Medieval Europe’s Most Horrifying Prisons

Matthew Paris drew it in the margin of his chronicle: a Welsh prince falling head first from the Tower of London in 1244, his rope of knotted bedsheets snapped above him. Other medieval prisons killed more slowly. Alexander Ramsay lived 17 days in the pit at Hermitage Castle on grain that dropped through the floorboards. Edward I kept the Countess of Buchan caged at Berwick for four years. Louis XI built iron cages at Loches, and the Visconti of Milan published a forty day torture schedule. The oubliette and the Inquisition’s dungeons are here too. One Knight Templar brought his own heel bones to the hearing. If you’d like to support the channel, you can become a Patreon member here:   / eternalmysteries   You can also support the channel by becoming a YouTube member here:    / @theeternalmysteries   Timestamps: 0:00 The Grand Châtelet and the Business of Imprisonment 16:03 Newgate and London’s Deadly Jails 28:56 The Tower, Corfe, and King John’s Prisoners 48:24 Royal Cages and Castle Murders 1:06:03 Italy’s Towers of Hunger and Torment 1:23:25 Fear Holes, Oubliettes, and Forgotten Prisoners 1:35:54 The Inquisition’s Wall of Carcassonne 1:50:34 The Imprisonment and Destruction of the Templars 2:00:37 Louis XI’s Cages and the Prisoners of Loches