Spes or "Hope"; engraving by Sebald Beham, German c1540

Stocks are devices used since medieval times for public humiliation, corporal punishment, and torture. The stocks are similar to the pillory and the pranger, as each consists of large, hinged, wooden boards; the difference, however, is that when a person is placed in the stocks, their feet are locked in place, and sometimes as well their hands or head, or these may be chained. The victim is in a sitting position. // Look up stock in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 300 × 479 pixelsFull resolution (300 × 479 pixel, file size: 241 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Hope Stocks Metadata This file contains... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 300 × 479 pixelsFull resolution (300 × 479 pixel, file size: 241 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Hope Stocks Metadata This file contains... Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. ... Adam and Eve, 1543, 84 x 58 mm Fogg Art Museum. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times. ... Public humiliation was often used by local communities to punish minor and petty criminals before the age of large, modern prisons (imprisonment was long unusual as a punishment, rather a method of coercion). ... Corporal punishment is forced pain intended to change a persons behaviour or to punish them. ... Torture, according to international law, is any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has... It has been suggested that Pranger be merged into this article or section. ... Pranger in Poznan in form of column. ...

With stocks, boards are placed around the legs or the wrists, whereas in the pillory they are placed around the arms and neck and fixed to a pole, and the victim stands. However, the terms can be confused, and many people refer to the pillory as the stocks.

The practice of using stocks continues to be cited as an example of cruel and unusual punishment. “Cruel And Unusual” redirects here. ...

Historical uses

The stocks were popular in medieval times as a mild restraining device for minor offenders. In the stocks, an offender's head and wrists would be placed and locked through two holes in the center of a board. Either before or after this the wrongdoer might have his or her headwear removed, exposing their hands and face. Exhibiting an offender's face and hands was considered a form of humiliation. Offenders were forced to carry out their punishments in the rain, during the heat of summer, or in freezing weather, and generally would receive only bread and water, plus anything brought by their friends. Public stocks were typically positioned in the most public place available, as public humiliation was a critical aspect of such punishment. Typically, a person condemned to the stocks was subjected to a variety of abuses, ranging from having refuse thrown at them, paddling and tickling and roasting of the face and hands(compare the excruciating Roman and Persian falaqa, a bastinado applied to the sensitive palms and cheeks) to being stoned. Etymology: Late Latin humiliatus, past participle of humiliare, from Latin humilis low. ... For activities involving paddles, see canoeing. ... A young girl tickles her sibling, evoking a pleasurable response in the child being tickled. ... // origin A Falaka is a Persian instrument of corporal punishment used to immobilize torture victims who would then have the soles of their feet beaten with rods. ... It has been suggested that Falaka be merged into this article or section. ...

The stocks were used in Elizabethan England, and by the Puritans in the colonial period of American history. Their last recorded use in the United Kingdom was in 1872 at Adpar, west Wales ^[1] The Elizabethan Era is the period associated with the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558 - 1603) and is often considered to be a golden age in English history. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... For the record label, see Puritan Records. ... Year 1872 (MDCCCLXXII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a leap year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... This article is about the country. ...

Finger pillories often went by the name of finger stocks

Stocks were also used as punishment for military deserters, or for dereliction of military duty.

Current uses

The stocks have also taken on a lighter image, as they are often found at Renaissance Fairs where the public can experience a form of "stocks entertainment" by watching actors locked in the stocks. Entertainers at the Golden Gate Renaissance Festival 2005. ...

Examples

An excellent example of stocks can be seen in Dromore, County Down, in Northern Ireland. WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: , Statistics Province: Ulster County: District: Banbridge District UK Parliament: Lagan Valley European Parliament: Northern Ireland Dialling Code: 028, +44 28. ... Northern Ireland (Irish: ) is a part of the United Kingdom lying in the northeast of the island of Ireland, covering 5,459 square miles (14,139 km², about a sixth of the islands total area). ...

The old village stocks in Chapeltown, Lancashire, England.

Locations of examples in England include: Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 533 pixelsFull resolution (1403 × 935 pixel, file size: 309 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) The old stocks at Chapeltown, Lancashire. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 533 pixelsFull resolution (1403 × 935 pixel, file size: 309 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) The old stocks at Chapeltown, Lancashire. ... Chapeltown is a village of the civil parish of North Turton, in the Blackburn with Darwen unitary authority, in the north west of England. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ...

• Aldbury
• Chapel en le Frith
• Chapeltown, Lancashire
• Nottingham

Aldbury is a village in Hertfordshire in England, near the borders of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire. ... Chapel-en-le-Frith is a small Derbyshire town on the edge of the Peak District, part of the Pennine Range, near the border of Cheshire, in northern England. ... Chapeltown is a village of the civil parish of North Turton, in the Blackburn with Darwen unitary authority, in the north west of England. ... For other uses, see Nottingham (disambiguation). ...

See also

• Barrel pillory

View of the Pillory in the Market-place of Paris in the Sixteenth Century, after a Drawing by an unknown Artist of 1670. ...

References

1. ^ John May, Reference Wales (1994)

you are wrong Year 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1994 Gregorian calendar). ...