So summary and effective a mode of forcing the weak and unprotected to ransom themselves was not likely to be overlooked in those ages of violence, and though the extra-judicial use of torture is foreign to our purpose, yet, as showing how men educated themselves in its employment, it may be worth while to allude briefly to this aspect of the subject. Thus, Duke Swantopluck of Bohemia, in a marauding expedition into Hungary in 1108, caused to be racked or put to death all prisoners who could not purchase escape by heavy ransoms.[1523] At the same period, Germany is described to us by an eye-witness as covered with feudal chieftains who lived a life of luxury by torturing the miserable wretches that could scarce obtain bread and water for their own existence.[1524] In Spain, the same means were understood and employed by the savage nobles of that barbarous period.[1525] In England, the fearful anarchy which prevailed under King Stephen encouraged a similar condition of affairs. The baronial castles which then multiplied so rapidly became mere dens of robbers who ransacked the country for all who had the unfortunate reputation of wealth. From these they extracted the last penny by tortures; and the chronicler expatiates on the multiplicity and horrid ingenuity of the torments devised—suspension by the feet over slow fires; hanging by the thumbs; knotted ropes twisted around the head; crucet-houses, or chests filled with sharp stones, in which the victim was crushed; sachentages, or frames with a sharp iron collar preventing the wearer from sitting, lying, or sleeping; dungeons filled with toads and adders; slow starvation, &c. &c.[1526] Even in the more settled times of the close of the reign of Henry II. a case is recorded of a heavy fine inflicted on a man for illegally capturing and torturing a woman;[1527] under Richard I. an epistle of Clement III. refers to a knight who had confessed that he had tortured a priest and forced him to redeem himself with a large sum of money;[1528] and in 1210 King John seized all the Jews in England and tortured them until they ransomed themselves heavily.[1529]