the territio realis was the first degree of torture.[1] But this was not the case. Limborch's work, "Historia Inquisitionis," with which Wohlwill does not seem to be acquainted, contains definite information on the point. He says that there were five grades of torture, which followed in regular order, and quotes the following passage verbatim from Julius Clarus: "Know then that there are five degrees of torture: First, the threat of the rack; second, being taken into the torture chamber; third, being undressed and bound; fourth, being laid upon the rack; fifth, turning the rack."[2] The territio realis was therefore by no means the first degree of torture; the first was the threat of torture, still outside the torture chamber in the ordinary court, called territio verbalis,[3] which proceeding we find in the examination of Galileo on 21st June. The expression "examen rigorosum" in the sentence, appears therefore, taking it to indicate torture in a general sense, fully justified by historical facts.
It would be more difficult to prove that "examen rigorosum" in the sentence meant actual torture, or territio realis. According to the rules of the Holy Office, a number of strict regulations were prescribed for the procedure, which began with taking the accused into the torture chamber, and the neglect of any one of them made the whole examination null and void. The most important were as follows: First,
- ↑ Page 25.
- ↑ "Gradus torturae olim adhiberi soliti, fuerunt quinque, qui certo ordine fuerunt inflicte, quos describit Julius Clarus 'in pract crim.' § Fin. qu. 64, versic. 'Nunc de gradibus,' ubi ita ait, 'Scias igitur, quod quinque sunt gradus torturae; scilicet Primo, minae de torquendo. Secundo: conductio ad locum tormentorum. Tertio, spoliato at ligatura. Quarto- elevatio in eculeo. Quinto, squassatio." (Philippi a Limborch S.S. Theologiae inter Remonstrantes Professoris, Historia Inquisitionis. Amstelodami apud Henricum, Westenium, 1692, p. 322.)
- ↑ Prof. P. Grisar also remarks in his critique of Wohlwill's last work Zeitschrift für Kath. Theol. ii. Jahrgang, p. 188), that in the language of the old writers on criminal law, the territio verbalis was often included in the expression torture, and appeals to Julius Clarus, Sentent. crimin. lib. 5, § Fin. qu. 84, nr 31; Francof. 1706, p. 318; Sigism. Scaccia, de judiciis, lib. 2. c 8. nr 276; Francof. 1669, p. 269.
