Torture in the middle ages and early modern Europe

Among the historical institutions, the Inquisition stands out in an impressive way. It is called the most sacred office of the Middle Ages. The holy office is the summary of all the frightening and negative features of the Church's nature. Because it became one of the foundation stones that was moved from unfortunate and uneasy medieval times to Europe. This also has given the way to the bad reputation of the Inquisition's since then. The Church and the Inquisition always fought against many heretic and witchcraft groups that did not accept their own teachings. Torture was one of the reasons for the dominance of the Inquisition in society in the Middle Ages. Torture was one of the most painful events among social occurence in the Middle Ages. As a matter of fact, it was not common practice until the Medieval Inquisition. On the other hand, however, it was accepted as a legitimate way of extracting confessions, punishing criminals, and executions during the Medieval Inquisition. Most torture acts were performed by the executioners who carried out the orders of the Inquisition in secret underground dungeons and prisons. Some of the most common methods of torture were Hook, Judas Chair (Jewish stake), Execution, Quartering, Saw, Chest Remover, Water, Compressing, Strappado and Rack Torture. No doubt these tortures were all very agonizing. Hence, medieval times were certainly dark times. For this reason, in this thesis study, we tried to analyze the torture, the Inquisition and the Church in order to give an introduction to the socio-economic-religious and cultural aspects of the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Europe.