In the Kit Harington drama, special torture were reserved for those who harboured Catholics. But is there historical fact behind those bloody scenes?
In BBC’s gory new drama Gunpowder, Sir William Wade, the Machiavellian Macgyver of Catholic hunters, surveyed an impressive arsenal of torture at his disposal in front of a baying crowd.
There was the routine gallows, axes and knives, a flame. Back in the locker there was the rack (which stretches) and the “scavenger’s daughter” (which compresses). The labour-intensive “hung, drawn and quartered” routine – the punishment for treason – was reserved for the young priest Father Daniel Smith.
But for Lady Dorothy, in the Kit Harrington dramatisation of the Guy Fawkes plot, a pointy stone was placed centre stage and everyone thought “alien egg maybe?”.
No, this was princess and the pea medieval style. Sir William had opted to torture sunny Lady D by crushing. She was tied, naked, on the stone, a wooden platform placed on top of her and then heavier and heavier weights added until she asphyxiated or the stone broke her back.
The technique was called “peine forte et sure” which means “forceful and hard punishment”, burying the bad news beneath the French.
The martyrdom of St Margaret Clitherow
Lady D was gone in a few moments. In reality, the best death was about 15 minutes but slow application of the stones could take several days.
In which case, as witness Guy Miege wrote: “His Diet, till he dies, is of three Morsels of Barley bread without Drink the next Day; and if he lives beyond it, he has nothing daily, but as much foul Water as he can drink three several Time, and that without any Bread.”
Most often, people were dispatched in about half an hour under the weight equivalent of four men. John Weekes, under 400lbs, refused to plead and bystanders helped him on his way by sitting on him.
Catholic martyr crushed to death
Roman Catholic martyr St Margaret Clitherow, was Lady Dorothy’s equivalent refusing to plead for harbouring Catholic priests. She died after 15 minutes under the weight equivalent of nine men.
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The reason for the slow torture was to produce a plea from the suspect. A plea was crucial because only then could common law courts have jurisdiction. As Lady Dorothy stated, refusal to plead – standing mute – meant there was no jurisdiction, no forfeiture of property and Liv Tyler could safely inherit.
So crushing wasn’t an execution, but death was clearly an occupational hazard. Indeed, from the 1275 “Standing Mute Act” the peine consisted merely of imprisonment or starvations. The “forte et dure” element began in 1406.
The technique was abolished in 1772. After that, refusing to plead was deemed the equivalent of pleading guilty until 1827 when a plea of “not guilty” was to be entered against any prisoner refusing to plead.