Quaker women were sometimes punished with the branks by the non-Quaker authorities for preaching their religious doctrine in public places. Time spent in the bridle was normally allocated by the kirk session, in Scotland, or a local magistrate. Whether the person was paraded or simply taken to the point of punishment, the process of humiliation and expected repentance was the same. Displaying the branks in public was intended to remind the populace of the consequences of any rash action or slander. Then, the ritual humiliation would take place, with the miscreant on public show. In Scotland, branks could also be permanently displayed in public by attaching them, for example, to the town cross, tron or tolbooth. Other branks included an adjustable gag with a sharp edge, causing any movement of the mouth to result in laceration of the tongue. When wearing the device, it was impossible for the person either to eat or speak. A spike inside the gag prevented any talking since any movement of the mouth could cause a severe piercing of the tongue. This was intended to humiliate them into 'repenting' their 'riotous' actions. When the branks was installed, the wearer could be led through town to show that they had committed an offence or scolded too often.

71) / 'He shall be put in the branks be the space of xxiiij houres thairafter' (1559 (c 1650) Dundee B. Though primarily used on women, the Burgh Records of Scotland's major towns reveal that the branks were at times used on men as well: 'Patrick Pratt sall sit … bound to the croce of this burgh, in the brankis lockit ' (1591 Aberd. The Lanark Burgh Records record a typical example of the punishment being used: 'Iff evir the said Elizabeth salbe fund scolding or railling … scho salbe sett upone the trone in the brankis and be banishit the toun thaireftir ' (1653 Lanark B. The person to be punished was placed in a public place for additional humiliation and sometimes beaten. It was also used as corporal punishment for other offences, notably on female workhouse inmates. This also gives it its other name, 'The Gossip's Bridle'. īranking (in Scotland and the North of England) was designed as a mirror punishment for shrews or scolds-women of the lower classes whose speech was deemed ' riotous' or 'troublesome' -by preventing them from speaking. The kirk-sessions and barony courts in Scotland inflicted the contraption mostly on female transgressors and women considered to be rude, nags, common scolds, or drunken. Origin and purpose England and Scotland įirst recorded in Scotland in 1567, the branks were also used in England and its colonies. The wearer was then led around town by a leash. For extra humiliation, a bell could also be attached to draw in crowds. This prevented speaking and resulted in many unpleasant side effects for the wearer, including excessive salivation and fatigue in the mouth. The scold's bridle was used primarily on women. It functioned to silence the wearer from speaking entirely, and caused extreme pain and physiological trauma to scare and intimidate the wearer into submission. A bridle-bit (or curb-plate), about 5 cm × 2.5 cm (2 in × 1 in) in size, was slid into the mouth and pressed down on top of the tongue, often with a spike on the tongue, as a compress. It was an iron muzzle in an iron framework that enclosed the head (although some bridles were masks that depicted suffering). Andrews 17th century Dunfermline branksĪ scold's bridle, sometimes called a witch's bridle, a gossip's bridle, a brank's bridle, or simply branks, was an instrument of punishment, as a form of public humiliation. 16th-century instrument of punishment or torture A branked scold in Colonial New England, from a lithograph in A Brief History of the United States by Joel Dorman Steele and Esther Baker Steele from 1885 18th century scold's bridle in the Märkisches Museum Berlin 16th-century Scottish branks, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow, Scotland A scold's bridle, having a hinged iron framework to enclose the head and a bit or gag to fit into the mouth and compress the tongue 'The 'Bishop's branks' of St.

A human muzzle