Bygone Punishments (page 1/2)

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Waltham Abbey Whipping-Posts and Stocks.

The Anglo-Saxons whipped prisoners with a whip of three cords, knotted at the end. It was not an uncommon practice for mistresses to whip, or have their servants whipped, to death. William of Malmesbury relates a story to the effect that when King Ethelred was a child, he on one occasion displeased his mother, and she, not having a whip at hand, flogged [...] [more...]

Anglo-Saxon Punishments

“Stocks were used, at an early period, as a means of punishing breakers of the law. The precise date when they were first emplyed in this country is not known, but we may infer from early mediaeval illustrations that the stocks were in general use amongst the Anglo-Saxons, for they often figure in drawings of their public places. The picture we give here is from the Harleian MSS., No. 65. The stocks were usually placed bu the side of the public road, at the entrance of a town. It will be observed that the two offenders are fastened to the columns of a public building by means of a rope or chain. It has been suggested that it is a court-house.” (p. 173)

The man in the stocks has bare feet and legs; probably the two chained men do too, but it’s hard to tell. The prisoner in the stocks appears [more...] [$]

Front cover, Bygone Punishments

A plain dark blue book cover. But people don’t often scan the plain covers, so here it is.

Stocks and Whipping Post, Aldbury

Stocks and whiping-post, Aldbury, from a photo by A. Whitford Anderson, Esq., Watford. [more...]

Taunting Persons in the Stocks.

“The “Cambridge Trinity College Psalter”—an illuminated manuscript—presents some curious illustrations of the manners of the earlier half of the twelth century. We give a reproduction of one of its quaint pictures. Two men are in the stocks; one, it will be seen, is held by one leg only, and the other by both, and a couple of persons are taunting them in their time of trouble. [more...]