But they were so sore trodden down that they could never rise; for the
French [Footnote: Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, A. D. 1137.] had filled the land
full of castles. They greatly oppressed the wretched people by making them
work at these castles; and when the castles were finished, they filled
them with devils and evil men. They took those whom they suspected of
having any goods, both men and women, and they put them in prison for
their gold and silver, and tortured them with pains unspeakable, for never
were any martyrs tormented as these were. They hung some by their feet,
and smoked them with foul smoke; some by the thumbs, or by the head, and
put burning things on their feet. They put a knotted string round their
heads, and twisted it till it went into the brain. They put them in
dungeons wherein were adders, and snakes, and toads, and thus wore them
out. Some they put into a crucet-house,--that is, into a chest that was
short and narrow, and they put sharp stones therein, and crushed the man
so that they broke all his bones. There were hateful and grim things
called Sachenteges in many of the castles, which two or three men had
enough to do to carry. This Sachentege was made thus: It was fastened to a
beam, having a sharp iron to go round a man's throat and neck, so that he
might no ways sit, nor lie, nor sleep, but he must bear all the iron.
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