@tom.fitzgerald13: One of the most brutal torture methods of the medieval world was dastardly simple. The Wooden Horse, sometimes called the Spanish Donkey, was nothing more than a narrow beam raised off the ground. The victim was forced to sit astride it, with their full body weight pressing down onto a sharp edge. Then weights were added to the ankles. It becomes most infamous during the Spanish Inquisition, where inquisitors preferred punishments that didn’t immediately kill the subject. What makes it especially humiliating is how public it was. Nasty stuff! Further reading: Edward Peters, Torture Henry Kamen, The Spanish Inquisition: A Historical Revision

Tom Fitzgerald

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Thursday 29 January 2026 09:58:08 GMT