Page 34 - All About History - Issue 38-16
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Isabella of Castile’s Spanish Inquisition




            Inside a torture chamber



            Torture and the Inquisition go hand in hand in the popular
            imagination. Here are some of the gruesome devices
            associated with the Inquisition
                                                                                                       THE RACK
                                                                                                       The infamous Inquisitor General
                                                                                                       Torquemada favoured a stretching
                                                                                                       rack called a potro. The victim
                   168                                                                                 their body was stretched as the

                                                                                                       was tied to the wooden frame and
                                                                                                       bars moved in opposite directions,
                                                                                                       dislocating joints and causing
                were killed by the                              JUDAS CRADLE                           extreme agony.
                                                                This device was composed of
               Inquisition in Toledo                            a tall thin stall with a triangular
                                                                shaped seat, on which the
                   alone during                                 suspect was slowly impaled,
                    Isabella’s                                  either by being dropped
                                                                or rocked on to it to create
                     lifetime                                   varying levels of agony. There is
                                                                now debate over whether this
                                                                was used in the Inquisition.




             FOOT ROASTING
             The suspect’s feet were covered in fat
             and then held ever closer to a burning

             re, the heat mounting until the pain
             became unendurable. This is a practice
             over which there is debate regarding its                                              PEAR OF ANGUISH
             use by the Inquisition.
                                                                                                   This pear-shaped device was
                                                                                                   inserted into a chosen bodily
                                                                                                   orice. The separate segments

                                                                                                   were then slowly spread apart
                                                                                                   inside the victim, stretching
                                                                                                   and potentially splitting the

                                                                                                   esh as it did so.















                       HEAD CRUSHER                                          WATER CURE
                       As the name suggests,                                 The suspect was placed on a wooden
                       the suspect’s head                                    board: nostrils plugged up and their head
                       was placed between a                                  secured lower than their feet, the mouth
                       metal bar below and a                                 was forced open and a cloth placed over
                       cap above, before the                                 it. Water was then poured onto the cloth,
                       device was turned and                                 emulating the sensation of drowning.
                       tightened to slowly
                       bring the two parts
                       together. The result was
                       excruciating pain, along
                       with possible brain, jaw
                       and eye damage.








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       028-036_AAH_038_Issabella of Castille.indd   34                                                                       13/04/2016   22:37
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