- 1- Prison. The prisons, or rather the dungeons, were deep underground passages, real tombs more than thirty feet underground. The unfortunate people, condemned to inhabit these places, six to eight in number, were lying on the damp ground in a stale atmosphere; they were deprived of clothes and shivering. Among these unfortunate people, women and children; how touching are these children who play and laugh alongside pain and death. Every day the executioners came to collect a few new victims to bring them before the court where they were led with lashes. 2- The torture gallery. In the middle of a vast rotunda, in a deep vault, is the chamber of torment, from the walls hang instruments of torture; there are easels, iron boots, nails of enormous size, ropes of all sizes. We descend into this infernal place via a multitude of small, winding staircases. The grand inquisitor makes his entrance followed by the apostolic notary and the familiars of the Holy Office, in accordance with article 18 of the code of the Inquisition which required that these two characters were always present to record the declarations of the accused. After a few summary executions such as the torture of the whip which was applied to any unfortunate person, without distinction of age or sex who made some groan heard, a heretic was locked up in the Nuremberg wardrobe, an iron box, lined internally with spikes. which penetrated all parts of the body of the victim who was locked there. Another patient is lying on a wooden bench, his feet caught in a sort of straitjacket, his hands tied to the foot of the bench in such a way as to bring the body back as if folded in on itself, so that it is impossible for him to move. make the slightest movement. A blazing brazier is then placed under the patient's feet and they are coated with oil. The executioner passes them with a hot iron, the action of the fire, excited by the presence of these fatty substances, becomes in a few minutes so penetrating that the skin splits, the flesh contracts and withdraws, leaving the nerves, bones exposed. tendons and bones. At a sign from the Grand Inquisitor, the executioners bring the accused stripped of his clothes. They want to make him confess to a crime he never committed; upon his refusal, the masked men seize the unfortunate man, tie his hands behind his back, then, grabbing the end of the rope which hangs above his head, tie it to his feet and kidnap the patient until at the height of the vault. After which, they tied a heavy stone to his hands. 3. The torture bench. The patient lies on a gutter-shaped bench, just wide enough to accommodate him and arranged so that the head is lower than the feet. At this moment, the torturers violently turn a wooden tourniquet which tightens the ropes to which the victim is bound. They insert a funnel into his mouth and pour water in small quantities, the victim, whose breathing becomes more and more difficult, makes incredible efforts to swallow this water and suck in a little air, but with each his efforts which necessarily give his whole body a painful convulsion, the executioners turn the tourniquet and the rope penetrates to the bones. 4. The Torment of the Wheel. Bound on a wooden drum, the tortured person, whose flesh is already bruised by this circular position, undergoes the most terrifying torture. The executioners, in fact, having taken care to place a fiery brazier underneath, turn the wheel at a speed cleverly calculated to graduate the degree of suffering. The body passes back and forth over this blaze which one of the helpers ardently fans with a bellows. Then the brazier is replaced by a bench furnished with spikes on which the unfortunate man turns and plows his flesh. 5. L'Auto-da-fé. On the widest facade of the square, in front of the palace occupied by the king and his retinue, the pyre is set up made of resinous wood, oily materials and straw so that combustion is faster. To the right of this pyre rises an amphitheater on the steps of which we see the armchair intended for the Grand Inquisitor. The condemned are brought in procession wearing a miter. After the sentence is read, they are tied to the stake and the executioner armed with a torch comes to set it on fire. Soon a thick, blackish smoke rises around the tortured, whose terrible agony begins. During this time, the priests play a verse from "De Profundis" or "Miserere", a mournful chant which mixes with human lamentations and the groans of the dying. And the people, kneeling, remain bowed under a deep impression of terror and pity.—Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé
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