Real Historical Punishments 4-6

Real Punishments - 1227 Elizabeth of Hungary

4. Princess Elizabeth was the daughter of King Andrew II of Hungary. When widowed young, she became virtually enslaved to inquisitor Konrad von Marburg. Paintings by Calderon and Rev. Charles Kingley show her kneeling naked at the altar, making vows of poverty, chastity and obedience (to Konrad). He set standards the Princess couldn't possibly meet as an excuse to whip her as often as possible.
Elizabeth was made a saint for Franciscan devotion and charitable work. Konrad was sent by the Pope to hunt down and torture witches in Germany. The right man for the right job!




Real Punishments - 1306 Countess of Buchan

5. The Countess of Buchan organized the crowning of Robert the Bruce as King of Scotland, using her husband's resources without his knowledge. When Edward Longshanks of England overthrew Robert, the Countess was imprisoned in a cage and shown off to all dignitaries visiting Berwick-on-Tweed.
Where was Mel Gibson when she needed him? (This was the time of William "Braveheart" Wallace)



Real Punishments - 1546 Anne Askew

6. Anne Askew was put on the rack in the Tower of London, for Protestant agitation at a time when the elderly King Henry the Eighth was leaning back toward Catholicism. Bishop Fisher hoped she would implicate Henry's last queen, Catherine Parr.
Anne was later burnt at the stake, wearing bags of gunpowder to make her death mercifully quicker.




Series blurb:
A history of the bondage and corporal punishment of females, using only incidents where a name and approximate date are known. I'm doing them in chronological order, covering from the first century to the nineteenth.

[Notes: (1) Some licence is taken with the positioning and state of dress of the victim, as this is usually unknown. (2) Most quotes in this series are from "Encyclopedia of Cruelty", Felicity Press, Islington Australia, 1995.]