What does it mean to impale. How and why were people impaled in the Middle Ages? Details about this torture

The institution of law and the institution of punishment accompanying it contributed to the formation of a whole professional subculture of “shoulder masters”. The contribution of these "professionals of suffering" to the treasury of human infamy can hardly be overestimated. Wheeling, racking, impalement, Spanish boot, quartering (only a small part of the list of executions and tortures) - all this is not a fever attack of an inflamed diabolical fantasy, but the fruits of an inquisitive human mind. Man is truly a unique being. A significant part he spent his intellectual and spiritual capabilities on inventing the most effective ways of killing and bullying his own kind.

An excursion into history: how they impaled under Peter I

“According to contemporaries, it was in this way that Peter I dealt with Stepan Glebov, the lover of his wife Evdokia, who was exiled to the monastery. On March 15, 1718, exhausted by torture, Glebov was brought to Red Square, filled with crowds of people. Peter arrived in a heated carriage. Glebov was put on an unplaned "Persian stake".

The sentenced man was placed with his back to the post, his hands were brought back and tightly tied behind his back. Then they put him on a stake, or rather on planks. At the same time, the stake did not enter deeply, but the depth of further penetration was regulated by gradually reducing the height of the support posts. The executioners made sure that the stake, entering the body, did not affect the vital centers.

On the personal instructions of Peter, so that the martyr would not die of frostbite, they put on a fur coat and a hat instead of him. Glebov suffered for fifteen hours, filling the square with inhuman cries. He died only at six o'clock in the morning of the next day. (Gitin V.G. This is a cruel animal man. M. 2002) The "masters" of the enlightened West did not lag behind their colleagues from the "wild Muscovy", as evidenced by the following example.

Quartering in French

The description given here tells of the last hours of a man who was executed in 1757 on charges of plotting to assassinate the king of France. According to the sentence, the unfortunate man was torn out the meat on his chest, arms and legs, and the wounds were poured with a mixture of boiling oil, wax and sulfur. Then he was quartered with the help of horses, and the dismembered remains were burned.

The officer of the guard wrote the following account of what happened: “The executioner plunged the shackles into a cauldron of boiling potion, with which he generously poured over each wound. Then they harnessed the horses and tied them by the arms and legs. Horses pulled hard in different sides. A quarter of an hour later, the procedure was repeated and the horses were changed: those that were at the feet were placed at the hands in order to break the joints. Everything was repeated several times.

After two or three attempts, the executioner Samson and his assistant, who held the tongs, took out knives and cut the body at the thighs, the horses were pulled again; then they did the same with the arms and shoulders; the meat was cut almost to the bone. The horses tensed with all their might and tore off first the right, then left hand. The victim was alive until the moment when her limbs were finally torn from her body ”/Foucoult Michel. Discipline and Panish. Harmondsworth, 1979/

Reading the description of medieval executions, it is hard to believe that they took place with large crowds of people eagerly listening to what was happening. Such executions were big events and served as a form of mass entertainment.

"Sallic Truth"

Interestingly, already in the early Middle Ages, there is a tendency to use money as a universal exchange equivalent - even in legal relations. Indicative in this respect is the “Sallic Truth”, whose action falls on the 4th-3rd centuries of our era, when the barbarization of the Roman Empire took place, accompanied by the destruction of “everything and everything”. As historians note, cruelty and aggression reached frenzy.

This can be judged by the following excerpts from the law then in force: “Whoever rips out another's arm, leg, eye or nose pays 100 solidi, but if the arm is still hanging, then only 63 solidi. The thumb that has been torn off pays 50 solidi, but if the thumb remains hanging, then only 30. And all in the same spirit. In particular, for forefinger it was necessary to pay 5 solidi more than for the rest, because it is necessary for archery.

Of course, the expediency that the legislator wanted to introduce into this norm pales in our eyes before the alleged forms of its violation. But this is again one of the first steps towards the future emergence of rational Western law in its modern version. Over time, corrective crime control practices become widespread in most Western societies. The first prisons are created, which later developed into penitentiary systems.

London's Fleet Prison

In the 12th century, two prisons were built in London, the very mention of which struck terror into the hearts of not only criminals, but also debtors ... Built in 1130, the Fleet prison has been famous for corruption ever since. The post of guardian was hereditary and was retained by one of the families for more than three hundred and fifty years.

In the Middle Ages, people imprisoned for religious reasons languished in the Fleet - often such criminals were branded with a red-hot iron, their nostrils were mutilated and their ears were cut off. Prison torture tools included a finger vise and an iron collar that caused fatal suffocation in the unfortunate.

Prison has always been a desirable target for rebels and revolutionaries. In past centuries, the Fleet was burned to the ground and rebuilt three times. The conditions in it were so deplorable that, judging by the testimony of Moses Peet, dating back to the last decade of the 17th century, “Lice could be taken directly from the clothes of dozens of prisoners crowded in the cell.”

For punishment, a dungeon, called a "safe", was also used. This chamber of unplastered brick had neither a fireplace nor a stove, and the light came in only through a crack above the door. The dungeon was damp and foul-smelling and, as a rule, was located near the mountain, which was taken from all over the prison to one place of sewage. Usually in the "safe" were along with the living and the dead awaiting burial.

In 1729, the then warden of the prison was tried for murder after six prisoners died as a result of inhuman conditions, but he was acquitted as a result. Fleet Prison was demolished in 1846.

Russian prisons of the last century

By the end of the 19th century, there were 895 prisons in Russia. As of January 1, 1900, they contained 90,141 people.

The Englishman Vening examined the St. Petersburg, Moscow and Tver prisons in 1819. Here are his impressions: “... The two low-lying rooms were damp and unhealthy; in the first, food was cooked and women were placed, who, although they were fenced off, were in full view of all passers-by; there were no beds or beds in them, but women slept on planks; in another room there were 26 men and 4 boys, of which three men were in wooden blocks; up to 100 people were kept in this room, who had nowhere to lie down either day or night. The room for the upper-class convicts was almost in the ground; it was possible to get into it through a puddle, this room should give rise to diseases and premature death.

Bamboo is one of the fastest growing plants on Earth. Some of his Chinese varieties can grow up to a meter in a day. Some historians believe that the deadly bamboo torture was used not only by the ancient Chinese, but also by the Japanese military during World War II.
How it works?
1) Live bamboo sprouts are sharpened with a knife to make sharp "spears";
2) The victim is suspended horizontally, back or belly over a bed of young pointed bamboo;
3) Bamboo grows rapidly in height, pierce into the skin of the martyr and sprout through his abdominal cavity, the person dies very long and painfully.
2. Iron Maiden

Like torture with bamboo, many researchers consider the "iron maiden" a terrible legend. Perhaps these metal sarcophagi with sharp spikes inside only frightened the defendants, after which they confessed to anything. The "iron maiden" was invented at the end of the 18th century, i.e. already at the end of the Catholic Inquisition.
How it works?
1) The victim is stuffed into the sarcophagus and the door is closed;
2) The spikes driven into the inner walls of the "iron maiden" are rather short and do not pierce the victim through, but only cause pain. The investigator, as a rule, in a matter of minutes receives a confession, which the arrested person only has to sign;
3) If the prisoner shows fortitude and continues to be silent, long nails, knives and rapiers are pushed through special holes in the sarcophagus. The pain becomes simply unbearable;
4) The victim never confesses to his deed, then she was locked in a sarcophagus for a long time, where she died from blood loss;
5) In some models of the “iron maiden”, spikes were provided at eye level in order to quickly poke them out.
3. Skafism
The name of this torture comes from the Greek "skafium", which means "trough". Skafism was popular in ancient persia. During the torture, the victim, most often a prisoner of war, was devoured alive by various insects and their larvae that were not indifferent to human flesh and blood.
How it works?
1) The prisoner is placed in a shallow trough and wrapped in chains.
2) He is force-fed with large amounts of milk and honey, which causes the victim to develop copious diarrhea that attracts insects.
3) A prisoner, shabby, smeared with honey, is allowed to swim in a trough in a swamp, where there are many hungry creatures.
4) Insects immediately start the meal, as the main dish - the living flesh of the martyr.
4. Terrible pear


“There is a pear - you can’t eat it,” it is said about the medieval European tool for “educating” blasphemers, liars, women who gave birth out of wedlock, and gay men. Depending on the crime, the tormentor put the pear into the sinner's mouth, anus or vagina.
How it works?
1) The tool, consisting of pointed pear-shaped leaf-shaped segments, is thrust into the client's desired hole in the body;
2) The executioner slowly turns the screw on the top of the pear, while the “leaves”-segments bloom inside the martyr, causing hellish pain;
3) After the pear is opened, the completely guilty person receives internal injuries incompatible with life and dies in terrible agony, if he had not already fallen into unconsciousness.
5. Copper bull


The design of this death unit was developed by the ancient Greeks, or to be more precise, by the coppersmith Perill, who sold his terrible bull to the Sicilian tyrant Falaris, who simply adored torturing and killing people in unusual ways.
Inside the copper statue, through a special door, they pushed a living person.
So
Falaris first tested the unit on its creator, the greedy Perilla. Subsequently, Falaris himself was roasted in a bull.
How it works?
1) The victim is closed in a hollow copper statue of a bull;
2) A fire is kindled under the belly of the bull;
3) The victim is roasted alive, like a ham in a frying pan;
4) The structure of the bull is such that the cries of the martyr come from the mouth of the statue, like a bull's roar;
5) Jewelry and amulets were made from the bones of the executed, which were sold in the bazaars and were in great demand ..
6. Torture by rats


Rat torture was very popular in ancient China. However, we will look at the rat punishment technique developed by the leader of the 16th century Dutch Revolution, Didrik Sonoy.
How it works?
1) The naked martyr is laid on a table and tied;
2) Large, heavy cages with hungry rats are placed on the prisoner's stomach and chest. The bottom of the cells is opened with a special valve;
3) Hot coals are placed on top of the cages to stir up the rats;
4) Trying to escape from the heat of hot coals, rats gnaw their way through the flesh of the victim.
7. Cradle of Judas

The Cradle of Judas was one of the most painful torture machines in the arsenal of the Suprema - the Spanish Inquisition. The victims usually died from the infection, due to the fact that the peaked seat of the torture machine was never disinfected. The cradle of Judas, as an instrument of torture, was considered "loyal", because it did not break bones and did not tear ligaments.
How it works?
1) The victim, whose hands and feet are tied, is seated on the top of a pointed pyramid;
2) The top of the pyramid pierces the anus or vagina;
3) With the help of ropes, the victim is gradually lowered lower and lower;
4) Torture continues for several hours or even days, until the victim dies from powerlessness and pain, or from blood loss due to rupture of soft tissues.
8. Elephant trampling

For several centuries, this execution was practiced in India and Indochina. The elephant is very easy to train and to teach him to trample the guilty victim with his huge feet is a matter of several days.
How it works?
1. The victim is tied to the floor;
2. A trained elephant is brought into the hall to crush the head of the martyr;
3. Sometimes before the "control in the head" animals squeeze the victims' arms and legs in order to amuse the audience.
9. Rack

Probably the most famous, and unsurpassed in its kind, death machine called "rack". It was first experienced around 300 AD. on the Christian martyr Vincent of Zaragoza.
Anyone who survived the rack could no longer use their muscles and turned into a helpless vegetable.
How it works?
1. This instrument of torture is a special bed with rollers at both ends, on which ropes were wound, holding the wrists and ankles of the victim. When the rollers rotated, the ropes stretched in opposite directions, stretching the body;
2. Ligaments in the hands and feet of the victim are stretched and torn, bones pop out of the joints.
3. Another version of the rack was also used, called strappado: it consisted of 2 pillars dug into the ground and connected by a crossbar. The interrogated person was tied with his hands behind his back and lifted by the rope tied to his hands. Sometimes a log or other weights were attached to his bound legs. At the same time, the hands of a person raised on a rack twisted back and often came out of their joints, so that the convict had to hang on twisted arms. They were on the rack from several minutes to an hour or more. This type of rack was used most often in was used and in Western Europe
4. In Russia, a suspect raised on a rack was beaten with a whip on the back, and “applied to the fire”, that is, they drove burning brooms over the body.
5. In some cases, the executioner broke the ribs of a person hanging on a rack with red-hot tongs.
10. Paraffin in the bladder
A savage form of torture, the actual use of which has not been established.
How it works?
1. Candle paraffin was rolled out by hand into a thin sausage, which was injected through the urethra;
2. Paraffin slipped into the bladder, where it began to precipitate solid salts and other filth.
3. The victim soon developed kidney problems and died of acute kidney failure. On average, death occurred in 3-4 days.
11. Shiri (camel cap)
A monstrous fate awaited those whom the Zhuanzhuans (the union of nomadic Turkic-speaking peoples) took into their slavery. They destroyed the memory of the slave with a terrible torture - by putting Shiri on the head of the victim. Usually this fate befell young guys captured in battles.
How it works?
1. First, the slaves shaved their heads, carefully scraping out every hair under the root.
2. The executioners slaughtered the camel and skinned its carcass, first of all, separating its heaviest, densest part.
3. Having divided the neck into pieces, it was immediately pulled in pairs over the shaved heads of the prisoners. These pieces, like a plaster, stuck around the heads of slaves. This meant putting on wide.
4. After putting on the width, the neck of the doomed was shackled in a special wooden block so that the subject could not touch his head to the ground. In this form, they were taken away from crowded places so that no one would hear their heartbreaking cries, and they were thrown into open field, with hands and feet tied, in the sun, without water and without food.
5. The torture lasted 5 days.
6. Only a few remained alive, and the rest died not from hunger or even from thirst, but from unbearable, inhuman torments caused by drying out, shrinking rawhide camel skin on the head. Inexorably shrinking under the rays of the scorching sun, the width squeezed, squeezing the shaved head of a slave like an iron hoop. Already on the second day, the shaved hair of the martyrs began to sprout. Coarse and straight Asian hair sometimes grew into the rawhide, in most cases, finding no way out, the hair bent and again went into the scalp with its ends, causing even greater suffering. A day later, the man lost his mind. Only on the fifth day did the Zhuanzhuans come to check whether any of the prisoners had survived. If at least one of the tortured was caught alive, it was believed that the goal was achieved. .
7. The one who was subjected to such a procedure either died, unable to withstand the torture, or lost his memory for life, turned into a mankurt - a slave who does not remember his past.
8. The skin of one camel was enough for five or six widths.
12. Implantation of metals
A very strange means of torture-execution was used in the Middle Ages.
How it works?
1. A deep incision was made on a person’s legs, where a piece of metal (iron, lead, etc.) was placed, after which the wound was sutured.
2. Over time, the metal oxidized, poisoning the body and causing terrible pain.
3. Most often, the poor fellows tore the skin in the place where the metal was sewn up and died from blood loss.
13. Dividing a person into two parts
This terrible execution originated in Thailand. The most hardened criminals were subjected to it - mostly murderers.
How it works?
1. The accused is placed in a hoodie woven from lianas, and he is stabbed with sharp objects;
2. After that, his body is quickly cut into two parts, the upper half is immediately placed on a red-hot copper grate; this operation stops the blood and prolongs the life of the upper part of the person.
A small addition: This torture is described in the book of the Marquis de Sade "Justine, or the successes of vice." This is a small excerpt from big piece text where de Sade allegedly describes the torture of the peoples of the world. But why supposedly? According to many critics, the Marquis was very fond of lying. He had an extraordinary imagination and a couple of manias, so this torture, like some others, could be a figment of his imagination. But the field of this is not worth referring to Donatien Alphonse as Baron Munchausen. This torture, in my opinion, if it did not exist before, is quite realistic. If, of course, a person is drugged with painkillers before this (opiates, alcohol, etc.), so that he does not die before his body touches the bars.
14. Inflation with air through the anus
A terrible torture in which a person is pumped with air through the anus.
There is evidence that in Russia even Peter the Great himself sinned with this.
Most often, thieves were executed in this way.
How it works?
1. The victim was tied hand and foot.
2. Then they took cotton and stuffed the ears, nose and mouth of the poor fellow with it.
3. Furs were inserted into the anus, with the help of which they were pumped into a person great amount air, resulting in it becoming like a balloon.
3. After that, I plugged his anus with a piece of cotton.
4. Then they opened two veins above his eyebrows, from which all the blood flowed under great pressure.
5. Sometimes a bound person was placed naked on the roof of the palace and shot with arrows until he died.
6. Prior to 1970, this method was often used in Jordanian prisons.
15. Polledro
The Neapolitan executioners lovingly called this torture "polledro" - "colt" (polledro) and were proud that it was first used in their native city. Although history did not preserve the name of its inventor, they said that he was an expert in horse breeding and came up with an unusual device to pacify his horses.
Only a few decades later, lovers of mocking people turned the horse breeder's device into a real torture machine for people.
The machine was wooden frame, similar to a ladder, the transverse rungs of which had very sharp corners, so that when a person was placed on them with his back, they crashed into the body from the back of the head to the heels. The staircase ended with a huge wooden spoon, in which, like a cap, they put their heads.
How it works?
1. Holes were drilled on both sides of the frame and in the “bonnet”, ropes were threaded into each of them. The first of them was tightened on the forehead of the tortured, the last tied the big toes. As a rule, there were thirteen ropes, but for especially stubborn ones, the number was increased.
2. Special fixtures the ropes were pulled tighter and tighter - it seemed to the victims that, having crushed the muscles, they dug into the bones.
16. Dead man's bed (modern China)


The "dead man's bed" torture is used by the Chinese Communist Party mainly on those prisoners who try to protest their illegal imprisonment through a hunger strike. In most cases, these are prisoners of conscience who went to prison for their beliefs.
How it works?
1. The hands and feet of a naked prisoner are tied to the corners of the bed, on which instead of a mattress wooden plank with cut hole. A bucket for excrement is placed under the hole. Often, ropes are tightly tied to the bed and the body of a person so that he cannot move at all. In this position, a person is continuously from several days to weeks.
2. In some prisons, such as Shenyang City No. 2 Prison and Jilin City Prison, the police still place a hard object under the victim's back to increase the suffering.
3. It also happens that the bed is placed vertically and for 3-4 days a person hangs, stretched by the limbs.
4. Force-feeding is added to these torments, which is carried out with the help of a tube inserted through the nose into the esophagus, into which liquid food is poured.
5. This procedure is done mainly by prisoners on the orders of the guards, and not by health workers. They do it very rudely and not professionally, often causing more serious damage to the internal organs of a person.
6. Those who have gone through this torture say that it causes displacement of the vertebrae, joints of the arms and legs, as well as numbness and blackening of the limbs, which often leads to disability.
17. Collar (Modern China)

One of medieval torture used in modern Chinese prisons is the wearing of a wooden collar. It is put on a prisoner, which is why he cannot walk or stand normally.
The collar is a board from 50 to 80 cm long, from 30 to 50 cm wide and 10 - 15 cm thick. There are two holes for the legs in the middle of the collar.
The shackled victim is difficult to move, must crawl into the bed, and usually must sit or lie down, as the upright position causes pain and injury to the legs. Without assistance, a person with a collar cannot go to eat or go to the toilet. When a person gets out of bed, the collar not only presses on the legs and heels, causing pain, but its edge clings to the bed and prevents the person from returning to it. At night, the prisoner is not able to turn around, and in winter time a short blanket does not cover the legs.
An even worse form of this torture is called "crawling with a wooden collar." The guards put a collar on the man and order him to crawl on the concrete floor. If he stops, he is hit on the back with a police baton. An hour later, fingers, toenails and knees bleed profusely, while the back is covered with wounds from blows.
18. Impaling

Terrible wild execution that came from the East.
The essence of this execution was that a person was placed on his stomach, one sat on him to prevent him from moving, the other held him by the neck. A person was inserted into the anus with a stake, which was then driven in with a mallet; then they drove a stake into the ground. The weight of the body forced the stake to go deeper and deeper, and finally it came out under the arm or between the ribs.
19. Spanish water torture

In order to the best way to perform the procedure of this torture, the accused was placed on one of the varieties of the rack or on a special large table with a rising middle part. After the victim's hands and feet were tied to the edges of the table, the executioner went to work in one of several ways. One of these methods was that the victim was forced to swallow a large amount of water with a funnel, then beaten on the inflated and arched stomach. Another form involved placing a rag tube down the victim's throat, through which water was slowly poured in, causing the victim to bloat and suffocate. If that wasn't enough, the tube was pulled out, causing internal damage, and then reinserted and the process repeated. Sometimes they used torture cold water. In this case, the accused lay naked on the table for hours under a jet of icy water. It is interesting to note that this kind of torment was regarded as light, and confessions obtained in this way were accepted by the court as voluntary and given to the defendants without the use of torture. Most often, these tortures were used by the Spanish Inquisition in order to knock out confessions from heretics and witches.
20. Chinese water torture
The man was seated in a very cold room They tied him so that he could not move his head, and in complete darkness cold water was dripped on his forehead very slowly. After a few days, the person froze or went crazy.
21. Spanish chair

This instrument of torture was widely used by the executioners of the Spanish Inquisition and was a chair made of iron, on which the prisoner was seated, and his legs were enclosed in stocks attached to the legs of the chair. When he was in such a completely helpless position, a brazier was placed under his feet; with hot coals, so that the legs began to slowly roast, and in order to prolong the suffering of the poor fellow, the legs were poured with oil from time to time.
Another version of the Spanish chair was often used, which was a metal throne, to which the victim was tied and a fire was made under the seat, roasting the buttocks. The well-known poisoner La Voisin was tortured on such an armchair during the famous Poisoning Case in France.
22. GRIDIRON (Grate for torture by fire)


Torture of Saint Lawrence on the gridiron.
This type of torture is often mentioned in the lives of saints - real and fictional, but there is no evidence that the gridiron "survived" until the Middle Ages and had at least little circulation in Europe. It is usually described as a simple metal grate, 6 feet long and two and a half wide, set horizontally on legs so that a fire can be built under it.
Sometimes the gridiron was made in the form of a rack in order to be able to resort to combined torture.
Saint Lawrence was martyred on a similar grid.
This torture was rarely resorted to. Firstly, it was easy enough to kill the interrogated person, and secondly, there were a lot of simpler, but no less cruel tortures.
23. Pectoral

Pectoral in ancient times was called a breast adornment for women in the form of a pair of carved gold or silver bowls, often strewn with precious stones. It was worn like a modern bra and fastened with chains.
By a mocking analogy with this decoration, the savage instrument of torture used by the Venetian Inquisition was named.
In 1985, the pectoral was red-hot and, taking it with tongs, put it on the chest of the tortured woman and held until she confessed. If the accused persisted, the executioners heated up the pectoral, cooled by the living body again, and continued the interrogation.
Very often, after this barbaric torture, charred, torn holes remained in place of the woman's breasts.
24. Tickle Torture

This seemingly harmless influence was a terrible torture. With prolonged tickling, a person’s nerve conduction increased so much that even the lightest touch caused at first twitching, laughter, and then turned into terrible pain. If such torture was continued for a long time, then after a while spasms of the respiratory muscles arose and, in the end, the tortured person died from suffocation.
At the most simple version the interrogated were tortured by tickling sensitive places either simply with their hands or with hairbrushes and brushes. Rigid bird feathers were popular. Usually tickled under the armpits, heels, nipples, inguinal folds, genitals, women also under the breasts.
In addition, torture was often used with the use of animals that licked some tasty substance from the heels of the interrogated. A goat was often used, because its very hard tongue, adapted for eating herbs, caused very strong irritation.
There was also a form of beetle tickling, most common in India. With her little bug planted on the head of the penis for a man or on the nipple of a woman and covered with half a nut shell. After some time, the tickling caused by the movement of the legs of an insect over a living body became so unbearable that the interrogated person confessed to anything.
25. Crocodile


These tubular metal tongs "Crocodile" were red-hot and used to tear the penis of the tortured. At first, with a few caressing movements (often performed by women), or with a tight bandage, they achieved a stable hard erection and then the torture began.
26. Serrated crusher


These serrated iron tongs slowly crushed the testicles of the interrogated.
Something similar was widely used in Stalinist and fascist prisons.
27. A terrible tradition.


Actually, this is not torture, but an African rite, but, in my opinion, it is very cruel. Girls from 3-6 years old without anesthesia were simply scraped out the external genitalia.
Thus, the girl did not lose the ability to have children, but was forever deprived of the opportunity to experience sexual desire and pleasure. This rite is done “for the good” of women so that they will never be tempted to cheat on their husband
28. Blood Eagle


One of the most ancient tortures, during which the victim was tied face down and his back was opened, the ribs were broken off at the spine and spread apart like wings. In Scandinavian legends, it is stated that during such an execution, salt was sprinkled on the wounds of the victim.
Many historians claim that this torture was used by pagans against Christians, others are sure that spouses convicted of treason were punished in this way, and still others claim that the bloody eagle is just a terrible legend.

In the Law of Manu, the ancient code of religious and civil laws of Indian society, among the seven types death penalty impalement took first place. Assyrian rulers became famous for sentencing the rebels and the vanquished to death at the stake. Ashshurnasirpap, mentioned by Gaston Maspero, wrote: "I hung the corpses on poles. I put some on the top of the pole ... and the rest on stakes around the pole."

The Persians also had a special affection for this form of capital punishment. Xerxes, enraged by the disobedience of King Leonidas, who, with three hundred Spartans, tried to block the path of the Persian army at Thermopylae, ordered the Greek hero to be impaled.

The impaling technique throughout the world was almost identical, with the exception of a few details. Some peoples, including the Assyrians, injected a stake through the abdomen and removed it through the armpit or mouth, but this practice was not widespread, and in the vast majority of cases, a wooden or metal stake was inserted through the anus.

The condemned was laid on his stomach on the ground, his legs were spread and either fixed them motionless, or they were held by the executioners, their hands were nailed to the ground with spears, or they were tied behind their backs.

In some cases, depending on the diameter of the stake, the anus was previously oiled or cut with a knife. With both hands, the executioner stuck the stake as deep as he could, and then drove it inside with the help of a club.

There was a wide scope for imagination here. Sometimes in codes or sentences it was specified that a stake inserted into the body fifty to sixty centimeters should be placed vertically in a hole prepared in advance. Death came extremely slowly, and the condemned man experienced indescribable torment. The sophistication of torture lay in the fact that the execution was carried out by itself and no longer required the intervention of the executioner. The stake penetrated deeper and deeper into the victim under the influence of its weight, until it finally crawled out of the armpit, chest, back or abdomen, depending on the direction given. Sometimes death came after a few days. There were plenty of cases when the agony lasted more than three days.

It is known for sure that a stake inserted through the anus and exiting the abdomen killed more slowly than exiting the chest or throat.

Often a stake was driven in with a hammer, piercing the body through and through, the task of the executioner in this case was to get it out of the mouth. In addition to the physical characteristics of the condemned, the duration of the agony depended on the type of stake.

In some cases, the stake inserted into the anus was well sharpened. Then death came quickly, because he easily tore the organs, causing internal injuries and fatal bleeding. Russians usually aimed at the heart, which was not always possible. Many historians say that one boyar, impaled on the orders of Ivan IV, suffered for two whole days. The lover of Tsarina Evdokia, after twelve hours spent on a stake, spat in the face of Peter I.

The Persians, Chinese, Burmese and Siamese preferred a thin stake with a rounded end, which caused minimal damage to internal organs, to a pointed stake. He did not pierce or tear them apart, but pushed them apart and pushed back, penetrating deep into. Death remained inevitable, but the execution could last several days, which was very useful from the point of view of edification.

Suleiman Haby was executed on a stake with a rounded tip in 1800 for stabbing General Kléber, the commander-in-chief of the French troops in Egypt after Bonaparte sailed to France, with a dagger.

Impaling in Persia. Engraving. Private count

Perhaps this is the only case in history when Western jurisprudence has resorted to this method of execution. The French military commission departed from the military code in favor of the customs of the country. The execution took place with a large gathering of people on the esplanade of the Cairo Institute with the participation of the French executioner Barthelemy, for whom this was the first experience of this kind. He coped with the task relatively successfully: before proceeding with hammering the iron stake with a hammer, he considered it necessary to cut the anus with a knife. Suleiman Habi fought in agony for four hours.

The Chinese method of impaling, as always, was distinguished by its particular sophistication: a bamboo tube was hammered into the anus, through which an iron rod heated on fire was inserted inside.

By the way, this is how the English King Edward II was executed in order to pass off his death as natural. A red-hot rod was introduced into his body through a hollow horn. Michelet writes in the "History of France": "The corpse was put on public display ... There was not a single wound on the body, but people heard screams, and it was clear from the tortured face of the monarch that the killers subjected him to terrible torture."

Execution on a stake. Engraving from "De Cruse" by Justus Lipsius. Private count

In the East, this method of execution was often used for intimidation, impaling prisoners near the walls of a besieged city in order to sow terror in the souls of the townspeople.

Turkish troops were especially famous for such acts of intimidation. For example, this is how they acted at the walls of Bucharest and Vienna.

As a result of an uprising in Morocco around the middle of the 18th century, the Bukharians, the famous "black guard", which consisted of blacks bought in Sudan, several thousand men, women and children were impaled.

In those same years, in Dahomey, girls were sacrificed to the gods, planting their vaginas on pointed masts.

In Europe, impalement was popular during the Wars of Religion, especially in Italy. Jean Legere writes that in 1669, in Piedmont, the notable's daughter, Anne Charbonneau de la Tour, was planted with a "causal place" on a pike, and a squadron of executioners carried her through the city, chanting that it was their flag, which they finally stuck in the ground at the intersection roads.

During the war in Spain, Napoleonic troops impaled Spanish patriots, who paid them the same. Goya captured these terrible scenes in engravings and drawings.

In 1816, after a riot that ended in the killing of more than fifteen thousand people, Sultan Mahmud II liquidated the Janissary corps. Many were beheaded, but most were executed with a stake.

Roland Villeneuve writes that in 1958 the uncle of the Iraqi king, known for his homosexual inclinations, "was put on a stake, so that punishment would overtake him through the place of his sin."

Excoriation

Court of Cambyses. Painting by Gerard David. 1498 SECA archives.

Flaying is an execution that consists in the complete or partial removal of the skin from the convict. Especially often used in Chaldea, Babylon and Persia.

This heinous operation was carried out with knives and some other cutting tools.

In ancient India, the skin was removed by fire. With the help of torches, she was burned to meat all over her body. With burns of the third degree, the convict suffered for several days until death.

Skinning Saint Bartholomew. Mosaic of Saint Mark's Basilica in Venice. D.R.

This method of execution was willingly resorted to even Greek gods. Marsyas, the legendary musician and the first flutist, challenged Apollo with the lyre. The vanquished put himself at the mercy of the conqueror. Apollo won, tied Marsyas to a pine tree and skinned him alive.

How did it happen? Ovid writes: "Under the heartbreaking cries, the skin is removed from his body. He turns into a continuous bleeding wound. The muscles are exposed, you can see how the veins tremble. When light falls on the trembling entrails and muscle fibers, they can be counted."

The Assyrian rulers became especially famous for the variety of ways in which rebels and captives were executed. One of them, Ashurnasirpal, boasted that he flayed so much skin from the nobility that he covered the columns with it.

Gaston Maspero in the "Ancient History of the Peoples of the Classical East" writes that in Persia with judges convicted of abuse official position, skinned alive, which was then upholstered in the judicial chairs of their successors. Herodotus says that King Cambyses appointed a judge who had to sit on a chair upholstered in his father's leather, Judge Simarius, who was flayed for passing an unjust sentence. The skin was also flayed from unfaithful wives. When it comes to flaying, they always remember the death of Emperor Valerian, who was captured by the Persian king Sapor. He was brutally tortured and then skinned alive. Sapor ordered to paint it red and hung it in the temple as a trophy.

Partial stripping was practiced by the Romans, and the Christian martyrology abounds similar examples. Most often, the skin was removed from the head and face. So under the emperor Maximin they did with St. Julian.

The Indians of North America and Canada scalped their enemies by cutting off the skin from the top of their skulls so that the Great Manitou could not grab them by the hair and drag the "redskins" into paradise.

Since ancient times, people brutally dealt with their enemies, some even ate them, but mostly they were executed, deprived of their lives in terrible and sophisticated ways. The same was done with criminals who violated the laws of God and man. Over a thousand-year history, a lot of experience has been accumulated in the execution of the condemned.

Decapitation
Physical separation of the head from the body with an ax or any military weapons(knife, sword) later, a machine invented in France, the Guillotine, was used for these purposes. It is believed that during such an execution, the head, separated from the body, retains sight and hearing for another 10 seconds. Decapitation was considered a "noble execution" and was applied to aristocrats. In Germany, beheading was abolished in 1949 due to the failure of the last guillotine.

Hanging
Strangulation of a person on a rope loop, the end of which is fixed motionless. Death occurs in a few minutes, but not at all from suffocation, but from squeezing the carotid arteries. In this case, the person first loses consciousness, and later dies.
The medieval gallows consisted of a special pedestal, a vertical column (pillars) and a horizontal beam, on which the condemned were hung, placed above the likeness of a well. The well was intended for falling off parts of the body - the hanged remained hanging on the gallows until complete decomposition.
In England, a type of hanging was used, when a person was thrown from a height with a noose around his neck, while death occurs instantly from a rupture of the cervical vertebrae. There was an “official table of falls”, with the help of which the necessary length of the rope was calculated depending on the weight of the convict (if the rope is too long, the head separates from the body).
A variation of hanging is garrote. A garrote (an iron collar with a screw, often equipped with a vertical spike on the back) is generally not strangled. She breaks her neck. The executed in this case does not die from suffocation, as happens if he is strangled with a rope, but from crushing the spine (sometimes, according to medieval evidence, from a fracture of the base of the skull, depending on where to put it on) and a fracture of the cervical cartilage.
The last high-profile hanging - Saddam Hussein.

Quartering
It is considered one of the most cruel executions, and was applied to the most dangerous criminals. When quartered, the victim was strangled (not to death), then the stomach was cut open, the genitals were cut off, and only then the body was cut into four or more parts and the head was cut off. Body parts were put on public display "where the king deems it convenient."
Thomas More, the author of Utopia, sentenced to quartering with burning of the inside, on the morning before the execution was pardoned, and the quartering was replaced by decapitation, to which More replied: "God spare my friends from such mercy."
In England, quartering was used until 1820, formally abolished only in 1867. In France, quartering was carried out with the help of horses. The convict was tied by the arms and legs to four strong horses, which, whipped by the executioners, moved in different directions and tore off the limbs. In fact, the convict had to cut the tendons.
Another execution by tearing the body in half, noted in pagan Russia, was that the victim was tied by the legs to two bent young trees, and then released. According to Byzantine sources, Prince Igor was killed by the Drevlyans in 945 because he wanted to collect tribute from them twice.

wheeling
A common type of death penalty in Antiquity and the Middle Ages. In the Middle Ages, it was common in Europe, especially in Germany and France. In Russia, this type of execution has been known since the 17th century, but wheeling began to be regularly used only under Peter I, having received legislative approval in the Military Charter. Wheeling ceased to be used only in the 19th century.
Professor A.F. Kistyakovsky in the 19th century described the wheeling process used in Russia as follows: St. Andrew's cross, made of two logs, was tied to the scaffold in a horizontal position. On each of the branches of this cross two notches were made, one foot apart from the other. On this cross, the criminal was stretched so that his face was turned to the sky; each end of it lay on one of the branches of the cross, and in every place of each joint it was tied to the cross.
Then the executioner, armed with an iron quadrangular crowbar, struck at the part of the penis between the joint, which just lay above the notch. In this way, the bones of each member were broken in two places. The operation ended with two or three blows to the stomach and a breaking of the backbone. The criminal, broken in this way, was placed on a horizontally placed wheel so that the heels converged with the back of the head, and they left him in this position to die.

Burning at the stake
The death penalty, in which the victim is burned at the stake in public. Along with immuring and imprisoning, burning was widely used in the Middle Ages, since, according to the church, on the one hand, it took place without “shedding blood”, and on the other hand, the flame was considered a means of “purification” and could save the soul. Heretics, "witches" and those guilty of sodomy were especially often subject to burning.
The execution became widespread during the period of the Holy Inquisition, and only in Spain about 32 thousand people were burned (excluding the Spanish colonies).
The most famous people burned at the stake: Giorgiano Bruno - as a heretic (was engaged in scientific activity) and Jeanne d'Arc, who commanded the French troops in the Hundred Years' War.

Impalement
Impaling was widely used in Ancient Egypt and in the Middle East, the first mention of it dates back to the beginning of the second millennium BC. e. Execution was especially widespread in Assyria, where impalement was a common punishment for residents of rebellious cities, therefore, for instructive purposes, scenes of this execution were often depicted on bas-reliefs. This execution was used according to Assyrian law and as a punishment for women for abortion (considered as a variant of infanticide), as well as for a number of especially serious crimes. On the Assyrian reliefs, there are two options: with one of them, the condemned person was pierced with a stake in the chest, with the other, the tip of the stake entered the body from below, through the anus. Execution was widely used in the Mediterranean and the Middle East at least from the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. e. It was also known to the Romans, although it was of particular distribution in Ancient Rome did not receive.
For a large part of medieval history, the execution by impalement was very common in the Middle East, where it was one of the main methods of painful death penalty. It became widespread in France during the time of Fredegonda, who was the first to introduce this type of execution, conferring on her a young girl of a noble family. The unfortunate was laid on his stomach, and the executioner drove a wooden stake into his anus with a hammer, after which the stake was driven vertically into the ground. Under the weight of the body, the person gradually slid down until, after a few hours, the stake came out through the chest or neck.
The ruler of Wallachia Vlad distinguished himself with particular cruelty III Tepes("spear-bearer") Dracula. According to his instructions, the victims were impaled on a thick stake, in which the top was rounded and oiled. The stake was inserted into the anus to a depth of several tens of centimeters, then the stake was placed vertically. The victim, under the influence of the gravity of his body, slowly slid down the stake, and sometimes death occurred only after a few days, since the rounded stake did not pierce the vital organs, but only went deeper into the body. In some cases, a horizontal bar was installed on the stake, which prevented the body from sliding too low, and ensured that the stake did not reach the heart and other critical organs. In this case, the death of rupture of internal organs and great blood loss did not come very soon.
King Edward of England was executed by impalement. The nobles rebelled and killed the monarch by driving a red-hot iron rod into his anus. Impaling was used in the Commonwealth until the 18th century, and many Zaporizhian Cossacks were executed in this way. With the help of smaller stakes, rapists were also executed (they drove a stake into the heart) and mothers who killed their children (they were pierced with a stake after being buried alive in the ground).

Hanging by the rib
A type of death penalty in which an iron hook was thrust into the side of the victim and hung up. Death came from thirst and blood loss after a few days. The hands of the victim were tied so that he could not free himself. Execution was common among the Zaporizhian Cossacks. According to legend, Dmitry Vishnevetsky, the founder of the Zaporizhzhya Sich, the legendary “Baida Veshnivetsky”, was executed in this way.

stoning
After the appropriate decision of the authorized legal body (the king or the court), a crowd of citizens gathered to kill the guilty person by throwing stones at him. At the same time, small stones should have been chosen so that the condemned person would not be exhausted too quickly. Or, in a more humane case, it could be one executioner, dropping one large stone from above on the condemned.
Currently, stoning is used in some Muslim countries. On January 1, 1989, stoning remained in the legislation of six countries of the world. An Amnesty International report gives an eyewitness account of a similar execution in Iran:
“Next to a wasteland, a lot of stones and pebbles were poured out of a truck, then they brought two women dressed in white, bags were put on their heads ... A hail of stones fell on them, turning their bags red ... The wounded women fell, and then the guards of the revolution broke through their heads with shovels to finally kill them.

Throwing to Predators
The oldest type of execution, common among many peoples of the world. Death came because the victim was bitten by crocodiles, lions, bears, snakes, sharks, piranhas, ants.

Walking in circles
A rare method of execution, practiced, in particular, in Russia. The victim's stomach was steamed in the area of ​​the intestines, so that he would not die from blood loss. Then they took out an intestine, nailed it to a tree and forced it to walk in a circle around the tree. In Iceland, a special stone was used for this, around which they walked according to the verdict of the Thing.

Buried alive
A type of execution not very common in Europe, which is believed to have come to the Old World from the East, but there are several documentary evidence of the use of this type of execution that have come down to our time. Burial alive was applied to Christian martyrs. In medieval Italy, unrepentant murderers were buried alive. In Germany, female child killers were buried alive in the ground. In Russia of the 17th-18th centuries, women who killed their husbands were buried alive up to the neck.

crucifixion
Condemned to death, the hands and feet were nailed to the ends of the cross or the limbs were fixed with ropes. This is how Jesus Christ was executed. The main cause of death during crucifixion is asphyxia caused by developing pulmonary edema and fatigue of the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles involved in the process of breathing. The main support of the body in this position is the hands, and when breathing, the abdominal muscles and intercostal muscles had to lift the weight of the whole body, which led to their rapid fatigue. Also, squeezing the chest with tense muscles of the shoulder girdle and chest caused stagnation of fluid in the lungs and pulmonary edema. Additional causes of death were dehydration and blood loss.

Welding in boiling water
Welding in liquid was a common type of death penalty in different countries of the world. In ancient Egypt, this type of punishment was applied mainly to persons who disobeyed the pharaoh. The pharaoh's slaves at dawn (specially so that Ra saw the criminal) lit a huge fire, over which there was a cauldron of water (and not just water, but from the very dirty water where waste was dumped, etc.) Sometimes entire families were executed in this way.
This type of execution was widely used by Genghis Khan. In medieval Japan, boiling water was applied mainly to ninja who failed an assassination and were captured. In France, this execution was applied to counterfeiters. Sometimes intruders were boiled in boiling oil. There remains evidence of how in 1410 in Paris a pickpocket was boiled alive in boiling oil.

Pouring lead or boiling oil down the throat
It was used in the East, in Medieval Europe, in Russia and among the Indians. Death came from a burn of the esophagus and strangulation. The punishment was usually set for counterfeiting, and often the metal from which the offender cast coins was poured. Those who did not die for a long time were cut off the head.

Execution in a bag
lat. Poena cullei. The victim was sewn into a bag with different animals (snake, monkey, dog or rooster) and thrown into the water. Practiced in the Roman Empire. Under the influence of the reception of Roman law in the Middle Ages, it was adopted (in a slightly modified form) in a number of European countries. Thus, in the French code of customary law "Livres de Jostice et de Plet" (1260), created on the basis of Justinian's Digest, it is said about the "execution in a bag" with a rooster, a dog and a snake (the monkey is not mentioned, apparently for reasons of rarity this animal for medieval Europe). Somewhat later, an execution based on poena cullei also appeared in Germany, where it was used in the form of hanging a criminal (thief) upside down (sometimes hanging was carried out by one leg) together (on the same gallows) with a dog (or two dogs hung on the right and left from the executed). This execution was called the "Jewish execution", since over time it began to be applied exclusively to Jewish criminals (it was applied to Christians in the rarest cases in the 16th-17th centuries).

Excoriation
Skinning has a very ancient history. Even the Assyrians skinned captured enemies or rebellious rulers and nailed them to the walls of their cities as a warning to those who would challenge their power. The Assyrian ruler Ashurnasirpal boasted that he flayed so many skins from the guilty nobility that he covered the columns with it.
Especially often used in Chaldea, Babylon and Persia. In ancient India, the skin was removed by fire. With the help of torches, she was burned to meat all over her body. With burns, the convict suffered for several days until death. In Western Europe, it was used as a method of punishment for traitors and traitors, as well as for ordinary people who were suspected of having love affairs with women of royal blood. Also, the skin was torn off the corpses of enemies or criminals for intimidation.

ling chi
Ling-chi (Chinese: “death by a thousand cuts”) is a particularly painful method of execution by cutting off small fragments from the body of the victim for a long period of time.
It was used in China for high treason and parricide in the Middle Ages and during the Qing dynasty until its abolition in 1905. In 1630, a prominent Ming commander Yuan Chonghuan was subjected to this execution. The proposal to abolish it was made back in the 12th century by the poet Lu Yu. in public places with a large crowd of onlookers. Surviving descriptions of the execution differ in detail. The victim was usually drugged with opium, either out of mercy or to prevent her from losing consciousness.

In his History of Torture of All Ages, George Riley Scott quotes from the notes of two Europeans who had the rare opportunity to be present at such an execution: their names were Sir Henry Norman (he saw this execution in 1895) and T. T. Ma-Dawes:

“There is a basket covered with a piece of linen, in which lies a set of knives. Each of these knives is designed for a certain part of the body, as evidenced by the inscriptions engraved on the blade. The executioner takes one of the knives at random from the basket and, based on the inscription, cuts off the corresponding part of the body. However, at the end of the last century, this practice, in all likelihood, was supplanted by another, which left no room for chance and provided for cutting off parts of the body in a certain sequence with a single knife. According to Sir Henry Norman, the convict is tied to the likeness of a cross, and the executioner slowly and methodically cuts off first the fleshy parts of the body, then cuts the joints, cuts off individual members on the limbs and ends the execution with one sharp blow to the heart...

This extremely cruel execution came to Europe from the East and gained high popularity in the Middle Ages. Its essence was that a person was put on a planed stake driven into the ground, directing it into the anus, previously lubricated with fat. Often the drawings show that the stake comes out of the suspect's mouth, but in practice this was extremely rare. Depending on the angle at which the stake was inserted, it could come out of the abdomen or, more commonly, the armpit. There were many varieties of stakes: smooth and unplaned with splinters, sharp and blunt, the thickness of the stake and its expansion to the lower end varied widely. The most sophisticated form of execution stake was the so-called Persian stake. It differed in that it had, as it were, a chair so that a person could not immediately, under his own weight, sink completely onto a stake and die. Gradually, the height of the chair decreased, the stake went deeper and deeper, causing new suffering. Such an execution could last for long hours and took place in public. The squares resounded with the cries of the martyr, which instilled fear of power in ordinary citizens.

More about earing:

A terrible wild execution that came to Europe from the East. But in France it was in use in the era of Fredegonde. She condemned to this painful death a young, very beautiful, girl from a noble family. The essence of this execution was that a person was placed on his stomach, one sat on him to prevent him from moving, the other held him by the neck. A person was inserted into the anus with a stake, which was then driven in with a mallet; then they drove a stake into the ground. I would also like to note that when England was ruled by a monarch with the wrong sexual orientation (his name was Edward I), then when the rebels broke into him, they killed him by thrusting a red-hot stake into the anus.

This was one of the most popular forms of massacre, since on a small plot of land you could set up a whole forest of stakes with dying people on them. Such a spectacle served the purpose of intimidation perfectly. A long pointed stake, more often wooden, less often an iron needle, was driven into the anus of the condemned. Often the convict was lifted on a rope and hung over a stake, his point was smeared with fat and inserted into the anus, and then the body was lowered until, under its own weight, it was impaled on the stake.

The pictures often show that the point of the stake comes out of the mouth of the executed. Such a spectacle may seem erotic to some. However, in practice, this was extremely rare. The weight of the body forced the stake to go deeper and deeper, and, most often, it came out under the armpit or between the ribs. Depending on the angle at which the point was inserted and the convulsions of the executed, the stake could also come out through the stomach.

Happy was the one to whom the stake pierced the vital organs along the way, leading to a quick death, but more often the convicts suffered on the stakes for one or two days. Sometimes, in order to intensify the torment, a crossbar was added not far from the sharp end of the stake, which prevented the body from being pierced through and through and thereby prolonged the agony of the condemned for a day or two. It happened that while sitting on a stake, the last interrogation of the executed was carried out, and the priest gave him a dying parting word.

Often the drawings show how a stake is driven into a woman's vagina. It must be said that nowhere in the literature is such impalement mentioned, since in this case the stake would have torn the uterus and the woman would have died instantly from severe bleeding. And the whole point of this execution was in a slow painful death. In the East, a woman was often stuffed with pepper in her vagina before execution to increase her suffering.

Sometimes a stake was driven in until it pierced through the body of the convict like a skewer, but this was very rare, as it meant a quick death. In practice, most often the stake was injected until then. Until he ruptured the intestines, after that he was installed in the ground.

In Africa, the Zulu warriors of Emperor Chaka were widely impaled.

In Russia, Ivan the Terrible loved this execution, Alexey the Quietest did not forget about it, seating Razin’s uprising participants in rows on stakes; Peter I. The latter, having learned about the connection of his wife, who was tonsured as a nun, Avdotya Lopukhina, with Major Glebov, went into a wild rage from jealousy. Glebov got everything: a rack, torture by fire, dripping water on the crown of the head, a whip. Then "... he was put on a stake. Since it was winter, he, already sitting on a stake, was wrapped in a fur coat, warm boots were put on his feet, a hat was pulled down, fearing that he would freeze too quickly. Glebov suffered for almost 30 hours. " Nevertheless, he found the strength in himself, when Peter went up to the stake, to scold his tormentor and spit in his face. Lucky to be born a real man.

This type of execution was often used in medieval Russia. Major Danilov, a contemporary of the Empresses Anna Ioannovna and Elizabeth (XVIII century), writes that in his time the robber Prince Likhutiev was executed on the square: "... his body was bent on a stake."

Back in the 18th century in Russia, smeared with tar, a stake was driven into the anus of horse thieves.

In our time, there are references to this execution, so in 1992 in the Central Prison in Baghdad, Iraqi security officials impaled a woman accused of espionage.

It was one of the most brutal executions that the human imagination could come up with. Oddly enough, even today, it continues to be used.

In the criminal code of Charles V there is only a mention of him. However, in the "Punishment of Life and Hell" manual, we find the following: in large numbers crimes, then he is impaled. A pointed stake is inserted into his anus, then his body is pierced with force, sometimes to the head, sometimes through the throat. Then the stake is set and fixed in the ground, so that the writhing victim, in unimaginable agony, can be seen by everyone. Her torment continues for several days ... "This execution was so cruel that the audience was involuntarily imbued with sympathy for the unfortunate victim, perhaps this was the reason for refusing to use it. It is believed that everyone officially refused this execution modern countries, however, criminal elements use it to deal with their opponents by greatly simplifying it - a short sharp rod is driven into the victim's rectum, tearing it and leaving the person to slowly die from peritonitis and internal bleeding.

Portrait of Vlad Dracula

Order of the Dragon

Impalement

Dracula's Castle (Bran Castle)

Dracula film by Coppola

From the Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron

Stake, an instrument of execution - a vertical stake fixed in the ground, with a pointed upper end; among the Cossacks was wooden pole, an arshin or more high, at the top of which an iron spire 2 arshins long was strengthened. When planting on the Kol, the latter entered the insides deeper and deeper and, finally, protruded outward either between the shoulder blades or in the chest. Sometimes a horizontal bar was made on Kolya so that he could not go deep; then the onset of death slowed down. Planted on K. died only after half a day or a whole day, even after 2-3 days; at the same time, they could maintain full consciousness and often, sitting on the Kol, were subjected to more interrogations, sometimes even communed with St. secrets. Landing on K. is one of the oldest forms of the death penalty. Byzantine historians point to the spread of this painful execution among the ancient Slavs. According to Leo the Deacon, Svyatoslav, having taken the city of Philippopolis, planted 20 thousand of its inhabitants on Kol; Procopius also confirms the existence of this execution among the Slavs. In Muscovite Russia, landing on the Kol was practiced from the 16th century, especially in Time of Troubles, mainly in relation to traitors and rebels; in 1718, Peter I subjected to this execution the hated Stepan Glebov. In 1738, the impostor Minitsky and his accomplice, the priest Mohyla, were imprisoned in K.. Among the Cossacks, a sharp "fire" was used until the very end of the existence of the Sich, especially wide sizes in the era of the struggle against the Poles. From the Tatars and Turks, this execution also passed to the Western European peoples who came into contact with them, for example, to the Austrians. Along with impalement, piercing with the stake was also practiced, namely in India, as well as in Germany, where it was customary as a punishment for horse theft, rape and infanticide. In the case of rape, a pointed oak stake was placed on the chest of the offender and driven in: the first three blows were made by the victim of the crime, the rest by the executioner.

Dracula's castle in Transylvania

Fortress of Sighisoara - the birthplace of Dracula

spike

Souvenirs with Dracula

Impaling - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Impaling is a type of death penalty in which the condemned person was impaled on a vertical pointed stake. In most cases, the victim was impaled on the ground, in a horizontal position, and then the stake was set vertically. Sometimes the victim was impaled on an already staked stake.

Ancient world

Impaling was widely used in ancient Egypt and the Middle East, its first mention dates back to the beginning of the second millennium BC. e. Execution was especially widespread in Assyria, where impalement was a common punishment for residents of rebellious cities, therefore, for instructive purposes, scenes of this execution were often depicted on bas-reliefs. This execution was used according to Assyrian law and as a punishment for women for abortion (considered as a variant of infanticide), as well as for a number of especially serious crimes. On the Assyrian reliefs, there are two options: with one of them, the condemned person was pierced with a stake in the chest, with the other, the tip of the stake entered the body from below, through the anus. Execution was widely used in the Mediterranean and the Middle East at least from the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. e. It was also known to the Romans, although it did not receive much distribution in Ancient Rome.

Middle Ages

For a large part of medieval history, the execution by impalement was very common in the Middle East, where it was one of the main methods of painful death penalty.

Impaling was quite common in Byzantium, for example, Belisarius suppressed the rebellions of soldiers by impaling the instigators.

The Romanian ruler Vlad III distinguished himself with particular cruelty (Tepes - “spear-bearer”). According to his instructions, the victims were impaled on a thick stake, in which the top was rounded and oiled. The stake was inserted into the anus or vagina (in the latter case, the victim died almost within a few minutes from profuse blood loss) to a depth of several tens of centimeters, then the stake was installed vertically. The victim, under the influence of the gravity of his body, slowly slid down the stake, and sometimes death occurred only after a few days, since the rounded stake did not pierce the vital organs, but only went deeper into the body. In some cases, a horizontal bar was installed on the stake, which prevented the body from sliding too low, and ensured that the stake did not reach the heart and other critical organs. In this case, death from blood loss occurred very slowly. Regular variant the execution was also very painful, and the victims writhed on the stake for several hours.

The legend of Dracula the warlord:

The king commanded him to anger himself about this and went with his army against him and came against him with many forces. And he, having collected a great number of troops from himself, and struck at the Turks at night, and beat them many. And it is not possible for small people to come back against a great army.

And who came with him from that battle, and began to look at them himself; who was wounded in front, to that I gave honor to him and made him a knight, who from behind, I ordered him to be impaled by the passage, saying: “You are not a husband, but a wife.”

The bloodthirsty sophistication of the Wallachian governor was sometimes perceived by Europeans as some kind of oriental exotic, inappropriate in a “civilized” state. For example, when John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester, having probably heard enough about effective "draculian" methods during his diplomatic service at the papal court, began impaling Lincolnshire rebels in 1470, he himself was executed for - as the sentence read - acts "against the laws of this country".

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However, impalement was sometimes used in European countries. In 17th century Sweden, it was used for mass executions of members of the resistance in the former Danish provinces in the south of the country (Scania). As a rule, the Swedes stuck a stake between the ridge and the skin of the victim, and the torment could last from four to five days, until death occurred.

Impaling until the 18th century was widely used on the territory of the Commonwealth, especially in Ukraine and Belarus, as well as in countries and possessions that were part of the Ottoman Empire). The Spaniards executed the leader of the Araucans, Caupolican, by impalement.

A similar execution was quite popular in South Africa. The Zulus used execution for warriors who failed in their tasks or demonstrated cowardice, as well as for witches, whose spells threatened the ruler and fellow tribesmen. In the Zulu version of the execution, the victim was placed on all fours and then several sticks 30-40 cm long were hammered into her anus. After that, the victim was left to die in the savannah.

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