The Rack.
The rack in the Tower of London was used throughout the Tudor period in England. It was reserved for those identified as having committed the most serious of crimes against the state.
In theory there were rules about the use of torture. For example, people were not meant to be tortured to death or tortured repeatedly. People who were physically weak were not mean to be tortured because they might not survive the process. Attempts were made to start with ‘milder’ tortures before moving on to the rack if all else failed.
1984 Burg Bewartstein Torture Devices 02 (broken thoughts Flickr: Click image)
Terrible physical damage.
On the rack, a victims legs and arms were tied to bars at either end of the device, rollers were then used to stretch the body. The tension was maintained and gradually increased by use of a ratchet.
This caused terrible pain for the victim as well as increasing physical damage as the torture continued. Tendons were ripped, joints separated and bones fractured. The sounds of muscles and tendons tearing and snapping provided audible signs of the damage being done. A victim of the rack was often left with permanent physical disability. For example, because of injuries suffered after being racked three times the Jesuit priest Edmund Campion was unable to raise his hand to swear at his trial.
The manacles.
Eventually, public disgust led to the Rack’s use being restricted. Richard Topcliffe, a notorious torturer, claimed to have invented the use of ‘gauntlets’ or manacles as a torture instrument. This was considered to be a lesser form of torture, however, this distinction may well have been lost upon people who experienced it. John Gerard, another Jesuit Priest described being hung by his wrists from a post in a torture chamber in the Tower of London.
‘ such a gripping pain came over me. It was worst in my chest and belly, my hands and arms. All the blood in my body seemed to rush up into my arms and hands and I thought that blood was oozing out from the ends of my fingers and the pores of my skin. But it was only a sensation caused by my flesh swelling above the irons holding them. The pain was so intense that I thought I could not possibly endure it.’
Gerard remained hanging for several hours and was only taken down after fainting. As soon as he revived he was put back into the manacles and suspended again. This continued until after 5′oclock when he was eventually returned to his cell. Incredibly, Gerard never broke and maintained his refusal to answer the questions put to him.
A terrible death.
Official reluctance to use torture was abandoned in cases of those suspected of involvement in the Gunpowder plot. In an incident which became infamous, Nicholas Owen the builder of secret hiding places was racked to death in the Tower of London. Owen, who was starved out of a hide during a search in Worcestershire was taken to the Tower for examination. Because of his knowledge about the secret Catholic organisation, Owen was a potentially valuable source of information.
Unfortunately for the authorities however, he never revealed any secrets and died on the rack without saying anything of use. An embarassed Government tried to suggest that he had killed himself with a knife. The truth is that an earlier injury ruptured and according to John Gerard ‘his bowels gushed out together with his life’ .
Torture – a controversial practice.
Official use of torture continued in England until the 1640′s. Throughout it’s use in this country it caused controversy, both on moral grounds as well as it’s usefulness – obviously, evidence obtained under torture has very limited use.
Sadly, this subject has current relevance as we continue to hear discussion around the rights and wrongs of torture. The rack is no longer employed, having perhaps been replaced by ‘waterboarding’ ? We are left to question whether we have really moved on all that much from our Tudor predecessors?
PS Since writing this post I came across this - things really haven’t moved on much from the 16th/17th Century!
I also found this blog which is worth a look.
See also this related post about John Gerards eventual escape from the Tower as well as more about Topcliffe here
PS – anyone got a spare Google wave invite? You could become Tudor Stuff flavour of the month? (if you do just leave a comment somewhere on the blog for me – it will never appear in public btw)
See also:
Google books Torture & democracy
Your post made a shiver go down my spine! I’ve obviously read about different types of torture and execution in Tudor times, such as the torture of Mark Smeaton and the awful prolonged chaining of Robert Aske, but the descriptions in your post really brought home the cruelty of them. How can a person invent and use such means of getting someone to confess or tell you what they know! But you’re right, we haven’t really moved on have we? OK, so we don’t have torture and executions as standard in the UK, but we still have some police brutality and there are acts of torture and executions going on in the rest of the world. We know that George Bush gave his “blessing” to torture during his presidency and we’ve got people like Robert Mugabe treating his people like animals, or worse than animals.
Great post, very enlightening but disturbing, especially the Amnesty International video, but the world needs to know that this still goes on.
Torturing a person to demand that they renounce their faith is highly different than for the purpose of extracting information to stop the unfortunate killings of innocent babies and children in the Sept 11th “bombings” of our country. How can you compare an evil person who rejoices in the death of Americans to that of the twisted culture that used religion for their own gain instead of asking God what He wanted from them? No, I don’t believe in torture. I favor grace and mercy. But,what do you suggest should be used in this “modern enlightened” age to get these evil people to reveal their plans to murder your children, to torture your mothers, to eliminate your husbands? They do not respond to your kindness and will use your good nature against you. You can talk to them and have meetings with them until you are “blue in the face” and they just continue Tto KILL.
Wow. You are one sadly confused individual. You don’t believe in torture, but then justified it by saying “But, what do you suggest be used…?” The people committing are inherently evil. Just confused and spoon fed what they are “supposed” to believe. Kinda like you justifying the torture because they are trying to “murder your children.” It’s not like we haven’t caused a few civilian casualties in Iraq. http://www.iraqbodycount.org/database/
Over 50% of which were women and children. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7967-2004Oct28.html
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not anti-American. I served my time in the military. I did my time in Afghanistan. I just know how to look at the picture from both sides. I know it’s not right to torture people, no matter what kind of lies my government or the media try to spoon-feed me.
Hi
The post is a bit gruesome & I did consider toning it down a bit. However, I wanted to recognise the people who experienced this terrible treatment & toning it down felt a bit dishonest.
A lot of those who were subjected to torture in Tudor/ Stuart times could have avoided it if they had renounced their faith. That the majority did not do so is an incredible testament to the strength of that faith within those people.
Whether you share that faith or not ( I don’t btw) you have to admire the courage shown by these people.
Also, I do feel angry that we are still involved in torture and that we don’t seem to have learned from the past.
I found this website a good help because i was doing my tudor project so i had to find a good website to get some information from. I thought that they shouldn’t have use the rack on people just to get information out of people. I also thought that it didn’t work because people would have just said yes i did do what you said i did just to get out of the pain.
By Oskar 10 years old
@joyce.
that argument of ‘i don’t *want* to torture, i just don’t have a choice’ is really an age-old one. only the clinically insane would ever admited to really liking torturing someone: they are usually singled out and locked away. for most torturers throughout history it was their job, something they believed was for the good of everyone (often even for the good of their victims: to save their soul). and it’s obviously this exact same argument you still believe in.
and i’m rather certain most of the abu-graibh soldiers felt the same way: that they are not evil people, they just did what their commanders told them to do. yes, they liked doing their job, and why shouldn’t they? not like they were doing anything morally wrong.
anyway, ‘that guy who is bound and gagged is forcing me to torture him’ is as ridiculous back then as it is now. stop playing the underdog. nobody is forcing the most powerfull country on earth to do anything.
if there were, even back then, already lots of people opposed to the practise, because of both moral objections and unreliability, then that is a bit depressing: it really proves we did not change all that much since that time.
@ Steve and Selena
You people can disagree with Joyce all you want. It still doesn’t change the fact that she’s right! You both obviously didn’t have to suffer the lost of a loved one because of 9/11. And it seems to me that you were not affected by 9/11 in the first place! I want the government to do whatever it takes to keep my family safe. Wake up and look at the world around you! Some people can’t be reasoned with, For example the terrorist of 9/11. It would be great if the world was all flower peddles and sunshine, but it isn’t. The hippie days are over people!
How is she right? The terrorists were indoctrinated and brainwashed by a violent religion from an early age, so is it their fault or the fault of their teachers? Nothing is black and white, and yes although they killed many during the 9/11 attacks and the attacks on London which also carried a heavy death toll (Funny how people have forgotten the London attacks but still talk of 9/11) we have killed many Iraqi civilians. war is unfortunately human nature and the deaths of innocents is viewed as ‘collateral damage’ to the government’s who rule us. Even so – the evidence for 9/11 being an inside job is plentiful, so who knows. Torture is wrong, no matter how its used, or who for. An eye for an eye is a primitive view, to rise above it and be the better person is enlightenment.
Thanks! Youve really helped me with my history assesment!
ill let you know what grade i get! I owe most of it to you! ..xx
eeuugghh
I can’t believe people do this to other people. I want to know what goes through their minds when they do this, those people cry and scream and all they do is laugh and do more.
[...] another person, really showcases the unhealthy, tyrannical attitude of many religious sects. If the torture rack was still an option it’s easy to picture attempts to ‘stretch the gay out of [...]
GReat site thanks, really helped my son with his year 8 homework! (however gruesome, very interesting, just glad I didnt live in these times!)
Micky.b,
I don’t care who you are you have to have an opinion on Medieval Torture method’s. It may be morbid (according to my wife) reading about it but i just can’t imagine what type of person could carryout such inhumane cruelty!!. I Know some people get exactly what they deserve(one such monster is on our news 24/7 at the mo), but to be the one to carry out the punishment, or for that matter to watch it being carried out (public execution’s) just absolutely baffle’s me. What’s even more unbelievable is that Historically speaking it may as well have been only yesterday!!!!!!!!!!!!