13 INSTRUMENTS AND METHODS OF TORTURE OF THE HOLY INQUISITION - HISTORY - 2025

The instruments of torture of the holy inquisition were the tools used by the various bodies of the Spanish Church to torture heretics during the Spanish Inquisition.

The Holy Inquisition was an institution that lasted from 1478 to 1834. It was imposed by the monarchs Fernando II of Castile and Isabela of Aragón. Its main objective was to maintain the Catholic belief throughout the entire Spanish domain and put an end to the Medieval Inquisition imposed by the Pope.

During its almost 350 years of duration, more than 150,000 people were prosecuted, of whom approximately 5,000 were executed after trial. For this they used methods with which they provided punishments and used devices designed for it.

Instruments and methods of torture

The techniques used to torture during the Spanish Inquisition varied depending on the purpose that was sought to obtain. More commonly, torture was not used to murder the victim, but to obtain information. This made the techniques incredibly painful, but not lethal.

The instruments used in these processes used to be quite effective in disabling the mobility of the victim and causing severe pain. The use of the different tools depended on the type of torture that was practiced. Some tortures required certain types of lashing, while others depended on the effectiveness of their tools.

Fel Club

It was an iron collar with a screw that was intended to break the prisoner's neck.

Rack or torture rack

The torture rack or rack is possibly the most complex mechanism used in the Inquisition to obtain information from prisoners. The shelf was a rectangular wooden figure, with rotating cylinders tied to ropes and chains. These were interspersed with wooden boards on which the tortured subject was held.

The shelf had a system connected to a lever, which stretched the victim's wrists up and the ankles down. This caused severe pain during torture; it commonly resulted in dislocated joints and severe irreparable physical damage.

This instrument of torture separated the joints of people in such a way that in many cases the muscles lost the ability to contract. When this happened, the injuries caused were beyond repair.

The victim's feet were restrained using taut ropes located at the bottom of the mechanism. The tortured was lying along the device, and his wrists were tied to the chains located at the top of the shelf.

Garrucha

He tied his hands behind his back and lifted himself with a pulley to a considerable height, letting him fall, but without touching the ground. This could lead to dislocation of the upper limbs.

Bonfire

More than torture, it was a method of execution.

Judas cradle

It consisted of a pointed beak into which the prisoner was dropped.

Stork

It is a device that held the condemned person by neck, ankle and hands, creating an uncomfortable position that caused cramps.

Wheel

The prisoner was tied to a cross or bench and the bones were crushed, preventing him from dying. It was then placed on a wheel, bringing the ankles to the head. Finally the wheel was raised. This technique could have different variants.

Submersible chair

The person was tied up in a chair and immersed in water for a time, so that they could not breathe, and could also develop hypothermia.

Tortoise

The prisoner was laid on the ground, a plank was placed on top of him and weight was placed on it to crush him.

Chinese drop

It was a form of psychological torture in which drops of cold water were made every few seconds. The prisoner could not sleep or drink.

saw

The victim was tied upside down and sawed off at the crotch.

Tap, tie and jailer hooks

There are several specialized instruments to drown people today. At the time of the inquisition, more rudimentary tools than modern ones were used, but in many cases just as effective.

One of these instruments is the tap. The headdress is a piece of cloth that is placed over the victim's face before pouring water on her face. Nowadays it is customary to extend the cap on the face of the person, but during the Inquisition it used to be inserted directly into the mouth of the victim.

Ties with strong material ropes were used to support the victims during the drowning process.

In many cases, cell hooks were used to provide an additional grip on the ropes with which people were tied by the feet and hands. In this way they were immobilized, facilitating the execution of torture.

The torture called "submarine" (or Tormenta de Toca) is a method that is still used today, given the ease with which it can be carried out. Also, it only requires a couple of instruments to function properly.

To carry out this method, once the person was immobilized, the cap they had in their mouth was filled with water. The cap retained the liquid, which caused a feeling of suffocation in the person.

Questions were asked every time water was poured into the person's mouth, and if they refused to answer, the process was continued.

Crane made of wood and metal parts

For the execution of some torture methods, a wooden construction was used that acted as a kind of crane to hang people. In the final part of the "crane" a rope was tied, and with this rope the person was tied to lift it.

This crane was used mainly in the strappado method. The strappado is a torture method that was widely used in ancient times. In fact, in many cases it was used in public to display a tortured person before the people.

In addition to the wooden crane an additional instrument was used; an extra addition that in many instances accelerated the dislocation process of the shoulders. This was done by putting pieces of metal on the tortured, which served as weights to cause more pain to the person.

This torture did not usually last more than an hour, because the victim's body could collapse, causing his death.

The method consisted of tying a person by the hands, and by this tie lifting him up by means of a loading mechanism to leave the victim suspended on the ground. This caused the person's shoulders to be dislocated little by little, progressively increasing the pain.

Smaller instruments

Many of the torture methods used in the inquisition used to be amplified using smaller instruments, which increased the pain caused.

It was common to accompany traditional torture using specialized pliers to pluck the victims' nails, as well as candles and torches to burn the skin.

Torture in the Inquisition

Although the torture of the Inquisition was savage and inhumane, not all victims were exposed to these harsh practices. It was used in all kinds of interrogations during trials, but it had strict regulations.

The main rule was that torture could only be performed if the person to be tortured was found irrefutable guilty of his crimes against the Church. Furthermore, any other passive trading method had to be exhausted before being applied.

Generally, during the Inquisition permanent damage was not inflicted on the tortured. That was the law imposed by the authorities, but it was not always fully complied with. Furthermore, only healthy, adult men and women without serious health conditions could be tortured.

The Spanish Inquisition also prohibited the torture of a person for more than 15 minutes at a time. Every 15 minutes, the interrogation had to be stopped, and depending on how serious the crime was, the person could be re-tortured or taken to jail.

In addition, torture had to be supervised by doctors who could attest that the law was being followed.

References

1. Spanish Inquisition, Enyclopaedia Britannica, (nd). Taken from britannica.com
2. The Inquisition: A Model for Modern Interrogations, NPR, January 23, 2012. Taken from npr.org
3. Torture Techniques of the Spanish Inquisition, James Ray, 2008. Taken from owlcation.com
4. How the Spanish Inquisition Worked, Shanna Freeman, (nd). Taken from howstuffworks.com
5. Spanish Inquistion, Wikipedia in English, April 27, 2018. Taken from wikipedia.org
6. Torture and Punishment During the Spanish Inquisition, C. Cabeza, 2016. Taken from steemit.com