The Pit and the Pendulum The Pit and the Pendulum "The Pit and the Pendulum" is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe and first published in 1842 in the literary annual "The Gift: A Christmas and New Year's Present for 1843". The story is about the torments endured by a prisoner of the Spanish Inquisition, though Poe skews historical facts. The narrator of the story describes his experience of being tortured. The story is especially effective at inspiring fear in the reader because of its heavy focus on the senses, such as sound, emphasizing its reality, unlike many of Poe's stories which are
Historical revision of the Inquisition also of freedom of thought and religion in general. However, exporting the Inquisition to the Netherlands was never in the plans of the Spanish Habsburg rulers, at least after the time of Charles V. The Dutch Inquisition was killing heretics much faster than the Spanish Inquisition. In 1567 "A Discovery and Plaine Declaration of Sundry Subtill Practices of the Holy Inquisition of Spain" was published under the pseudonym Reginaldus Gonzalvus Montanus. While authorship is disputed, it was probably written by Antonio del Corro and/or Casiodoro de Reina, both previously Spanish Catholic monks who became Protestants and fled the Inquisition. The