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Torture In The Elizabethan Era

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Punishment and torture was very harsh during the Elizabethan time period. Queen Elizabeth I was the ruler during this time. She was said to have sentenced the most people to torture (Life 1). While some of the punishments were harsh, England was said to have been a peaceful time during the Elizabethan time period. Crime and punishment during this time were harsh, but very effective; some cultures still use it today. Torture was a very common type of punishment used during this time period. The definition of torture is the action ot practice of inflicting severe pain on someone as a punishment or to force them to do or say something ot for the pleasure of the person inflicting the pain. Most of the time torture was used to get someone to confess something they had done or confess the other people that were in their group when they committed the crime (Life 1). Some people were able to make up excuses and get pardoned from their punishment. If you were a woman you would be able to make an excuse if you were pregnant. A pregnant woman would be able to “ plead her belly” (Library 5). A “committee of matrons” believed her, she would be able to have the baby (Library 5). The woman …show more content…
The most common type of tortues was hanging. Most of the time the hangings were publically displayed. A pillory was a t-shaped wooden frame that the prisoner would put his hand on the crossbars, and his head sticking out of a hole (Life 2). Someone who’s crime was poisoning someone would be burned at the stake. Only two people died in 1572 from burning at the stake (Library 3). Drawing and quartering was the worst type of punishment that you could get. The criminal would be hung, and right before they died they would be cut down. They cut the body in four pieces (Library 4) . they then hung up the body parts on a fence and hung the head on a pole inside the city to ward the city to commit these

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