One of the most brutal punishment in medieval times ― Strappado

Torture has typically been used as a means of extracting evidence and information, and public execution has often been used as a warning to prevent others from committing crimes.

During the Medieval period, public torture and execution were common throughout the United Kingdom and regarded as a socially acceptable form of punishment. Depending on the nature and severity of their crime, different levels of pain and types of execution have been inflicted on prisoners.

Strappado is a form of torture in medieval times to torture heretics, witches, and various other types of victims. It was an Italian invention, which is believed to have been used to torture Niccolò Machiavelli and Girolamo Savonarola. The Strappado was also used by the Nazis in concentration camps during the Second World War to punish non-cooperatives.

Strappado torture has three variants, all of which are unimaginably horrible.

The first is also the simplest one in which the victim's hands are tied behind his back with a thick rope and attached to a beam or a ceiling hook. The executioner would then simply pull the rope so that the convict would be lifted up by the hands, causing intolerable agony and usually dislocation of the arms and shoulders, the shoulder sockets supporting the body's entire weight. 

In the second type of Strappado torture, the victim was released at intervals only to be suddenly stopped in mid-air, thus increasing the intensity of the torture.

Finally, in the third type, a weight could be added to the victim's legs, to enhance the effect and increase the pain. In general, this kind of torture would not last more than an hour without rest, as it would probably lead to death.

Other strappado names include "Reverse hanging" and "Palestinian hanging" and Corda. It has historically been used by the medieval Inquisition and by many governments, such as the Civil Law Court (1543–1798) of the Order of St. John at Castellania in Valletta, Malta.

The mechanism of this device was relatively simple compared to the more sophisticated torture devices of the Middle Ages, and this device is well known for its extensive use during the Spanish Inquisition.