Site hosted by Build your free website today!  Pressing and
Stoning  Man being pressed under what looks like jugs of water
or shaped pieces of rocks.  A. Martyr buffeted, kicked, and
pounded with the fists. B. Martyr being stoned./ C. Martyr whose
face and jaws are bruised and broken with a stone./ D. Martyr
crushed under a huge stone.   Pressing, also known as peine
forte et dure, was both a death sentence and a means of drawing
out confessions. Adopted as a judicial measure during the 14th
century, pressing reached its peak during the reign of Henry IV.
In Britain, pressing was not abolished until 1772.  Margaret the
martyr was one unfortunate victim of pressing. She was a devout
Catholic in a time when being a Catholic was as dangerous as
being accused of being a witch.  On 25 March 1586 Margaret,
wearing a flimsy gown, was taken to die at the Tollbooth, six
yards outside the prison. She and the womenfolk accompanying her
begged that she should die in the white gown she had bought into
prison for the purpo