25. Natalia Lopukhina (or Lapuchin) of Russia was an accessory to a treasonous plot involving a foreign diplomat. Empress Elizabeth, who had always been jealous of Natalia's beauty, made sure her lovely skin was marred. On 31 May 1744, the Countess was stripped naked in public, 'horsed' by the soldiers in charge of her punishment, and flogged back and front with the vicious Russian knout. Its broad flat leather lash was hardened, sometimes with a wire core, and jointed with a ring near the end so the tip would travel faster.
Real Punishments - 1746 Janina of Raab
26. A punishment that took place in Hapsburg Hungary is described in 'Aus den Memoiren einer Sangerin' (From the Memoirs of a Singer) and 'Geschichte des Korperliche Zuchtligung' (History of Corporal Punishment). They quote eyewitness Madame Anna von Luft concerning the case of a 19-year-old girl, Janina, who was a student mixed up in revolutionary politics. She was given 12 months jail with a switching once a month in the Raab public square. Anna describes Janina's short prison haircut, and says that a thin garment was provided to punished women, similar to modern panties, for the sake of modesty. But when this was introduced, a sturdier switch and extra strokes were added.
When the executor of Janina's punishment took down her pyjama-like prison pants, she was not wearing the provided underwear! It's possible they were withheld by a cruel official, but Anna thought Janina was a masochist who preferred to be switched on her bare bottom. She was apparently not perturbed at being bent over showing her anatomy in the town square. However, Anna admits Janina didn't seem to enjoy the switching itself - she yelled and pleaded through her 25 strokes on the bare skin. Was Anna mistaken, or had Janina been daring and then wished she hadn't?
Real Punishments - 1762 Catherine the Great
27. Catherine the Great of Russia liked to play games with her high-born ladies-in-waiting. She made them dress as children then, pretending to be their mother, chastised them in ‘truly maternal fashion’. At other times she acted as a governess, ordering her ladies to learn impossible lessons, and then punishing them for their failure. It was reported that during her reign (1762-96) these games were staged so often that the ladies of the Winter Palace had to attend as if attending a school class - with their dresses so adjusted that the Empress could apply discipline conveniently.
When she first married into the royal family, the only way Catherine could interest her ill and somewhat gay husband was by dressing as a soldier and taking discipline from him. Looks like what comes around, goes around!
Please remember that the more detailed non-oil-painting versions of these pictures are at kajiragames.deviantART.com
