On 'The Tudors' (Sun., 9PM ET on SHO), Bishop Gardiner accuses Henry VIII's wife Catherine Parr of being a heretic. The king then gives permission to torture a heretic woman for information -- in a way now commonly considered the most painful form of medieval torture. (This one's not for the queasy.)

[Spoiler alert.]


With arms and legs tied to a wooden rack, a woman's limbs are stretched apart. Her torturer asks her, "Which of the ladies of her majesty's chamber sent you monies or promises of relief?" Silence.

Another says, "We want to know which of the Queen's ladies share your beliefs, or if the Queen herself does." Silence.

Though they're told it is "absolutely against the King's law to rack a woman," the stretching and dislocation of her limbs continues...