Dyba - a tool of torture in Russia

Torture has been used all over the world since time immemorial. Causing physical torments helped in obtaining information, intimidation and punishment. Officially, the prohibition of torture was fixed by the UN General Assembly in 1984. Not all states supported this decision.

For many millennia, many ways have been invented and improved in causing pain, suffering, humiliation. One of them was a rack. The Torture Tool has gained popularity in many large states, including Russia.

Application

During the existence of the tool, it changed. Two main types were used: a bed and a suspension. Their essence was similar.

Dyba (a tool of torture) was used to stretch the human body, which led to the rupture of soft tissues, the loss of limbs from the joints. The victim felt the greatest pain. Most people confessed to all crimes if they did not die before from a pain shock.

Roman origins

In ancient times, the rack (the instrument of torture) was quite widespread. The Romans used it as an instrument to punish criminals and slaves. With the advent of Christianity, it began to be applied to them.

Over time, it was the Christians who made wide use of the rack. In times of the Middle Ages the cannon became the most popular among the inquisitors.

Distribution in Europe

Dyba as a tool of torture spread very quickly throughout Europe. There were two main types of the described tool:

• Lodge - the design consisted of boards and platens. The ropes were wound on the rollers, which held the man by the wrists and ankles. The rollers rotated and pulled the ropes in opposite directions. The body of the victim stretched, causing severe pain.
• Suspension - the construction consisted of two pillars connected by a crossbar. The man was tied behind his back and hung up on a rope. To the legs could additionally hang the load. The victim's hands turned out, came out of the joints. The victim hung on broken arms for a long time.

Both variants were applied in different countries up to the seventeenth, in the places of the eighteenth century.

English version of the gun

On the island rack as a tool of torture (photo is shown below) fell in 1447. According to legend, it was used by John Holland, Duke of Exeter, holding the highest office in the Tower of London. The instrument was called the "daughter of the duke".

According to the description, the English rack had the following characteristics:

• Base material - oak;
• Frame large, installed horizontally;
• The frame is raised to a height of 3 feet above the floor;
• Cylindrical gates are installed along the edges of the frame;
• The ropes were tied to the wrists and ankles.

The rotation of the levers tightened the ropes, the body of the victim stretched and rose to the height of the frame. At this time people were asked questions. If there were no answers or they did not satisfy the jailers, the torture continued until the joints jumped out of their seats. The victim heard the tendons in her body tear.

German version

German torturers also liked the torture of a rack. The most famous was the design, which was used in the city of Nuremberg. It was improved in comparison with the earlier versions.

Description:

• The rack is made of wood;
• Had a length of ten feet;
• On one side a powerful winch was fitted;
• The winch was rotated by levers
• A "hare with spines" could be used.

Before torture, the victim was stripped naked, laid face down, his hands were fastened to the crossbar, his legs tied to the winch. The executioners began to twist the winch in complete silence. Soon the body of the victim was stretched, and silence was interrupted by a groan. With the stretching of the first tendons, the victim began to scream. After that, the executioners rotated the winch slowly, as the slightest movement brought unbearable pain. The official from time to time stopped the procedure, asking his questions. Without receiving an answer, he continued to torture.

If the official did not receive an answer, a cylinder with inch spikes rolled over the victim's body. To kill a man, the executioner could place a "rabbit with thorns" under his belly and continue twisting the winch until the body breaks from the punctures.

To inflict more torment on the rack, people were tortured with water, pulled on his body cord, which was pulled so that he deeply digs into the body. Sometimes a man confessed everything only from the type of construction.

Russian Rack

The rack was used as a weapon of torture in Russia. She was preceded by pads in which criminals were hired. As a form of punishment, the cannon was used from the thirteenth century. The deliberate infliction of suffering on the accused was especially widespread under Ivan the Terrible. This was due to the appearance of the oprichnina, which served as the secret police since 1565. To inquire, torture was applied on the rack. The method of obtaining information also survived under Peter the Great.

The questioning under the rack "in Russian"

According to the description of Grigory Kotoshikhin (wrote an essay on the history of Russia) in the seventeenth century, punishment was used for thieves.

A shirt was taken from a man, hands were tied on the back of the hands, legs were fastened with a belt. The structure resembled a gallows. A victim was hung on her. One executioner stepped on the belt, and the second lifted the man, so that he remained hanging on the rack with his hands dislocated.

The punishment was sometimes supplemented with blows from the whip on the back. In the place of each blow there was a deep trace. The blows were applied at intervals to prolong the torture as long as possible. If necessary, the victim was brought to life. If the perpetrator did not admit, he was hanged again and tortured repeatedly, but already with the use of fire. The executioner heated iron tongs and broke ribs. They also lit a fire under the victim and tied a log to his feet. Not only men, but also women were tortured.

Famous people who "met" with the rack

Dyba as a weapon for punishment was used more often on slaves and criminals. Many people have passed through torture, most of which are not known.

List of known victims of the rack:

• St. Juliet - a woman knows that she was a Christian. For this, together with her child, she was brought to Alexander, who ruled the city of Tara. She confessed to him that she was a sect of Christians and that she was sentenced to torture. At the end of the torture, she was poured hot tar onto her feet and mutilated the flesh with iron hooks. In the end, the victim was deprived of his head. A female ruler killed a child for the fact that he kept repeating that he was a Christian. He tore the boy's head against the stone floor. After a while, Juliet was called a saint.
• Jan Sarkander - was a Catholic priest, proclaimed a martyr. Lived in the sixteenth-seventeenth century. He was accused of loyalty to Poland and tortured. He had to break the secret of the confession, but did not do so and died in prison in 1620.
• William Ligthow - was arrested in Malaga for espionage in 1620. He was a Protestant and refused to convert to Catholicism. He passed the torture of the Inquisition and remained alive. At that time, it was allowed to use torture if the convict's guilt was proven to be half. In this case, it was impossible to apply the same method for one person, so the torment was stretched for a long time. To begin with, people were intimidated with information about the upcoming interrogation, then they showed the inventory. If a person did not want to confess, they started to prepare for interrogation. The torture of the rack lasted for many hours. The victim torn tendons, broken bones, limbs fell out of the joints. Ligthow spent several months in prison, he was tortured eleven times. He was saved thanks to a servant who told about the prisoner to the English ambassador.
• Guy Fox is an English nobleman who became a Catholic. Lived at the end of the sixteenth-early seventeenth century. He is known for his involvement in the conspiracy against Yakov I of the First 1605. Due to prolonged torture on the rack, he betrayed his brothers. The men were sentenced to hanging, followed by evisceration and quartering. Fox was able to jump off the scaffold so as to break his neck and not allow the continuation of the execution.

Thanks to the fallen prisoners and their testimony to the world, it became known about the methods of the Spanish Inquisition not only in relation to its subjects, but also to the guests. Many interrogations were recorded by the representatives of the Inquisition themselves. They prove the inhumanity of some church ministers. Equally cruel were the rulers who, for their own interests, were ready to expose even their close people to the rack.

Torture in Cinematography

Up to now, only descriptions and images have come down, how could a person look on the rack. The reconstruction of torture can be seen in museums in Europe, as well as in cinema.

Films showing torture using a rack:

• "Tudors" - a television series, published in 2008-2010. The historical project was filmed by Michael Hurst. He narrates about the events in England in the sixteenth century under the reign of Henry the Eighth. It was at this time that the rack was a popular tool for interrogation.
• "The Tsar" is the 2009 film. In the historical film of Pavel Lungin, there are many tortures and executions attributed to the era of Ivan the Terrible. The picture describes two years of the life of the king at the time of his struggle with the opposition.

Of course art can not convey the horror that happened to people subject to torture on the rack. The design itself was preserved in the Tower of London. It can be seen by visiting the tour.