Tablilla

The tablillas are an alleged Medieval Spanish technique of torture for crushing the toes and fingers by means of pillories and wedges.

Description and procedure

The only writer to comment in detail on the torture of the tablillas may be paraphrased as follows: "The torture of the tablillas is rarely given, the subject trussed up as for the torture of water and cords; having not obtained confession, four palm-sized tablillas are brought, each with five narrow finger-width or toe-width holes, and to give grave pain they hammer a wedge, bit by bit, between the hole and the trapped finger or toe, one after the other; and the fingers and toes are so crushed and beaten, and the torture quite remarkably savage that rarely do the judges exhaust the wedges, for some faint and others confess the crime." One presumes that rough wedges were used, additionally skinning and shredding flesh from the toes during the crushing process.