From the 16th until the 19th century, women accused of being scolds, shrews, or having “loose morals” were often fitted masks known as Scold’s Bridles that held their tongues with an iron gag.
The Print Collector / Print Collector / Getty ImagesA 19th - 100 delineation of a woman wearing a Scold ’s Bridle .
A bridle may be mostly associated with horses . But from at least the sixteenth hundred and well into the 19th , the so - called Scold ’s Bridle was also used on citizenry . This iron mask , fitted with a jest , was commonly strapped onto woman accused of gossiping , quarreling , or committing desecration .
The gadget had two purposes . The first , obviously , was to hush up the wearer . The second was to humiliate them . multitude drape in a Scold ’s Bridle were often paraded around Ithiel Town , where townspeople could barrack and throw things .
The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty ImagesA 19th-century depiction of a woman wearing a Scold’s Bridle.
But as bad as that sounds , the Scold ’s Bridle was hardly the only — or worst — punishment for women accused of speaking out of turning .
What Is A Scold’s Bridle?
For 100 of year in the British Isles , one of the worst things someone could be was a “ scold . ” This was a term used for women — and sometimes , but rarely , workforce — who natter , defame others , fought loudly , or , essentially , speak out of number .
To penalize scolds , local entity like town councils and judges sometimes decide that the offending party must wear a Scold ’s Bridle .
Universal History Archive / Getty ImagesTwo illustration of Scold ’s Bridles , probably from around the seventeenth century .
Universal History Archive/Getty ImagesTwo examples of Scold’s Bridles, probably from around the 17th century.
These devices varied in design but were often quite standardized . They were iron mask which , according to theBBC , resemble “ a gun muzzle or cage for the head . ” A lock at the back held the bridle into place , and most had a metal gag to hold the knife down .
As theNational Trust for Scotlandnotes , some of these gags were spiked so the wearer ’s spit would be cut if they tried to mouth .
consort to theMuseum of Witchcraft And Magic , the first reference to a Scold ’s Bridle come out to date back to the 14th century , when one of Geoffrey Chaucer ’s character notes “ would she were beetle off with a Bridle . ”
SSPL/Getty ImagesAn elaborate Scold’s Bridle from Belgium.
But anecdote involving Scold ’s check do n’t appear until the sixteenth century .
How Scold’s Bridles Were Used
SSPL / Getty ImagesAn elaborate Scold ’s Bridle from Belgium .
The first documented use of a Scold ’s Bridle , call in an smoothing iron brank , appeared in 1567 in Scotland . ( The last would n’t come until 1856 . ) In Edinburgh , one law declared that iron branks would be used on anyone who committed blasphemy or was deemed immortal .
From that second on , the Scold ’s Bridle appears sporadically across the historical record . It was used on so - called “ scolds ” and “ termagant ” and on women with “ loose morals . ” In 1789 , a farmer in Lichfield used iron branks on a cleaning lady so as to “ to silence her clamorous Tongue ” according to the Museum of Witchcraft And Magic .
The Print Collector/Getty ImagesDifferent kinds of iron branks used on women accused of “gossiping, nagging or scandal-mongering.”
In improver to wearing the bridle , the sodbuster also push the woman to walk around a field of force as local children “ hoot at her . ” Apparently “ Nobody compassionate her because she was very much disliked by her neighbours . ”
The Scold ’s Bridle was n’t only used on nagger , however . In 1655 , it was used on a Quaker named Dorothy Waugh . She was placed in the iron branks for hours as punishment for preaching in the marketplace , concord toLancaster Castle . patently , however , the townspeople were sympathetic .
The Print Collector / Getty ImagesDifferent kinds of Fe branks used on women accused of “ gossiping , shrewish or malicious gossip - mongering . ”
Fotosearch/Getty ImagesA ducking stool used in the American colonies circa 1690.
pass on reference to Scold ’s Bridles continued for the next two hundred years . At the morning of the tight-laced Era , however , this form of punishment set out to fall out of fashion . consort to the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic , a evaluator govern an iron brank put down in 1821 by saying : “ Take out that relic of barbarity . ” He , like other Victorians , more and more go out them as old - fashioned and absurd .
That tell , the last recorded use of a Scold ’s Bridle took situation 30 years later in 1856 . And though iron branks were an specially cruel and torturous form of punishment , they were scarce the only method acting that people daydream up to condition women accused of being common scold .
Other Punishments For Scolds
Fotosearch / Getty ImagesA ducking stool used in the American colony circa 1690 .
Being impel into a Scold ’s Bridle was bad enough . But otherpunishmentsfor scolder were just as mortifying , and some were so torturous that they even resulted in women ’s deaths .
Take cucking BM and ducking stool . The two terms , often befuddled , refer to separate punishments for scolder . In the Middle Ages , women accused of being scolds might be tied to a hot seat — or a toilet or commode — call a cucking stool . They might be result there or march through town .
A bad punishment for scolds emerged around the Tudor Era : ducking ordure . Like cucking stools , they involved splice a common scold to a death chair . But instead of leaving her there , ducking BM douse fair sex into water . This often leave in charwoman dying of seismic disturbance or drowning .
The point in penalise scolds with these devices was to police moral behavior , chagrin the adult female , and terrorize other women into silence . After all , it was hard to protest against a policy like the Scold ’s Bridle when the implied threat was “ you could be next . ”
fortuitously , devices like Scold ’s Bridles , cucking stools , and parry fecal matter have all long gone out of practice . But unhappily , the practice of silencing women or policing their speech has not .
For more ghastly gothic practice session like the Scold ’s Bridle , hold in out themost painful medieval torment devices , and the direction thatmedieval humans mutilated their dead to annul them becoming zombie .
