What was the knee splitter used for

The Breaking Wheel was one of the most notorious and worst forms of medieval torture for persons sentenced to capital punishment. It involved the use of a wagon wheel to which the criminal, or the victim, in question was tied. The limbs of this criminal were then beaten into the gaps of the wheel so much that they were broken. After having the limbs broken, the criminal was left to suffer and die, a period which could extend from a few hours of excruciating pain to a few days.

The Iron chair was a fairly common medieval torture technique. It involved the use of an iron chair studded with hundreds of spikes, on the seat area, back and arm-rest of the chair. The criminal was seated on the chair and tortured gradually. The iron restraints of the seat were turned tighter and tighter until they pierced deeper and deeper into the flesh of the person. This form of torture could go on for weeks without the person dying since the iron spikes plugged the blood flow from the wounds and delayed death.

Only after the persons was removed from the chair did they finally suffer death. The rack was a special rectangular wooden frame often used in medieval interrogation and torture. The wooden frame was set up with rollers at both ends and chains attached to the rollers. The person to be tortured was laid flat on the frame and his ankles and wrists were tied to the chains at each end of the frame. The rollers were then gradually rotated so that the chains became tighter and tighter until they yanked the muscles out of their places, broke the bones, dislocated the limbs and finally, tore them away.

Sometimes, even when the torture was stopped at muscle damage, the person tortured was scarred with permanent muscle dysfunction. This was a fairly simple but nightmarish method of medieval torture. In this method, an iron bucket was wrapped around the stomach of the person. USD 1. Torture Devices Of The Middle Ages: The Saw Before the saw was given its perfunctory role to slice through wood and thick material, it was used to slice through humans for torture or execution. The victim would be held upside down, allowing the blood to rush to their head, and then the torturer would slowly start slicing them between their legs.

With the blood contained in the head, the victim would remain conscious throughout most of the slicing, often only passing out or dying when the saw hit their mid-section. Medieval Torture Devices: Breast Ripper Or The Spider For those women who were accused or adultery, abortion or any other crime, they were subjected to the painful torture of the breast ripper or the spider. The Ultimate Torture Devices: The Rack Probably the most commonly know torture device from the Middle Ages, the rack was a wooden platform, with rollers at both ends.

Painful Torture Devices: Knee Splitter Used frequently during the Spanish Inquisition, the knee splitter, naturally, was used to split a victims knee. The device was built from two spiked wood blocks with a screw at the back, and was clamped on the front and back of the knee. One turn of the screw and, hey presto, a knee was easily, and painfully, crippled.

The Medieval ages weren't always a pleasant place and in many places around Europe, the rulers of these countries had a cruel method of justice. Rather than standing on trial, Europe's history reflects that which is far more sinister and painful: Torture devices. For some, it was believed that wreaking havoc on the human body would be of equal compensation for something such as treason It's pretty obvious from this photo how the rack was used to torture its victims and the pain endured was unimaginable.

Both hands and feet would be tied to either end of the device and as the wheels at either end were cranked, well If you've ever heard popcorn in the microwave, you'd know what to expect. For those who didn't commit crimes justifiable by certain death, the use of the knee splitter was brought into play. A victim's leg would be inserted between the metal teeth, which sat at the front and back of the knee, thus effectively crippling the victim for life, if they didn't fall to infection first.

There's nothing to joke about here, however. When a person's head was placed beneath this metal helmet, there was no going back, and the description of the process was purely horrific. Things coming out of places they shouldn't are more than enough to describe this heinous device. It's interesting that we claim the wheel was one of the greatest things ever invented, considering that same wheel was also used in a device like this torture wheel. While wheels have become abundantly useful in modern society, this one also took lives in an incredibly painful way, notes All That's Interesting.

There's no point in denying it: Most people would cringe just by looking at this photo. What these photos don't show is the part in the torture when victims would have weights attached to their feet, thus drawing them even lower on the wooden horse, past the limit of what the human body can handle.

It might not be self-explanatory from this photo, but the Judas cradle basically worked like this: People would be hoisted up by the metal ring above the device, then slowly