Ideas: A History of Thought and Invention, from Fire to Freud

by Peter Watson

Torture techniques included the ordeal of water, when a funnel or a soaking length of silk would be forced down someone’s throat. Five litres was considered ‘ordinary’ and that amount of water could burst blood vessels. In the ordeal of fire the prisoners were manacled before a fire, fat or grease was spread over their feet, and that part of them cooked until a confession was obtained. The strappado consisted of a pulley in the ceiling by means of which the prisoners were hung six feet off the ground, with weights attached to their feet. If they didn’t confess, they were pulled higher, then dropped, then pulled up short before they hit the ground. The weights on their feet were enough to dislocate their joints, causing unbearable pain.77 Torture captures the eye but in a feudal society the signs of infamy, and the ostracism they brought could be just as bad (for example, the marriage prospects of someone’s offspring were blighted).78