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Medieval Justice
By Ivan Bulley
Chapter 3
The construction workers and stone masons had been working for a considerable time and the new large additions to the building finally reached completion.
Darker deeds would henceforth take place unhindered inside the new building – no longer in public.
A large dungeon complex had been built, allowing more varied and extreme procedures. The top floors contained interrogation rooms, lounge, sleeping quarters for the staff and other amenities.
New holding cells had been built, down in the dungeon, taking into account that the discomfort of the miscreants should be maximized. Some cells were fitted with iron rings and bars. Prisoners could be secured in uncomfortable and painful positions for extended periods. Other cells were extremely small and had uneven floors with sharp embedded stones. Prisoners could be squeezed into them for as long as it took to ‘soften’ them. Sanitation was not an issue – intentionally.
A smaller rectangular version of a Roman Arena had been built, encircled by tall walls. On certain days the public would be allowed to enter through a Iron Gate, to witness lesser punishments, such as floggings. The latest addition to the building was a tower with a large bronze bell. The tolling of the bell would echo through the town and invite the inhabitants to come and witness the activity. Usually large crowds arrived for these events and unfortunately many could not be accommodated.
Certain special events would still be held at the village square, like the burning of witches. This would always be in the public’s interest.
Arrival of the special foreign expert:
One evening, a group of men were sitting in a large room on the top floor of the building, in front of a struggling fire. Smoke was billowing into the room and eventually the flames died out. They had to open windows. Something was apparently wrong with the newly constructed hearth and chimney.
One of the men was a foreign expert - Klaus the ‘terrible’ - from a country called Prussia or something like that. He was a specialist in all matters of torture and had been appointed for a limited time to help them to improve their skills. His team of blacksmiths, carpenters and leather craftsmen had already started making new creations and ingenious torture implements. He was coughing and shook his head – the bungling English!
Higher officials had decided that it would be a good idea to invite the ‘expert’ for the inauguration of their new building.
One of the guards opened a couple of bottles wine. Klaus took a sip and tried to be polite. He smiled and drank to their health, but secretly thought: “how could they drink such awful stuff?”
Klaus explained with a heavy accent that four aspects were of cardinal importance:
1. FEAR 2. HUMILIATION 3. DISCOMFORT 4. PAIN
These, he explained, were the cornerstones of all tortures. Sufficient attention had to be given to each of them. The older guards nodded and some yawned – they already knew all of this. Could he really teach them anything new?
“Your prisoners must have enough to eat and drink, especially drink!” he explained. “If you do not force them to drink enough, they will faint too readily during torture. Not good!”
After his pompous ‘lecture’, they reminisced about the day’s events. To start with, the older woman, the ‘murderess’ had been taken to the ‘examination’ room. They found it unusual that she did not cry when she was ordered to strip. She was strikingly pretty in spite of her ‘old age’ of 30 years - a firm body, no sagging or stretch marks. (In those days life expectancy was not much longer than this.) When they tied her to the table flat her on her back and fastened her feet spread-eagled to an overhead beam, they were astonished to see her whole bottom crisscrossed with old scars. (This was the second woman with such scars.) They shaved her pubic hair and thoroughly examined her secret places for any hidden objects. They discovered nothing.
One of the older guards stood staring at her bottom. Unlike the others, he was looking at two circular brown birthmarks on her pale white hip. Strange – he could swear that he had seen those marks before, long-long ago. Then he dismissed the thought and turned away.
Next the young ‘witch’ underwent her examination. She was much shyer than the other woman and was extremely distressed by her forceful disrobing. She struggled when they tied her feet spread-eagled overhead, and she futilely tried to squeeze her legs together. After a thorough shave and a couple of nicks (she squirmed too much) they saw it - her intact hymen -obstructing the entrance to her innards. The men laughed, but a young apprentice guard’s arousal was obvious. William was new and eager. The others encouraged him to conquer her.
Ah, the energy and vigor of youth! His battering ram hammered at the portals of her innards, until, with a distressed scream, all resistance fell away.
A good night’s rest:
The women were escorted down to a dark dungeon. In the faint flickering light of a guard’s lamp, they could only faintly discern the glimmering of newly wrought iron. These were the bars of small doors. The women were pressed into miniscule cells, iron clanged shut and then they were left in total darkness. The older woman discovered that her cell had been occupied shortly before. The floor was wet and mushy and the smell was utterly disagreeable. The sharp stones of the floors made it impossible to remain in one position for long, but the cells were too tiny to allow much movement, causing unrelenting discomfort. Time would drag by painfully slow.
In the middle of the night, the older woman developed stomach cramps and diarrhea. Maybe she had eaten spoilt food or maybe it was stress, but she was extremely embarrassed by this. She had always been a neat and a prim and proper person. She called to the guards to let her out. She pleaded that she had to go. Nobody answered. Nobody came.
The young girl started crying and moaning. The older woman spoke to her, in spite of her own predicament, and asked what the matter was.
“They put me on my back in the cell. The stones are hurting like hell and I do not have room to turn over. I can’t take it any longer.”
The older woman enquired what her name was.
“Vanessa”
“Listen Vanessa, you have to hold out, no matter what.
If you confess, you die.
Just remember that!”
Later that night some time later footsteps could be heard. Metal clinked softly. Vanessa’s crying stopped.
Much later returning footsteps sounded on the flagstones. Vanessa’s cries were heard again.
FIRST DAY OF TORTURE:
The Wishing Well:
When you opened one of many heavy wooden doors, you would suddenly come upon a scene of tranquility – a secret garden with many flowers, shrubs and cobbled walkways, surrounded by high stone walls, ,. A path led to a rustic old well and there were benches placed strategically amongst the shrubs. Birds chirped cheerfully. A nanny sat on a bench, watching two small children play - a little boy and girl. They were chasing a white butterfly as it fluttered from one flower to another. They laughed when they missed and then ran after it.
The wooden door creaked open. Three angry looking officials walked down the path towards the well and one signaled to the nanny to leave.
“Come on children”, she called “its time for official business.”
Little children’s voices protested, but she gathered the toddlers and departed hastily.
Next two more officials arrived, dragging a slender naked woman between them. This was the ‘older’ woman and she was covered in filth. In spite of this, she was still attractive, if you did not stand close enough to smell her. The German Expert held his finger under his nose in disgust and mumbled something like “Schwine”.
The birds suddenly stopped chirping.
Just then a strong Scottish guard with a red beard came staggering along, carrying a heavy leaden weight in his arms. (Donald, where have you been?) This weight was disk shaped with a hole in the middle. One could put a stick through the hole and roll it like a wheel, but he preferred to carry it.
The well did not have a bucket, and the rope was hanging freely. They tied the end of the rope to the woman’s wrists.
Another short piece of rope was tied to one ankle, and the rope was threaded through the hole in the centre of the heavy weight and then tied to her other ankle. Her feet were tied close to each other with the weight in-between.
She did not cry nor plead, but only stared at them with a shocked disbelief.
Without any mercy, they threw her over the side, weight and feet first. The handle whirred as it turned with great speed. Far down in the well there was a loud splash. The handle continued spinning for a couple of seconds more. When it stopped, two men started to hoist the woman up again. After half a minute, deep down in the well, they heard a gasp and coughing. At last they saw two wet arms appear, then a terrified face with wet hair.
Her eyes filled with horror when one guard ordered the others to stand back and they let go of the handle again. The handle spun wildly, followed by a loud splash.
They said to the German Expert: “we’ll make her nice and clean for you.”
He expressed his concern because the rope was so frayed. What would happen if it snapped?
They replied that it had happened some time ago. Unfortunately they hadn’t been able to recover their weight. Afterwards, the water wasn’t too fresh either.
“We better hurry. We still have to do a lot with her and we don’t want her to miss any of it.” They winched her up.
Later she would regret that she had not drowned then.
They were not quite satisfied that she was clean enough and they dropped her several times again. After all, one should not disappoint the German.
Two small children stared through a first floor window, with a distraught look on their faces.
Time for breakfast:
The meddlesome foreigner, Klaus, had insisted that the prisoners had to be fed - to give them strength for the day. They were taken to a room on the first floor and were made to sit on the floor with their feet locked in heavy wooden stocks, which were bolted to the floor. A wooden bench was placed over their legs and served as a table.
Their hands were free, allowing them to eat. Large jugs of milk and bread ware placed in front of them.
Strange how milk remains remarkably fresh while still inside a cow. However, this milk had departed from its udder quite some time ago. The young girl flatly refused to eat or drink.
A guard asked “What is wrong? Is the bread too dry and the milk not tasty enough? I’ll fix that.” Thereupon he pissed over the young girl’s bread and into her jug. “Now eat and drink!”
A short leather whip successfully restored her appetite, when forcefully applied to the soles of her feet.
Meanwhile in the arena:
It was still early morning when the bell started tolling. The gates to the arena opened and it did not take long before the first villagers arrived. An hour later, three culprits were led into the arena, two young girls dressed in servant’s uniforms and a young man. The arena was packed. People were pushing outside the gates to get in.
The servant girls had been accused of stealing and would each receive 30 lashes. Nothing was mentioned about the young man.
In the middle of the arena, a sturdy spanking bench stood ready for its first customer.
The first girl was pleading and crying, when they tied her to the bench. Thick rough hemp rope was used, hurting her soft skin. Then the guards raised her maid’s dress and exposed her white knickers. The crowd voiced their disappointed that she would not receive it on her bare bottom. A guard poured a bucket of water over her bottom and smoothed her knickers so that her cheeks were clearly visible. He lewdly touched and stroked her.
A muscular guard held a bull’s pizzle in his hand – a fearful instrument that could cause an awful lot of injury. He struck the first blow with great force. Her face distorted with pain, followed by her first screams. Then more blows followed at regular intervals. She screamed, cursed and occasionally found enough breath to plead. The blows kept on raining down. How could such a pretty girl use such foul language? For that he hit her extra hard. Her performance made up for the fact that her bottom was not naked. The people loved the show and cheered. Thin cotton did not offer much protection, anyway. Her knickers started to turn light red. She was bleeding. However, this did not deter the guard.
Her punishment ended at last. Her legs were shaky and they had to support her.
By now the second girl was completely hysterical. She kicked and cried when they dragged her to the bench and pinned her down. She was quickly tied and her dress pulled up. It served her right, when they also pulled her knickers down! The crowd cheered. Now they would truly perceive what a bull’s pizzle could do to a maiden’s bottom. And they would not be disappointed. Her screams and writhing was so much more interesting than the previous girl’s! Thirty lashes and her bottom was livid red and purple all over. Numerous bruises were oozing. The people cheered, and clapped. The guard bowed and decided to give her an encore of ten lashes more. The villagers really appreciated this gesture.
Next, it was the young man’s turn. A sturdy woman took the bull’s pizzle and strode to the bench – the Matron. The young man’s pants had a hole in them, right in the middle of one buttock and his white flesh was visible. The Matron knew her job and aimed at that one spot – over and over again. White turned into crimson. He roared and squirmed. The matron kept on relentlessly, without even counting the strokes. She only stopped after a very long time, when her arm eventually got tired.
The foreign Torturer, Klaus, and some guards were watching the spectacle from the balcony. Klaus enquired whether the young man wasn’t the new apprentice William. One guard whispered that William had taken the young girl to his room during the night. Someone had heard her muffled cries. William’s hand had carelessly slipped from her mouth when he had climaxed.
The German remarked, ”What an amazing woman – such a strong arm!”
One of the guards nodded in agreement. “What would you know – she was once a …” Then he decided to keep quit. He knew too many of her dark secrets.
Hanging out to dry:
They had to hurry. They had to be on time for the arrival of the clergy for the interrogation of the ‘witch’. However, they first had to get the ‘older woman’ out of the way.
The German, Klaus, excused himself and said he had to fetch things from the workshop.
Two guards led the still wet woman to the clerk’s office so that she could sign her confession.
When the clerk saw the wet naked woman standing in front of his desk, he swallowed hard and stared rudely. He regained his composure and placed the written confession in front of her. She refused to sign and cried that she had loved her husband. She would never have murdered him. He had become ill and she had done her best to nurse him.
It was clear to everyone that she had not been softened enough. They took her away.
The German caught up with them down in the dungeons. It was a vast underground complex, stretching almost under the whole building. They stopped between two pillars which formed a high archway.
Klaus took two beautifully crafted thumbscrews from a bag and triumphantly showed what his blacksmith had made.
“We have something better” retorted a guard. He fetched a well used implement that had proven its efficacy many times.
It was a wooden plank with a hole at the top where a rope could be attached. Two metal gauntlets were fixed on the plank, each consisting of two halves with wing nuts on four corners. Two guards pinned the woman down on her face, with her arms outstretched in front of her. One of them sat on her shoulders, and the other (Donald) lowered himself onto her firm round buttocks. Under his kilt, his bare flesh came into contact with her smooth naked skin. Nobody took any notice of what Donald did next and the woman’s rights were irrelevant.
The top halves of the metal gauntlets were removed. The insides were corrugated. Her hands were put flat on the bottom halves and the top parts were screwed back on.
Slowly they screwed the metal gauntlets tighter, with more pressure on the finger tips. Her eyes bulged with fear and she started screaming and writhing. Without mercy they continued to tighten the screws.
Donald’s ride became rougher. Her muscle spasms and contortions stimulated him. Somehow his blind passion found an available entrance and went the wrong way. Nobody noticed. The woman was screaming and could not object to the added insult.
Eventually they decided that the gloves were tight enough. Just for good measure they turned each screw another half turn.
A rope was lowered from a pulley at the top of the archway. They tied it to the board and hoisted her up.
When only the top half of her body would lift off from the floor, an annoyed guard snarled:
“Get off her, Donald!”
She screamed when her hands began to support her full weight. As if this was not enough they fastened a disc shaped lead weight with a hole in the middle to her feet – to prevent her legs from kicking.
Now that she had been taken care of, they were free to attend to the other girl.
Every now and then a guard walked past the hanging woman. Most of them could not keep their hands off her. Some only touched and groped, but it was really bad when they pushed and swung her. This made the agony unbearable.
The witch interrogated:
A number of clergymen were seated behind a long desk in the examination room. The young girl sat in front of them, clothed in a black gown. (They had dressed her for the occasion.) Vanessa looked disheveled and tired.
An official read a long boring list of accusations. It all boiled down to her supposed personal relationship with Satan. Did she have sex with him? Did she attend his mass? How did she get there – fly?
When she denied everything, she was stripped and tied spread-eagled on the examination table. They had to search for Satan’s mark. Nobody knew what it looked like and why the Satan would leave one, but it was common knowledge that you could find it where no decent men would look. They searched thoroughly.
The clergymen eagerly leant forward to get a better look. They soon discovered that she was no longer a virgin. On closer examination they noticed redness and some small blood clots. So, her intercourse with Satan must have happened very recently.
The next thing was to search for Satan’s invisible marks. This could only be done by pricking with needles – the invisible marks were insensitive to pain. Everyone knew that! They pricked everywhere, especially the more sensitive areas, but could not find any numb spots. She squirmed and cried with every prick.
The clergymen were disappointed and departed. They said that they would return after further interrogation. She was then taken away.
Target practice:
Later that afternoon, the guards and Klaus felt bored. The foreigner was so tiresome and had to be kept busy. They decided to do some practicing with rattan canes and improve their aim.
Four guards and Klaus went down to the dungeon where the woman was still hanging in agony. William wasn’t among them. He was in his room, feeling hurt and lying on his stomach.
They lowered the woman until the weight rested on the floor - her breasts where then just the right height. The target was her well developed nipples. Each one of them would strike ten times and they would count who hit the “bull’s eye” most often.
The left breast would be targeted first.
A hefty guard pulled the cane far back and hit hard. The cane landed with a dull thud and a red stripe appeared just below the nipple. He shook his head and moved his arm back for the next strike. This time the sound was different – a plop – as the cane struck something more solid. The woman shrieked and instinctively tried to pull her arms down to protect herself. One hand started to slip out of the gauntlet. The guards noticed this and tightened the screws. She screamed as she felt a bone crunch her hand. They were now satisfied that she had been secured properly and resumed their practice.
It was easy to tell when the cane hit a nipple. The sound was distinctive and she screamed louder.
The first guard only found the mark three times. The other guards then tried their luck – the best result was five times.
Klaus laughed and shook his head in disbelief. The bungling English!
The arrogant Prussian would show them how to do it.
He stripped his upper body naked. They stared in amazement – his strong muscles rippled – what a well developed torso!
He grabbed a cane and at a leisurely pace took aim, and hit her ferociously. Ten times they heard a loud plop and her hysterical shrieks confirmed how accurate his aim had been.
Of course they had to try again. Her other breast was now the target. The four guards fared slightly better the second time. They felt frustrated and challenged Klaus to show them again.
With a smirk on his face, he took position and with even more force, landed the cane on top of her nipple, time and again. Her screams echoed through the dungeons. Every time Klaus’s aim was spot on.
Eventually they took her down and placed her in a cell – fortunately a clean one this time. During the night her agony and discomfort was almost unbearable. Her hands were grossly swollen and felt on fire. Her breasts were aching all the time and she was cold and wretched.
She called Vanessa’s name several times, but there was no answer. Vanessa had been taken to the prison, under the Matron’s supervision, where the guards could use her as their plaything.
SECOND DAY OF TORTURE:
She was cold and stiff when they took her out of her cell. They dragged her to an upstairs room. A fire was burning in the hearth (in this room, the chimney worked). It was pleasantly warm and soon the chill left her body. In the middle of the room, bolted to the wooden floor planks, heavy wooden stocks waited for her legs. They did not wait long. A guard lifted the top beam, inserted her legs and locked the beam back in place. Next they placed a heavy bench over her legs and also bolted it to the floor. They helped her to sit up and placed a written confession in front of her, with a bottle of ink and a quill. She shook her head and refused to sign. She reiterated that she had not murdered her husband.
Klaus took a frying pan, and with tongs he placed glowing embers into it. He put it on the floor, a short distance in front of her feet. She stared in shock and horror. Although only her feet were immobilized and the rest of her body could move freely, there was absolutely nothing she could do to protect herself.
She felt the heat building up in her feet, getting hotter and hotter and then it started to hurt. She wriggled her feet from side to side, but nothing stopped the slowly escalating pain. The guards laughed at her predicament. She pleaded and begged and started thrashing about. They removed the pot of ink before her frantic movements could knock it over.
As the agony got worse, a howl escaped from her lips and increased to a loud high-pitched wail. Klaus took the pan away and splashed cold water over her feet. He explained that it was better to administer the torture intermittently. That way you could prolong the agony and it would intensify the outcome.
After she had stopped screaming, he filled the pan with more glowing embers and placed the frying pan slightly closer to her feet. Her screams and writhing started more rapidly. She became absolutely frantic and the guards laughed. Her feet became red as beetroot. The pain was more than she could possibly endure, but nevertheless they left the pan there even longer.
Once again Klaus removed the pan and sponged her feet with cold water. This soothed her hurt feet only slightly. He hardly gave her enough time to recover before he placed the glowing embers back, this time almost under her heels. Soon her hysterical screaming and writhing resumed.
One guard thought that she was overreacting. After all, it was only her feet. When they burnt witches, it would include all body parts.
When steam (or was it smoke?) started rising from her feet, she screamed that they must stop, she would sign. Just to make certain, they left the embers there a bit longer and made her repeat her request a couple of times. She could hardly utter the words between her screams.
They removed the embers, but did not help her by sponging her feet with cold water again. Nasty blisters had formed on the soles of her feet.
Her hands were too swollen for her to hold the quill. They tied it to her index finger and helped her to scribble her name under the confession.
A guard rushed off with her confession to the courtroom.
The sentence:
Very soon the guard returned with a court official and her execution order. She lay with her head on her arms on the bench. The official read the prescribed punishment – death by flogging. The guards looked surprised, but Klaus seemed delighted. He reminded them that this was an old, reliable technique, dating from Roman times. He knew just how to do it and would gladly assist them.
With a hoarse voice she asked: “what is going to happen to my two children?” They shrugged and showed no interest.
They unlocked her. She could not stand on her blistered feet and Klaus threw her over his shoulder and carried her down to the dungeons.
The process:
Under the same arch, they forced her swollen hands into the gauntlets and tightened them with all their might – no chance that her hands would dislodge. Two extra heavy weights were tied to her legs. When they hoisted her up, her body was stretched out tight and immobile.
Klaus walked around her and examined her from all sides. He opened his bag and took out a whip with a heavy wooden handle and three metal chains attached to it. All the links had sharp and jagged edges – specially made for the job.
He said you should hit here and stroked the back of her thighs and buttocks. He squeezed the middle of her upper legs and said a good nerve ran there - when you sliced into it, it would cause an exquisite reaction. (Somehow he knew of the sciatic nerve.)
He stoked the front of her legs and said you should not strike there – it would cause too much bleeding. (Experience had taught him of the presence of the femoral artery.) Next his fingers slid between her pussy lips and said “Pity that nobody is going to use this again.”
Then he also stroked her chest and upper back and said that this was a good area, with ribs protecting the vital organs.
Klaus took position and everyone stood back. Young William stood in a corner. He was still hurting from his own thrashing. When the chains whip start slicing and shredding her flesh, it was as if he could actually physically feel every stroke. Maybe it was also the sight and smell of blood, but he felt nauseous and could stand it no longer. He rushed away.
The metal whip continued to strike her thighs and buttocks with inhumane cruelty. Her screams were deafening. When the whip severed the sciatic nerves, it was as if lightning struck her and flashed through her body. Her torment became appalling.
He started lashing her back and chest, slicing into her breasts. When her ribs were exposed, it was obvious that survival would no longer be possible. His strong arm kept on wielding the murderous instrument, without mercy or pause.
Her cries stopped suddenly.
“She has fainted!” and they threw water over her to revive her. This did not help. Just to make certain, Klaus gave her a couple of vicious lashes, but there was no reaction.
They left her body hanging there until after dark. Then they buried her, under the glow of a full moon, in a shallow grave.
Nobody even knew her name.
For many years to come, in one small area in the walled garden, the plants grew lusher, plants flowered more profusely, and the large flowers were more sweet-smelling. It was an amazing sight - large numbers of butterflies flew to that one small area. A new type flew around -never seen before – with pure white wings and two circular brown spots.
Whenever the two lean children walked to the woods to pick berries, a white butterfly with brown spots would circle around them and then lead them to the best areas.
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