Medieval Torture Essay -- essays research papers

Torture (Latin torquere, to twist), in law, pain sensation of severe bodily pain either as punishment, or to bind a person to confess to a crime, or to give reason in a judicial proceeding. Among primitive peoples, anguish has been used as a means of ordeal and to punish captured enemies. Examination by torture, oft called the question, has been used in many countries as a judicial method. It involves apply instruments to extort evidence from unwilling witnesses.In ancient Athens, slaves were always examined by torture, and for this reason their evidence was apparently considered more valuable than that of kickmen. A free Athenian could not be examined by this method, further torture whitethorn have been used occasionally in executing criminals. Under the roman letters Republic only slaves could be legally tortured, and as a oecumenical rule, they could not be tortured to establish the guilt of their master. Under the romish Empire, however, by the order of the emperor, torture was frequently inflicted even on freemen to let evidence of the crime of laesa majestas (injured majesty, or crime against a sovereign power). The statesman Cicero and other enlightened Romans condemned the use of torture.Until the 13th century torture was apparently not authoriseed by the canon law of the Christian church about that time, however, the Roman treason law began to be adapted to heterodoxy as crimen laesae majestatis Divinae (crime of injury to Divine majesty). briefly after the Inquisition was instituted, Pope Innocent IV, influenced by the revival of Roman law, issued a decree (in 1252) that called on civil magistrates to have persons accused of heresy tortured to elicit confessions against themselves and others. This was probably the earliest instance of ecclesiastical sanction of this mode of examination.During the Middle Ages the influence of the Roman Catholic Church contributed to the acceptation of torture by civil tribunals. The Italian municipa lities adopted torture early, but it did not appear in other European countries until France legalized its use in the 13th century. Ultimately, torture became part of the legal system of every European nation except Sweden and England. Although torture was never recognized in the communal law of England, it was practiced by exercise of the royal prerogative. In the American colonies torture was illegal the few instances of its use were in ... ...nclose the head. Some resembled exhort masks, with holes for mouth, nose and eyes. The victims mouth was clamped shut by an iron band fling under the chin and a flat piece of iron communicate inside her mouth. This mouthpiece was sometimes armed with a short spike. The exclusively contraption was fastened round the neck with a heavy padlock. Branks were not only used to punish nagging wives. Any women found iniquitous of malicious gossip and slander, abusive language or breaches of the peace were hush up in this way. The branks were also padlocked on women convicted of witchcraft and condemned to die at the military post - but for a different reason. They prevented the unfortunate creatures for screaming horrible curses on their tormentors. ReferencesMedieval Punishment - Torture and Executions in Europe - 1100-1600 -- Cy StapletonRack, Rope and bitter Pincers A History of Torture and Its Instruments by Geoffrey Abbott Reissue edition (July 1995) battle of Trafalgar SquareThe Book of Execution An Encyclopedia of Methods of Judicial Execution by Geoffrey Abbott Reprint edition (August 1995) Trafalgar SquareTorture by Edward Peters spread out edition (December 1996) University of Pennsylvania Press