At Orleans, for the ordinary torture the accused was stripped half naked, and his hands were tightly tied behind his back, with a ring fixed between them.  Then by means of a rope fastened to this ring, they raised the poor man, who had a weight of one hundred and eighty pounds attached to his feet, a certain height from the ground.  For the extraordinary torture, which then took the name of estrapade, they raised the victim, with two hundred and fifty pounds attached to his feet, to the ceiling by means of a capstan; he was then allowed to fall several times successively by jerks to the level of the ground, by which means his arms and legs were completely dislocated (Fig. 340).

At Avignon, the ordinary torture consisted in hanging the accused by the wrists, with a heavy iron ball at each foot; for the extraordinary torture, which was then much in use in Italy under the name of veglia, the body was stretched horizontally by means of ropes passing through rings riveted into the wall, and attached to the four limbs, the only support given to the culprit being the point of a stake cut in a diamond shape, which just touched the end of the back-bone.  A doctor and a surgeon were always present, feeling the pulse at the temples of the patient, so as to be able to judge of the moment when he could not any longer bear the pain.

[Illustration:  Fig. 340.—­The Estrapade, or Question Extraordinary.—­Fac-simile of a Woodcut in the Work of J. Millaeus, “Praxis Criminis Persequendi.” folio, Paris, 1541.]

[Illustration:  Fig. 341.—­The Water Torture.—­Fac-simile of a Woodcut in J. Damhoudere’s “Praxis Rerum Criminalium:”  in 4to, Antwerp, 1556.]

At that moment he was untied, hot fomentations were used to revive him, restoratives were administered, and, as soon as he had recovered a little strength, he was again put to the torture, which went on thus for six consecutive hours.

In Paris, for a long time, the water torture was in use; this was the most easily borne, and the least dangerous.  A person undergoing it was tied to a board which was supported horizontally on two trestles.  By means of a horn, acting as a funnel, and whilst his nose was being pinched, so as to force him to swallow, they slowly poured four coquemars (about nine pints) of water into his mouth; this was for the ordinary torture.  For the extraordinary, double that quantity was poured in (Fig. 341).  When the torture was ended, the victim was untied, “and taken to be warmed in the kitchen,” says the old text.

At a later period, the brodequins were preferred.  For this torture, the victim was placed in a sitting posture on a massive bench, with strong narrow boards fixed inside and outside of each leg, which were tightly bound together with strong rope; wedges were then driven in between the centre boards with a mallet; four wedges in the ordinary and eight in the extraordinary torture.  Not unfrequently during the latter operation the bones of the legs were literally burst.