Torture as we definae it today is not what it once was either. Torture in the medieval era was brutality today. For example, if you spoke out against your King or your God you were branded a heretic. If found guilty, you were put into a heretic's fork. It's a particualrly nasty device that was worn by the convicted. It's a collar that locks around you neck. In the front are two prongs, like a bbq fork, that are thrust up into the person's lower jaw. With this in place, the heretic is no longer able to speak...nor eat or anything else and eventually dies of starvation.

It's funny how soft we have become as humans, isn't it? There is so much which we consider as brutal in our civilized age that was considered normal punishment way back when.