Spanish Inquisition Torture

During the Spanish Inquisition, several means of torture were used. Some of the most common methods are the following.

Strappado started during the Medieval Inquisition. This method that might be known by many today, is when the hands of the accused are tied behind his back and was tied to a rope that was attached to a pulley. The torturer would then pull the accused and jerk him up and down until his shoulders pull out of the sockets.

Another method that was used during the Spanish Inquisition was The Rack. The accused would have his hands tied to one roller and his feet to another, and as the torturer starts rolling, the hands and feet go in opposite directions causing extreme pain. This form of torture would often result in the person’s body parts to be completely detached or torn of from his body.

A gruesome torture method was The Judas Cradle. This method meant that the victim would be stripped naked for humiliation, with their anus or vagina right on top of a sharp metal pyramid-like object and slowly lowered to inflict pain and torture. This method’s intended effect was to stretch the orifice over a long period of time.

Candide/ Auto Da Fe

The word Auto-da-fe means “ Act of Faith” in Portuguese .It was known to be a religious act where everyone was obliged to be present at. It was considered to be an act of sacrifice for the Christian god man to protect Catholicism. It started with the Spanish inquisition to punish the heretics and the apostate. Their way of punishing was by burning those people; the execution date would take place at a day where to biggest number of persons could attend. In the Chapter 6 of Candide we can find the concept of Auto-Da-Fe when the earthquake destroyed most of the city of Lisbon, people thought that the only way to stop the earthquake was to sacrifice the humans in the name of God. They began by capturing a Biscayner , accusing him of marrying his godmother, and then they seized two Portuguese because they “rejected  the bacon which larded a chicken they were eating; after dinner, they came and secured.” Candide got held because he was “listening with an air of approbation”, it was considered a sin for Candide to listen to the captured with approval on what they are saying. Candide was tortured, put in a cold place with no sun for 8 days. The Biscayner and the two Portuguese where burnt because they refused to eat bacon and his friend Pangloss was hanged because he spoke what is on his mind. This same day they witnessed a more violent concussion.  Innocent people were punished and burnt on the hand of the church. The church in the name of God is doing intolerable things with outrageous brutality and injustice. Auto-da-fe was proved to be a wrong perception of explaining things and using god, the church and Christianity…the proof was that the earthquake didn’t stop, yet in during the same a stronger repercussion occurred.