Torquemada, the infamous torturer of the Spanish Inquisition, was known to favor a stretching rack known as a potoro. He or she was stretched until his or her joints dislocated, then left there or slackened and allowed to hang underneath the horse while an inquisitor or judge questioned the victim and tried to get a confession. Pulleys below tightened ropes affixed to the victim’s hands and feet. The victim was tied to a beam on the top (the horse’s “back”), facing up. It was a wooden device that vaguely resembled an actual horse in shape. Eventually, the fire was extinguished by the downpour of blood as the victim’s limbs were torn free. A fire was lit beneath the wheel, adding to the torture. In one story, a Christian youth was tied to a wheel and his joints destroyed by the stretching. Such torture was known as being “broken on the rack,” “racked,” or “stretched on the rack.” It could be combined with other forms of torture to make things even more painful. Continued pressure could cause the limbs to be torn right off. It came in many forms, but here’s the basic idea: The victim is tied down while some mechanical device, usually a crank or turning wheel, tightens the ropes, stretching the victim’s body until the joints are dislocated. The rack was used throughout Europe for centuries.
#MEDIEVAL TORTURE DEVICES PLUS#
Up next, a very old and very familiar medieval torture device, plus some variations on a theme. A Scottish man brought a set home with him and introduced them to the United Kingdom. Thumbscrews supposedly originated with the Russian army as a punishment for misbehaving soldiers. The thumbscrews were an elaboration of an earlier device known as the pilliwinks, which could crush all 10 fingers and resembled a nutcracker. A screw pressed the wood bar downward, crushing the thumbs painfully. A wooden bar slid down along the metal bars, pressing the thumbs against the bottom. The device consisted of three upright metal bars, between which the thumbs were placed. You weren’t likely to die from their use, but they created unendurable agony. Thumbscrews represent a very insidious form of torture. By some reports, Phalaris himself became an eventual victim of the bull when his subjects grew tired of his mistreatment Expecting a handsome reward for his creativity, Perillus instead became the first person placed inside the Brazen Bull. This effect created additional amusement for the audience, and served the added benefit of distancing them from the brutality of the torture, since they couldn’t directly see the victim.Legend has it that this device was invented by a Greek named Perillus (Perilaus in some sources) for a tyrant named Phalaris of Agrigentum.
The movements and sounds, muted by the bull’s mass, made the apparatus appear alive, the sounds inside like those of a real bull. As the victim succumbed to the searing heat inside, he would thrash about and scream in agony.
Victims were placed inside, usually with their tongues cut out first. The Brazen Bull was a hollow brass statue crafted to resemble a real bull.
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