Rasgos generales de la evolución histórica de la tipología de las penas corporales

Abstract

The objective of this article is to present the historical evolution of the chief modes of corporal punishments, which are herein understood as those characterized by physi­cal damage, not leading to death, in the criminal's body. In this way, after suggesting a timeline of the historical development, a typology is proposed: on the one hand, mutilations, among which castration, pushing outward or emptying the eye sockets, limb amputations, and tongue extirpation; on the other, flogging. After looking at sev­eral examples from medieval sources, which show the concrete crimes coupled with those punishments, the subsequent evolution of this type of punishments until they died out is discussed.