Middle Age Torture Tactics


The form of torture known as the pillory was not a terribly painful torture, such as the ones previously described. In fact, many times the prisoner was not hurt at all, but rather humiliated in front of their neighbors and fellow townspeople. The pillory was a wooden scaffold, usually placed in the center of town, with three holes (one for the head and two for the hands, as pictured below). This form of torture was not usually painful, much less lethal, unless spectators mocking the person decided to pelt objects at them, such as stones.

The pillory was most often used for felons who had committed petty crimes. The administrators of this torture wished to set an example for others that if they committed crimes such as the ones the unfortunate victim had committed, they would be scorned by their friends. The prisoner within the pillory was usually only kept there for a matter of hours; however, they were sometimes confined to the pillory for days at a time, throughout various types of unforgiving weather. If the victim had committed a more major crime, their ears were sometimes nailed to the pillory, and could be wrenched off either during or after the pillory sentence was completed. Therefore, although this was a minor form of torture compared to most others, it could still be painful and quite humiliating.