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Caption: Judicial torture at a 16th century Inquisition tribunal

Europeans were also acquainted with the savagery of torture. It was routinely used by judicial authorities to obtain confessions from suspects. Such practices were occasionally resorted to by tribunals in New France. Public executions of the guilty in Europe could also be horrendous torture spectacles. Religious Inquisition tribunals practiced it mercilessly on supposed heretics in the name of Christianity as shown in this print.