THE TORMENT OF BEATRIZ
(Spain, Barcelona, 15th century)
Beatriz d'Avalos, young noble, virgin, beautiful, following the death of her mother and father, and the refusal to marry her cousin, is forced to take vows and becomes a novice at the Convent of Abbess Costanza de Cardona, also of noble origins and whose personal story was very similar to Beatriz's.
Beatriz's beauty, youth and sweetness fascinated Costanza, who fell in love with Beatriz.
But it was absolutely not a requited love, the girl had a horror of love between women, and she clearly rejected the abbess' advances. Costanza, offended and enraged, decided to take revenge. She reported to the Holy Inquisition that a heretic and witchcraft practitioner named Beatriz lived in her convent.
The men of Tomas de Torquemada, the Grand Inquisitor, broke into the Convent one morning at dawn and forcibly dragged the young woman away. Beatriz was subsequently tortured for a long time to make her confess sins that she had never committed, but under the instruments of her executioners she confessed whatever sins they pointed out to her.
She was obviously sentenced to death, but given the gravity of the crime (heresy and witchcraft) a terrible sentence was pronounced for her: she would be taken to the square and publicly tortured on the Devil's Throne, a chair full of nails, made in the shape of a terrible demon, who could be made incandescent and equipped with appendages with long nails that closed on the condemned woman's chest. Furthermore, out of contempt for her, she was also penetrated by two poles for the anus and vagina (she would have been deflowered by the Devil himself).
To make the punishment even more humiliating, she was also condemned to suffer the torture of the red-hot crown, an imitation of a royal crown which was kept in the brazier to warm up and then placed on the victim's head (the inside of the crown was full of long needles sharp).
Everything took place slowly and cruelly, and no mercy was shown towards poor Beatriz, indeed above all the torture of her crown was repeated several times to make her suffer further, until she fainted.
Having done all this for the show and for the public, we moved on to the next phase, the final one.
Poor Beatriz, what was left of her, was placed on the torture wheel and her executioner broke all the bones of her legs and arms with a metal bar, subjecting her to other red-hot irons after her.
To the delight of the public, she Beatriz did not die and so the wheel was hoisted onto a high pole and there she Beatriz was left in agony until the next day, when it was discovered that she was dead. Torquemada was rewarded for his efficiency by the Queen herself.
(inspired by a story by Sifax
and reworked by me)
)
