Descriptionary

foil

a thin-bladed fencing sword with a flat guard. gladiate shaped like a sword.

hand-and-a-half

an intermediate or smaller sword than a two-handed sword.

hanger

any short sword hung from the side of the body and used as a backup for a larger sword. Also known as a sidearm.

hilt

a sword handle.

knuckle-bow

a knuckle guard at the hilt.

one-hand sword

a very short sword.

pommel

the knob at the end of the hilt, sometimes weighted to help balance the sword.

quillons

small side projections at the hilt.

rapier

a long, slender, dual-edged sword with a cupped hilt, used in the 16th and 17th centuries. An 18th-century version had no cutting edge but a sharp point for thrusting.

saber

a heavy sword with a slightly curved blade, used by the cavalry. Also, a two-edged sword used in fencing.

scabbard

a sword sheath.

scimitar

an Oriental sword with a curved blade.

shamshir

classic Persian and Indian saber with a curved blade.

sidearm

see hanger.

smallsword

a small sword used as a fashionable costume item in the 17th and 18 th centuries.

spear point

a symmetrical blade with a sharp point.

two-hand sword

a very large sword requiring two hands to swing.

torture and punishment

Amnesty International

an international organiza­tion that works to protect human rights and to elimi­nate executions and torture.

bastinado

beating the soles of the feet with a stick or a cudgel.

boot

one of various iron or wooden fittings placed over the foot or leg, which was then hammered through with wedges to apply pressure, sometimes to the breaking point.

breaking wheel

originating in ancient Greece and used throughout the Middle Ages, a large, wooden, spoked wagon wheel, on which a victim was tied and then beaten with cudgels, clubs, or hammers. The resulting broken limbs would then sometimes be braided around the spokes, for display purposes.

burning at the stake

in the Middle Ages, a method of execution in which heretics and witches were tied to a stake and burned alive, abolished in the late 18th century.

crucifixion

originating in the sixth century b.c., a form of torture in which a victim was tied or nailed to a cross and left to hang. The victim sometimes had to carry the cross on his back to his place of execution and, once there, might also be impaled or have his legs broken. The most famous crucifixion victim was Jesus Christ.

cruel and unusual punishment

general term for any form of torture, banned by the English Bill of Rights in 1689, and formally banned in the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1787.

drawn and quartered

one of the most severe forms of torture, originating in England for the crime of high treason. The punishment called first for a brief hanging, through which the victim was nearly killed but not quite. Partially revived by water, the victim would then be dragged onto a table, where his genita- lia was removed, his abdomen cut open, and his intes­tines pulled out by a roller and then burned before his eyes. A decapitation followed and the remaining body was then hacked into four pieces, all of which were put on public display. After 1814, the punishment was changed, with the victim hanged until dead, after which he was sliced up. All forms of the punishment were abolished in 1870.

dungeon

as part of a castle, an underground prison, where prisoners were isolated for great lengths of time.

forcipation

pinching one's flesh with forceps or pincers.

heretic's fork

a pitchforklike device, with double prongs and a strap that was placed around the neck. On one end, the prongs would be set under one's throat, and on the other into one's sternum, causing great pain. Used during the Spanish Inquisition.

impale

to drive a sharp stake into someone.

iron maiden

originating in the late 18th century, a tall iron case or cabinet in which a victim was placed and stabbed with knives or nails through strategically placed holes.

keelhauling

a form of punishment used on sailors in the Dutch navy and the British Royal Navy, from the 1500s until 1853, through which a sailor tied to a rope was pulled under the hull of a ship and cut up by barnacles as he passed. If pulled too slowly, the victim would drown.

mock execution

a form of psychological terror in which a blindfolded victim is told that he is about to be executed, with every step in the process carried out, including gunfire at close range, but with no actual physical harm done, used to coerce a prisoner into a confession.

picana

similar to a cattle prod, an electrically charged wand that is hooked to a car battery or a transformer, through which power is adjusted to apply electric shocks to prisoners.