Medieval Adjudication

Historical Methods of Adjudication
Medieval
Adjudication
The methods used in ancient times to prove the truth of
accusations brought against a person were, for the most part,
cruel and brutal.
Primitive trials were, by modern legal standards, unreliable,
ineffective, and most of all unjust. These trials did not consider
evidence as we know it today.
Evidence: “That which demonstrates, makes clear or ascertains
the truth of the very fact or point at issue, either on one side or
the other."
Evidence can include testimony, documents, records, objects,
etc., that can be legally presented at a trial for the purpose of
inducing a belief in the minds of the court.
During the medieval era (5th to 15th century) guilt or innocence
was determined by what was accepted to be divine intervention.
Frequently, the accused was subjected to physical ordeals on
the supposition that God would protect the innocent and punish
the guilty.
In reality, the man who possessed exceptional strength and
fighting skills would triumph; or the man who could obtain a
sufficient number of friends to substantiate his oath of
innocence won his case.
Trial by Combat
Trial by Combat: physical combat between accuser
and accused.
If the accused was elderly or infirm, they could
choose a champion to fight for them.
Usually restricted to members of the nobility or of the
military class. The loser was judged guilty of a) the
offense or b) of not speaking the truth.
Devices most often used to arrive at the truth included:
• combat
• ordeals by fire and water,
• trial by compurgation
• inquisition (torture)
Trial by Ordeal
Trial by fire: The accused was either forced to walk
on hot coals or grasp redred-hot pieces of iron. If he
accomplished this feat, and if his injuries appear to
heal, he was declared innocent. If injuries become
infected, he was declared guilty.
Trial by water: Often used against woman accused of
practicing witchcraft. The accused would be thrown
into a body of water. If she sank was declared
innocent (although she often drowned). If she floated,
she was declared guilty and executed.
Why? Water was seen as inherently pure, good – the
source of life. If a person sunk, then it was accepting
the righteous. If the person floated, then it was
rejecting evil.
Inquisition
The accused was asked to confess under
threat of physical torture. If they were
innocent, God would give them the
strength to endure the torture until they
succumbed to a good Christian death.
Pope Innocent IV (1243(1243-54) was the first
pope to sanction the use of torture in the
extraction of confessions of heresy during
the Inquisition.
During heresy and witchcraft trials,
victims often were submitted to the most
diabolical tortures the Christian mind
could conceive.
Court of Inquisition, chaired by
St. Dominic
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Museum of
Medieval
Torture
Iron Maiden
The name of this
instrument seems to have originated from a
prototype that was built in the town of
Nuremberg. It is also said that this sort of
sarcophagus had the face of a maiden carved on
its front door, probably with the aim of making
this horrible container look more refined.
This instrument has four main features, whose
wickedness, I think, deserve to be analyzed. The
inside of the sarcophagus was fitted with spikes
designed to pierce different parts of the body,
but miss the vital organs, so that the victim
was kept alive, in an upright position.
Its second feature is that the victims were kept
in an extremely confined space to increase their
suffering.
Its third feature was that the device could be
opened and closed without letting the victim,
who had been pierced from the front and the
back, get away.
Its fourth feature was that the container was so
thick that no shrieks and moaning could be heard
from outside unless the doors were opened. When
the sarcophagus doors were shut again, the
spikes pierced exactly the same parts of the
body as before, and thus no relief was ever
possible. This instrument can be defined both a
torture and a death instrument.
Thumb / Toe Screws
Inquisitional
Chair
This instrument was used in Germany up to
the 1800s, in Italy and in Spain up to the end
of the 1700s, in France, in Great Britain and in
the other central European countries,
according to certain sources, up until the end
of 1800s. The victim is made to site on the
chair with the straps tightening to drive the
spikes into his or her flesh. Weights could also
be used as well as blows with mallets to further
the damage. While quite painful, the chair
itself was not always immediately
fatal. However, infection and tetanus claimed
many victims days or weeks after their ordeal.
Jibblet
Another way of ending the
lives of the condemned was
to put them in cages and
hang them in public places
where passersby could
observe the slow death of
the victim.
The image on the right is of
a two legged cage that still
houses its last occupant, at
St. Anselm Castle, in
Hungary.
The Pear
They are forced into an
orifice of the victim and
there expanded by force
of the screw to the
maximum aperture of their
segments. The inside of
the cavity in question is
irremediably mutilated,
nearly always fatally so.
The pointed prongs at the
end of the segments serve
better to rip into the throat,
the intestines or the
cervix."
(This instrument is Venetian, late 1500's,
and consists of bronze segments and key,
iron screw. Notice the etched face of Satan
in the picture on the left.)
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The Rack
Tied to the rack and stretched gradually (or quickly) for days, elongation of
bodies was reported by various sources to cases of twelve inches, a result of
systematic dislocation of every joint in the body. With the prisoner tied to this
horrific device, the inquisitor would then employ a variety of more subtle
tortures.
The Press
Pressing, or
crushing under
boards with weights
on them (also called
the 'turtle'), was
another way of
dispatching
condemned
prisoners. In this
English woodcut
from the late 1500's,
we see the added
feature of a wooden
wedge or 'scale'
placed under the
victim's back.
Catherine’s Wheel
Garroting Chair
Italian, 1500's. On the left, a close up of the restraint for
the victim's neck. On the right, the death of the
condemned as the point is slowly driven into the back of
the neck.
Branks
Judas Cradle
Note: In modern times this method still enjoys the favour of
more than a few governments in Latin America and elsewhere,
with and without improvements like electrified waist rings and
pyramid points.
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Cat’s Paw
Head Crusher
About as large as four fingers of a man’s hand, these devices,
usually attached to a short handle, served to rip the victim’s
flesh to shreds and to strip it off the bones, in any part.
Headcrushers exerted tremendous force on the head by means
of a screw. This could be used to force a confession or as a
means of execution. Some headcrushers had a sharp point at
the tip of the screw which would drive into the skull, anchoring
it for the pressure of the skull plate.
The Heretic’s Fork
Waterboarding
In the Spanish Inquisition (14781834, with its most active period
from 1480-1530), a form of torture
similar to waterboarding called toca
was used (though infrequently)
during the trial portion of the Spanish
Inquisition process.
With the four sharp points rammed deep into the flesh under the chin and into
the bone of the sternum, the fork prevented all movement of the head and
allowed the victim only to murmur, in a barely audible voice, “abiuro” (“I
recant”, engraved on one side of the fork). If instead he still refused, and if the
Inquisition was the Spanish one, he was held to be an “impenitent heretic”
and, dressed in the characteristic costume, was led to the stake, but with the
consolation of the sacrament if extreme unction; if instead it was the Papal
Inquisition, he was hanged or burnt, without the benefit of the pretty costume
but still with that of proper Christian rites.
You are now leaving the
Museum of
Medieval
Torture
The toca, also called tortura del
agua, consisted of introducing a cloth
into the mouth of the victim, and
forcing them to ingest water spilled
from a jar so that they had the
impression of drowning.
Trial by Compurgation
(Wager of Law)
The trial by compurgation called for the accused to exonerate
him/herself by obtaining enough compurgators (friends and
neighbors) to swear that they believed him/her.
The theory being these people would not endanger their
immortal souls by taking a false oath on behalf of someone they
knew to be guilty.
These primitive trials and methods did not involve any element
of persuasion - people did not concern themselves with the
reliability of the tests involved. The credibility of the witnesses
who swore that they believed the accused to be innocent was
never challenged as the oath alone sufficed.
(Thank you. Come again!)
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The development of the jury system in the common
law introduced the element of persuasion through the
presentation of evidence to substantiate claims and
allegations.
In the interests of achieving true justice, it became
apparent that for in a fair and impartial trial the jurors
should be shielded from false, misleading or
unsubstantiated testimony.
Rules were then established by i) jurisprudence and
ii) courts regarding how evidence could be presented
and how guilt or innocence should be determined.
This system of procedural law became known as the
“rules of evidence.”
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