Had the other descriptions been correct then few of the offenders would have walked to the scaffold/block/pyre as we are told that they did.

So he needed lots of spectacular torture devices, do “demonstrate” how evil the Spaniards were.

Now don’t take this the wrong way. I’m not saying torture didn’t exist : medieval Europe tortured it’s prisoners (esp. William of Orange). It’s just that most torture devices are somewhat lacking in visual appeal. Torture mostly consisted of simple things : pulling out nails. Beating a tied-up guy. Near-drowning (not joking around like waterboarding, tying someone up and holding his/her head underwater for 1.5 minutes or longer). Locking someone in a stockade and raping them (in the case of a woman). Causing a wound and letting it fester, then throwing salt into it (try it once with a scratch).

Torture devices from medival europe ? The real torture devices are not so different from today’s tools. Pliers, scissors, short knives, … The most spectacular real torture device I’ve ever seen in European castles’ surviving dungeons was the rope pulley : basically a wooden table with ropes to “stretch out” the victim.

But of course these real devices are not nearly as spectacular as these cool, big and scary contraptions depicted in these propaganda (and sexual fantasy booklets). Don’t forget the large majority of these pictures were made in the 20th century, as works of fantasy. The majority of the rest of them comes from Holland, when “the low lands” (I don’t know the correct English translation of the name) were at war with Spain, long after the Spanish inquisition had ceased to exist.

In reality, the Spanish inquisition, while it did employ torture, was a massive improvement in justice for the average Spaniard. Before the Spanish inquisition if you offended your local “lord”, you basically got killed by soldiers, sometimes your family too. With the inquisition, that changed : to get punished, you had to get convicted by a majority of three votes : one for the king (who had a local representative), one for the church (the local priest), and one for the local nobleman (same as before). For the first time in Spanish history, there was a real law, not just random justice. There was an actual (if remote) possibility that a nobleman would get punished for what he did, and there was a possibility (again, rather remote) that a peasant might stand up successfully to a nobleman.

Another concept that you might know that was pioneered by the Spanish inquisition : a lawyer. The Spanish inquisition was the first legal institution worldwide that allowed the defendant to consult with a legal expert before, and during, trial (and, if you so desired, a priest).

Frankly, William of Orange, along with most of Europe’s nobility, didn’t like this at all : before the inquisition they could just legally kill anyone they wanted dead, which is of course the real reason for this kind of propaganda.