Spanking in Rus' until the twentieth century has always been the most common method of corporal punishment. Initially, representatives of almost all segments of the population, all genders and ages were subjected to it.
"Trade Execution"
Punishment by flogging was first enshrined in law in the Code of Laws of 1497. They were punished this way for a variety of crimes. For example, they could have been flogged for daringly speaking out against the authorities.
They hit mainly the back of the body - the back, thighs, buttocks. Most often, the person punished was completely undressed for this purpose.
Punishment with a whip required special art. To do this, the executioner had to move a few steps away from his victim, and then spin the whip over his head with both hands and, with a loud cry, quickly approach the condemned person, bringing the instrument of torture down on his back. It was impossible to hit the same place twice. After each blow, the executioner was required to wipe off the blood and skin particles adhering to the whip from the whip. According to researcher Katoshikhin, the execution usually lasted several hours, with 30-40 blows of the whip applied per hour.
One foreigner, who was an eyewitness to such a procedure, left the following testimony: “The executioner beats so brutally that with each blow the bones are exposed. So it's
(the person being punished) is torn to pieces from the shoulders to the waist. The meat and skin hang in shreds.”
Many died from this. Everything depended on individual characteristics body, as well as from the force of the blows. Some withstood 300 blows, and some fell like a sack after the first blow. If the executioner felt sorry for the person being punished, he could hit him weaker (sometimes for a bribe). Otherwise, he could have beaten him to death.
In the era of Peter the Great, punishment with a whip was called “trade execution.” She was often appointed for political crimes in combination with branding.
“Guilty!”
Punishment with batogs was considered much lighter. The latter were thick sticks or rods with cut ends. Batogi were often used - for extracting taxes and arrears, for beating serfs and subordinates. Sometimes the court ordered beatings with batogs - for theft, perjury, disrespect for the royal family... So, a clerk was punished with batogs, who, when drinking to the health of the sovereign, did not take off his headdress.
The execution took place like this. The person was placed face down on the floor or on the ground. One of the executioners sat on his legs, the other sat on his neck, clasping it with his knees. Then each of them took two batogs and beat them on the back and below the back of the victim until they decided to stop the punishment or until the bars broke. At the same time, it was forbidden to strike the stomach, thighs and calves. Also, during the execution, the person being punished had to shout the word: “Guilty!” If he did not scream, then the punishment continued until he screamed and admitted his guilt.
Through the gauntlet
More cruel was the punishment with spitzrutens - flexible rods about 2.1 meters in length and less than 4.5 centimeters in diameter. They were used mainly to punish soldiers. This was called “running the gauntlet.” The method of punishment was borrowed from the Swedes and was introduced by Peter I in the Russian army in 1701. The person punished for this or that offense was stripped to the waist, his hands were tied to a gun, which was turned towards him with a bayonet so that the unfortunate man could not evade reprisals, and he was escorted between two rows of his comrades lined up to his right and left. Each soldier had to hit the offender on the back with a spitzruten. The regimental doctor followed the beaten person, counting the blows so that the punished person would not be marked to death or maimed.
“Teachings” for children and women
Children's punishments were “blessed” by the famous “Domostroy”: “... but also to save through fear, punishing and
teaching, and when to beat.” Children in Rus' were usually flogged with rods. A rod was a bundle of rods that was used to strike the soft parts of the body. They could punish with rods for any offense, and this punishment was applied not only by parents or educators, but also by school teachers - say, for negligence in learning. Sometimes girls were also flogged.
This method of punishment was applied to children of any class: it was considered useful for the child. IN large families sometimes they organized weekly floggings on Saturdays, and often the offspring were flogged not only for actually committed offenses, but also as a preventive measure, “so that it would be discouraging.”
Before carrying out the execution, bundles of rods were soaked in cold running water. Sometimes the soaking took place in a salty solution, and then the beating caused severe pain. However, scars after such punishment rarely remained. Less often, a rope with knots was used to beat the younger generation, which was used to whip them backhand.
Women were also flogged, most often with whips or rods. Domostroy prohibited the use of hard objects and methods of beating that could cause injury.
A peasant woman could be “taught” by her husband - for an impudent tongue, disobedience or suspicion of treason. Serf women and girls could be flogged by order of the landowner. The police flogged women who were illegally engaged in prostitution. But completely official Physical punishment also existed for representatives of the upper classes. Thus, two ladies-in-waiting of Catherine II were brutally flogged for the caricature they drew of Prince Potemkin.
Even in Catherine's era, an attempt was made to soften the existing system of corporal punishment. In 1785, representatives of the upper classes, merchants of the first and second guilds, were exempted from them. At the beginning of the 19th century, various restrictions were introduced - on the number of blows, punishments for the sick and elderly, and representatives of other categories. But in primary and secondary educational institutions, the rod remained a means of “education” until the 1860s.
Corporal punishment was completely abolished in the Russian Empire only in 1904. The Bolsheviks put a definitive end to this issue after the revolution, declaring flogging a “bourgeois relic.”
The end of the Patriotic War of 1812 found Count Gagarin on the road. I was returning from Nizhny from my brother. There he waited out the hard times with his old mother and his twenty-year-old dunce son - an undergrowth who neither got an article nor was smart. “It would be better if you were born a man,” his father threw at him more than once, looking at his son’s strong and ruddy serf age. So they fought, and the entire village joined the partisans. They expected favors from the newly arrived master, but he gave them a whip that the mansion could not protect. The evil Frenchman burned down the master's courtyard before retreating. The men became bitter and gloomy because of that general flogging. It's hard to get used to injustice. The same taxes, corvée, stables. Four days on the master's fields, the fifth - on the construction of a new palace. Father does not order on Sunday. When should you work for yourself?
We tried to rebel - it was useless. The squadron of dragoons returning from the front polished the peasants' backs so much that they itched for two months, and every tenth man was shaved into soldiers. After this, even dull murmurs were mercilessly suppressed. The main means of education in the estate was and remained flogging, from which the pain was terrifying, deadening. The courtyard servants closed their eyes several times a day, trying to hit their finger. They wondered whether they would be flogged today or whether it would be okay. The master ordered a seasoned executor from the city, the forty-five-year-old district executioner Ermoshka. Tied to a pillory or stretched out on a bench, he had to give up all hope - he would be flogged until the first blood flowed.
The son did not lag behind the master. The villagers did not like the young barich. Here and there an insult rushed after him:Panych, at least a gentleman, but Krivich.
Indeed, one of his shoulders rose noticeably above the other. If the words reached the master's ear, a terrible search followed, who was to blame? Meticulous interrogation, sentence and constant rods. Or maybe even worse - a whip. The master especially did not like to joke with hecklers. He drove the demon out of them mercilessly, saying:
The tail of the whip is longer than the demon's tongue.
Unfortunately, one day young Valentine couldn’t resist in the laundry room. I opened up to the women and poured out my soul. The day before, her brother was beaten bloody, and today she, dear one, was called into the hall. Apparently, one of their own reported it. "The world is not without good people"Shuddering internally, she entered a huge and deserted hall, decorated with gloomy, almost ominous luxury. Blood-red painted walls, an abundance of heavy gilding, carved ebony cabinets, like tombs, brought horror to the young heart. Many mirrors, so dim that only the faces of ghosts seemed to be reflected in them. Large tapestries were hung on the walls, in which Roman soldiers, looking like butchers, burned, flogged, cut, and tortured early Christians in various ways. It was reminiscent of a slaughterhouse or the dungeons of a saint. Inquisition. Valentinka was brave in reality, but such melancholy, mixed with fear, sank into her soul that she did not want to live. She understood that that insolence in the laundry would not go in vain for her. Wait for a terrible flogging and a dark cellar. She walked carefully, but her inner trembling betrayed her excitement. . Sixteen-year-old Valentina’s breasts were large and round. When she made her way through the hall, looking back at the ancient Gagarin tapestries, they bounced up and down like two rubber balls. Just try to lift them. Heavy as weights, they are cool and soft at the same time. Valentine was in that state. when you know that a heavy fist is raised above you, ready to fall at any moment. Ah, it doesn't fall. You are waiting for a heavy blow, but it still doesn’t come. And because of this, she is squeezed, squeezed on all sides, so that it’s even difficult to breathe. Undoing the top button on her neck, she cleared her throat. The master's guide responded to the noise.
Barich, the clique has arrived. Waiting, dear one, for your word.
Young Gagarin entered the hall with a half-eaten bone. He looked at Valentinka with a dull green eye.
To whom did she carry it, you reptile? Whom did you vilify?
Threw the bone away in anger carpet - You hurt my grandmother, boorish. I'll screw up the bastard.
She experienced a painful and terrible moment. Shaking her body and shuddering her soul, she walked out into the middle. Barich walked angrily around the hall, not saying a word. And this was a bad sign. When he shouted and swore, he exhausted his anger with abuse. Valentinka was overcome by panic. She would agree to anything, as long as she didn’t get spanked.
Crumpled, hastily discarded clothes were scattered throughout the hall. The girl was left completely naked. Without her cap and apron, flushed from the struggle, she looked even better. Dark blond hair scattered across the back, and wide blue eyes stared motionless at the floor. The lounger had no back and Valentinka's heavy body found herself pinned to the tree. In an instant, the servants raised with pillows those parts of the girl’s body that at all times in the master’s house served as conductors of the lord’s truth. Spread out beautiful female body excited. Baric did not fail to take advantage of the situation. His hands greedily slid over the serf's body. Feeling the soft, bloated breasts, under the belly he discovered thick growths, abundantly moistened with female juice.
Do you like it?
Yes, I like it that way. “that I’m ready to change with you too,” Valentine threw over her shoulder, without looking, sharp-tongued, as if she wasn’t afraid. that soon there should have been a blush in those places where the girl’s legs usually grow.
At a sign from the barich, rods whistled from right and left. The first red stripes appeared on the butt. Vapentinka filled the mansion with a terrible howl. After the first howl, a second, no less shrill, pleading cry was heard.
It seemed that the slaps of the disgusting rod could be heard not only in the house, but also in the manor’s yard. Out of shame, Valentinka did not dare to scream loudly, no matter how painful it was. She vowed to remain silent and clenched her teeth. But the girl’s ass is not rubber, and although Valentinka had been torn before and spanking was no stranger to her, she was only able to hold out without a voice for the first dozen. Then she screamed at the top of her lungs. Reality, from which she closed her eyes and covered her ears, overtook her, burst through her backside, and there was no escape from these omnipresent rods. Now, the entire time they were spanking, Valentinka was furiously screaming in monosyllabic, repetitive sounds.
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
Inexpressible anger and resentment choked her. She bit her nails, tore out her hair and couldn’t find the words to swear at the world over. Exhausted by suffering, cut almost to the point of blood, Valentinka was completely stupefied with grief. Togo. what she feared most, she received, as it seemed to her, in full. Naive, she did not know that this was far from the end of her torment.
Nevertheless, she screamed and tumbled on the bench, like a cat put in a bag before drowning. Her natural flexibility worked wonders. During the spanking, she turned backwards so much that those present were amazed. Valentinka’s head sometimes ended up almost between her legs, and Long hands encircled the butt and closed on the stomach.
He's currying favor, if he doesn't beat him to death, he'll cripple him, of course. Aspid, in a word, who will marry someone like that?
And do not say...
These words hardly reached the executioner. Ermoshka went wild even without them. 25,...30,...35 - the soft count of the housekeeper could barely be heard.
Having lost all shame from insult, disgrace and pain, Valentinka screamed at the whole yard with good obscenities:
K-a-at...g-a-hell...that the wolves ate you...so that you will be damned in the next world a-a-a-ay..., - adding unprintable abuse.
“Bark at me, I’ll hit you twice,” Ermoshka raged.
And the master restrained him:
Tea. You don’t whip someone else’s, you whip your own. Cool down a little, the girl still has time to live. A worker, after all. Exchange the whip for rods after ten, give her water.
Executioners at all times fed on dislike. They seem to be needed, but they are not trusted. Especially affection.
At the fortieth blow, the skin could not stand it, it split, and after a couple of dozen more, the unfortunate woman’s cut back was swollen, streams of blood flowed from the wounds. Ermoshka did not pay attention to her screams and spanked her long and brutally.
I wet the whip in the tub several times, and then stopped wetting it. She herself was moisturized, soaked in the blood of the unfortunate woman. More than fifty stripes now made up a disgusting picture on the body of an almost child.
Whistling, shouting, whistling, everything merged into a single, monotonous din. The wailing in the intervals between blows gave way to wheezing, the bloody stripes merged into one continuous spot on the constantly shuddering body. Valentinka lived with pain alone, experiencing all the horror of torture that was unbearable for her young body. At this time of spiritual dullness, a wide, bottomless yawning abyss of master's horrors opened up before her, the power of which she fully experienced on her skin.
The serfs looked in vain for signs of regret in the eyes of the secant. By the end of the spanking, Ermoshka was completely indifferent, like a soulless machine. Even to the girl’s secret charms, which she, mad with pain, shamelessly flaunted. This time Valentine happened to taste up to seventy rods and lashes at the same time.
Basta. Rest, Ermoshka.... Nice work. Go and drink some vodka to my health. And you, girl, are great. She behaved as expected. Keep an altyn for gingerbread.
After the spanking, Valentinka could neither sit nor stand like a human being. She was carried on matting under the shed. And in the evening, bent double, she barely hobbled towards the house. The “merciful” master canceled the cellar, for which Valentinka’s father kissed his hands.
If only someone would set fire to this damned palace,” she whispered on the home floor. And right there: she imagined how, with a lighted oakum in her hands, she went down into the basements of the manor’s house and made terrible fires there, no less terrible than that flogging. which she was subjected to just now. The tongue of flame begins to lick the master's mansions, which makes the soul feel festive.
A week passed, the village chiropractor examined Valentinka and found that everything on her had healed, like on a dog. And the next morning they drove her, like the others, to corvée. Nothing changed in the life of Smolensk residents after the death of the master. Barich pursued the same policy, extorting, however, put less pressure, and flogged him just as inhumanely as the late priest. Only Ermoshka got drunk, God rest his soul. Yes, they quickly found a replacement for him. You never know there are executioners in Rus'...
Constitution Russian Federation states: “The dignity of the individual is protected by the state. Nothing can be a reason to belittle him.” Tough and laconic, it just begs comparison with the famous “chased Latin” of ancient Roman laws. It is not difficult to find out how things actually stand with the implementation of the basic law of the state from news releases. Almost every day, somewhere an official would loose his hands, or in the nearest neighborhood someone would get knocked on the kidneys. If we go to the everyday level, we can remember the pages of school diaries with red deuces, mercilessly torn out in order to avoid contact of one’s own bottom with the father’s belt. But all this, so to speak, is modern reality.
How worried were the legislators of medieval Rus', and later of imperial Russia, until the coup of 1917, about preserving the dignity of the individual? This question especially interested me after last year.
Surprisingly, according to some researchers, corporal punishment did not exist in Rus' at all until the 11th century! And there are certain grounds for such conclusions. The fact is that in the code of laws of that time - the Russian Truth of Yaroslav the Wise - such punishments were not prescribed. The choice was not great - either ransom or death. True, death threatened only in special, exceptional cases. For example: for the murder, without the prince’s permission, of a representative of the privileged class, a vira (ransom) of 80 hryvnia was due, for others 40. A serious amount for those times.
Accordingly, they had to pay much less for a banal scuffle.
Of course, the medieval Russian followed the traditions and norms of behavior that existed at that time to an incomparably greater extent than a modern Russian person follows the current rules and laws. Nevertheless, it’s somehow hard to believe that a Slav who lived in the 11th-12th centuries would be “rusty” to throw a cradle to a fellow colleague who was shirking from work, or to give hot punishment to a guilty relative, despite all sorts of princely decrees.
But let's continue.
The children of Yaroslav the Wise, Izyaslav, Svyatoslav and Vsevolod, modified the code of laws compiled by their father (Russian Truth), introducing whipping and batogs into it. Some scientists believe that they did this following the example of the Mongol-Tatars. Only the words “whip” and “batog” are mentioned in Russian texts even before the arrival of the Horde. In addition, the word “whip” itself apparently came into our language from a completely different direction, from Scandinavia. Their “knutr” meaning “knot”, “knobby scourge”, turned into a whip in Russian.
Since the 13th century, corporal punishment has increasingly penetrated the Russian judicial system and is being introduced into Russian law and life. Also in Rus' they are starting to use branding in addition to beating. Moreover, quite often punishment with batogs or a whip, for any offense was accompanied by branding.
Branding tool.
In this sense, the draft agreement between free Novgorod and the German city of Gotland drawn up in 1270 is indicative - “The thief of an item worth more than half a hryvnia is punished with rods and branding on the cheek.”
Branding took root in Rus' and was widely used for several centuries. Even at the end of the “gallant” 18th century, during the reign of Empress Catherine 2, thieves often had the whole word “thief” burned on their foreheads, and rebels had the letter “B”.
I think everyone knows the phrase “It’s written on the forehead...”, well, it was thanks to branding that this expression came into use.
In general, corporal punishment itself in Rus' was not particularly varied, but torture, which most often ended in the death of the person being tortured, was very common. Gradually, in the arsenal of domestic craftsmen, torture and executions appeared, which were especially popular, so to speak, in Europe. Rack, wheeling, cutting off limbs and many others, in general, there was definitely no boredom in the dungeons.
But if the offense was not great or the criminal himself belonged to a very noble family, then the same batogs were used. It was already in a later period, in order to clearly demonstrate the tyranny and ruthlessness of some Russian rulers, the court greyhound writers formed the opinion that the heads of representatives of the most ancient and noble families were chopped off in batches. In fact, the execution of a person from the upper strata of society was rare.
But trying the whip on one’s own skin was an easy task, whether it was a stinker or a well-born boyar.
to be continued...
IN modern world people who break the law serve their sentences in prisons, and children who do not obey their parents are whipped with a belt or given a verbal reprimand. Naturally, such punishments were not always used, and if people of past centuries found themselves in today's society, they would probably be very surprised at the softness modern people, because what our ancestors did in the past was truly cruel and terrible.
Aztecs
These harsh mountain dwellers became famous for their severity towards their own offspring. Diversity social roles The Aztecs did not indulge: boys were taught from a young age to be good warriors and hunters, girls - to be good wives and mothers. Nothing else was given - except to those especially chosen, such as the children of noble persons, who could choose the profession of a priest, dignitary or military leader.
In the first years of life, however, children were treated quite leniently, limiting themselves only to moral teachings. And only when the offspring turned six years old did a clearly thought-out system of punishment come into its own. Everything was used: rods, whips, but most of all red pepper. The Mexica (as the Aztecs called themselves) were so harsh that they forced their “gene pool” to breathe over a fire into which they threw pepper.
Sometimes pepper was applied to the eyes. For lying, they either simply beat me or pierced my lip with a cactus needle, which was also bitter. It was not allowed to take it out. Violations of some rules and other serious offenses were punished not only with pain, but also with humiliation: the child was left to spend the night on the street in the mud or in a puddle. Heads were shaved for skipping classes. By the way, children from all classes attended school, but for girls and boys, as well as for children of commoners and nobility, the schools were different: youth houses (telpuchkalli), where they were admitted from the age of 15, and schools of nobles (calmecak).
Ancient Rome
Initially, in the Eternal City there was probably only one type of punishment - the death penalty. It could also be considered as a sacrifice to those gods who were “offended” by the criminal. The German historian Theodor Mommsen wrote: “He (the criminal - Note from My Planet) was chained to a post, stripped and flogged; then they laid him on the ground and beheaded him with an axe. This procedure clearly corresponds to the killing of a sacrificial animal and is due to the sacred nature of primitive executions.”
And further, despite the relative humanism of Roman society, they did not stand on ceremony with criminals. The range of punishments has only grown. For theft of grain they were beheaded, for the murder of a free citizen, relative or woman they were drowned in a sack - along with several animals: snakes, rooster, monkey or dog, for treason to the state, or in the case of slaves - for theft, thrown from a cliff, for an outstanding debt they were cut down the body was torn to pieces, slaves - for almost any offense (not always, but only at the whim of the owner) were thrown to be eaten by lampreys or moray eels, for arson they were burned, turning the unfortunates into the famous “living torches”, which were probably a frequent occurrence during the reign of the emperor Nero.
Moreover, any type of execution, even the most cruel, was invariably preceded by a painful flogging. Sometimes, however, it was possible to do without death. A brother, for example, had the legal right to punish his sister for disobedience by using sexual violence.
China is ancient and not very
In terms of the most perverted punishments, China is undoubtedly the leader. In the 1st century BC. e. for criminals who committed the same atrocity, completely different ways punishments that depended on " creativity" judges. The most common were sawing off feet (at first only one, but if the criminal was caught a second time, then a second time), knocking out or drilling out the kneecaps, cutting off the nose or ears, and branding. Among other things, they “prescribed” the tearing of the body with two or four chariots, breaking out the ribs, boiling in boiling water, crucifixion (the person was simply put on his knees, tying his hands to a cross made of sticks, and left to “roast” in the sun), castration, after which the person, as usually died from blood poisoning. No less popular was burying alive in the ground - this method was especially often practiced in relation to prisoners.
During the reign of the Tang dynasty - in the 7th century AD. e. - legislation came into force and existed almost unchanged until the beginning of the last century. Then they approved the execution option “carrying out five types of punishments,” when a person was first branded, then all limbs were cut off, then beaten with sticks, and then his head was cut off to display it in the market square. For especially serious offenses, not only the criminal himself was punished, but the entire family was slaughtered - from father and mother to wives, brothers and sisters with their spouses and children. In general, monstrous.
Chinese executions have always been long and torturous. Until 1905, for treason and parricide, “death by a thousand cuts” or “sea pike bites” was used. The victim was pumped with opium (to reduce the pain shock), stripped naked, taken to the square and tied to a pole. And then, armed with saws and hacksaws, they cut small pieces of skin from the unfortunate man. As a rule, a person died without waiting for the execution to end.
But the Chinese did not have prisons - it was too expensive.
In Rus'
Despite the sadism of Ivan the Terrible, who actively practiced torture on the rack, quartering, mass drowning of people, impalement and burning with fire, Peter I was a famous entertainer in terms of punishments. True, his system, prescribed in the Military Regulations, is not always provided for the death of the perpetrator.
One of the most common types of “tightening” was walking on stakes, and it was also the most painful. It was assigned for breaking the law, theft or non-payment of debt. The man took off his shoes and walked barefoot on sharp pieces of wood. No less popular was iron branding - a letter imprinted on the cheek, arm, shoulders or calves meant the first letter of the crime committed by a person. They practiced cutting off ears, cutting off hands, fingers, tearing out tongues or nostrils - such measures were prescribed for repeated or particularly serious crimes, as well as offenses against noble people.
Flogging was used very often, especially against minors or adults for minor crimes. They beat me with a whip, batogs (sticks), and rods. They practiced driving a convict through a line of soldiers armed with spitzrutens (long flexible rods). And only by the beginning of the 20th century, corporal punishment in all public institutions - from prisons and the army to schools - was gradually abolished.
After all, we live in a real era of mercy. Even people who have broken the law are in most cases punished only by restriction of freedom.
The editors invite you to familiarize yourself with some types of punishment practiced in ancient times in the greatest countries of the world. For today's people, their laws seem truly barbaric!
The Aztecs did not even spare their children. So, if the judges found the son seriously guilty, the father could sell him into slavery. For minor offenses, children were flogged with rods and whips, and they also actively resorted to using hot pepper.
The punished child was forced to breathe smoke from a fire, into which pepper was placed, or even smeared on his eyes. For lying, they pierced the lip with a bitter cactus needle, which was forbidden to be removed for a long time. And for particularly severe cases of disobedience, children could be left tied up on the street in the mud overnight.
Adults were punished with even greater severity. They could even be sentenced to death for wearing clothes inappropriate for their status! However, no one allowed arbitrariness: the judges announced the verdict after a serious trial, which could last up to 80 days! The execution itself was carried out by stoning, strangulation or ritual sacrifice.
It is interesting that more serious demands were made on the nobility than on the commoners. For example, officials and priests were immediately executed for drunkenness, while ordinary people for the first time only had their heads shaved and their house destroyed.
Although for their time the morals of the Romans were very humane, no one stood on ceremony with criminals. The death penalty was common, and the method of execution varied depending on the offense.
So, for stealing grain, a criminal was beheaded, for murder, he was drowned in a bag with several animals (snakes, rooster, monkey or dog), for an unpaid debt, his body was chopped into pieces, and for arson, he was burned alive. Moreover, any type of execution was preceded by a long and painful flogging.
China can probably be recognized as a leader in the sophistication of punishments. So in the first century BC, criminals could have their feet sawed off, their kneecaps knocked out or drilled out, branded, and their noses and ears cut off.
In fact, the severity of the punishment depended only on the imagination of the judge who announced the verdict. So the offender could be castrated, after which he, as a rule, died due to loss of blood, buried alive in the ground, boiled in boiling water or crucified under the scorching sun...
Moreover, such cruelty in China lasted for thousands of years. For example, until 1905, the punishment for killing a father or treason was “death by a thousand cuts.” The condemned man was pumped with opium so that he would not die too quickly from painful shock, tied naked to a pole, and then small pieces of skin were cut off with saws and knives...
Ivan the Terrible is considered to be the bloodiest tyrant in Rus', who actively practiced torture on the rack, quartering, mass drowning, impalement and burning with fire. However, the reformer Peter I was also an entertainer when it came to punishments.
Although capital punishment was not varied, punishments for minor crimes were quite sophisticated and cruel. Thus, theft was punishable by walking barefoot on sharp wooden stakes. Often criminals were branded with a hot iron, and the symbol burned on the body corresponded to the first letter of the crime committed.
In special cases, they practiced cutting off ears, cutting off hands, fingers, tearing out tongues or nostrils...
As the famous saying goes: “The law is harsh, but it is the law.” Now the listed punishments seem like cruel torture, but then society considered this to be the norm. Share this article with your friends, let them be glad that they are lucky enough to live in our time
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