Note 37 — Book the Second (continued 2)

This was quite a common torture. Every patrician had the right to inflict it on his plebeians; and every inventory of palaces begins with “Ropes for the Cord.” In many palaces and castles, iron rings through which the Cord was passed remain to be seen. The witness had his hands tied, hanging loosely behind him. One end of the long Cord was attached to his wrists; the other end was flung over a beam or through a ring and held by the official torturer. Then the witness delicately was drawn up as high as possible. He hung there by his wrists which were strained backward and upward, with his shoulders generally dislocated. Then, with a frightful jerk he was dropped to within a braccia (2 feet 7 inches) of the floor, completing the dislocation with a shock. At this moment, the Question was put; his answer distinguished from his shrieks, and written down. Any stubbornness, or insolence, or reticence, was met by attaching weights to his feet, and subjecting him to fresh elevations and fresh drops, till his arms were torn from the sockets and his sinews strained to the uttermost. Or, as a variant, he was left to hang until his questioner had obtained the information required. Evidence of commoners, without the Question, appears to have been considered by the Fifteenth Century as valueless as evidence unsupported by oath or affidavit and untested by cross-examination at the present day. The nearest modern equivalent to the Torture of the Cord would be the smelling of a greasy testament plus the stratagems of a cross-examining counsel. It was merely a legal form.