Profs & Pints DC: Torture in the Middle Ages

Profs and Pints DC presents: “Torture in the Middle Ages,” with Larissa “Kat” Tracy, visiting assistant teaching professor of English at the University of Maryland Baltimore County and author or editor of ten books on medieval violence.

When Pulp Fiction’s Marsellus Wallace vows to “get medieval” on someone we assume that they’re in for some serious pain. Torture—that most notorious aspect of medieval culture and society—more recently has been portrayed in popular culture in series like Game of Thrones and Vikings, through lurid scenes depicting torture and gruesome punishment as standard medieval practice. In many modern European cities one can find popular museums displaying such gruesome implements as the rack, the strappado, the gridiron, the wheel, and the iron maiden.

The dominant mythology suggests that the Middle Ages was a period during which sadistic torment was inflicted on citizens with impunity and without provocation. The truth, however, is a lot…