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The pillory (from the French pilori, see below; presumed to derive from the Latin pila 'pillar') was a device used in Punishment by Public humiliation and often additional, sometimes physically painful, abuse.

Description

Rather like the lesser punishment called the Stocks, it consisted of hinged wooden boards which articulated to form holes through which the head and/or various limbs, were inserted: once the boards locked together these could not be withdrawn. They were set up in marketplaces and crossroads: petty criminals would be imprisoned by them by having one or more limbs inserted through holes in the stocks, which were then closed and locked. Often a placard detailing the crime was placed nearby: these punishments generally lasted only one or more hours.

Time in the pillory was more dangerous than in the stocks. The pillory used hinged boards, raised on a post, to clamp around the offender's neck and wrists, forcing the malfeasant to remain standing and exposed.

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A criminal in the stocks would expect to be abused, but his life was not targeted. A prisoner in the pillory would be presumed to have committed a more serious crime and accordingly get a more angry crowd reaction. With hands trapped, he could not protect himself from anything thrown at him, either relativily harmless like rotten food or injuring ones, even heavy stones: blinding and permanent maiming could be the consequences. The criminal could also be sentenced to further punishments while in the pillory: humiliation by shaving of some or all of the hair, or regular Corporal punishment(s), notably Flagellation (the pillory serving as the whipping post), Birching, Caning or even permanent mutilation such as Branding, or having an ear cut off.

When Daniel Defoe was placed in the pillory at Charing Cross as a punishment for writing a Satire, public sympathy won out over the desire of the government of the day to punish: the crowd threw flowers instead of the more usual vegetables, dead animals and stones, defeating the pillory's purpose.

Uses in Europe and its colonies

The pillory was formally abolished as a form of punishment in England and Wales in 1837 but the stocks remained in use, albeit extremely infrequently, until 1872.

In France, time in the "pilori" was usually limited to two hours. It was replaced in 1789 by "exposition", and abolished in 1848. Two types of device were used:

Like other permanent apparatus for corporal punishment, the pillory was often placed prominently and constructed more elaborately than necessary. It served as a symbol of the power of the judicial authorities, and its continual presence was seen as a deterrent, like permanent Gallows for authorities endowed with high justice.

In Portugal several pelourinhos, typically on the main square and/or in front of a major church or palace, are now counted among the major local monuments, several clearly bearing the emblems of a king or queen. The same is true of its former colonies, notably in Brazil (in its former capital, Salvador de Bahia, the whole old quarter is known as Pelourinho) and Africa (e.g. Cape Verde's capital Cidade Velha), always as symbols of royal power.

In Spain its name was Picota.

The pillory was also in common use in other western countries and colonies, and similar devices were used in other, non-Western cultures.

Other humiliation devices

When permanently present in sight of prisoners, it can act as a deterrent for bad behaviour, especially when each prisoner had been subjected to a "welcome beating" at arrival, as in 18th century Waldheim in Saxony (12, 18 or 24 whip lashes on the bare posterior tied to a pole in the castle courtyard, or by birch rod over the "bock", a bench in the corner).

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