23 Commonly-Taught Historical Facts That Just Aren’t True

‘Most of the well-known medieval torture devices never existed’
23 Commonly-Taught Historical Facts That Just Aren’t True

Whether it’s confusion, Eurocentrism or plain old outdated public school textbooks, there’s a lot of misinformation floating around out there. 

I’m not talking about the kind of misinformation that your worst uncle prints off his inkjet to bring to Thanksgiving dinner, either. I’m referring to facts that most of the world has accepted as true based on an afternoon history lesson in seventh grade, when they’re completely false. Sorry to break it to you, but Vikings didn’t wear those horned helmets, and a lot of those cool-looking medieval torture devices never really existed.

So, in the spirit of revealing truth — again, not like your worst uncle — here’s a collection of false “historical facts” to be embarrassed you believed until right now.

4thofeleven 1y ago Most of the well-known medieval 'torture devices' never really existed. There's no mention of the 'iron maiden' in history texts prior to the late eighteenth century, and all known examples of the device are forgeries or 'replicas' created around the same time. Similarly, there are no authentic examples of the 'pear of anguish', nor is the device attested to in any medieval records. The various examples that are on display in various dubious museums are almost certainly of much more recent construction, and would not function as described anyway. 3.7K ...

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