The Scold's Bridle

The Scold's Bridle

One of the scourges of medievallife, if not of later centuries, was the scold, or nagging wife, and so the judiciary, with its usual robust approach to social problems, came up with the solution to gag them. And that's how the Scold's Bridle, or the Branks, as they were also known, came into being. There were several different designs, but basicaIly the bridle consisted of an iron framework in the form of a helmet-shaped cage which titted tightly over the head, with eye holes and an aperture for the mouth. At the front, protruding inwards, was a small flat plate which was inserted in to the woman's mouth, and the bridle was then locked about her neck. Some models were quite painless to wear. Others had large tongue plates studded with sharp pins or a rowel, a small spiked wheel, to hold the tongue down. These could cause appalling lacerations if the victim attempted to speak.

Many bridles had a chain attached to the front so that the victim could be led through the streets, to be secured to the market cross or pillory post, and in order to herald her approach some bridles had a spring-mounted bell on the top. Some of the powerful screwing apparatus seemed calculated to force the iron mask with torturing effect upon the brow of the victim; there are no eyeholes, but concavities in their places, as though to allow for the starting of the eye-balls under violent pressure. There is a strong bar with a square hole, evidently intended to fasten the criminal against the wall or perhaps to the pillory. That model would seem to have been designed, not so much for nagging wives, but as a device to keep a felon's head immovable while being extensively branded

Source: Darklair, Midevil Torture Instruments.