Therack is atorture device consisting of a rectangular, usually wooden frame, slightly raised from the ground,[1] with a roller at one or both ends. The victim's ankles are fastened to one roller and the wrists are chained to the other. As the interrogation progresses, a handle andratchet mechanism attached to the top roller are used to very gradually retract the chains, slowly increasing the strain on the prisoner's shoulders, hips, knees, and elbows and causing excruciating pain. By means ofpulleys andlevers, this roller could be rotated on its own axis, thus straining the ropes until the sufferer'sjoints weredislocated[1] and eventually separated. Additionally, ifmuscle fibres are stretched excessively, they lose their ability tocontract, rendering them ineffective.[citation needed]
It is unclear exactly from which civilization the rack originated; the earliest examples are from Greece.[citation needed] The Greeks may have first used the rack as a means of torturing slaves and non-citizens, and later in special cases, as in 356 BC, when it was applied to gain a confession fromHerostratus, an arsonist who was later executed for burning down theTemple of Artemis atEphesus, one of theSeven Wonders of the Ancient World.[2]Arrian'sAnabasis of Alexander states thatAlexander the Great had the pages who conspired to assassinate him, along with their mentor, his court historianCallisthenes, tortured on the rack in 328 BC.[3]
According toTacitus, the rack was used in a vain attempt to extract the names of the conspirators to assassinateEmperor Nero in thePisonian conspiracy from the freedwomanEpicharis in 65 A.D. The next day, after refusing to talk, she was dragged back to the rack on a chair (all of her limbs weredislocated, so she could not stand), but strangled herself on a loop of cord on the back of the chair on the way.[4] The rack, in Roman sources, was referred to with the nameequuleus; the wordfidicula, more commonly the name of a smalllyre or stringed instrument, was used to describe a similar torture device, although its exact design has been lost.[5]
The rack was also used on early Christians, such asSt. Vincent (304 A.D.), and mentioned by the Church FathersTertullian andSt. Jerome (420 A.D.).[6]
Its first appearance in England is said to have been due toJohn Holland, 2nd Duke of Exeter, theconstable of the Tower in 1447, and it was thus popularly known as "theDuke of Exeter's daughter".[1]
The Protestant martyrAnne Askew, daughter of Sir William Askew, Knight of Lincolnshire, was tortured on the rack before her execution in 1546 (age 25). She was so damaged by the torture on the rack that she had to be carried on a chair to her burning at the stake. The accusations against her were from: (1) the Bishop's ChancellorEdmund Bonner, who claimed that women were not allowed to speak the Scriptures, and (2) theBishop of WinchesterStephen Gardiner, because she would not profess that the sacraments were the literal flesh, blood and bone of Christ; this despite the fact that theEnglish Reformation had already begun a decade earlier.[7]
The Catholic martyrNicholas Owen, a noted builder ofpriest holes, died under torture on the rack in theTower of London in 1606.Guy Fawkes is also thought to have been put to the rack, since a royal warrant authorising his torture survives. The warrant states that "lesser tortures" should be applied to him at first, but if he remained recalcitrant he could be racked.
In 1615 a clergyman calledEdmond Peacham, accused ofhigh treason, was racked.
In 1628 the question of its legality was raised in connection with a proposal in thePrivy Council to rackJohn Felton, the assassin of George Villiers, the 1st Duke of Buckingham. The judges resisted this, unanimously declaring its use to be contrary to the laws of England.[1] The previous yearCharles I had authorised the Irish Courts to rack aCatholic priest; this seems to have been the last time the rack was used inIreland.
In 1679Miles Prance, a silversmith who was being questioned about the murder of the respected magistrate SirEdmund Berry Godfrey, was threatened with the rack.
In Russia up to the 18th century the rack (дыба, dyba) was agallows-like device for suspending the victims (strappado). The suspended victims were whipped with aknout and sometimes burned with torches.[8]
Generally speaking, fidiculae are cited among instruments of torture next to the rack [EQUULEUS]. It must, until further notice, be considered likely that it was an assembly of ropes, which, by their arrangement, were more or less reminiscent of the lyre (fides, fidium).
