10 Horrific Punishments From History That Could Be In Game Of Thrones

5. Tortured Into Confession, Having His Eyes Burst Inside His Skull - Mark Smeaton

Here is another entry from the reign of the second Tudor king. Henry VIII is famous for having 6 wives, the second of which was Anne Boleyn. At the end of their marriage, Henry was looking for any excuse to be rid of Anne so that he could marry the pretty young Jane Seymour. If any evidence of that is needed, he became engaged to Jane the day after Anne's execution. In the events leading up to Anne's beheading, five men were accused of being the queen's lover, including her own brother, but only one was tortured. Mark Smeaton was a talented court musician who was of low birth. There was only one piece of evidence to suggest that he had been intimate with the queen: someone had overheard Anne telling him that he was 'an inferior person'. How the conclusion was reached that this was romance is anyone's guess. Smeaton admitted to his crimes after apparently being tortured on the rack, having a knotted rope twisted into his eyes until they burst and being promised his life if he confessed. He was beheaded along with the 4 other accused in May 1536.