Inquisition Bondage
This is clearly supposed to be a scene from Inquisition days — and the lady bound to the wheel is presumably being put to the question on suspicion of being a witch. But I’m not sure I fully understand the purpose of this bondage wheel:
It’s large enough that any tortuous aspect shouldn’t derive from the backward curve of her spine, and it doesn’t appeared to be geared so that she could be spun fast enough to generate extreme misery from motion sickness and nausea, unless that inquisitor really puts his back into the cranking (and clerics of the era were not known for their love of hard work). I’m sure being rotated on that thing would be deeply uncomfortable, but it seems suspiciously mild by the standards for which the Inquisition is notorious. It looks more like something that would be fitting for a play dungeon, not a real one. Anybody know what it was supposed to be for?
Though not shown, the wheel could be supplemented by putting it in a tank of water or building a fire near one side. There may be spikes along the surface of the wheel. There may be a rope tied around the neck. And though spinning may not be used extensively, how long could you hang upside down in her position? Days may not be uncommon.
i think this is someone’s idea of what it must have been like to be broken on the wheel. boy are they wrong. based on what i’ve read, the wheel was actually a hideous way to leave this world. google it. it’s nasty stuff.
The Wheel ( Bull-wheel ):
The accused witch is stripped naked and secured to the huge wooden wheel with ropes or metal cuffs.
As the huge wheel turns the cuffs around her wrists would draw mercilesssly tight. It was not uncommon for spikes to be along the surface of the wheel.
Some inquisitors would place a bed of hot coals and the base of the wheel. The victim would be slowly roasted alive.
I actually encountered a picture of a similar device today; as two people have already said, a fire was built under the wheel and the victim was rotated down towards it.
Ropeguy,
The spanish inquisition was using a “nondamaging” kind of torture by hours of suffocation. The victim was bound on his/her back with the head down at an angle that is almost upside down. The nose is plugged, a cloth is placed in the mouth, and the victim must swallow a quart of water before getting another breath. A physician stood by to make sure the victim was not physically harmed.
Eight liters a day maximum, for as many days as it took to convince the priests that your recantation of judaism was genuine. If they could not get a recantation, the priests would have them burned at the stake.
It looks to me like the woman on the wheel is perfectly positioned for this type of torture.
It’s not torture - just a way of getting rid of headlice.
I think its simply ment ot get on your nerves and make you go insane…Like chinese water torture.
I read about this picture in a book of punishment once. It claimed that this was drawn in the 1800’s, and is suppose to be an erotic interpretation of the torture. I am not sure how much of this can be taken literal.