Branks or Scold’s Bridles

These devices, which existed in a vast profusion of fantastical and sometimes downright artistic styles from about 1500 to 1800, were used to punish those who, by their words, had transgressed against prevailing conventions, against the arrogance of the male power structure, or against the state of things in general. In the course of four centuries, millions of women decried as scolds and shrews because domestic slavery and incessant pregnancy had reduced and tortured; political power thus held up to public ridicule the petty disobedient and the nonconformists; ecclesiastical power thus punished a long list of lesser infractions.

The overwhelming majority of victims were always women, and the operative principle was mulier taceat in ecclesia, “Let the woman be silent in church”, “church” here meaning the ruling ecclesiastical and secular hierarchies, both constitutionally gynaecophobic; the sense was thus “Let the woman be silent in the presence of the male”. Many branks had inner iron projections that were forced into the victim’s mouth, and some of these permanently mutilated the tongue with sharp spikes and blades. The victims, locked into the masks and staked out in the town square, were also treated roughly by the crowd. Painful beatings, besmearing with feces and urine, and serious, sometimes fatal wounding –especially in the breasts and pubes– was their lot.

The Scold's Bridle or the Brank pt 2

First used in late medieval Scotland, the scold's bridle, witch's bridle, or brank, as it was sometimes called, had many different appearances. Fundamentally, it was the same: a metal cage for the head with a built-in gag. Some branks were very cruel pieces of work, with spikes which pierced the tongue. Some simply had a bell built in, a device which would further humiliate the "scold" who wore it through the streets.

In the streets, the scold would be subjected to the taunting and jeering of the crowds which gathered to witness the spectacle. "In Ipswich the scold was drawn around the town on a cart in the 'gagging' chair or 'tewe,' as it was known."

A scold was defined as: "A troublesome and angry woman who by brawling and wrangling amongst her neighbors breaks the public peace, increases discord and becomes a public nuisance to the neighborhood." It remains unclear why men should not be pulled up on a similar charge. It was up to the judges to pronounce on whether a woman was indeed a scold. Frequently, it was a disgruntled husband bringing his wife to court.

Town jailers kept the brank and were on call to apply it.

In 1858 William Andrews gave a talk before the Architectural, Archaeological and Historic Society of Chester which gave further clues to its use.

"In the old-fashioned, half-timbered houses in the borough, there was generally fixed on one side of the large open fireplaces a hook so that when a man's wife indulged her scolding propensities, the husband sent for the town gaoler to bring the bridle and had her bridled and chained to the hook until she promised to behave herself better for the future." This was presumably carried out as a favor to the husband, to spare him the trouble of appearing in court.

Branks were first seen in Edinburgh in 1567, and in Glasgow in 1574. They appeared as far south as Surrey by 1632. The Surrey bridle was inscribed: "Chester presents Walton with a bridle, To curb women's tongues that talk too idle" 

Information and photographs in this virtual exhibition proceed from the book Torture instruments; a bilingual guide to the exhibition Torture Instruments form the Middle Ages to the Industrial Era presented in various cities in the world in 1983-2000.