The medieval pillory

Punitive and torture instrument of the Middle Ages

The Pillory was a punitive tool, used since the Middle Ages. The condemned man was imprisoned hands and feet, and exhibited in the public square, where the crowd made him the target of mockery, insults and mistreatment.

L?utilizzo della Gogna

it was common that manure was taken from black wells to smear his hair, nose, mouth, or stones was thrown to him, or it was burned, or inflicted injuries then covered with salt. Sometimes his feet would be only tickled.

Recipients of the Pillory

The pillories were reserved for those guilty of minor crimes, and were set up in market squares and at crossroads. A sign was often hung around the neck of the evildoer or nearby, reporting the crime he had committed. The length of the sentence generally lasted a few hours or a few days.

The system remained in use for about a millennium, and abolished in the nineteenth century (anche se non ufficialmente sopravvisse ancora, tanto che un caso, che fece un certo clamore, è stato registrato nel 1995 a Panama).

Curiosità sulla Gogna

A titolo di curiosità merita di ricordare che all?umiliazione di questo trattamento fu condannato nel 1703 Daniel Defoe, the author of "Robinson Crusoe", was convicted of the humiliation of this treatment in 1703, l?autore del ?Robinson Crusoe?, con l?accusa di diffamazione verso la Chiesa di Inghilterra.

The prison and the instruments of torture at Palazzo delle Prigioni

Il Palazzo delle Prigioni a Venezia offre l?opportunità di visionare ancora oggi gli strumenti di tortura, le carceri e i vestiti d?epoca, oltre che conoscere storie e stories and legends of a distant Venice. A piece of history witnessing the death and torture machines once used as instruments of justice.