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Man Under Torture on the Rack

Man Under Torture on the Rack
This depiction of Protestant martyr Cuthbert Simpson on the rack in 1581 is typical of the type of torture employed in Elizabethan England. The rack itself was an essentially simple device that stretched the victim—sometimes by as much as one foot in length—in order to elicit a confession or an oath. The victim was inevitably disabled by his injuries.
Bettmann/Corbis
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Torture
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