1.
Corporal punishment
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Corporal punishment or physical punishment is a punishment intended to cause physical pain on a person. It is most often used where there is a disparity of power between punisher and punished. Corporal punishment is commonly practiced on minors, especially in home and also school settings, common methods in this regard often include spanking or paddling. It is however used on adults, particularly prisoners in some countries. In history most cultures have practiced corporal punishment on adults in settings of imprisonment or slavery, frequently employed methods are flagellation and caning. In some countries bastinado is still practiced on prisoners as well, official punishment for crime by inflicting pain or injury, including flogging, branding and even mutilation, was practised in most civilizations since ancient times. However, with the growth of humanitarian ideals since the Enlightenment, by the late 20th century, corporal punishment had been eliminated from the legal systems of most developed countries. The legality in the 21st century of corporal punishment in various settings differs by jurisdiction,52 countries, most of them in Europe and Latin America, have banned the practice as of April 2017. School corporal punishment—of students by teachers or school administrators—has been banned in countries, including Canada, Kenya, South Africa, New Zealand. It remains legal, if increasingly less common, in the United States, judicial corporal punishment, as part of a criminal sentence ordered by a court of law, has long disappeared from European countries. However, it remains lawful in parts of Africa, Asia, closely related is prison corporal punishment or disciplinary corporal punishment, ordered by prison authorities or carried out directly by staff. Corporal punishment is also allowed in some settings in a few jurisdictions. Other uses of corporal punishment have existed, for instance as once practised on apprentices by their masters, in many Western countries, medical and human-rights organizations oppose corporal punishment of children. Campaigns against corporal punishment have aimed to bring about legal reform to ban the use of punishment against minors in homes. Corporal punishment of children has traditionally used in the Western world by adults in authority roles. Withhold not correction from a child, for if thou strike him with the rod, thou shalt beat him with the rod, and deliver his soul from hell. It was certainly present in civilizations, being used in Greece, Rome. Some states gained a reputation for using such punishments cruelly, Sparta, in particular, used them as part of a disciplinary regime designed to build willpower, although the Spartan example was extreme, corporal punishment was possibly the most frequent type of punishment
Corporal punishment
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Depiction of a flogging at Oregon State Penitentiary, 1908
Corporal punishment
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Foot whipping an offender,
Iran, 1920s
Corporal punishment
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Husaga (the right of the master of the household to corporally punish his servants) was outlawed in
Sweden for adults in 1858.
2.
School corporal punishment
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School corporal punishment refers to causing deliberate pain or discomfort in response to undesired behaviour by students in schools. It often involves striking the student either across the buttocks or on the hands, with an implement such as a cane, wooden paddle. Less commonly, it could also include spanking or smacking the student with the open hand, Poland in 1783 was the first nation to outlaw corporal punishment in schools. School corporal punishment is no longer practised in any European country, as of 2015, most developed countries have abolished the practice, with the exception of some parts of the United States, some Australian states, and Singapore. It is still in use in a number of countries in Africa. It was banned in state funded schools, throughout the United Kingdom and it was banned in UK Public and private schools, that received no state funding, in 1999 for England and Wales,2000 in Scotland, and 2003 in Northern Ireland. It remains commonplace in a number of countries in Africa, Southeast Asia, while most U. S. states have outlawed corporal punishment in state schools, it continues to be allowed mainly in the Southern and Western United States. According to the United States Department of Education, more than 216,000 students were subjected to corporal punishment during the 2008–09 school year, there is a vast amount of literature on this, in both popular and serious culture. Britain itself outlawed the practice in 1987 for state schools and more recently for all schools, the doctrine of in loco parentis lets school officials stand in for parents as comparable authority figures. The doctrine has its origins in an English common-law precedent of 1770, many schools in Singapore and Malaysia use caning as a routine official punishment for misconduct, as also some African countries. In some Middle Eastern countries whipping is used, in most of continental Europe, school corporal punishment has been banned for several decades or longer, depending on the country. From the 1917 Russian revolution onwards, corporal punishment was outlawed in the Soviet Union, communists in other countries such as Britain took the lead in campaigning against school corporal punishment, which they viewed as a symptom of the decadence of capitalist education systems. In the 1960s, Soviet visitors to western schools expressed shock at the caning of boys there, other communist regimes followed suit, for instance, corporal punishment was unknown by students in North Korea in 2007. In mainland China, corporal punishment in schools was outlawed in 1986, although the practice remains common, School officials and policymakers often rely on personal anecdotes to argue that school corporal punishment improves students behavior and achievement. However, there is a lack of evidence showing that corporal punishment leads to better control in the classroom. In particular, evidence does not suggest that it enhances moral character development, increases students respect for teachers or other authority figures, an estimated 1 to 2 percent of physically punished students in the United States are seriously injured, to the point of needing medical attention. According to the AAP and the Society for Adolescent Medicine, these injuries have included bruises, abrasions, broken bones, whiplash injury, muscle damage, brain injury, other reported injuries to students include sciatic nerve damage extensive hematomas, and life-threatening fat hemorrhage. The AAP cautions that there is a risk of punishment in schools fostering the impression among students that violence is an appropriate means for managing others behaviour
School corporal punishment
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Legality of corporal punishment of school students in the United States
School corporal punishment
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1839 caricature by
George Cruikshank of a school flogging
School corporal punishment
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1888 illustration of caning in school
3.
Birching
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Birching is a corporal punishment with a birch rod, typically applied to the recipients bare buttocks, although occasionally to the back and/or shoulders. A birch rod is a bundle of leafless twigs bound together to form an implement for administering corporal punishment. A hazel rod is particularly painful, a bundle of four or five hazel twigs was used in the 1960s and 1970s on the Isle of Man, the last jurisdiction in Europe to use birching as a judicial penalty. Another factor in the severity of a rod is its size - i. e. its length, weight. In some penal institutions, several versions were in use, which were given names. For example, in Dartmoor Prison the device used to punish male offenders above the age of 16 - weighing some 16 ounces, in the 1860s the Royal Navy abandoned the use of the cat o nine tails on boy seamen. In an attempt to standardise the Navys birches, the Admiralty had specimens called patterned birch, kept in every major dockyard, the term judicial birch generally refers to the severe type in use for court-ordered birchings, especially the Manx hazel birch. By contrast, terms like Eton birch are used for a school birch made from birch tree twigs. Only if the recipient was a child could he or she practicably be punished over the knee of the applicant. Otherwise the child would be bent over an object such as a chair, for judicial punishments the recipient could even be tied down if likely to move about too much or attempt to escape. In some prisons and reformatories a wooden apparatus known as birching donkey or birching pony was specially constructed for birchings, however, at Eton College and schools of similar standing, the recipient was made to kneel on a special wooden block. Another device used to immobilise offenders was a table, used in Scotland. The offenders feet were tied into position and a strap fastened immediately above the waist, whatever position is adopted, care must be taken not to strike the back of the genitals. It was the most common school and judicial punishment in Europe up to the mid-19th century, according to some accounts, even the legendary sting of the cat o nine tails was less feared than the birch in certain prisons. Birching featured in the French Revolution, one leader of the revolution, Anne-Josèphe Théroigne de Méricourt, went mad, ending her days in an asylum after a public birching. On 31 May 1793 the Jacobin women seized her, stripped her naked, judicial birching in 20th-century Britain was used much more often as a fairly minor punishment for male juveniles, typically for petty larceny, than as a serious penalty for adult men. This was applied to boys aged up to 14 in England and Wales, today birching is rarely used as a judicial punishment, and it has also almost completely died out as a punishment for children. The Isle of Man caused a deal of controversy by continuing to birch young offenders until 1976
Birching
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A magistrate’s committal for birching of two children dated 4 December 1899 displayed in West Midlands Police Museum,
Sparkhill,
Birmingham, England
Birching
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1839 caricature by
George Cruikshank of a school flogging
Birching
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Edmund Bonner punishing a heretic in
Foxe's Book of Martyrs (1563)
4.
Caning
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Caning is a form of corporal punishment consisting of a number of hits with a single cane usually made of rattan, generally applied to the offenders bare or clothed buttocks or hand. Caning on the knuckles or shoulders is much less common, Caning can also be applied to the soles of the feet. Caning was a form of judicial punishment and official school discipline in many parts of the world in the 19th and 20th centuries. Corporal punishment has now been outlawed in much, but not all, however, caning remains legal in numerous other countries in home, school, religious, judicial or military contexts, and is also in common use in some countries where it is no longer legal. In some countries caning is still in use in the era, particularly in Southeast Asia. The practice is retained, for male only, under the criminal law in Malaysia, Singapore. African countries still using judicial caning include Botswana, Tanzania, Nigeria and, for juvenile offenders only, Swaziland and it is also imposed for certain breaches of prison rules. In Aceh caning can be imposed for adultery, the punishment is applied to foreigners and locals alike. Caning is also used in the Singapore Armed Forces to punish serious offences against military discipline, unlike judicial caning, this punishment is delivered to the soldiers clothed buttocks. The frequency and severity of canings in educational settings have varied greatly, in some schools corporal punishment was administered solely by the headmaster, while in others the task was delegated to other teachers. In many English and Commonwealth private schools, authority to punish was also given to certain senior students. In the early 20th century, such permission for prefects to cane other boys was widespread in British public schools, the perceived advantages of this were promptness of punishment and avoiding bothering the teaching staff with minor disciplinary matters. Such systems were not limited to secondary age pupils and it was regarded as having no sense of indignity for the recipient of the punishment. Some British private schools still permitted caning to be administered by prefects in the 1960s, with opportunities for it provided by sets of rules on school uniform. In 1969, when the question was raised in Parliament, it was thought that relatively few schools still permitted this, by contrast, caning in British state schools in the later 20th century was often, in theory at least, administered by the head teacher only. Like their British counterparts, South African private schools also gave free rein to administer canings whenever they felt it appropriate. The use of corporal punishment within the setting was prohibited by the South African Schools Act of 1996. In many state schools in England and Wales it was in use, mostly for boys, until 1987, while elsewhere other implements prevailed
Caning
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A display of rattan judicial canes from the
Johor Bahru Prison museum, Malaysia.
Caning
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Demonstration of foot caning (
bastinado)
Caning
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Caning stand and cane formerly used in Hong Kong prisons under British rule
5.
Flagellation
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Flagellation, flogging, whipping or lashing is the act of beating the human body with special implements such as whips, lashes, rods, switches, the cat o nine tails, the sjambok, etc. Typically, flogging is imposed on a subject as a punishment, however, it can also be submitted to willingly, or performed on oneself. The strokes are usually aimed at the back of a person. For a moderated subform of flagellation, described as bastinado, the soles of a persons feet are used as a target for beating. In some circumstances the word flogging is used loosely to any sort of corporal punishment. However, in British legal terminology, a distinction was drawn between flogging and whipping, in Britain these were both abolished in 1948. In Sparta, young men were flogged as a test of their masculinity, Jewish law limited flagellation to forty strokes, and in practice delivered thirty-nine, so as to avoid any possibility of breaking this law due to a miscount. In the Roman Empire, flagellation was often used as a prelude to crucifixion, whips with small pieces of metal or bone at the tips were commonly used. Such a device could easily cause disfigurement and serious trauma, such as ripping pieces of flesh from the body or loss of an eye, in addition to causing severe pain, the victim would approach a state of hypovolemic shock due to loss of blood. The Romans reserved this treatment for non-citizens, as stated in the lex Porcia and lex Sempronia, the poet Horace refers to the horribile flagellum in his Satires. Typically, the one to be punished was stripped naked and bound to a low pillar so that he could bend over it, two lictors alternated blows from the bare shoulders down the body to the soles of the feet. There was no limit to the number of blows inflicted—this was left to the lictors to decide, nonetheless, Livy, Suetonius and Josephus report cases of flagellation where victims died while still bound to the post. Flagellation was referred to as death by some authors, as many victims died shortly thereafter. Cicero reports in In Verrem, pro mortuo sublatus brevi postea mortuus, the Whipping Act was passed in England in 1530. Under this legislation, vagrants were to be taken to a populated area and there tied to the end of a cart naked. In England, offenders were sentenced to be flogged at a carts tail along a length of public street, usually near the scene of the crime. In the late century, however, the courts occasionally ordered that the flogging should be carried out in prison or a house of correction rather than on the streets. From the 1720s courts began explicitly to differentiate between private whipping and public whipping, over the course of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries the proportion of whippings carried out in public declined, but the number of private whippings increased
Flagellation
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Prisoners at a whipping post in a
Delaware prison, circa 1907.
Flagellation
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Punishment with a Great
Knout. Russia, 18th century.
Flagellation
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Gordon, a whipped slave, photo taken at Baton Rouge, 1863. The scars are clearly visible because of
keloid formation.
6.
Foot whipping
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Foot whipping or bastinado is a method of corporal punishment which consists in hitting the bare soles of a persons feet. The receiving person is required to be barefoot, the uncovered soles of the feet need to be placed in an exposed position. The beating is typically performed with an object in the type of a cane or switch, the strokes are usually aimed at the arches of the feet and repeated a certain number of times. Bastinado is also referred to as foot caning or sole caning, depending on the instrument in use, the particular Middle East method is called falaka or falanga, derived from the Greek term phalanx. The German term is Bastonade, deriving from the Italian noun bastonata, in former times it was also referred to as Sohlenstreich. The Chinese term is da jiao xin, the first scripted documentation of bastinado in Europe dates back to the year 1537, in China to 960. References to bastinado have been hypothesised to be found in the Bible and this subform of flagellation differentiates from most other forms by limiting the strokes to a very narrow section of the body. The undersides of the feet have become a common target for corporal punishment in many cultures while basically different methods exist. Foot whipping is carried out within prisons and structurally similar institutions. Besides inflicting intense physical suffering it trades on the significance of bare feet as a dishonouring socio-cultural attribute, therefore it is regarded to be a particularly humiliating as well as degrading form of punishment. At this was used as a visual indicator of a subservient standing within a social structure. It was therefore routinely imposed as an identifier and obstacle on slaves and prisoners, often divested of rights. Exploiting its socio-cultural significance, people have been forced to go barefoot as a formal shame sanction, foot whipping hereby comprises a drastic aggravation of forcing a person to expose his or her bare feet as part of a punishment and the underlying significance thereof. By making the highly pain susceptible soles of a person the target for inflicting physical punishment. As the person is of course unable to evade the beatings, a sphere of his or her privacy is repeatedly invaded. As a result, a by nature entirely defenseless prison inmate often feels particularly intimidated and victimized by this specific form punishment, keeping prisoners barefoot is common practice in several countries of today. The prisoners are hereby excluded from the benefits of standard clothing items with their uncovered feet exposed to the obstacles of the surrounding area. A lack of protection can alone have an effect and make the person feel vulnerable
Foot whipping
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Bastinado, demonstration of foot caning
Foot whipping
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Foot whipping in a Syrian prison, exhibit from Amna Sur Museum, Sulaymaniyah
Foot whipping
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Foot whipping an offender (falaka),
Iran, 1920s
7.
Paddle (spanking)
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A spanking paddle is an implement used to strike a person on the buttocks. The act of spanking a person with a paddle is known as paddling, a paddling may be for punishment, or as an initiation or hazing ritual. A paddle has two parts, a handle and a blade, most paddles are designed to be held with one hand, but a giant paddle may be designed to be held with two hands. The blade is typically 3 to 4 inches wide, 1/4-inch thick, in the great majority of cases, the paddle is aimed at the recipients buttocks, rarely, the back of the thighs might also be targeted. Paddles for use in schools are made of wood, or occasionally plastic, paddles used for school punishments may be roughly hewn from commonly available wood. Occasionally, paddles may have holes drilled into them, so there is less air drag when the paddle approaches the buttocks, the paddles used for fraternity and sorority initiation ceremonies are often professionally made and engraved with organizational symbols and slogans. The paddle may have been invented for the punishment of slaves as a way of causing intense pain without doing any permanent damage to the recipient. It is not only in former slave states that the paddle has been used in schools and it is not known why or exactly when it became the normal implement for corporal punishment in US schools. There are however instances of paddling using similar implements with individuals who were not slaves, paddling was mainly used in many parts of the United States as a means to discipline misbehaving school students. Paddling has also used in some homes to punish children. The results of a household survey indicate that paddling is a discipline technique that 10% of parents are very likely to use. The percentage of parents who say that they are likely to paddle increases to 12% when involving teenagers. The paddle is the almost invariable implement in US schools that allow corporal punishment for student misconduct. Some paddles have traditionally had holes bored in them for aerodynamic effect, paddling typically causes a slight reddening of the skin but in some cases can cause bruises that are visible for approximately two weeks. Whether or not particular bruises constitute evidence of injury or abuse or child maltreatment depends on individual circumstances. There have been cases in the past when paddling was administered incorrectly or excessively. Partly in order to avoid danger, in the majority of U. S. schools, paddling is more strictly regulated than in the past. It is usually a requirement that a witness be present
Paddle (spanking)
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A spanking paddle
Paddle (spanking)
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Illustration of a paddle being used for the punishment of slaves.
Paddle (spanking)
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1912 illustration of an inmate being punished in an American prison
8.
Scourge
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A scourge is a whip or lash, especially a multi-thong type, used to inflict severe corporal punishment or self-mortification on the back. Some connect it to Latin, excoriare, to flay, built of two Latin parts, ex- and corium, skin, a scourge typically consists of several thongs fastened to a handle. A well known configuration of a scourge is the cat o nine tails, the cat o nine tails has two versions, the navy version is made of thick ropes with knotted ends, the army and civil prison versions are usually made of leather. The scourge, or flail, and the crook are the two symbols of power and domination depicted in the hands of Osiris in Egyptian monuments, the shape of the flail or scourge is unchanged throughout history. However, when a scourge is described as a flail as depicted in Egyptian mythology, a flail was used to thresh wheat, not implement corporal punishment. The priests of Cybele scourged themselves and others, hard material can be affixed to multiple thongs to give a flesh-tearing bite. A scourge with these additions is called a scorpion, the name testifies to the pain caused by the arachnid. Testifying to its generous Roman application is the existence of the Latin words Flagrifer carrying a whip, according to the Gospel of John, Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, ordered Jesus to be scourged. Scourging was soon adopted as a sanction in the discipline of the fifth. Thenceforth scourging is frequently mentioned in monastic rules and councils as a preservative of discipline and its use as a punishment was general in the seventh century in all monasteries of the severe Columban rule. From then on the practice appeared in most medieval religious orders, semi-literal usages such as the scourge of God for Attila the Hun led to metaphoric uses to mean a severe affliction, e. g. the scourge of drug abuse. Flagellation, includes flogging Knout Skin Whip This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Tierney
Scourge
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Medical examination photo of
Gordon showing his scourged back, widely distributed by Abolitionists to expose the brutality of slavery.
Scourge
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Reproduction of a medieval scourge
9.
Slippering
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A slippering is a term for the act of smacking the buttocks, or the hands, with a slipper as a form of corporal punishment. A slippering on the buttocks is a form of spanking, it is a more common method than slippering on the hands. The verb to slipper means to give a slippering, until at least the 1970s slippering was widely used by British parents as a means of punishing children and adolescents. Such scenes presumably represented day-to-day reality for thousands of British children, while slipperings are no longer depicted in comics, the practice no doubt continues in many British families but is much less common than in former times. There are very little data, research or evidence about the use of slippering, information is mainly based on anecdotal reports from individuals who have given, received, or observed slipperings, or who have been in households or schools where slipperings were used. Slipperings are particularly associated with Britain and Commonwealth countries, although not exclusively so, in the United Kingdom, especially in England and Wales, the slipper was a common implement for administering corporal punishment in schools for students of both genders and all ages. In schools that used the cane as the penalty, the slipper was seen as a less severe alternative for punishing less serious misconduct. In some mixed schools the slipper was used on girls and the cane was reserved for boys, slipper is a misnomer, as the usual item of footwear used was the plimsoll, or gymshoe or tennis shoe, with a fabric upper and a heavy rubber or synthetic sole. A typical gym shoe, which was used in a school in Lincolnshire, is shown on the left. At many schools, students who committed minor classroom offences — talking or disruption, for example — could be punished there, generally the teacher was free to determine which position the pupil had to adopt. This method of punishment also served to demonstrate to the class that such behaviour would not be tolerated, the slipper was also widely used to enforce discipline outside lesson time within the boarding houses of boarding schools, especially preparatory schools for younger boys. Slipperings were commonly administered by the boarding house Matron, who was not only for the welfare of the boys. Talking after lights out was a reason for a visit to Matrons study for the slipper. This informal, on-the-spot type of discipline was not recorded in the official punishment register. Also, it could be administered by staff who were not officially authorised to administer corporal punishment. In fact, though, it could sometimes be just as painful as the officially recorded punishment, the student would typically be interviewed about his offence before being told his punishment. He was then required to remove his blazer, empty his back pockets, up to six powerful strokes of the slipper would then be delivered in a solemn, measured manner to the seat of the trousers. This would be recorded in the schools punishment book and this more severe kind of slippering would typically leave the students buttocks lightly bruised for a few days, providing a further reminder each time he sat down
Slippering
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School plimsolls or "slippers"
10.
Spanking
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Spanking is a type of corporal punishment involving the act of striking the buttocks of another person to cause physical pain, generally with an open hand. More severe forms of spanking, such as switching, paddling, belting, caning, whipping, parents commonly spank children or adolescents in response to undesired behavior. Boys are more frequently spanked than girls, both at home and in school, some countries have outlawed the spanking of children in every setting, including homes, schools, and penal institutions, but most allow it when done by a parent or guardian. In British English, most dictionaries define spanking as being only with the open hand. In American English, dictionaries define spanking as being administered with either the hand or an implement such as a paddle. Thus, the form of corporal punishment in US schools is often referred to as a spanking. The word licks is also a term in West Indian countries, especially Trinidad. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, whereas a spanking is invariably administered to the bottom, smacking is less specific and may refer to slapping the childs hands, arms or legs as well as its bottom. Spanking of children by their parents is a form of corporal punishment used in families in the Western world. It is normally done one or more slaps on the childs buttocks with a bare hand, although, not uncommonly. Historically, boys have been spanked more than girls, in the United States, the spanking of infants is common, with toddler-age children being spanked the most. The main reasons parents give for spanking children are to make children more compliant, research shows, however, that spanking, or indeed any form of corporal punishment, tends to have the opposite effect. Children who are punished more often tend to obey parents less with time. These bans have been controversial, and in many cultures opinion remains divided as to the efficacy or suitability of spanking as a punishment for misbehaviour by school students. The Supreme Court of the United States in 1977 held that the paddling of school students was not per se unlawful, however,31 states have now banned paddling in public schools. It is still common in schools in the South. Students can be punished from kindergarten to the end of high school. Spanking of a wife by her husband as a punishment also does occur in some instances and it was a common trope in American movies
Spanking
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Spanking in Germany in 1935
Spanking
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Painting by Georg Conrad (1827–1889)
Spanking
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Poster for Kiss Me Kate
11.
Tawse
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The tawse, sometimes formerly spelled taws is an implement used for corporal punishment. It was used for educational discipline, primarily in Scotland, but also in schools in the English cities of Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead, Manchester, a tawse consists of a strip of leather, with one end split into a number of tails. The thickness of the leather and the number of tails is variable, many Scottish saddlers made tawses for local schoolmasters. Scottish public schools used the tawse to punish pupils of either sex on the palm of the outstretched hand. Pupils were usually instructed to hold out one hand, palm uppermost, supported by the hand below. It also ensured that the force of each stroke was taken by the hand being strapped. In Walsall and Gateshead, and in schools in Manchester and Nottingham. Some Scottish private schools used the tawse, such as Keil School. In 1982 two Scottish mothers went to the European Court of Human Rights, who passed a judgment that parents had the right to refuse corporal punishment of a child and this judgement led indirectly to the use of the tawse being banned by law in UK state schools. The legislation came into force in 1987, but most Scottish local education authorities had already abolished it by the early 1980s, the John J Dick Leather Goods was a manufacturer in Lochgelly that was estimated to have been making around 70% of tawses when they were used in schools. Original tawses sold for around £6 in 1982 but twenty years later some collectors were paying hundred of each for rare items. The tawse was also used for corporal punishment in Scotland as an alternative to the more usual birch. Courts could sentence boys of over 14 but under 16 to up to 36 strokes with an extra-heavy tawse for any offence and this was administered to the offenders bare buttocks. Judicial corporal punishment was abolished in 1948
Tawse
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Museum specimens of the tawse
Tawse
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A two-tailed Lochgelly Tawse.
12.
Riding crop
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A crop, sometimes called a riding crop or hunting crop, is a short type of whip without a lash, used in horse riding, part of the family of tools known as horse whips. A modern crop usually consists of a shaft of fiberglass or cane which is covered in leather, fabric. The rod of a crop thickens at one end to form a handle, the thin end is intended to make contact with the horse, whilst the keeper prevents the horses skin from being marked. The handle may have a loop of leather to help secure the grip or a mushroom on the end to prevent it from slipping through the riders hand. The length of a crop is designed to allow enough leverage for it to be accelerated rapidly with a flick of the wrist without causing the rider balancing problems. Thus, a crop is relatively short. The term whip is a common term that includes both riding crops as well as longer types of horse whips used for both riding and ground work. A whip is a slower than a crop, mostly due to having slightly greater length. However, care must be not to desensitize the animal to the stimulus. Dressage whip is a whip, longer than a crop. Weapon Crops can be carried as a weapon, in the Sherlock Holmes series of novels and short stories, Holmes is occasionally said to carry one as his favourite weapon. Specifically, it is a hunting crop. Such crops were sold at one time, loading refers to the practice of filling the shaft and head with a heavy metal to provide some heft. Fetishism Crops may sometimes be employed by sado-masochistic tops as an implement to tame their sexual partner, art deco sculptor Bruno Zach produced perhaps his best known sculpture—called The Riding Crop —which features a scantily clad dominatrix wielding a crop
Riding crop
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a 30" (75cm) riding crop, with dollar bill to show scale
Riding crop
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The difference between a crop and a whip. The top implement is a dressage whip, the bottom is a hunt seat riding crop.
Riding crop
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Saddles, component parts and accessories
13.
Human rights in Iran
–
The state of human rights in Iran has been criticized both by Iranians and international human rights activists, writers, and NGOs since long before the formation of the current state of Iran. The United Nations General Assembly and the Human Rights Commission have condemned prior and ongoing abuses in Iran in published critiques, in October 2012 the United Nations human rights office stated Iranian authorities had engaged in a “severe clampdown” on journalists and human rights advocates. The Imperial State of Iran, the government of Iran during the Pahlavi dynasty, during that time two monarchs – Reza Shah Pahlavi and his son Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi – employed secret police, torture, and executions to stifle political dissent. The Pahlavi dynasty has sometimes been described as a royal dictatorship, according to one history of the use of torture by the state in Iran, abuse of prisoners varied at times during the Pahlavi reign. Freedom of the press, workers rights, and political freedoms were restricted under Reza Shah, independent newspapers were closed down, political parties – even the loyal Revival party were banned. The government banned all trade unions in 1927, and arrested 150 labor organizers between 1927 and 1932, physical force was used against some kinds of prisoners – common criminals, suspected spies, and those accused of plotting regicide. Burglars in particular were subjected to the bastinado, and the strappado to reveal their hidden loot, suspected spies and assassins were beaten, deprived of sleep, and subjected to the qapani which sometimes caused a joint to crack. But for political prisoners – who were primarily Communists – there was an absence of torture under Reza Shahs rule. The main form of pressure was solitary confinement and the withholding of books, newspapers, visitors, food packages, while often threatened with the qapani, political prisoners were rarely subjected to it. Mohammad Reza became monarch after his father was deposed by Soviets, Political prisoners were released by the occupying powers, and the shah no longer had control of the parliament. But after an assassination of the Shah in 1949, he was able to declare martial law, imprison communists and other opponents. Following the pro-Shah coup détat that overthrew the Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in 1953, the Shah again cracked down on his opponents and he outlawed Mosaddeghs political group the National Front, and arrested most of its leaders. Over 4000 political activists of the Tudeh party were arrested, forty were executed, another 14 died under torture, in 1971, a guerrilla attack a gendarmerie post sparked an intense guerrilla struggle against the government, and harsh government countermeasures. According to Amnesty International, the Shah carried out at least 300 political executions, Torture was used to locate arms caches, safe houses and accomplices of the guerrillas, in addition to its possible ability to persuade enemies of the state to become supporters, instead. During the 1978-79 overthrow of the Pahlavi government, protestors were fired upon by troops, the real and imaginary human rights violations contributed directly to the Shahs demise. On 8 September 1978, troops fired on demonstrators in Zhaleh Square. The Islamic revolution is thought to have a significantly worse human rights record than the Pahlavi Dynasty it overthrew, according to political historian Ervand Abrahamian, “whereas less than 100 political prisoners had been executed between 1971 and 1979, more than 7900 were executed between 1981 and 1985. The prison system was centralized and drastically expanded, Prison life was drastically worse under the Islamic Republic than under the Pahlavis
Human rights in Iran
–
Reza Shah, founder of the Pahlavi dynasty
Human rights in Iran
–
Iran
Human rights in Iran
–
Mohammad Mosaddegh, Iranian democracy advocate and deposed
PM in Pahlavi dynasty.
Human rights in Iran
–
Mona Mahmudnizhad, executed at the age of 17 in Shiraz in 1983, along with 9 other Bahá’í women.
14.
Caning in Malaysia
–
Caning is used as a form of legal corporal punishment in Malaysia. It can be divided into at least three contexts, judicial/prison, school, and Sharia, of these three, the first two are largely a legacy of, and are influenced by, British colonial rule in the territories that are now part of Malaysia, particularly Malaya. Similar forms of punishment are also used in some other former British colonies. Judicial caning, ordered as part of a sentence imposed by civil courts on male criminals, is the most severe of the three types of caning. It is always ordered in addition to a sentence for adult offenders. Male convicts who were not sentenced to caning earlier in a court of law may also be punished by caning if they commit aggravated offences while serving time in prison, in primary and secondary schools, male students who commit serious offences may be punished with a light rattan cane. Malaysia, being a Muslim majority country, has a justice system its Muslim population. Under this system, Sharia courts can sentence Muslim men and women to caning for committing certain offences, in Malaysia, offenders are caned by same sex. Sharia caning is less severe as compared to judicial caning and is designed to humiliate the offender rather than to inflict physical pain. This form of caning is also practised in Indonesias Aceh Province, Caning, as a form of legally sanctioned corporal punishment for convicted criminals, was first introduced to Malaya by the British Empire in the 19th century. It was formally codified under the Straits Settlements Penal Code Ordinance IV in 1871, in that era, offences punishable by caning were similar to those punishable by birching or flogging in England and Wales. The practice of judicial caning was retained as a form of legal penalty after the Federation of Malaya declared independence from Britain in 1957. It is largely a legacy of British colonial rule and has nothing to do with Islamic justice even though the majority of the Malaysian population are Muslims. Sections 286–291 of the Criminal Procedure Code lay down the procedures governing caning, the procedures include the following, The offender cannot be sentenced to more than 24 strokes of the cane in a single trial. In the case of an offender, the number of strokes is capped at 10. The rattan cane used shall not be more than half an inch in diameter, in the case of a juvenile offender or a person sentenced to caning for committing relatively less serious offences, the caning is inflicted in the way of school discipline using a light rattan cane. Caning is not to be carried out by instalments, if an offender is sentenced to caning in two or more separate trials, the total number of strokes may be inflicted in a single session if it does not exceed 24. A medical officer is required to be present and to certify that the offender is in a fit state of health to undergo the punishment, boys aged between 10 and 18 may be sentenced to a maximum of ten strokes with a light cane
Caning in Malaysia
–
Two types of judicial canes: The front row shows the thicker canes while the back row consists of lighter canes.
Caning in Malaysia
–
A mannequin tied to an A-shaped frame. Note the "torso shield" that covers the lower back and upper thighs while leaving the buttocks exposed.
Caning in Malaysia
–
A picture showing the marks left on a student's palm after a caning
15.
Corporal punishment in Saudi Arabia
–
Human rights in Saudi Arabia are intended to be based on the Hanbali Islamic religious laws under absolute rule of the Saudi royal family. The very strict regime ruling the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is consistently ranking among the worst of the worst in Freedom Houses annual survey of political, Saudi Arabia is one of approximately thirty countries in the world with judicial corporal punishment. In Saudi Arabias case this includes amputations of hands and feet for robbery, in 2004, the United Nations Committee Against Torture criticized Saudi Arabia over the amputations and floggings it carries out under Sharia. The Saudi delegation responded defending legal traditions held since the inception of Islam 1,400 years ago, the courts continue to impose sentences of flogging as a principal or additional punishment for many offences. At least five defendants were sentenced to flogging of 1,000 to 2,500 lashes, flogging was carried out in prisons. In 2009, Mazen Abdul-Jawad was sentenced to 1000 lashes and 5 years in prison for bragging on a Saudi TV show about his sexual exploits. In 2014, Saudi blogger Raif Badawis sentence was increased to 1000 lashes and 10 years imprisonment after he was accused of apostasy in 2012, the lashes were due to take place over 20 weeks. The first round were administered on January 9,2015, the case has been internationally condemned and has put a considerable amount of pressure on the Saudi legal system. UK pensioner and cancer victim, Karl Andree aged 74 faces 360 lashes for home brewing alcohol and his family fears the punishment could kill him. In 2016, a Saudi man was sentenced to 2000 lashes,10 years in prison and the fine of 20,000 riyals for making tweets critical of Islam, Saudi Arabia engages in capital punishment, including public executions by beheading. Saudi Arabian police and immigration authorities routinely abuse people who are stopped or detained, earlier in November 2013, the authorities received criticism for the way they have planned and handled the crackdown on illegal workers. Saudi authorities – in some cases with the help of citizens – rounded up many of illegal workers, Saudi Arabia is a destination country for men and women trafficked for the purposes of slave labour and commercial sexual exploitation. Some Saudi men have also used legally contracted “temporary marriages” in countries such as Mauritania, Yemen, Saudi women face discrimination in many aspects of their lives, such as the justice system. Although they make up 70% of those enrolled in universities, for reasons, women make up 5% of the workforce in Saudi Arabia. The treatment of women has been referred to as sex segregation, implementation of a government resolution supporting expanded employment opportunities for women met resistance from within the labor ministry, from the religious police, and from the male citizenry. Moreover, there is some type of segregation at homes. Womens rights are at the heart of calls for reform in Saudi Arabia – calls that are challenging the political status quo. Local and international womens groups are pushing governments to respond
Corporal punishment in Saudi Arabia
–
A road sign for a bypass used to restrict non-Muslims from Mecca
Corporal punishment in Saudi Arabia
–
Saudi Arabia
16.
Human rights in Qatar
–
The state of human rights in Qatar is a concern for several non-governmental organizations. Sharia law is the source of Qatari legislation according to Qatars constitution. Flogging and stoning as forms of punishment are legal in Qatar due to Sharia law, Sharia law is the main source of Qatari legislation according to Qatars constitution. Sharia law is applied to laws pertaining to law, inheritance. In some cases in Sharia-based family courts, a testimony is worth half a mans. Codified family law was introduced in 2006, in practice, Qatars legal system is a mixture of civil law and Islamic law. Flogging is used in Qatar as a punishment for alcohol consumption or illicit sexual relations, article 88 of Qatars criminal code declares the punishment for adultery is 100 lashes. Adultery is punishable by death when a Muslim woman and a man are involved. In 2006, a Filipino woman was sentenced to 100 lashes for adultery, in 2010, at least 18 people were sentenced to flogging of between 40 and 100 lashes for offences related to “illicit sexual relations” or alcohol consumption. In 2011, at least 21 people were sentenced to floggings of between 30 and 100 lashes for offences related to “illicit sexual relations” or alcohol consumption, in 2012, six expatriates were sentenced to floggings of either 40 or 100 lashes. Only Muslims considered medically fit were liable to have such sentences carried out and it is unknown if the sentences were implemented. More recently in April 2013, a Muslim expatriate was sentenced to 40 lashes for alcohol consumption, in June 2014, a Muslim expatriate was sentenced to 40 lashes for consuming alcohol and driving under the influence. Judicial corporal punishment is common in Qatar due to the Hanbali interpretation of Sharia Law, stoning is a legal punishment in Qatar, although it has never been used. Apostasy is a punishable by the death penalty in Qatar. Blasphemy is punishable by up to seven years in prison and proselytizing any religion other than Islam can be punished by up to 10 years in prison. Homosexuality is a crime punishable in sharia by the penalty for Muslims. Alcohol consumption is legal in Qatar, some five-star luxury hotels are allowed to sell alcohol to their non-Muslim customers. Muslims are not allowed to consume alcohol in Qatar, and Muslims caught consuming alcohol are liable to flogging or deportation, non-Muslim expatriates can obtain a permit to purchase alcohol for personal consumption
Human rights in Qatar
–
A demonstration held for Mohammed al-Ajami outside the Qatari embassy in
Washington, D.C.
Human rights in Qatar
–
Qatar
Human rights in Qatar
–
Qatar's first Catholic church is not permitted to have Christian symbols on its exterior.
17.
Caning in Singapore
–
Caning is a widely used form of legal corporal punishment in Singapore. It can be divided into several contexts, judicial, prison, reformatory, military, school and these practices of caning are largely a legacy of, and are influenced by, British colonial rule in Singapore. Similar forms of punishment are also used in some other former British colonies. Of these, judicial caning, for which Singapore is best known, is the most severe. It is reserved for male convicts under the age of 50, for a range of offences under the Criminal Procedure Code. Caning is also a form of punishment for delinquent servicemen in the Singapore Armed Forces and is conducted in the SAF Detention Barracks. Caning is also used as a punishment in reform schools. In a milder form, caning is used to punish male students in primary and secondary schools for serious misbehaviour, the government encourages this but does not allow caning for female students, who instead receive alternative forms of punishment such as detention. A much smaller cane or other implement is used by some parents to punish their children for misbehaving. This is allowed in Singapore but not encouraged by the government, however, the government mentioned that it considers the judicious application of corporal punishment in the best interest of the child. Caning, as a form of legally sanctioned corporal punishment for convicted criminals, was first introduced to Malaya and it was formally codified under the Straits Settlements Penal Code Ordinance IV in 1871. In that era, offences punishable by caning were similar to those punishable by birching or flogging in England, Caning remained on the statute book after Malaya declared independence from Britain in 1957, and after Singapore ceased to be part of Malaysia in 1965. Subsequent legislation has passed by the Parliament of Singapore over the years to increase the minimum strokes an offender receives. Sections 325–332 of the Criminal Procedure Code lay down the procedures governing caning and they include the following, A male offender between the ages of 18 and 50 who has been certified to be in a fit state of health by a medical officer is liable to be caned. The offender shall receive no more than 24 strokes of the cane on any one occasion, irrespective of the total number of offences committed. In other words, a man cannot be sentenced to more than 24 strokes of the cane in a single trial, if the offender is under 18, he may receive up to 10 strokes of the cane, but a lighter cane will be used in this case. Boys under 16 may be sentenced to caning only by the High Court, an offender sentenced to death shall not be caned. The rattan cane used shall not exceed 1.27 cm in diameter, any male convict, whether sentenced to caning or not, may also be caned in prison if he commits certain offences while serving time in prison
Caning in Singapore
–
Canes sold in grocery stores, used by parents to discipline children at home
18.
Human rights in the United Arab Emirates
–
According to human rights organizations, the government of the United Arab Emirates violates a number of fundamental human rights. The UAE does not have democratically elected institutions and citizens do not have the right to change their government or to political parties. There are reports of forced disappearances in the UAE, many foreign nationals and Emirati citizens have been abducted by the UAE government and illegally detained in undisclosed locations. In numerous instances, the UAE government has tortured people in custody and has denied their citizens the right to a speedy trial, flogging and stoning are legal forms of judicial punishment in the UAE due to Sharia courts. The government restricts freedom of speech and freedom of the press, Freedom of association and freedom of religion are also curtailed. Journalists from overseas frequently record and document human rights abuses that occur within the UAE, the UAEs judicial system is derived from the civil law system and Sharia law. The court system consists of courts and Sharia courts. According to Human Rights Watch, UAEs civil and criminal courts apply elements of Sharia law, codified into its code and family law. Flogging is a punishment for offences such as adultery, premarital sex. Due to Sharia courts, flogging is legal with sentences ranging from 80 to 200 lashes, verbal abuse pertaining to a persons sexual honour is illegal and punishable by 80 lashes. Between 2007 and 2014, many people in the UAE were sentenced to 100 lashes, more recently in 2015, two men were sentenced to 80 lashes for hitting and insulting a woman. In 2014, an expat in Abu Dhabi was sentenced to 80 lashes for alcohol consumption, alcohol consumption for Muslims is illegal and punishable by 80 lashes, many Muslims have been sentenced to 80 lashes for alcohol consumption. Illicit sex is sometimes penalized by 60 lashes,80 lashes is the standard amount for anyone sentenced to flogging in several emirates. Sharia courts have penalized domestic workers with floggings, in October 2013, a Filipino housemaid was sentenced to 100 lashes for theft committed after her employer discovered her illegitimate pregnancy. Drunk-driving is strictly illegal and punishable by 80 lashes, many expats have been sentenced to 80 lashes for drunk-driving, in Abu Dhabi, a man has been sentenced to 80 lashes for kissing in public. Under UAE law, premarital sex is punishable by 100 lashes, stoning is a legal punishment in the UAE. In May 2014, an Asian housemaid was sentenced to death by stoning in Abu Dhabi, in 2006, an expatriate was sentenced to death by stoning for committing adultery. Between 2009 and 2013, several people were sentenced to death by stoning, abortion is illegal and punishable by a maximum penalty of 100 lashes and up to five years in prison
Human rights in the United Arab Emirates
–
Construction workers at the
Burj Dubai
Human rights in the United Arab Emirates
–
United Arab Emirates
Human rights in the United Arab Emirates
–
Construction workers from Asia on top floor of the Angsana Tower
19.
Ingraham v. Wright
–
Ingraham vs. Wright,430 U. S.651, was a United States Supreme Court case that upheld the disciplinary corporal punishment policy of Floridas public schools by a 5–4 vote. James Ingraham was a 14-year-old eighth grade student at Charles R. Drew Junior High School in 1970, on October 6,1970, Ingraham was accused of failing to promptly leave the stage of the school auditorium when asked to do so by a teacher. He was then taken to the principals office, where he stated that he was not guilty of the accusation against him. Willie J. Wright, Jr. the principal, ordered Ingraham to bend over so that Wright could spank Ingraham with a spanking paddle, when Ingraham declined to bend over and allow himself to be paddled, he was forcibly placed face-down on the top of a table. Lemmie Deliford, the assistant principal, held Ingrahams arms and Solomon Barnes, while Ingraham was being restrained, Wright used a spanking paddle to hit Ingraham more than 20 times. The paddling was so severe that he suffered a hematoma requiring medical attention, physicians instructed Ingraham to rest at home for a total of eleven days. He and his parents sued the school, calling it cruel and unusual punishment and loss of liberty, the Florida state court held that Florida tort laws provided sufficient remedies to satisfy Ingrahams due process loss of liberty claims. The court also held that the U. S, the Supreme Court declined to consider the plaintiffs substantive due process claims in Ingraham v. Wright. Lower courts have adopted a variety of approaches to the due process issue. The Supreme Court has repeatedly denied certiorari on the issue of school corporal punishment constitutes a substantive due process constitutional violation
Ingraham v. Wright
–
Supreme Court of the United States
20.
Rawhide (textile)
–
Rawhide is a hide or animal skin that has not been exposed to tanning. It is similar to parchment, much lighter in color than leather made by traditional vegetable tanning, the skin from buffalo, deer, elk or cattle from which most rawhide originates is prepared by removing all fur, meat and fat. The hide is then stretched over a frame before being dried. The resulting material is hard and translucent and it can be shaped by rewetting and forming before being allowed to thoroughly re-dry. It can be rendered more pliable by working, i. e. bending repeatedly in multiple directions, often by rubbing it over a post and it may also be oiled or greased for a degree of waterproofing. It is often used for such as whips, drumheads or lampshades. It is thought to be more durable than leather, especially in items suffering abrasion during use and it can also be used as a backing on a wooden bow. Such a backing prevents the bow from breaking by taking a share of the tension stress, bows made from weaker woods such as birch or cherry benefit more from a rawhide backing. Rawhide is more susceptible to water than leather, and it quickly softens, rawhide laces often sold for boots or baseball gloves are made of normal tanned leather rather than actual rawhide. Rawhide is not pliable when dry and would be unsuitable for that use, traditional gauchos boots are made with horse feet rawhide. Gauchos skin the animal and put the freshly skinned hides on their feet like socks, like ancient Roman cothurnus, the rudimentary boots have no toe box and do not cover the toes completely. As a chew toy for dogs, it is effective when used for training dogs. Wet rawhide has been used by earlier cultures as a means of torture or execution
Rawhide (textile)
–
Types
21.
Tatars
–
The Tatars are a Turkic people living in Asia and Europe who were one of the five major tribal confederations in the Mongolian plateau in the 12th century CE. The name Tatar first appears in form on the Kul Tigin monument as
Tatars
–
Persian miniature of the
Szigetvár campaign showing Ottoman troops and
Tatars as vanguard.
Tatars
–
Contemporary distribution of
Kipchak languages: Kipchak–Bolgar Kipchak–Cuman Kipchak–Nogay and Kyrgyz–Kipchak
Tatars
–
Map of Tartaria (1705)
Tatars
–
Drawing of Mongols of the
Golden Horde outside
Vladimir presumably demanding submission, before sacking the city.
22.
Ivan III of Russia
–
Ivan III Vasilyevich, also known as Ivan the Great, was a Grand Prince of Moscow and Grand Prince of all Rus. He was one of the longest-reigning Russian rulers in history, Ivans rule is marked by what subsequent Russophile historians called the Gathering of the Russian Lands. Ivan brought the independent duchies of different Rurikid princes under the control of Moscow, leaving the princes. His first enterprise was a war with the Republic of Novgorod and these wars were waged over Moscows religious and political sovereignty, and over Moscows efforts to seize land in the Northern Dvina region. Ivan visited Novgorod Central several times in the several years, persecuting a number of pro-Lithuanian boyars. In 1477, two Novgorodian envoys, claiming to have been sent by the archbishops and the entire city, Ivan dispossessed Novgorod of more than four-fifths of its land, keeping half for himself and giving the other half to his allies. Subsequent revolts were punished by the en masse of the richest and most ancient families of Novgorod to Moscow, Vyatka. Archbishop Feofil was also removed to Moscow for plotting against the Grand Prince, the rival republic of Pskov owed the continuance of its own political existence to the readiness with which it assisted Ivan against its ancient enemy. The other principalities were eventually absorbed by conquest, purchase, or marriage contract, The Principality of Yaroslavl in 1463, Rostov in 1474, Tver in 1485, the eldest, Iurii, died childless on 12 September 1472. He only had a draft of a will that said nothing about his land, Ivan seized the land, much to the fury of the surviving brothers, who he placated with some land. Boris and Andrei the Elder signed treaties with Vasily in February and they agreed to protect each others land and not to have secret dealings with foreign states, they broke this clause in 1480, fleeing to Lithuania. It is unknown whether Andrei the Younger signed a treaty and he died in 1481, leaving his lands to Ivan. In 1491 Andrei the Elder was arrested by Ivan for refusing to aid the Crimean Tatars against the Golden Horde and he died in prison in 1493, and Ivan seized his land. In 1494 Boris, the only brother able to pass his land to his sons, however, their land reverted to the Tsar upon their deaths in 1503 and 1515 respectively. There was one semi-autonomous prince in Muscovy when Ivan acceded, Prince Mikhail Andreevich of Vereia, in 1478 he was pressured into giving Belozersk to Ivan, who got all of Mikhails land on his death in 1486. The character of the government of Moscow changed significantly under Ivan III and this was a natural consequence of the hegemony of Moscow over the other north-eastern Rus lands, but also to new imperial pretensions. Ivan himself appeared to welcome the idea, and he began to style himself tsar in foreign correspondence, fennell emphasizes Ivans success in centralizing control over local rulers, he adds, however, that his reign was also a period of cultural depression and spiritual barrenness. Freedom was stamped out within the Muscovite lands, by his bigoted anti-Catholicism Ivan brought down the curtain between Muscovy and the west
Ivan III of Russia
–
Portrait from the 17th-century Titulyarnik
Ivan III of Russia
–
Ivan's destruction of
Novgorod 's assembly
Ivan III of Russia
–
Ivan III on the "Millennium of Russia" monument in Veliky Novgorod
Ivan III of Russia
–
The
Palace of Facets (1487–91) was commissioned by Ivan to Italian architects.
23.
Varangian
–
According to the 12th century Kievan Primary Chronicle, a group of Varangians known as the Rus settled in Novgorod in 862 under the leadership of Rurik. Before Rurik, the Rus might have ruled an earlier hypothetical polity, Ruriks relative Oleg conquered Kiev in 882 and established the state of Kievan Rus, which was later ruled by Ruriks descendants. Engaging in trade, piracy, and mercenary activities, Varangians roamed the river systems and portages of Gardariki and they controlled the Volga trade route, connecting the Baltic to the Caspian Sea, and the Dnieper and Dniester trade route leading to the Black Sea and Constantinople. Attracted by the riches of Constantinople, the Varangian Rus initiated a number of Rus-Byzantine Wars, at least from the early 10th century many Varangians served as mercenaries in the Byzantine Army, constituting the elite Varangian Guard. Eventually most of them, both in Byzantium and in Eastern Europe, were converted from paganism to Orthodox Christianity, culminating in the Christianization of Kievan Rus in 988. Coinciding with the decline of the Viking Age, the influx of Scandinavians to Rus stopped. Some scholars seem to assume a derivation from vár with the common suffix -ing, the reduction of the second part of the word could be parallel to that seen in Old Norse foringi leader, correspondent to Old English foregenga and Gothic
Varangian
–
Nicholas Roerich: Guests from Overseas (1899)
Varangian
–
Map showing the major Varangian trade routes: the
Volga trade route (in red) and the
trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks (in purple). Other trade routes of the 8th–11th centuries shown in orange.
Varangian
–
Viktor Vasnetsov, The Invitation of the Varangians:
Rurik and his brothers arrive in
Staraya Ladoga.
Varangian
–
Nicholas Roerich: Longships Are Built in the Land of the Slavs (1903)
24.
Swedish language
–
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken natively by more than 9 million people predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, where it has equal legal standing with Finnish. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish, along with the other North Germanic languages, Swedish is a descendant of Old Norse, the common language of the Germanic peoples living in Scandinavia during the Viking Era. It is currently the largest of the North Germanic languages by number of speakers, Standard Swedish, spoken by most Swedes, is the national language that evolved from the Central Swedish dialects in the 19th century and was well established by the beginning of the 20th century. While distinct regional varieties descended from the rural dialects still exist. The standard word order is, as in most Germanic languages, V2, Swedish morphology is similar to English, that is, words have comparatively few inflections. There are two genders, no cases, and a distinction between plural and singular. Older analyses posit the cases nominative and genitive and there are remains of distinct accusative and dative forms as well. Adjectives are compared as in English, and are inflected according to gender, number. The definiteness of nouns is marked primarily through suffixes, complemented with separate definite and indefinite articles, the prosody features both stress and in most dialects tonal qualities. The language has a large vowel inventory. Swedish is also notable for the voiceless velar fricative, a highly variable consonant phoneme. Swedish is an Indo-European language belonging to the North Germanic branch of the Germanic languages, by many general criteria of mutual intelligibility, the Continental Scandinavian languages could very well be considered dialects of a common Scandinavian language. In the 8th century, the common Germanic language of Scandinavia, Proto-Norse, had some changes. This language began to undergo new changes that did not spread to all of Scandinavia, the dialects of Old East Norse that were spoken in Sweden are called Runic Swedish while the dialects of Denmark are referred to as Runic Danish. The dialects are described as runic because the body of text appears in the runic alphabet. Unlike Proto-Norse, which was written with the Elder Futhark alphabet, Old Norse was written with the Younger Futhark alphabet, from 1200 onwards, the dialects in Denmark began to diverge from those of Sweden. An early change that separated Runic Danish from the dialects of Old East Norse was the change of the diphthong æi to the monophthong é. This is reflected in runic inscriptions where the older read stain, there was also a change of au as in dauðr into a long open ø as in døðr dead
Swedish language
–
The initial page of the first complete copy of
Västgötalagen, the
law code of
Västergötland, from c. 1280. It is one of the earliest texts in Swedish written in the
Latin script.
Swedish language
–
Major Swedish-speaking areas
Swedish language
–
Front page of
Gustav Vasa 's Bible from 1541, using
Fraktur. The title translated to English reads: "The Bible / That is / The Holy Scripture / in Swedish. Printed in
Uppsala. 1541".
Swedish language
–
August Strindberg, one of the most influential writers in modern Swedish literature.
25.
Germanic languages
–
It is the third most spoken Indo-European subdivision, behind Italic and Indo-Iranian, and ahead of Balto-Slavic languages. Limburgish varieties have roughly 1.3 million speakers along the Dutch–Belgian–German border, the main North Germanic languages are Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic, and Faroese, which have a combined total of about 20 million speakers. The East Germanic branch included Gothic, Burgundian, and Vandalic, the last to die off was Crimean Gothic, spoken in the late 18th century in some isolated areas of Crimea. The total number of Germanic languages throughout history is unknown, as some of them—especially East Germanic languages—disappeared during or after the Migration Period. Proto-Germanic, along all of its descendants, is characterized by a number of unique linguistic features. Early varieties of Germanic enter history with the Germanic tribes moving south from Scandinavia in the 2nd century BC, to settle in the area of todays northern Germany, furthermore, it is the de facto language of the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. It is also a language in Nicaragua and Malaysia. German is a language of Austria, Belgium, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Switzerland and has regional status in Italy, Poland, Namibia. German also continues to be spoken as a minority language by immigrant communities in North America, South America, Central America, Mexico, a German dialect, Pennsylvania Dutch, is still present amongst Anabaptist populations in Pennsylvania in the United States. Dutch is a language of Aruba, Belgium, Curaçao. The Netherlands also colonised Indonesia, but Dutch was scrapped as a language after Indonesian independence. Dutch was until 1925 an official language in South Africa, but evolved in and was replaced by Afrikaans, Afrikaans is one of the 11 official languages in South Africa and is a lingua franca of Namibia. It is used in other Southern African nations as well, low German is a collection of sometimes very diverse dialects spoken in the northeast of the Netherlands and northern Germany. Scots is spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster, frisian is spoken among half a million people who live on the southern fringes of the North Sea in the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark. Luxembourgish is mainly spoken in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, though it extends into small parts of Belgium, France. Limburgish varieties are spoken in the Limburg and Rhineland regions, along the Dutch–Belgian–German border, Swedish is also one of the two official languages in Finland, along with Finnish, and the only official language in the Åland Islands. Danish is also spoken natively by the Danish minority in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, Norwegian is the official language of Norway. Icelandic is the language of Iceland, and is spoken by a significant minority in the Faroe Islands
Germanic languages
–
Countries where a Germanic language is the
first language of the majority of the population
26.
Cat-o-nine tails
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The term first appears in 1695, although the design is much older. It was probably so called in reference to its claws, which inflict parallel wounds, the cat is made up of nine knotted thongs of cotton cord, about 2 1⁄2 feet or 76 cm long, designed to lacerate the skin and cause intense pain. It traditionally has nine thongs as a result of the manner in which rope is plaited, thinner rope is made from three strands of yarn plaited together, and thicker rope from three strands of thinner rope plaited together. To make a cat o nine tails, a rope is unravelled into three small ropes, each of which is unravelled again, the closed cat, one without tails, was called a starter. During the period of the Napoleonic Wars, the naval cats handle was made of rope about 2 feet long and about 1 inch in diameter, the tails were made of cord about a quarter inch in diameter and typically 2 feet long. A new cat was made for each flogging by a bosuns mate, if several dozen lashes were awarded, each could be administered by a fresh bosuns mate—a left-handed one could be included to assure extra painful crisscrossing of the wounds. One dozen was usually awarded as a highly sensitizing prelude to running the gauntlet and it was used on slave trade ships to punish the slaves. For summary punishment of Royal Navy boys, a model was made, the reduced cat, also known as boys cat, boys pussy or just pussy. If formally convicted by a court martial, however, even boys would suffer the punishment of the adult cat, the severest form of flogging was a flogging round the fleet. The number of lashes was divided by the number of ships in port, penalties of hundreds of lashes were imposed for the gravest offences, including sedition and mutiny. The prisoner was rowed round the fleet in a boat and received a number of his lashes at each ship in turn. Sentences often took months or years to complete, depending on how much a man was expected to bear at a time, normally 250–500 lashes would kill a man, as infections would spread. After the flogging was completed, the sailors lacerated back was frequently rinsed with brine or seawater, the British Army had a similar multiple whip, though much lighter in construction, made of a drumstick with attached strings. The flogger was usually a rather than a strong bosuns mate. Flogging with the cat o nine tails fell into disuse around 1870, whereas the British naval cat rarely cut but rather abraded the skin, the falls of the British Army cat were lighter and the string was in fact codline - a very dense material akin to tarred string. Although the total whip would weigh only a fraction of a naval rope cat, naturally, it was also used elsewhere in the Commonwealth, notably at the penal colonies in Australia, and also in Canada where it was used until 1881. An 1812 drawing shows a drummer apparently lashing the buttocks of a soldier who is tied with spread legs on an A-frame made from sergeants half pikes. In many places, soldiers were generally flogged stripped to the waist, in the 20th century this use was confined to very serious cases involving violence against a prison officer, and each flogging had to be confirmed by central government
Cat-o-nine tails
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A leather cat o' nine tails pictured with a U.S. dollar bill for size comparison. A U.S. dollar bill is about 6 inches (about 15 cm) long, so the total length would be about 30 inches (75 cm).
27.
Peter the Great
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Peter the Great, Peter I or Peter Alexeyevich ruled the Tsardom of Russia and later the Russian Empire from 7 May 1682 until his death, jointly ruling before 1696 with his elder half-brother, Ivan V. Through a number of successful wars he expanded the Tsardom into a larger empire that became a major European power. He led a revolution that replaced some of the traditionalist and medieval social and political systems with ones that were modern, scientific, westernized. Peters reforms made an impact on Russia and many institutions of Russian government trace their origins to his reign. From an early age, Peters education was put in the hands of tutors, most notably Nikita Zotov, Patrick Gordon. On 29 January 1676, Tsar Alexis died, leaving the sovereignty to Peters elder half-brother and this position changed when Feodor died in 1682. As Feodor did not leave any children, a dispute arose between the Miloslavsky family and Naryshkin family over who should inherit the throne, Peters other half-brother, Ivan V, was next in line for the throne, but he was chronically ill and of infirm mind. Consequently, the Boyar Duma chose the 10-year-old Peter to become Tsar with his mother as regent and this arrangement was brought before the people of Moscow, as ancient tradition demanded, and was ratified. Sophia Alekseyevna, one of Alexis daughters from his first marriage, in the subsequent conflict some of Peters relatives and friends were murdered, including Matveev, and Peter witnessed some of these acts of political violence. The Streltsy made it possible for Sophia, the Miloslavskys and their allies, to insist that Peter and Ivan be proclaimed joint Tsars, Sophia acted as regent during the minority of the sovereigns and exercised all power. For seven years, she ruled as an autocrat, a large hole was cut in the back of the dual-seated throne used by Ivan and Peter. Sophia would sit behind the throne and listen as Peter conversed with nobles, while feeding him information and giving him responses to questions and this throne can be seen in the Kremlin Armoury in Moscow. Peter was not particularly concerned that others ruled in his name and he engaged in such pastimes as shipbuilding and sailing, as well as mock battles with his toy army. Peters mother sought to force him to adopt a conventional approach. The marriage was a failure, and ten years later Peter forced his wife to become a nun, by the summer of 1689, Peter planned to take power from his half-sister Sophia, whose position had been weakened by two unsuccessful Crimean campaigns. When she learned of his designs, Sophia conspired with the leaders of the Streltsy, Sophia was eventually overthrown, with Peter I and Ivan V continuing to act as co-tsars. Peter forced Sophia to enter a convent, where she gave up her name, still, Peter could not acquire actual control over Russian affairs. Power was instead exercised by his mother, Natalya Naryshkina and it was only when Nataliya died in 1694 that Peter became an independent sovereign
Peter the Great
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Peter the Great by
Paul Delaroche
Peter the Great
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Peter the Great as a child
Peter the Great
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The Peter the Great statue in
Taganrog by
Mark Antokolski
Peter the Great
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Portrait of Peter I by
Godfrey Kneller, 1698. This portrait was Peter's gift to the King of England.
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Knout". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
The dictionary definition of knout at Wiktionary
