Torture as Procedure

The Inquisition turned torture into a procedural step, not a punishment. Once a suspect was denounced, interrogation followed a set protocol. Gentle questioning came first. Then the "showing of the instruments" — putting the tools on display as deliberate psychological pressure. If confession still did not come, physical torture followed, with set time limits and required medical supervision to keep the suspect alive long enough to confess.

This was not medieval cruelty run amok. It was a bureaucratic process with forms, records, and rules.