

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp6maSdJMaOsMdizm-lVCGBaCLY4dd7VKg1xRse97vNh-fzwqbVxctlHfRSBA8xMmAEpG21TnhyeX9dU_kxTAFwHE2VRHpJ5OqQaJwBQZeITW9tp2tjr9uFUFHcDQ9lRS7nCocfLbFopc/s1600/Stilke_Hermann_Anton_-_Joan_of_Arc's_Death_at_the_Stake.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Stilke_Hermann_Anton_-_Joan_of_Arc%27s_Death_at_the_Stake.jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stilke_Hermann_Anton_-_Joan_of_Arc%27s_Death_at_the_Stake.jpg
https://www.biographyonline.net/women/joan-of-arc.html



[1] It was by selling one’s soul to the devil (Satan) that one became a witch. Contemporary illustrations of the Devil often portrayed him as a horned goat-like figure complete with cloven feet and a tail. Satanism is the ‘dark side of Christianity’. Organised groups of Satanists in the middle of the 20th century included the Ophite Cultus Satanas and the Church of Satan.

It was also widely believed that female witches also copulated with either ‘demon lovers’ and incubi, or with Satan himself. [1] Torture by wedges. [9] The brodequin was used to crush the legs by tightening the device by hand, or using a mallet for knocking in the wedges to smash the bones until the bone marrow spurted out. People who passed out were further condemned as the losing of consciousness to be a trick from the Devil in order to escape pain. [9]



Torture by wedges. Illustration. XIX.
PHOTO: Brodequin  (The Boots)
Instead of innocent until proven guilty, it was guilty until proven innocent.
Torture by wedges. Illustration. XIX.
Posted by Arthur on 05 January 2014

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http://ribalych.ru/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/236.jpg
http://ribalych.ru/2014/01/05/kak-kaznili-poslednyuyu-vedmu/



The Strappado is a form of torture in which the victim's hands are first tied behind his or her back and suspended in the air by means of a rope attached to wrists, which most likely dislocates both arms. Weights may be added to the body to intensify the effect and increase the pain. Other names for strappado include "reverse hanging" and "Palestinian hanging" (although it is not used by the Palestinian Authority) It is best known for its use in the torture chambers of the medieval Inquisition.



Inquisition by Nicolay Bessonov, Interrogation.
PHOTO: Inquisition by Nicolay Bessonov, Interrogation.
Germany girl tortured by a strappado. Canvas. 1992.
Texts posted by Anna Olvera on 30 March 2015 at 9:10pm
Picture posted by marie-aline poignant, shared publicly on 16 April 2014

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https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-NO-9zm5ttgw/U01rLiv9yrI/AAAAAAAAFes/R0RnGTFAXMI/s2560/torture-01.jpg
https://plus.google.com/photos/103490645297034786268/albums/6002571502262982145



One of the torture devices during the Spanish Inquisition and medieval ages, this is probably one of the most gruesome of them all. The victim is put astride, naked, on a donkey-like apparatus, which is actually a vertical wooden board with a sharp V-wedge on top of it. After that, the torturer would add varying weights to the victim’s feet until finally the wedge sliced through the victim’s body.



Wooden Horse/Spanish Donkey
PHOTO: Wooden Horse/Spanish Donkey
Torture by "Spanish ass" in 1647. Drawing. 2001.
Posted by marie-aline poignant, shared publicly on 16 April 2014

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https://plus.google.com/photos/103490645297034786268/albums/6002571502262982145



The Rack
It is a torture device consisting of a rectangular, usually wooden frame, slightly raised from the ground, with a roller at one or both ends. The victim's ankles are fastened to one roller and the wrists are chained to the other. As the interrogation progresses, a handle and ratchet mechanism attached to the top roller are used to very gradually increase the tension on the chains, inducing excruciating pain.



The Rack
PHOTO: The Rack
Posted by Anna Olvera on 30 March 2015 at 9:10pm
 

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http://moviepilot.com/posts/2015/03/30/the-25-most-unimaginable-medieval-torture-devices-2820059?lt_source=external,manual,manual,manual



By means of pulleys and levers this roller could be rotated on its own axis, thus straining the ropes until the sufferer's joints were dislocated and eventually separated. Additionally, if muscle are stretched excessively, they lose their ability to contract, rendering them ineffective. One gruesome aspect of being stretched too far on the rack is the loud popping noises made by snapping cartilage, ligaments or bones.
 

The Rack
PHOTO: The Rack
The victim's ankles are fastened to one roller and the wrists are chained to the other. As the interrogation progresses, a handle and ratchet mechanism attached to the top roller are used to very gradually increase the tension on the chains, inducing excruciating pain. 
Posted by Anna Olvera on 30 March 2015 at 9:10pm 
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http://moviepilot.com/posts/2015/03/30/the-25-most-unimaginable-medieval-torture-devices-2820059?lt_source=external,manual,manual,manual

 


When resident of Swiss city, Glarus Anna Göldi was hired as a maid in the house of a local judge Jakob Tschudi, she did not know that soon she will go down in history in a very sad way: to be the last woman in the history of Europe executed on charges of witchcraft.

It is not surprising that the witch hunt in the country had acquired an unprecedented scale: in the XV to XVIII centuries, based on the number of people executed in Switzerland, there were ten times more witches than in France and twice as much in Germany.



The Stretching Rack, the torturer and his victim
PHOTO: The Stretching Rack, the torturer and his victim
Torture Rack Scenes, where women were stretched on torture racks or otherwise hung by their wrists. This  intense scene in which a naked woman was stretched with 4 separate ropes tied to her limbs, each attached to 4 separate poles. The woman sweating, got stretched on the horizontal rack by a committee of inquisitors, while she grimaces in pain (until passed out). Her arms are taut, and she may mostly be in a spread-eagled position. she writhes helplessly while being tortured with some sort of futuristic electro-prod.
Also called the "Chevalet" or the "Torture Rack" (in German: "Streckbank" or "Folterbank").
Posted by reocities.com
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http://www.reocities.com/hollywood/studio/3015/stretch01.jpg
http://www.reocities.com/hollywood/studio/3015/stretch.htm



This device is  a very old invention. In former  Egypt and  Babylon it was used for torture but also for a cruel capital punishment. In Europe the rack was a very important part in every torture - chamber. As late as to the 18th century it was regularly used to gain confessions from the accused. It appears that even today some countries outside of Europe are using this device.



Witch hunt, Water Torture
PHOTO: Witch hunt, Water Torture
The victim's nostrils were pinched shut, and eight quarts of fluid were poured down the victim's throat through a funnel. Other techniques included forcing a cloth down the throat, while pouring water, which made a swallowing reflex pushing it further down into the stomach producing all the agonies of suffocation by drowning until the victim lost consciousness. Instead of water, the torture was sometimes conducted with boiling water or vinegar.

Death occurs from distention or rupturing of the stomach. One of the many cases recorded by the Inquisition, was in 1598 concerning a captured man, who was accused of being a werewolf and "possessed by a demon" while in prison. The official report states only that he had such a thirst that he drank a large tubful of water so that his belly was "distended and hard", and then later died. [5]
Picture posted by Arthur on 05 January 2014
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoTd_d2lJwYg6mxTVxw3eMyS4z6o8jLhB8v3RnqCOvmc5x7XI0OyL5tLskoYhrss55LZgGb0tIFs7avqoVf5ydxFrHOhhc41PtBPKKjmHxhuMmGvN7qaoxeCEqIE3ENsQexzmqcwjc0U8/s1600/178.jpg
http://ribalych.ru/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/178.jpg
http://ribalych.ru/2014/01/05/kak-kaznili-poslednyuyu-vedmu/



The Inquisition wanted to “save” heretics:  preventing them from “sinning” by any means necessary, even if it means they end up tortured, locked in dungeons or dead. [3]



he Inquisition torturing an accused witch (19th century print of uncertain origin)
PHOTO: The Inquisition torturing an accused witch (19th century print of uncertain origin)
The Inquisition had powers of arrest and incarceration without trial. The format of the inquisition was to ask a whole series of inconsequential questions about beliefs, family, neighbours or recent events. The process of intimidation included stripping those under interrogation of all their clothes. This was an integral part  of Guzman’s plan, to make those questioned feel vulnerable.

Whilst these initial questions are being answered the instruments of torture were displayed and demonstrated to the prisoner.

Heretics and non believers were allowed to recant or convert in return for information about friends family and acquaintances, but it was a last chance. If a lapse then was identified there were no limits to the torture which might be applied. [4]
Picture by Painter and Writer Nicolay Bessonov

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOlayqX7ymiCiuGNN1ZWzFtThjS26HSmmIuqesprGXNsmoJlN8zA2g1h-rV9xjK5jgarxbJmgYtCsaWsjHf9CaW4nwjMla5zvuxioRWEIgiPO086PDabzMZJdijbZfBe1gu0SvFT4Jh3o/s1600/exibition-001.jpg
http://www.inquisition-art.net/images/z-new1/exibition-001.jpg
http://www.inquisition-art.net/exibition-1-eng.htm



The witch inquisitor had become a powerful and skillful psychoanalyst. He had to work with the unconscious woman; you have to imagine the complexity of the task. Carefully orchestrated, the painful ritual of medieval inquisitors helped free up the necessary information and read cryptography (
the art of writing or solving codes) on the soul of women. [2]

Rack and simple pliers for pulling out nails - those are the necessary tools, without which a medieval inquisitor could not penetrate the veil of women's "ego". [2]



The Chair
PHOTO: The Chair
The victim could be constrained in several different ways in “the chair”. The spikes are designed to bruise but not penetrate the flesh. Placing women upside down in this chair left their clitoris and vagina open to attack. Similar treatment for men exposed their penis and testes. [4]
Picture from Diary posted on Monday, 23 June 2014 at 23:39
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http://img0.liveinternet.ru/images/attach/c/11/114/364/114364772_RSSRRyo_RRRSR__8_.jpg
http://www.liveinternet.ru/users/gobo/rubric/5307867/



Wheel of Compassion
PHOTO: Wheel of Compassion
The defendant was tied with his back against the outside of the wheel. Under the wheel, were glowing coals. The executioner, turning the wheel slowly, causing the defendant to "roast". In other cases, instead of coals, wood was placed underneath the body, then  turning slowly and continuously the body was scratched terribly. This punishment took place in England, Holland and Germany, from 1100 to 1700, and was intended to punish the "heretics."

Text from Santa Inquisicao,   http://santainquisicaocatolica.blogspot.sg/
Picture posted in pagan paths, Ephemeris on 5 December 2009
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https://lecheminsouslesbuis.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/sorcieres-0011.jpg
https://lecheminsouslesbuis.wordpress.com/tag/inquisition/



Wheel of Compassion, The Wheel
PHOTO: Wheel of Compassion, The Wheel
The wheel was one of the most popular and insidious methods of torture and execution practiced. The giant spiked wheel was able to break bodies as it rolled forward, causing the most agonizing and drawn-out death. Other forms include the "braided" wheel, where the victim would be tied to the execution dock or platform. Their limbs were spread and tied to stakes or iron rings on the ground. Slices of wood were placed under the main joints, wrists, ankles, knees, hips, and elbows. The executioner would then smash every joint with the iron-tyred edge of the wheel--however the executioner would avoid fatal blows to give the victim a painful death.

According to a German chronicler, the victim was transformed into a huge screaming puppet writhing in their own blood. It looked like a sea monster with four tentacles, and raw slimy shapeless flesh, mixed with splinters of bone. After the smashing had taken place the victim would literally be "braided" into the wheel and hung horizontally at the top of the pole. [5]
Picture posted by Jeremy Forson on Wednesday, 24 November 2010, That’s Witchcraft’!
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http://jeremyforson.blogspot.sg/2010_11_01_archive.html



Witches, Myths and Realities
PHOTO: Witches, Myths and Realities
The pounding of the spleen, Watercolour Gaston Vuillier, End nineteenth century, city of Tulle, Museum of the Cloister
The tragic history of witches, women convicted on hearsay or bad reputation, at a time when the West was shaken by natural disasters (plague of 1348), the Hundred Years War, and wars heresies Religion. In the seventeenth century, in the Age of Reason, hundreds of witches sent to the stake after summary trials conducted by judges obsessed by the devil.
Texts posted in artoftheday.info
Picture posted in Art Absolument

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http://www.artabsolument.com/en/default/exhibition/detail/1198//Sorcieres-mythes-et-realites.html



Reflecting on the facts, and understanding such events occurred "under the law," one can clearly understand how Thomas Hobbes (this is a contemporary biography) came to the conclusions about "man in a state of nature."


". . . . . . Born free, in a state of nature, the individual might end up in chains, in an unjust society. Conservative writers thought that governments should be strong, and accordingly they tended to emphasize the horrors of life in a state of nature. . . . . . . " [10]

"If man is capable of such violence and inhumanity in a state of civilization, what is he capable of when there is no laws, and no society?" - (Author: Carole D. Bos, J.D) [5]

Reflection - Inquisition, Unimaginable Medieval Torture

Posted by Anna Olvera on 30 March 2015 at 9:10pm


 
Reference
 
[1] Witchcraft and Witches, posted by Eric Edwards on 16 September 2014 at 8:56 am, https://ericwedwards.wordpress.com/2014/09/16/witchcraft/

[2] Witch, witches, witches .............., Posted by diary on Monday, 23 June 2014 at 3:39, http://www.liveinternet.ru/users/gobo/rubric/5307867/

[3] Rescued To Death, Posted by Maggie McNeill on 23 May 2014, https://maggiemcneill.wordpress.com/2014/05/23/rescued-to-death/


[5] The Horrors of The Church and its Holy Inquisition, from TheChristianEnterprise Website, http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/vatican/esp_vatican29.htm

[6] A History of "Trial By Ordeal", Posted by Mental Floss on 19 April 2013 at 1:00pm, http://mentalfloss.com/article/50161/history-trial-ordeal

[7] Scientists, Witchcraft and Ordeal by Water, Posted by Rajan Kasture (Vivify) on 3 February 2015, https://vivifychangecatalyst.wordpress.com/2015/02/03/scientists-witchcraft-and-ordeal-by-water/

[8] Famous execution methods: Burning at stake, Posted by Abigail Smycken on Wednesday, 1 June 2011, http://curioustendency.blogspot.sg/2011/05/famous-execution-methods-burning-at.html#.VbIBE7WYQz8

[9] The Inquisition: A History of Christian Torture, Mass Murder and Destruction of Human Life, http://see_the_truth.webs.com/Inquisition.html

[10] ORIGIN OF SOCIETY, Thomas Hobbes, http://www.uboeschenstein.ch/texte/kuper.html
 

Robbins, R. H.  (1959).  Introduction.  Encyclopaedia of Witchcraft and DemonologyPeter Newell Ltd, London.

Scott, Sir W.  (1885).  Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft.  Scotland.



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