Modern view of the torture of the Middle Ages

In the view of modern people, the torture of the Middle Ages was the fabrication of sadistic monks and the kings who had gone mad at cruelty. In fact, they were an integral part of medieval life, in particular, one of the court procedures and religious ritual. To understand the development of man, human society, one must look at the torture of the Middle Ages without fear and disgust.

Brief background

It is not right to consider torture as the fabrication of the dark Middle Ages: as a procedural procedure, it was used long before that. By and large, the torture of the Middle Ages was a legacy of antiquity. True, in Ancient Greece, only slaves could be tortured, and free, according to the law, torture was not applied. The same rule was in effect during the Roman Republic. In the empire, however, they began to retreat from him, but still there remained the "untouchability" of honestiores (worthy). However, if a person was suspected of a crime against the emperor, his social position no longer mattered. In the Germanic tribes conquered by the Germans, tortures could also be applied only to slaves and prisoners. A free German was released from the charge by bail for his relatives. Everything has changed with the spread of Christianity and the emergence of such a concept as Ordaliya - "the judgment of God." The use of torture began to look much more democratic - because before God all are equal.

Medieval torture

Purification through pain and suffering is one of the tenets of Christianity, to which the main symbol, the cross, serves as a confirmation. Which, in fact, is nothing but a tool of torture. Add to this peremptory faith in the afterlife and daily observed death from disease and war: and you no longer seem that death is a serious punishment for the offender. Therefore in the Middle Ages torture was easily used for punishment or as a way of establishing the truth. Moreover, confession obtained without torture could not be taken into account by the court. In the twelfth-thirteenth centuries after the reception of Roman law in Western Europe, torture received legal status. From that moment the law was fixed as to whom and when it is possible to torture.

The most terrible tortures of the Middle Ages

Since torture received procedural status, it was immediately brought to horrific perfection. So that not only the pain caused by her, but the very thought of her, would lead the criminals before faith and law to immediate repentance. The instruments of torture of the Middle Ages, with rare exceptions, were simple, but intimidatingly effective. Most of them were designed for the fragmentation of small bones or joints, as well as their reversal and stretching. Striking examples of such tools are the rack and all kinds of vice for the fingers and knees. It was also very common to give the body an attempted position, in which it could be a day, but could be pierced (so that vital organs were not damaged) or burned with fire. Against this background, the requirement of the law for judges and executioners to be moderate and not to use torture, not provided for by law, looks unnatural.