The Inquisition - A Pictorial History

The Judas Chair: This was a large pyramid-shaped "seat." Accused heretics were placed on top of it, with the point inserted into their anuses or genitalia, then very, very slowly lowered onto the point with ropes. The effect was to gradually stretch out the opening of choice in an extremely painful manner.When we seat you upon this throne, made not for rulers, but instead for the sinful wretches, you will confess all. With the belt locked about your waist, you will be hoisted above the chair and lowered onto its point. Whether quickly or slowly, this depends upon your willingness to repent. Where the point is placed also depends upon the evil you have enacted. For some of you it may the anus, others the genetalia, whether it be the opening of the woman's hole or beneath the man's scrotum, or perhaps it will be the spine which falls victim. For those who are strong with the devil and do not wish to speak, you will be dropped repeatedly onto the spike, or rocked back and forth to speed the entrance of its tip into your flesh. If you are still not swayed, weights will be shackled to your belt or limbs. We needn't speak of the resulting pain.

The Wheel: Heretics are strapped to a big ol' wheel, and their bones are clubbed into shards. Not very creative, but quite effective.The combination of pain and the longevity of this sentence will be the most severe that you can endure. It begins with a wheel and its iron rim. You will be tied to stakes, naked and spread out upon the ground, where triangular blocks of wood will be placed beneath each of your joints. One by one, we will smash them to splinters with the rim of the wheel, from your wrist to elbow,shoulder to hip, knee to ankle, and then the bones between. This will be done with caution, so as not to accidentally inflict a fatal blow and release you from your penance. Then, your shattered limbs will be woven through the spokes of the wheel which was your destruction, and bound in place. You will be hoisted up, and left to bake in the sun or freeze in the snow, and left as food for the scavenging birds who will pick your eyes from their sockets as you watch. Death will not come peacefully or soon.
"The victim is transformed into a sort of huge screaming puppet writhing in rivulets of blood, a puppet with four tentacles, like a sea monster, of raw, slimy and shapeless flesh mixed up with splinters of smashed bones."
-Newsletter, Hamburg, 12th June 1607

The Iron Maiden Of Nuremberg Germany: "The maiden was a tomb-sized container with folding doors. Upon the inside of the door were vicious spikes. As the prisoner was shut inside he would be pierced along the length of his body. The talons were not designed to kill outright, however, and the pinioned prisoner was left to slowly perish in the utmost pain". It is difficult to separate legend from fact concerning this contrivance because most published material is based on nineteenth century research distorted by romanticisms and by fanciful popular tradition. The first reference to an execution with the Maiden that has yet come to light stems from August 14, 1515, although the instrument had been in use for several decades by then. That day a forger of coins was placed inside, and the doors shut “slowly, so that the very sharp points penetrated his arms, and his legs in several places, and his belly and chest, and his bladder and the root of his member, and his eyes, and his shoulders, and his buttocks, but not enough to kill him; and so he remained making great cry and lament for two days, after which he died”. Probably the spikes of that time were movable among various sockets drilled into different places on the inside, more or less lethal, more or less mutilating, according to the requirements of the sentence.

The Cage: is a means of deterrment as much as torture. By leaving your festering, wretched body, and before too long - corpse, on display for the public to see, they will know the fate of those who do wrong.
After your body has been tortured, it will be hung, naked, for all to see in the public square. If it is winter, the cold snow and rain will perhaps induce fever, or if you are fortunate, hypothermia. In the summer, your flesh will be blistered from your unprotected body by the sun. In either case, lack of food and water will only enhance your body's weakened state, making you more vulnerable to diseases which seek to infect your wounds.
When you are at last dead, the birds of the sky will pick the rotted flesh from your bones. Bones which will hang for some time to come to remind all of your sinsA zealous observer might notice the short chain and neck shackle which force you to remain standing, lest you be suffocated. Though inevitably, your limbs will tire from exhaustion and lack of food and water, or you will no longer be able to remain awake. This is when your sin tainted body will at last give up its soul.

Disembowlment: Not the nice kind of disembowelment, where a samurai slits you wide open like a fish and you die in moments. No, that's not good enough for the Inquisition. A small hole is cut in the gut, then the intestines are drawn out slowly and carefully, keeping the victim alive for as much of the process as possible. Quite a messy method of execution, though, because of the sensations you realize before you decease, a popular one. You will be staked to the ground, unable to move, with a device much like a spit placed over you. In the center of your belly, we make a small incision. By small, this of course means only large enough for the hand of your executioner to reach in and grab your intestines. This must be done carefully, so as not to destroy any organs which might cause your death to be premature. Once in hand, a small portion of your entrails will be hooked to the rotating pole, which is then slowly turned until all of your viscera are wrapped about its length. We must inform you, that the feeling of your body being hollowed of its life bearing oragans and tissue is quite horrific, and you will live through most of this process.

Impaling: One of the most popular forms of mass execution, for many can be performed and displayed in a smaal area due to its vertical nature. It will consist of a long spike, either wood or iron, being inserted into your anus. It will then either be forced in further by method of rope and pulley, or by having the spike tilted to an upright state. In this instance, your body's own weight will cause further impalement, until at last the spike's tip exits the body. Commonly shown are visions where the pole will exit through a victims mouth, but due to the precision of such a feat, it is more like ly that this will not be the case with you. You can expect for the exit puncture to be around your shoulder, as is most common. Depending upon the entry angle, and the movement of your body after the spike is erected, however, it is not unlikely that it will exit through the abdomen. Because of the resulting muscle contractions, the tip will enter your body again through the chest, piercing your heart or lungs. If you have survived for this long, you can know peace that it will not last much longer.

Pressing To Plead: The record shows that you have refused to plead for your crimes. Perhaps you hope to prolong your life, knowing that you will be found guilty when you are tried. Since we are unable to commence with your trial until you have plead, I order you to the peine forte et dure. You will be drawn upon the hard stone of the prison floor. Hourly, weights will be added to your chest, slowly squeezing the breath from your lungs. Your ribs will strain under the weight until they begin to crack. You will be begging to plead very shortly, I assure you. If you feel yourself a strong one, take heart in knowing that you will be fed daily. But know also that you will be fed only mere morsels of bread, and may God have mercy should your stomach, flattened beneath the weight upon it, fail to accept your meal. You will most assuredly choke upon the bile your unwilling bowels spew forth and die, from suffocation, in your own filth. Not as sentence for your crimes, but for simply refusing to plead.

Bronze Mice Bowl: Since you sit there so smugly, denying the crimes for which you have been duly judged guilty, we will do our best to dampen your spirits. We have decided to sentence you to die by means of the bowl. Since you show no understanding, allow us to better educate you. When you have been bound hand and foot to a table, a bowl containing common mice will be placed overturned upon your belly, therefore trapping the rodents inside. A small fire will be lit atop this bowl, slowly heating it. As the metal heats, so will the creatures inside sense this, and in their panic to escape the danger will begin to burrow the only direction they are able... through your skin. They will burrow into your intestines, possibly escaping through your sides, and possibly digging further into your chest cavity. Either way, you will die, and it will not be a pretty death. For it will be by loss of your blood, or the slow devouring of your lugs and heart. So may every bite and scratch serve to remind of the false pretense you put on this day, knowing you should have plead guilty, and then suffered only the quick death of the noose.

Sawing: Heretics were hung upside-down and sawed apart down the middle, starting at the crotch. Of course the victim was alive when this was done.

Water Torture:
There are many misconceptions about the methods that this entails. You however, will be enlightened as to the truth of it. We will bind you, with your legs angled toward the floor. Once you are in this vulnerable state, a large quantity of water will be forced upon you. If you do not wish to drink then begin your despair now, for you will do so. A funnel will be placed into your mouth, and your nose covered, so you have no choice but to drink all of the liquid before you are able to breathe again. After this is repeated enough times to fill your stomach to a state of maximum distension, the angle at which you are held will be changed. As your body is tilted, and your head points toward the floor, the full weight of your stomach and its contents will begin to press on your lungs and heart. Not only the incredible pain of this, but the feeling of suffocation that accompanies it will surely make you confess. Though if you cannot be swayed so easily, We will then beat upon your bloated stomach with a mallet almost to the point of rupture. This way, no permanent marks will ever show, and your body will be in good condition when they execute you.

Witch Prickles:

The Pear: A large bulbous gadget is inserted in the orifice of choice, whether mouth, anus or vagina. A lever on the device then causes it to slowly expand whilst inserted. Eventually points emerge from the tips. (Apparently, internal bleeding doesn't count as "breaking the skin.") Quite a versatile tool, the pear, it is used upon those of foul tounge or sexual practice. For those who speak heresy, it is inserted deep into the mouth, for the male homosexual, the anus, and for the woman who would have sexual relations with that which is not holy, the vagina.

You should not think that the pain will be tolerable, for the tool's size is much greater than that which seems to be portrayed here. Once the pear has been inserted, it will then be opened with the twisting mechanism, and the segments will be spread to their full capacity.

Pay special heed also to the pointed tips themselves, for they are what will bring you even more grief. These points, when opened, tear into the soft tissue of your throat, intestines, or cervix, depending on the crime and gender. The damage done is beyond repair.

Headcrusher Head Vice: Pretty straightforward concept. They put the head into a specially fitted vice, and tighten it until the teeth are crushed, the bones crack and eventually the eyes pop out of their sockets. Not much need be said about this device, save that before you die, you will endure unspeakable pain. Due to the thin threading, a great many twists are required of the crank before your skull is completely crushed and death releases you.
Your chin will rest on the lower bar, as the cap is placed over the top of your head, and lowered. First, there is mild discomfort, as the cap is seated firmly, though with each following turn the pressure increases. As it does, first your teeth are crushed down into their sockets and bone, finally cracking away. The next notable occurrence, aside from the hemorrhaging, is when the pressure forces your eyes from their sockets. Then at last, the pressure splits the skull, and as if from a floodgate, your brain bursts forth.

Knee Splitter Vice: Well not much explanation needs to be given about this device. Pretty self explanatory.

Thumbscrews: If you will not give us the information voluntarily, we will get it out of you in other ways. This device here will serve nicely to achieve our ends. It can be fastened to your thumbs in more than one way, none of which you will enjoy. Once the device has been positioned with your thumbs between the bars, the handle will be turned until the pressure felt by the teeth grinds your bones to splinters. Should we place the pointed tips on your knuckles, you will beg to tell us everything. Your thumb-bones will be slowly separated at the joints, the tendons ripping and popping. Lastly, should you not divulge that which we want to hear, the studs will be placed just so on the tips of your thumbs, centering on the thumnail. Not only will the pain of the points biting into your nerves be agonizing, but it will be aided by the cracking of the thumnails themselves as their sharp, broken edges bite into the soft flesh beneath. Yes, you will tell them what they desire to know.

Burning At The Stake: Depending on how unrepentant a heretic might be, the process of burning at the stake could vary wildly. For instance, a fairly repentant heretic might be strangled, then burned. An entirely unrepentant heretic could be burned over the course of hours, using green wood or simply by placing them on top of hot coals and leaving them there until well done.

Slow Burning At The Stake:There is no doubt that you will burn, but it it the burning of the mortal flesh that we focus on here. Of the many different fires that can be unleashed upon you, this is perhaps the most agonizing, and quite assuredly the most prolonged. After you are bound to the stake, as in many other burnings, rather than surround you with timbers to be burned, we place piles of hot coals at your feet. These are constantly replenished so as never to allow a respite from the intense heat which they throw forth. You may wonder at the purpose of this, but all to soon you will understand.
The hot coals, instead of incinerating the whole of your body as does a normal burning, cause a slow cooking, if you will, of the flesh. As the outer skin is seared away, the more sensitive tissues underneath are exposed to the heat, and they too are baked to the point of ash. Eventually, all that remains is bone. Making this an even more enduring process is the fact that the pile of coals is only gradually built. This results in you being alive as you witness first your feet, then legs, and finally torso fall victim to the starving embers.

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