10 most cruel punishment of women in history (18+)

For women there were punishments designed to humiliate as well as to hurt. The scold’s bridle took many appearances but in essence each was the same – a metal cage to clamp around the head with a built-in gag. Included  in the design of some was a bell which rang when the ‘scold’ was paraded around the town. Of course, in the streets she was subjected to the jeers of the crowd.

In Ipswich the scold was drawn around the town on a cart in the ‘gagging’ chair or ‘Tewe’, as it was known. The bridle, also known as the brank, was first used at the end of the Middle Ages in Scotland. It was rarely used after the start of the 19th century.