Determining Guilt Or Innocence In Medieval Times

The medieval times were very barbaric times beginning in 500 CE and continuing to 1500CE. In the medieval era, there were many different forms of punishments such as ‘The rack’, ‘the iron balls’ and ‘quartering’. During this era, there were also many ferocious means of determining guilt or innocence such as ‘trial by ordeal’ and ‘the judicial duel’.
In medieval times, determining guilt or innocence experienced several changes and several continuities. Examples of methods that were used to determine guilt or innocence include ‘The Judicial Duel’ This was a trial by combat which was generally used for cases involving nobles, as they had more training in fighting, it involved the accuser and the person being accused fighting each other to the

Then they would turn a ratchet and handle attached to one of the four rollers on the wooden frame. This would cause the criminal to be initially just stretched but as the turning continued it caused dislocations and with prolonged use the limbs were ripped from their sockets. ‘The iron balls’ The iron balls was a form of torture that entailed a criminal being hung by their wrists with two heavy iron balls attached to their feet. This caused them excruciating pain and dislocations. A more extreme version of this torture called ‘The veglia’ the criminal was placed horizontally and had ropes attached to each of their limbs which were placed in the wall and the only other means of support was the point of a stake cut into a diamond shape. There would be a doctor standing by, who would feel the criminals pulse through their temples as to know when they would no longer be able to bear the pain. Once this point was reached the criminal was taken down and given hot fomentations to revive them. As soon as the criminal had regained a small amount of strength the process was repeated. The entire process went on for 6 consecutive hours. ‘Quartering’ was one of the most painful forms of execution ever invented. It consisted of the criminals limbs being attached by rope to four strong horses which were made to first pull on the limbs in short rapid jerks which continued until the criminal let out a cry of pain. Once the criminal cried out the horses were then made to pull as hard as they could as to rip the criminals limbs from their bodies. If the muscles and tendons continued to stay intact then the executer cut the joints several times with a hatchet. When each horse