Sunday, May 2, 2010

Enemy of the State

In sixteenth century England. Share

2 comments:

Julygirl said...

One could also call this, The Abuse of Power, as those seeking control tortured helpless victims in order to gain information so they could capture and torture even more.

Stephanie A. Mann said...

Interesting source for your link to Father Gerard's description of his torture.
I have read that one of the advantages of this form of torture was that, unlike the rack, it left no marks. It had nearly the same effect as crucifixion, as it was hard for the victim to breath.
St. Robert Southwell endured months of this torture by Richard Topcliffe and then Topcliffe denied it at Southwell's trial, saying "I did but stand up against a wall." Southwell replied, "Thou art a bad man," a tremendous example of litotes!