Head crusher

A head crusher is a torture device used in the early modern period. It is not documented before the 16th century.

Use

This device was used solely in Germany, first recorded in 1530; and called Kranz or Schneiden. This metal device featured a plate that sat below the victim's jaw, which was connected by a frame to the head cap. As the torturer slowly twisted the handle, the gap between the head cap and plate decreased, crushing the skull, including the teeth, mandible and facial bones, and ultimately inducing death. Even if the torturer stopped before death, permanent damage to the facial muscles and structure would have occurred. The victim's head would slowly be crushed, killing the victim, but not before the victim's jaw had been crushed, and their eyes may have possibly extruded from their sockets.[1] To aggravate the pain, the torture master would sometimes amuse himself by tapping on the metal cap with a small hammer.[2] The head crusher was used to extract information from criminals. It would scare them to the point of giving up knowledge that was crucial to solving serious criminal cases. [3]

There were many variations of the head crusher during the early modern period, some of which even had a receptacle in the front to catch the eyes of the victim.[4]

Use as a Political Tool

The use of the Head Crusher was deliberately used as a political tool at Medieval Times. It was a historical use of punishment to try to detract information from an individual involved in a crime. It was considered that the more brutal the punishment, the better, which is why the head crusher was so effective. Torture was used as mass marketing in history, like in England when they would showcase decapitated spiked heads on the gate of the London Bridge. [5] It was portrayed as similar to a theatrical performance. Doing it in front of the public was a crucial part of the marketing. Getting the support for the state was brought out by the collective sentiment of the society. Having this embarrassing torture done in front of everyone displayed the state's power, and reminded citizens who was in control. This was why the Spectacle of the Scaffold was such an important part of mass marketing of torture for the state. [6]

The Middle Ages

The Middle Ages or Medieval Ages took place over the 5th to the 15th century. In Europe, it spanned over a few time periods including the fall of the Western Roman Empire to the Renaissance and even into the Age of Discovery. This was a time where they used extreme punishments for crimes that would now be considered trivial or unimportant. [7] The head crusher was one of the main devices used during these times because of its gruesome torture. People could have also been beheaded, whipped, and burned. Some examples of common crimes that resulted in torture were:

Like talked about in the Use as a Political Tool section, they used torture devices to scare people from doing crimes. Although they tried this, it didn't seem to work. The crime rates didn't decrease because people were so poor they would ration or steal and just hope for the best outcome. For the most part, people didn't get away with crimes because soldiers or bystanders would tell the emperor because they feared if they found out that you knew, you would be punished as well. As time went on, the punishments got less cruel because the crimes weren't deemed as bad as they used to be.

Megadeth's song "Head Crusher" (from the album Endgame) is about the device.

Popular TV series by Canal Plus and Netflix, "Borgia" has an example of this device in Season 3, Episode 1 ("1495").

See also

References

  1. ↑ "infernal device - Head Crusher". occasional hell. Retrieved 2013-09-02.
  2. ↑ Donnelly, Mark, and Daniel Diehl. The Big Book of Pain: Torture & Punishment through History. Stroud: History, 2008. Print. Schneiden(headcrusher)
  3. ↑ Munoz, Luis. BIRTH, CRIMINAL HISTORY AND JUDGMENT OF THE ROMAN C. CHURCH. Palibrio, 2013.
  4. ↑ "The Head Crusher". Medievality.com. 2008-11-29. Retrieved 2013-09-02.
  5. ↑ Druzin, Bryan H.1, and Anthony S.2 Wan. “The Theatre of Punishment: Case Studies in the Political Function of Corporal and Capital Punishment.” Washington University Global Studies Law Review 14, no. 3 (September 2015): 357–98.
  6. ↑ Hovey, Jed. “The Spectacle of the Scaffold – Foucault, Corporal Punishment, and the Digital Age.” Blue Labyrinths, January 6, 2016. https://bluelabyrinths.com/2016/01/06/the-spectacle-of-the-scaffold-foucault-corporal-punishment-and-the-digital-age/..
  7. ↑ “Crime and Punishments.” Prezi.com. Accessed September 8, 2016. https://prezi.com/gir3wqpauzhs/crime-and-punishments/.

Methods of torture


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/12/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.