Iron maiden

Theiron maidenis atorturedevice, consisting of a solid ironcabinetwith ahingedfront and spike-covered interior, sufficiently tall to enclose a human being. While often popularly thought to have been used in themedieval period,the first stories citing the iron maiden were composed in the 19th century. The use of iron maidens is considered to be a myth; evidence of their actual use has never been found. They have become a popular image in media involving the Middle Ages and involvingtorture chambers.

History

An open iron maiden

Despite its reputation as a medieval instrument of torture, there is no evidence of the existence of iron maidens before the 19th century.^[1]There are, however, ancient reports of the Spartan tyrantNabisusinga similar devicearound 200 B.C. for extortion and murder. The Abbasid vizierIbn al-Zayyatis said to have created a "wooden oven-like chest that had iron spikes" for torture, which would ironically be used during his own imprisonment and execution in 847.^[2]

Wolfgang Schild, a professor of criminal law, criminal law history, and philosophy of law at theBielefeld University,has argued that putative iron maidens were pieced together fromartifactsfound in museums to create spectacular objects intended for (commercial) exhibition.^[3]Several 19th-century iron maidens are on display in museums around the world, including theMuseum of Us,^[4]theMeiji UniversityMuseum,^[5]and severaltorture museums^[6]^[7]^[8]in Europe.

Possible inspirations

The 19th-century iron maidens may have been constructed as a misinterpretation of a medievalSchandmantel,which was made of wood and metal but without spikes.^[9]Inspiration for the iron maiden may also have come from the Carthaginian execution ofMarcus Atilius Regulusas recorded inTertullian's "To the Martyrs" (Chapter 4) andAugustine of Hippo'sThe City of God(I.15), in which theCarthaginians"shut him into a tight wooden box, where he was forced to stand, spiked with the sharpest nails on all sides so that he could not lean in any direction without being pierced,"^[10]or fromPolybius' account ofNabisofSparta's deadly statue of his wife, theIron Apega(earliest form of the device).^[11]^[12]

The iron maiden of Nuremberg

Copy of the iron maiden of Nuremberg on display in Rothenburg ob der Tauber

The most famous iron maiden that popularized the design was that ofNuremberg,first displayed possibly as far back as 1802. The original was lost in the Alliedbombing of Nurembergin 1945. A copy "from the Royal Castle of Nuremberg", crafted for public display, was sold through J. Ichenhauser of London to theEarl of Shrewsburyin 1890 along with other torture devices, and, after being displayed at theWorld's Columbian Exposition,Chicago, Illinois, 1893, was taken on an American tour.^[13]This copy was auctioned in the early 1960s and is now on display at the Medieval Crime Museum,Rothenburg ob der Tauber.^[14]

Origins

Some historians have argued thatJohann Philipp Siebenkees(1759–1796) made up the history of the device.^[15]According to Siebenkees'colportage,it was first used on August 14, 1515, to execute a coinforger.^[16]

References

^Graf, Klaus (June 21, 2001),Mordgeschichten und Hexenerinnerungen – das boshafte Gedächtnis auf dem Dorf,archived from the original on August 28, 2004,retrievedJuly 11,2007,Das Hinrichtungswerkzeug "Eiserne Jungfrau" ist eine Fiktion des 19. Jahrhunderts, denn erst in der ersten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts hat man frühneuzeitliche Schandmäntel, die als Straf- und Folterwerkzeuge dienten und gelegentlich als "Jungfrau" bezeichnet wurden, innen mit eisernen Spitzen versehen und somit die Objekte den schaurigen Phantasien in Literatur und Sage angepaßt. "" The execution tool "Iron Maiden" is a fiction of the 19th century, because only since the first half of the 19th century the early-modern-times' "rishard cloaks", which sometimes were called "maidens", were provided with iron spikes; and thus the objects were adapted to the dreadful fantasies in literature and legend. "{{citation}}:CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link).
^Al-Tabari (1989).The Incipient Decline: The Caliphates of Al-Wathiq, Al-Mutawakkil, and Al-Muntasir, A.D. 841–863/A.H. 227–248.Translated by Kraemer, Joel. State University of New York Press. p. 70.
^Schild, Wolfgang (2000).Die eiserne Jungfrau. Dichtung und Wahrheit (Schriftenreihe des Mittelalterlichen Kriminalmuseums Rothenburg o. d. Tauber Nr. 3).Rothenburg ob der Tauber.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^San Diego Museum of Man,Medieval Imposter: the Iron Maiden,archived fromthe originalon 2015-02-18,retrieved2015-01-17
^Meiji University Museum,The Mission of the Meiji University Museum.
^Museum Kyburg Castle,The Iron Maiden,archivedfrom the original on 2008-05-10,retrieved2015-01-17.
^Český Krumlov Castle Museum of Torture,Museum of Torture,archived fromthe originalon 2016-02-16,retrieved2015-01-17.
^Seth Robson,"Prague: Torture Museum Offers a Blood-Curdling Collection",Stars and Stripes,archived fromthe originalon 2015-03-20,retrieved2015-01-17.
^Museum Digital,Schandmantel.
^Translation by Gerald G. Walsh, S.J., Demetrius B. Zema, S.J., Grace Monahan, O.S.U., and Daniel J. Honan.
^Polybius (2013-11-08),The Histories of Polybius,vol. II, translated by Evelyn Shirley Shuckburgh, Book XIII, Chapter 7.
^Pomeroy, Sarah B.(2002p),"Elite Women, The Last Reformers: Apega and Nabis and Chaeron",Spartan Women,Oxford University Press US, pp.89–90,ISBN 9780195130676– via Books.Google.com.
^"Famous torture instruments: the Earl of Shrewsbury's collection soon to be exhibited here",The New York Times,26 November 1893accessed 20 June 2009, refers particularly only to the "justly-celebrated iron maiden".
^It was notably absent from the remainder of the collection, auctioned atGuernsey's,New York, in May 2009 (Richard Pyle, Associated Press, "For sale in NYC: torture devices").
^Bishop, Chris (2014)."The 'pear of anguish': Truth, torture and dark medievalism"(PDF).International Journal of Cultural Studies.17(6):591–602.doi:10.1177/1367877914528531.hdl:1885/17580.S2CID 146124132.Retrieved2022-12-25.
^Wolfgang Schild,Die Eiserne Jungfrau,2002.
^"Bound by Blood and Torn by Rivalry".Los Angeles Times.23 July 2003.

External links

Media related toIron maiden (torture)at Wikimedia Commons
Infernal Device: Iron Maiden at Occasional Hell

[Klaus_Graf-1] Graf, Klaus (June 21, 2001),Mordgeschichten und Hexenerinnerungen – das boshafte Gedächtnis auf dem Dorf,archived from the original on August 28, 2004,retrievedJuly 11,2007,Das Hinrichtungswerkzeug "Eiserne Jungfrau" ist eine Fiktion des 19. Jahrhunderts, denn erst in der ersten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts hat man frühneuzeitliche Schandmäntel, die als Straf- und Folterwerkzeuge dienten und gelegentlich als "Jungfrau" bezeichnet wurden, innen mit eisernen Spitzen versehen und somit die Objekte den schaurigen Phantasien in Literatur und Sage angepaßt. "" The execution tool "Iron Maiden" is a fiction of the 19th century, because only since the first half of the 19th century the early-modern-times' "rishard cloaks", which sometimes were called "maidens", were provided with iron spikes; and thus the objects were adapted to the dreadful fantasies in literature and legend. "{{citation}}:CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link).

[2] Al-Tabari (1989).The Incipient Decline: The Caliphates of Al-Wathiq, Al-Mutawakkil, and Al-Muntasir, A.D. 841–863/A.H. 227–248.Translated by Kraemer, Joel. State University of New York Press. p. 70.

[3] Schild, Wolfgang (2000).Die eiserne Jungfrau. Dichtung und Wahrheit (Schriftenreihe des Mittelalterlichen Kriminalmuseums Rothenburg o. d. Tauber Nr. 3).Rothenburg ob der Tauber.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

[4] San Diego Museum of Man,Medieval Imposter: the Iron Maiden,archived fromthe originalon 2015-02-18,retrieved2015-01-17

[5] Meiji University Museum,The Mission of the Meiji University Museum.

[6] Museum Kyburg Castle,The Iron Maiden,archivedfrom the original on 2008-05-10,retrieved2015-01-17.

[7] Český Krumlov Castle Museum of Torture,Museum of Torture,archived fromthe originalon 2016-02-16,retrieved2015-01-17.

[8] Seth Robson,"Prague: Torture Museum Offers a Blood-Curdling Collection",Stars and Stripes,archived fromthe originalon 2015-03-20,retrieved2015-01-17.

[9] Museum Digital,Schandmantel.

[10] Translation by Gerald G. Walsh, S.J., Demetrius B. Zema, S.J., Grace Monahan, O.S.U., and Daniel J. Honan.

[11] Polybius (2013-11-08),The Histories of Polybius,vol. II, translated by Evelyn Shirley Shuckburgh, Book XIII, Chapter 7.

[Google-12] Pomeroy, Sarah B.(2002p),"Elite Women, The Last Reformers: Apega and Nabis and Chaeron",Spartan Women,Oxford University Press US, pp.89–90,ISBN 9780195130676– via Books.Google.com.

[13] "Famous torture instruments: the Earl of Shrewsbury's collection soon to be exhibited here",The New York Times,26 November 1893accessed 20 June 2009, refers particularly only to the "justly-celebrated iron maiden".

[14] It was notably absent from the remainder of the collection, auctioned atGuernsey's,New York, in May 2009 (Richard Pyle, Associated Press, "For sale in NYC: torture devices").

[15] Bishop, Chris (2014)."The 'pear of anguish': Truth, torture and dark medievalism"(PDF).International Journal of Cultural Studies.17(6):591–602.doi:10.1177/1367877914528531.hdl:1885/17580.S2CID 146124132.Retrieved2022-12-25.

[Schild-16] Wolfgang Schild,Die Eiserne Jungfrau,2002.

[17] "Bound by Blood and Torn by Rivalry".Los Angeles Times.23 July 2003.

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