Punishments can be harsh and painful but many of you must be unknown of what degree of pain punishments around the world can give. It’s very common knowledge that people in the middle ages had a knack for cruelty. And that insane cruelty generally came out in its full glory while punishing people for the crimes they have committed and even for the ones they were just accused of!
Let us take a look at 5 of the harshest punishments
- Crucifixion
As seen by the tale of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion, it was a highly well-known practice throughout the middle ages to nail (or tie) people to a wooden cross before leaving them there to die a slow and agonising death while being watched by onlookers. Crucifixion’s “best” feature was the fear it inflicted on its witnesses, rendering them mentally unable to commit any crime or rebel against the rulers. - The brazen bull
This ancient Greek technique, which was developed in Sicily, was also known as the Sicilian bull. It was a bronze object that resembled a bull in both size and shape. The condemned individual would be kept within while a fire was lit beneath the bull, heating the bronze until the individual inside was burnt to death. This apparatus also included devices that turned condemned people’s shouts into a bull’s bellows. - Flaying
Flaying means pulling off the skin. In the early days, skinning alive people was a common form of punishment or torture instead of using dead animals. Depending on how much skin was taken, they either perished or were psychologically disabled. In Mesopotamia, this form of torture was quite well-known. People were also punished by having portions of their flesh taken off their bodies. In the end, Shylock didn’t make a demand out of the blue. - Using rats to kill people
Rats are still frequently used to torture or murder people today, although formerly this was more common. A rat would be placed inside a cage as part of a device known as a rat trap. The opposing side of the bottomless cage would be heated, and it would be put on the body of the prisoner—usually the torso. The miserable rat would slowly chew away at the victim’s flesh to clear a path for itself after discovering that the other side was blocked by the heat. - Sawed in half
It means the same, that people were often given capital punishment by being sawed in halves. This method of execution was used in different parts of the world like the Roman Empire, Spain, and parts of Asia. Another similar kind of punishment was disembowelment, where the organs would be taken out of a living person, gradually leading him to death.