The Scavenger's Daughter - The Most BRUTAL Tudor Torture Method?

The Scavenger’s Daughter - The BRUTAL Tudor Torture Method

The Medieval period and the Tudor Period were times of great brutality. During the reign of King Henry VIII for example, he ordered the executions of around 70,000 people which equates to 3% of his total population. It was a time where the use of torture was deployed sparingly in order to get information and names with regards to a crime. Torture was considered a legitimate and just practice which was used to gain confessions from criminals, and it was allowed and permitted by law. There were many brutal torture methods used during the Tudor Period, the worst being the rack. This was found at the Tower of London, and was a device in which a prisoner would have their arms and legs secured to the ends of the rack by rope or chains. The rack was used to stretch a prisoner, and with each turn of the rack the limbs of a victim would pop and stretch. Bones would break, joints would dislocate and ligaments would snap. But the rack was a device used to stretch, and often the sheer sight of it was enough to get a confession. There was a device invented though that would act in opposite to the rack, and instead of stretching it would compress and force a prisoner into a tiny device, and into a very strange position.

[calilaployploy]

One interesting fact about confessions during torture is that one of the first times it was argued that a confession under torture (or any kind of coercion) was meaningless was in the trials of the Templar Knights when Jacques de Molay gave a confession under torture, but later retracted it. And the lawyer who was defending the order argued that only a confession done in conditions free of coercion and or threats could be a valid one, for as he put it, "I could make the pope praise satan after enough torture". If you wonder, yes the lawyer was also convicted and killed and the templars had to follow the trial without any kind of defense, and with any witness who supported them also accused of heresy. But it became an important precedent, to modern law both in terms of the value of a confession and also in the idea of witness tampering. Obviously it took a long time and a lot of reforms for those things to manifest. But yeah is interesting how far back some things go.

[troybaca]

I toured Windsor Castle in UK in the 90's, the castle and grounds were really interesting, however one extremely creepy area was the torture chamber. It was in the lower level of the castle and had all of the implements of torture used in those days, there were leg and wrist irons attached to the walls to hang people up, complete with human clawing marks on the walls. It literally made the hair on the back of our necks stand up, not for the faint of heart.

[vinhbui]

The cruelty of humans is a hundred thousand times greater than that of wild beasts when the evil mind reaches its climax

[joannemadden]

Back in the day, before cellphones, internet and so on, there were only a few channels on TV and my Dad loved animal shows. He would always say that humans are far more cruel than any animal... now after seeing more of life I tend to agree!!

[chris-non-voter]

Humans are truly amazing, their creativity in how to cause pain and suffering knows no bounds.

[emilymerz]

It blows my mind how teaching history has been completely brushed over in a lot of places and a very large percentage of people have a little to know knowledge of the mind-bending struggles our ancestors went through each new century as Humanity has progressed has brought new wonders and Hope but also inevitably brought out new evil and inspired tyranny. I really think it would solve so many of the first world problems we endlessly have to listen to people cry and shriek about if they could grasp and understanding of the real bravery it took to make any kind of change in past decades. There was little to no way to share truth or information so if you were innocent of a crime and whoever had the most money just wanted you out of the way it really did not matter what you did or how righteous your cause was. They could do unspeakable things to their fellow human beings and not even tried to invent evidence. There are no lawyers for fair representation I mean there were no rights at all. Then there was the issue of endless Revenge. Good people could be manipulated into doing another person's heinous bidding because the Indian they were powerless, they owned nothing, they had no tangible skills and it took centuries for upper classes to actually see those they considered beneath them on the social ladder as people who could feel just like them. Not only could they do horrific things to you but your family as well. It really puts things into perspective when you think about how lucky we are too at least understand civil rights and in America contraried with the medieval tell you there is still a majority of us who Revere our Constitution and Bill of Rights. Obviously there is no perfect place on Earth but when you have the perspective of what are founding fathers overcame how hard they had to fight how smart they had to be and how they had to Humble themselves to create a more perfect union all without becoming a black pill nihilist.

[mrsb]

The people who invented and used the torturing devices were the the ones needed punishing most if you ask me. Very evil.

[Nether]

No one: …

Medieval europeans:….

Medieval europeans: So I thought of another way to make earth a little more like hell, today.

[pauls]

Suddenly, that sprained ankle I had a couple months ago doesn't seem like such a big deal.

[danMdan]

Too many amateur historians of the relevant period confuse "Skeffington's Gyves" with Leonard Skeffington's other invention, more properly named "The Scavenger's Daughter". These were two entirely different items.

The first was a combined neck/hands/ feet retaining device, roughly A-shaped, while the other caused the kneeling body to be greatly compressed, bursting the ribs and backbone, a sort of reverse of the stretching rack. Both devices are shown near the film start, from 1:23 to 1:54, but these were two differing devices.

In the second device, the "Daughter", the victim knelt on a plate, with an over-arching hoop over his back, which was then tightened to compress the back on to the chest on to the thighs, on to the lower leg bones, basically folding and compressing the victim, until the spine or ribs or both gave way.

So the narration is misleading in not dealing separately with both devices, explaining the essential differences between the two.

[huggiver]

If you ever visit "the clink" museum in London ( probably the oldest prison in uk ), you can see lots of different tools they used to torture prisoners

[halcyonzenith]

We're to believe that the people who masterminded such atrocities throughout history, and their descendants are _noble_ and our rightful superiors.

[neshobanakni]

AKA "Skevington's Daughter." On board a British ship it was called "The Captain's Daughter." Thus the line from the sea shanty, "What Shall We Do With the Drunken Sailor, " "Send him to bed with the Captain's daughter..."

[neliborba]

In today's world brutality still exist in countries where people are seen as worthless. Torture is beingbused even in the so called free, advanced countries and in counties where it has been a costume for centuries.

[Esuper]

And people wonder why the space alien don't just come down for a spot of tea and crumpets.

[mofleh]

"Skeffington who is credited with inventing the device" It's nothing to be proud of if you ask me!

[brianedwards]

Anyone whose lived around
These parts, or ever knew’d us
Is well aware that you
Should never mess with the Tudors: Horrible Histories

[erikamoore]

Best thing to happen in English history: the Tudor line died out. Those people were bat-crap crazy.

[ljg]

That was horrific and grotesque, thanks.

[friedrichjunzt]

All this is just covered by a very, very thin blanket of civilization.