Michela's Awakening

Story from Februs 35.

Michela's Awakening
A Short Story by Jemmie Lynne

'Is that all they wear?' Michela held up the thin, open backed surgical gown. 'Hardly decent. Won't even cover their bottoms.'

'They show much more than that.' The Chief Warden's smile grew sweetly sadistic. A prim, fitted uniform and robust figure gave authoritative presence to a woman who clearly stood no nonsense. 'A criminal's naked backside must be visible for punishment to be given, and seen to be given. Besides, humiliation through exposure during chastisement is equally important as the chastisement itself. It's a great deterrent.'

'I agree, though I wouldn't like to wear it myself.' Michela dropped the garment back over the punishment stool and examined the row of flex canes lining the wall. She was a tall, vivacious girl with slender figure and high rounded bust, the sort that made women envious and men lustful. Superior in manner and presence, she carried herself with an air of certainty which came from belief in belonging to an upper class. Born in the two hundredth and fifty-first century where the populace comprised seventy-five percent women, she confidently believed only the beautiful and domineering could succeed. 'Where's the girl? You may bring her now. I wish to start the interview immediately,' she said and selected a cane, swishing it in test, ready for the unfortunate girl's arrival. When the Warden shrugged in puzzlement Michela tapped the cane impatiently against her booted calf, light glistening over the moon spun silk of her long matching skirt and tunic, the cloth clinging to every curvaceous mound and crescent of her lovely body.

* * *

She had chosen the outfit not for this occasion, but the interview she attended earlier that afternoon with Miss Juliet Hawthorn, owner and editor of Venus News, the leading all female newspaper in Euro Zone One. As a rising journalist, Michela was eager to be on Miss Juliet's staff, prepared to go any distance in achieving success.

She had hoped the interview would be conducted in private, but was disappointed to find an assistant present, a girl barely from her teens, short, petite, with full breasts visible beneath a translucent blouse, her hips surrounded in a cling wrap micro skirt.

Miss Juliet and the girl sat side by side behind a crystal table. A single, high backed chair stood in front. Beyond the glass walls, hover pods scurried along the airways carrying their passengers between the ten colossal pyramids which formed the mid millennium city of London.

'Please sit,' Miss Juliet indicated the chair. 'This is Tara, my assistant for the day. She has arranged all the details for your test assignment.'

'Yes Miss Hawthorn,' Michela answered in a measured and respectful voice. She found Tara's look and smile more of cynical examination than welcome. She took an immediate dislike to her.

'You come highly recommended,' Miss Juliet said, 'but in applying for a position on my staff you must, like all applicants to Venus News, undergo a test assignment. I wish to know your tenacity in finding the truth and facts of any given news item.'

'I go all the way, Miss Juliet. No hold barred.' Michela breathed deeply so her breasts rose beneath the silk sheen of her jacket.

'You are aware,' she continued, 'the Government has re-introduced corporal punishment for the caning of petty criminals, both men and women alike. How do you stand on this matter?'

'I'm all for it,' Michela said, praying this was the woman's approved view.

'And women. What do you think of them caning women? Sometimes in public. Does it not degrade?'

Michela chose her words with political care. 'I believe it wrong to cane women of respectability, but for the habitual criminals who disgrace our community, I feel it's a pity they did not get thrashed when young.'

'You wouldn't like it?' asked Tara.

'Nobody would like it,' Michela said in dismissal. 'That's the whole point. The cane may sting but the humiliation involved during its administration is the real punishment.'

'Tara would love it,' Miss Juliet stroked the girl's cheek making her blush at the suggestion. 'She loves to be spanked. A good caning would send her into ecstasy. Have you ever been spanked?' she asked Michela.

It was Michela's turn to blush. 'I was slippered once by the head girl at school. I was sixteen, she was eighteen.'

'And did she take your knickers down?' Tara mocked.

'Certainly not. I was chastened as befitting a young lady.'

'I bet she put her finger inside you. I bet she had you off.'

'She did not!' Michela said indignantly, burning with the memory of the prefect's touch, of her fingers working slowly amidst the oils of her young vagina, her body held helpless over the senior's knee until drawn to unforgettable climax.

'What a boring life you've had,' Tara quipped tartly.

'That's enough,' Miss Juliet said. 'You will be punished for your rudeness and Michela shall watch.'

'But Miss Juliet,' the girl protested.

'Miss Juliet nothing. You're in for a good spanking my girl.'

She rose from the desk and crossed to sit in regal splendour on a rolled back couch, her split skirt parting to reveal firm thighs and lace top stockings.

'Come here Tara,' Miss Juliet ordered. Reluctantly the girl crossed to her boss's side and stood with head bowed.

Michela turned her chair for a better view. A tingle of excitement flicker within the moist confines of her vagina.

'Remove your knickers and bend over my knee,' Miss Juliet ordered. Tara glanced in wilful hostility towards Michela but did as requested.

Michela sensed a bubble of excitement tingle at the back of her spine while she watched the girl comply in submissive obedience. She lay with her stomach flat across the other woman's lap, her head almost to the floor, her legs straight and angled behind, her bobbed hair falling slightly forward and her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

Miss Juliet stroked the cherub roundness of Tara's rear with open pleasure, fondling the naked buttocks offered upwards in such vulnerable exposure. It became blatantly clear to Michela she had spanked Tara, and possibly other girls, many times before and she realised that in accepting a post she would almost certainly be spanked herself.

Miss Juliet confirmed her fears. This is how I keep order over the staff of Venus News. Any misdemeanour, infringement of policy or laziness on the job is punishable by a good spanking. Are you willing to accept this rule?'

'Yes Miss Juliet,' Michela said, her sex felt on fire.

'Corporal punishment comes in many forms but for a young girl it is usually the cane, the strap and most enjoyable, the open palm of the hand. The physical contact between administrator and receiver could not be more intimate. Their vulvas pressed one above the other. So close yet distanced by domination and control. Take this as your first lesson. If you're a boss, you'll need to spank your juniors.'

'Please don't,' Tara pleaded with a touch of the theatrical. 'Not in front of her.'

'Stay quiet girl or I'll have Michela spank you also.'

'I would enjoy that,' Michela said, eager to participate.

Miss Juliet raised her hand and brought it down with a resounding slap. Tara squealed. 'Any noise and you will get double,' Miss Juliet told her. Six more times she repeated the hard and measured chastisement then waited and watched the red blush of pain start to colour Tara's taut little buttocks. Michela unconsciously pushed one hand down between her legs, conscious of a growing wetness that bubbled with excitement.

'You will observe the first flush of pinkness across the girl's skin and notice I have spanked each cheek over the full roundness of her buttocks. I find this part the firmest and most sensuous area of contact, a delight beneath the hand and where I shall concentrate my efforts. The more the same place is spanked, the greater her backside will sting, and the more it stings, the more she will have excuse to wriggle against me.' Again she raised her hand, bringing the palm down with full force. Forbidden to cry out, Tara, as predicted, began to wriggle. Miss Juliet continued her chastisement. By the end of the twelfth slap the girl's skin had turned from pink to red and her hips were squirming over Miss Juliet's lap in apparent effort to ease the pain. But it soon became apparent her movements were not involuntary.

'Do you realise what she's doing?' Michela pointed.

'Of course, she's masturbating herself against my leg, trying to climax before I cease her punishment. I shall find it most pleasant to disappoint her. At this moment she would not change places with anyone but my enjoyment comes from forbidding her gratification. To delve into the exquisite power of blending pain and sensuality. It is an achievement few ever realise. Enough,' she ordered and pushed Tara away. Both watched the girl pull on her knickers, wincing as the white lace stretched over her skin.

'You may go now Tara,' Miss Juliet dismissed. 'Check all the arrangements are in place for Michela's assignment and let us know immediately the prisoner is available for interview.'

When Tara had left, Miss Juliet crossed to a drinks cabinet where she poured smooth, amber liquid into two cut glasses. She passed one to Michela. 'Here's to control,' she toasted.

Michela sipped. She found the drink sweet but with a pleasant after taste that for reasons she did not understand heightened her smouldering libido. 'My,' she pressed herself. 'This does strange things.'

'A little aphrodisiac developed in space. One of those exquisite discoveries only available to the seriously wealthy. It causes acute sensitivity of the skin and erogenous zones. Even the breath of one's lover can recreate a climax. I take a glass each day. One of life's little pleasures for a rich and lonely woman.'

'There is no need for loneliness,' Michela gently moved her pelvis forward allowing her Venus mound to press against the other woman's upper thigh.

Miss Juliet's hand slid behind and fondled the taut firmness of Michela's buttocks. 'So beautiful,' she murmured. 'How I look forward to having you in my stable.'

'Sorry to interrupt,' Tara called from the doorway in a bitchy voice. 'The woman is to be caned in less than thirty minutes. We must go immediately.'

Miss Juliet drew back. 'I want your article on my desk by nine this evening, bring it personally.'

'I shall not fail you Miss Juliet, I promise.'

'Good,' Miss Juliet dismissed. 'I think you're going to be a star, don't you Tara?'

'She certainly is,' Tara said with an evil smile.

Michela followed her from the room almost in a dream, her sexual drive at full burn, her mind wild with ambition. Every wish had come true, one simple article and she would have both career and Miss Juliet's bed.

Tara stayed silent as they travelled in a private lift from the three hundred and twentieth floor of the city pyramid to where the Law Courts were situated on the two hundred and fifth. Michela felt a sense of satisfaction that Tara did not sit.

Once beyond the lift gates they walked towards the Law Courts on the opposite side of the public square. Near the glass walls a raised platform held cross bars and whipping posts, their shadows cast in long lines by the setting sun that orbed in the sky beyond. Surrounding the stage, giant television screens hung from wires so allowing a circular view for every spectator.

In the Court House Tara spoke briefly to a receptionist who summoned the Chief Warden. The woman beckoned Michela to follow down a long soulless corridor. Tara remained in Reception, both hands holding the glow beneath her skirt.

Michela's keen senses became invaded by the building's institutional smell and authoritarian atmosphere. She did not care for the place. Its effect was sobering but not enough to stop the bubbling sensuality which flowed within her body.

'This way,' the Warden ushered her into a room. A dozen chairs stood in semi-circle around a high, padded bench. 'The caning stool,' she indicated and picked up a short open backed surgical gown lying across the leather. 'We often get reporters in here but few who would break the law for a story. But remember, we are now committed, there is no turning back.'

'The truth must be evaluated. It is a journalistic duty,' Michela said pedantically and held up the gown. 'Is that all they wear, it's hardly decent, won't even cover their bottoms.'

'They show more than that. Humiliation by exposure is as much a part of the criminal's punishment as caning.'

'I agree. Though I wouldn't like to wear it myself. Where's the girl?'

'We let her go. Too dangerous for her to stay. A lot of people have taken a big chance for your boss, even my own. But then power and money speak.'

'But how am I to interview her?'

'Interview?' The Warden shook her head. 'That girl Tara did not arrange for an interview. She arranged for you to take the offender's place.'

Michela stood in silent shock, her mouth open, unable to believe the Warden's words. 'But,' she stuttered. 'I cannot. I will not.'

'You volunteered. You put yourself on the line as a reporter to learn the effects on a woman chastised. People have risked their jobs to set this up. Mine included. I'm afraid you're in for a well caned backside, young lady. Now take off your clothes, including your knickers and put the punishment gown on.'

Michela stayed still, dazed and uncertain. 'But,' she repeated.

'But nothing. Now hurry They'll by here soon.' She checked her watch.

'This is impossible, a mistake. It's that little bitch Tara, she's turned everything around. You can't cane me. I'm from society.' Michela began to tremble.

'You've no choice. If you back out now you'll be charged with perverting the course of justice and considering the nature of what you are doing, you'll almost certainly be sentenced to a caning. Either way, this is going to happen, so go willingly or do it the hard way.'

Michela felt the dread of realisation, of being trapped without choice. 'How many are coming?' she asked, trying to reconcile herself with the inescapable outcome of her situation.

'Two assistant Wardens and a lady doctor.'

'Only three,' she said as if to convince herself over the inevitability of her predicament. She clutched the neck of her blouse in modesty and thought of the promised career on offer from Miss Juliet along with the sweet revenge to be inflicted on Tara when the time came. 'Okay,' she accepted. 'If there really is no choice, then I must. It can't be that bad. So long as nobody finds out, or realises my true identity.' She began to undress, turning her back on the Chief Warden while she slipped on the hospital gown, tugging at the indelicacy of its length and the open back. Such exposure brought an overwhelming body blush and to her shame, a heightening of sexual excitement.

The Warden knelt to clip metal rings around each ankle and a further set to her wrists. 'Electronic magnets,' she informed. 'They won't bind you, but will hold you firmly in position. It is better you do not move. The Punishment Administrator needs careful aim.'

While she spoke, two Wardens entered pulling a four wheeled trolley which held a stout metal pole rising vertically from the platform. They were followed by the female doctor who shone a vision scan into Michela's eyes then parted the rear of her gown, testing the taut, muscular buttocks beneath. 'Fine healthy specimen,' she declared. 'No problems.'

'I am a lady and don't you forget it!' Michela stated loudly, trying to retain some dignity. 'Now, what am I to do, bend over the bench?'

'No you stand up here.' The Warden led her to the trolley, stepping her up and raising her arms so wrists and ankles became attached to the pole by powerful magnetic force.

'Come on then,' Michela said, bracing her posterior. 'Get it over with.'

'Not here. This sentence is for multi, repetitive crime. You're going out onto the main square. You're going to be caned in public. You'll be on television, a star in every home.'

'No!' Michela squealed in panic, her last vestige of bravado crumbling. 'You can't,' she struggled, desperate to escape while the trolley was turned and wheeled out into the corridor. The amber liquid so pleasantly taken in Miss Juliet's room increased her sense of vulnerability as she remained helplessly fastened. She was aware of every touch and movement, her whole body vibrant with sensitivity. 'I can't go like this,' she protested. 'I'm not dressed. People can see me. Please, they'll laugh.'

'Don't fight it young lady' the Warden advised. 'Simply do as instructed and it will be over before you realise.'

Michela wriggled and squirmed in horror as the trolley was wheeled into the Reception. She could feel the air on her back and humiliation on her face. 'How dare you expose me. I'm from society, people know me. You can't take me into public, please.' She twisted on the pole, eyes pleading to their indifference. A moment later the little group emerged onto the marble square and entered into the glare of TV cameras.

People milled in their hundreds. They sauntered from dinner to clubs, from theatres to parties, wandered in groups or couples, interrupting their early evening entertainment to see the spectacle of corporal punishment.

Michela looked towards the sloping glass wall of the pyramid where the platform she had passed with Tara stood in sinister silhouette against the blaze of lights. Before and behind, giant monitor screens gave opposing views for the benefit of spectators. She moaned her despair on realising the spectacle they intended to make of her, but gave no resistance when the Wardens unlocked her from the trolley and led her up onto the platform.

Above the level of the crowd she felt the horror of her isolation, realising she had became one entity and the spectators another. For the first time she heard her name called. She wanted to dissolve into air and squirmed with embarrassment as they removed the hospital gown. She was given no time to protest. Her wrists were immediately lifted and attached to the bar by magnetic force. At the same time they parted her legs and secured her ankles. Spread-eagled and naked she was held on display for all to see. She cringed at her enforced exposure and was devoured by shame on seeing her image mirrored four times life size on every screen, her stretched figure viewed from every angle. She saw her naked back and the taut front of her body, the dark heart of curls which crowned her pubic mound, hair so carefully shaved and plucked in the privacy of her bathroom was now revealed for public amusement. People who had dithered in half interest pressed closer, drawn by a collective voyeurism that overcame any moral reluctance to witness the degrading of some unfortunate. Men smirked with the unexpected pleasure of being allowed open examination of a naked female, while women gave no sympathy. To them, Michela was a betrayer of feminine modesty and they indulged their secret fantasies in self-righteousness. Tara pushed to the front, arms folded, a sadistic smile curved on her pretty face.

Michela began to shake, unable to contain her sense of utter degradation. On screen she watched a prim young woman in a dark business suit mount the platform behind. She carried a document in one hand and a thin pliable cane in the other. Without waiting for attention she began to read from the charge sheet.

'Prisoner six three one, has been charged and found guilty of the following crimes. Prostitution, common assault, theft and forgery and will receive four strokes for each offence. Any objections may be sent in writing to the Criminal Justice Network. This law enforcement is sponsored by Soft Hands Domestic Soaps and carried out by the Civil and Social Control Department. Live coverage is provided by in-house TV. Sentence will now commence.'

Michela looked to the screen and saw the young woman fold and place the paper in her pocket before conferring with a man in headphones. She moved to stand a pace behind, tapping the cane on her leg, waiting the Studio Director's instruction.

'So, you'd like to give me a spanking would you?' Tara called out. 'Well, see how you enjoy a real whipping, because I'm going to enjoy watching you get it.'

Michela closed her eyes as she felt the cane rest on the prominent curve of her rear. The sound of the crowd gradually hushed. Michela waited. She had no idea what to expect. The vulnerability of her position left her without any degree of physical or mental protection, coupled with the aphrodisiac she had drunk, such public exposure caused her to feel an acute sensitivity which she found impossible to suppress. She was aware of the young woman's perfume, the quiver of her own breath. She felt the air touch her skin, was conscious of every root of hair, of the soles of her feet, of her toenails, of the stretch of muscle pulling the arch of her back taut and narrow.

The swing of the cane sounded with a whispering hiss before laying its burning sting over the fullness of her backside. Michela gasped more in surprise than pain. On the screen she watched with the crowd as a single red welt rose across the round swell of her white buttocks. She saw the intensity of the faces around her, saw Tara hug herself with pleasure. The second stroke landed almost on the first bringing an involuntary squeal of protest and Michela lost the last element of pride. Again the cane laid its smarting strip over the fullness of her rear. She began to wriggle, hoping the movement might lessen the slow measured strokes that repeatedly flamed across her. The gyrations gave no relief but coupled with her ultra sensitivity the movements started an inner and unbridled arousal. In mind and body masochistic passion began to possess every fibre of her being. This was the moment she had inwardly feared and dreaded, the awakening of uncontrollable urges that transformed her humiliation into her own sexual exploitation. She was behaving as Tara. Girl lovers had indulged her in private, but now was the realisation of secret fantasies in inescapable reality. Losing any will or desire to control herself she surrendered to her own gratification. She began offering herself to each stroke. Thrusting backwards and accepting the cane's impetus to drive her forwards, metaphorically accepting the penetration of all present. She wallowed in her defencelessness, in her total humiliation and the secretion of juices which rose in her body and wet the lips of her shaven vulva. The scathing flame that flushed across the round of her buttocks now mingled its fire with the pulsing muscles of her pelvis, clutched and released in wanton stimulation. She demeaned her own body, debasing herself before all who watched, knowing she made them as helpless to her own gratification as she was to theirs. Convulsing the inner core of her pelvis she spiralled to the release of climatic ecstasy. She abandoned herself to lust and self degradation, feeling the fire of her libido born with an intensity far greater than the cane inflicted on her skin. The repeated sting of pain coupled with the flush of her scarlet buttocks shown in close-up on the screen, drove her to new, unparalleled heights. She shivered and squirmed, clutching and releasing the muscles of her sex. She saw the young woman standing behind fixed with concentrated effort, executing each stroke with precision, unwittingly participating in her victim's self indulgence. The sadism of those who watched triggered the start of a new and drawn orgasm and Michela shuddered in open climax, relishing the disgust of those who witnessed while mentally straddling their outrage like an offered phallus.

The final stroke left her buttocks scorched with molten fire. Sixteen blistering welts joined in a flame of smarting skin which gave an inner fulfilment never before realised.

'You wanton whore!' Tara shouted in anger and stamped her foot. 'You're not meant to enjoy it!'

Michela simmered and licked her tongue over moist lips. When they took her down and stood her on the trolley she relinquished all modesty and control. Rubbing herself against the pole, wetting its surface with the moisture of lust, staring into the cameras, pouting for all who had taken her.

'Don't keep her too long,' Miss Juliet told the warden. 'She has an article to complete.'

Moments in C.P. History. Number XIII-XIV

Moments in C.P. History
A Series by Paul Melrose

Number 11-13. ***

I should explain something.

In Februs in the 90s were published on 14 issues of this series. Alex in his blog in 2008 posted the edited version only 13 stories from 14. I, in turn, have only 9 original texts from the magazine. So it happened that I don't know in what order in the magazine were published texts from 11th to 13th, and I do not have one of these texts at all.

I can only assume that this picture belongs to the missing issue:

but I'm not sure in this.

If I ever find the missing issue of this series, I am sure I'll post it in my blog and tell the visitors...

Number 14. Martha Douglas* (Original text from Februs 45)

The United States, throughout its history, has long had a tradition of corporal punishment and even today, when 'civilised' Europe has made the use of beating illegal in prisons and schools, the US continues to exercise 'state's rights' in the application of corporal punishment, particularly in its schools, to both males and females should the public be perceived to favour it, thus there is no common policy across the country.

Why then, you may ask, is 'Moments' going back to the schoolrooms of the United States of nearly 200 years ago, to 1823 in fact, when CP is so prevalent in the country's schools today? Well the reason is that the case in point created a flurry of attention for a number of reasons and eventually led to a change in the law of the state concerned.

In the United States today, most of the states which allow school beating, in the form of the paddle, are in the deep south and, sadly, a disproportionate number of the recipients are black.

The case of Martha Douglas back in 1823 was very different both in the nature of the state, the background of the girl concerned and the nature of the punishment. She was a white girl, a middle-class grocer's daughter, well educated and living in Massachusetts, a state which, despite its notoriety during the witchcraft hearings, was regarded as civilised and 'decent'... a far cry from its 'country hicks' down south. The ripples from the Douglas case changed American perceptions for a time, the resultant furore and highlighted legal anomalies keeping the lawyers busy for a long time.

Martha Anne Douglas was born into a well to do household in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1805, an attractive and intelligent girl whose parents had always taught her to respect her elders, to be polite but to stand up for herself, honestly and firmly. The young girl took the words of her parents to heart and grew up to be a daughter of whom they could be proud. At the time of the incident in question, Martha Douglas was one month short of her 18th birthday, a young woman rather than a child, and already 'walking out' with a young man with marriage a distinct possibility in the not too distant future. Until then Martha had to behave like any other obedient schoolgirl studying hard for her examinations.

She was a keen and enthusiastic attendee at the Leonard Rushmore Public School in Cambridge where she received glowing reports of her attitude and application. Like most public schools the classes were mixed ones with boys and girls equally divided.

The school employed an English teacher named Jessica Stowe and rumour had it that Mrs Stowe was not over enamoured of Martha Douglas, considering the girl to be too smart, too ready with a quick answer and, in effect, a show off. Such feelings were maybe a recipe for what was to occur on the fateful day in May during Jessica Stowe's English class.

During her lesson, Mrs Stowe heard what she later described to a packed courtroom as whispering and giggling from behind her as she wrote on the blackboard. She also swore that the voice, which was unmistakable, belonged to Martha Douglas. She turned round and ordered Martha to walk out to the front of the class and extend the palm of her hand for one stroke of a thin cane.

It was now that the girl's parental advice, to be honest and stand up for herself, were to prove her undoing. Red-faced with embarrassment, the girl rose to her feet and said politely 'Ma'am I have done nothing to be punished for'. Aghast at this show of insolence, Jessica Stowe demanded that the girl come out to the front where the punishment would be increased to three strokes for her insubordination. Close to tears, Martha remained defiantly in her place and muttered 'With respect, Ma'am, no I will not! I am guilty of no offence'. The class was now buzzing for no pupil had dared to behave in this way before.

Jessica Stowe, while-faced with rage, stormed out of the classroom and returned some ten minutes later accompanied by the male Principal and two other male teachers. Whatever story Mrs Stowe had told must have been convincing because at the behest of the Principal, the two teachers grabbed Martha and dragged her kicking and screaming to the front of the class where she was forcibly stretched across the teacher's desk by one of the male helpers.

As the girl shrieked in horror and shame, the other teacher pulled up her long skirt and petticoats while the Principal untied the strings of her drawers and pulled them down, baring her bottom to the entire mixed class. Producing a birch rod, he then told Martha she would receive a punishment she would remember all her life, then delivered twelve scorching strokes of the birch to the girl's naked buttocks as she wept and squealed. When the punishment was over she was made to stand in the corner, red bottom on display for the rest of the lesson.

When the lesson was over, risking further punishment, the humiliated Martha fled from school and went home, collapsing in hysterics into the arms of her mother. When the facts were known and the damage inspected, Mrs Douglas sent for the magistrate. As a result the three male participants in the affair were arrested and charged with indecent abuse of a minor.

The court case lasted three weeks and the legal wrangles went back and forth as the prosecution argued that the laws of Massachusetts had clearly been broken in that the whipping of females on the bare buttocks was forbidden by statute. Defence lawyers argued that a school is 'a state within a state' where decrees affecting the judicial treatment of females do not apply. They argued that the school had a written constitution and a clearly evident corporal punishment policy.

The prosecution then replied that this did not cover the bare bottom punishment of pupils AND in full public view of the opposite sex too, that the teachers had exceeded their authority and committed a punishable offence. The defence replied that the corporal punishment policy was deliberately non specific in order to allow situations such as that of this 'unruly girl' to be dealt with in the appropriate manner and that all parents who valued the preservation of in loco parentis authority would support the action of the Principal and his staff. They argued that the laws of the Slate had no place in this matter and that, unless wilful and malicious cruelty could be proved, the school was within its rights to punish the girl as it saw fit.

The defence argument won the day and the three teachers were acquitted without a stain on their characters. The arguments about the decision raised hackies in the US press with the Conservative newspapers supporting the decision and the Liberals calling it an outrage.

Martha Douglas' parents appealed against the verdict but to no avail. They then sued privately and lost that too, the girl now forced to leave school after so much notoriety meant she could no longer expect to receive fair and unbiased treatment.

Although she lost the battle, in the long term, Martha Douglas and her family won the war, although a little late to save Martha from humiliation and indignity. The Massachusetts Senate, embarrassed by the adverse publicity, brought forward at its next sitting a bill which encompassed the State's public schools and which expressly forbade the corporal punishment of pupils of either sex on the naked buttocks either in public or in private.
________________

*This is the last in the series.

Moments in C.P. History. Numbers X-XII

Moments in C.P. History
A Series by Paul Melrose

Number 10. Princess Batthyany (Original text from Februs 41)

The name of Princess Irene Batthyany is not one which is familiar to most people but, nevertheless, she had a brief flirtation with both fame and humiliation as the beautiful wife of Count Lajos Batthyany whose reign as President of Hungary was brief and tragic, ending in his execution. The widowed Princess, though spared such a fate, was nonetheless subject to a very public shame which forms the basis of this particular 'Moment'.

In the mid 19th century, Europe was controlled by mighty empires, one of the biggest being the Austrian Empire which then included part of Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia, Serbia and Hungary. The year of 1848 became known as the year of revolution because, almost simultaneously, many of these subordinate nations began to flex their muscles and demand varying degrees of self government. In the forefront of these nations was Hungary. The politics involved in the issue were complex and so the reader will be spared too much insomnia-inducing background. To understand how Irene Batthyany arrived at her humiliating fate however it is necessary to mention a few names and look at a brief summary of events.

The first of these people was Louis Kossuth. He was the leader of the opposition to Austrian control and in 1848, amid a tide of revolt, he saw the opportunity to demand a certain degree of self government for the Hungarians. Austria at first reacted with anger and indignation, but when revolution actually broke out in Vienna itself, the Austrians, fearing Hungary might secede from the empire, capitulated.

Amid scenes of joy, a fellow member of the Austrian opposition, Count Lajos Batthyany, was appointed provisional President of the new semi independent Hungary and the provisional government sought to form a type of government acceptable to the people, which turned out to be a pseudo monarchy with Batthyany at its head. So Batthyany adopted the courtesy title of Prince and his proud and lovely wife became Princess Batthyany. Irene Batthyany was a dark haired beauty in her early forties at the time of the revolt, the mother of five children including three adult sons who were serving in the Hungarian army.

The joy was short lived for, though Hungary had its limited self government, it immediately inherited problems. Within Hungary's borders lay the state of Croatia whose people also sought self rule. Given the lesser of two evils, if the Croatians had disliked being 'slaves' of Austria, they positively detested falling under the writ of the 'Magyars' and immediately began to agitate against the situation with their overall rulers in Austria.

So a new key name in the saga emerged when Austria appointed a new Commissar for Croatia, a Colonel Joseph Jellacic, who was fanatically anti Hungarian. Once in power he broke off relations between Croatia and Hungary on 19th April 1848, putting the new Hungarian regime immediately in trouble from that point on. On 10th May, a Slovak minority in Hungary asked for independent rights within Hungary and 5 days later the Romanians condemned the new union with Hungary.

Prince Batthyany, realising that his newly self governing nation was facing trouble from all quarters, tried to do deals with his Austrian masters if they disavowed the Croatian leader Jellacic. Batthyany and his wife were contemptuous of Jellacic and his motives and made no secret of the fact in public utterances, which drove the Croatian leader to fury. Given subsequent events, this was to prove a terrible error of judgment by the Batthyany family, for the Austrians, while apparently sympathetic to Batthyany's problems, were secretly boosting Jellacic in undermining the Hungarian regime.

Confident now that he had Austria's blessing, Joseph Jellacic's Croatian army, together with a Serbian force, attacked Hungary in June of 1848 and very quickly captured most of South Hungary.

The hapless Prince Batthyany resigned and the Hungarian government attempted a compromise with their Austrian masters but to no avail, Batthany's resignation proving to be the catalyst for an open war between the young Hungarian government and the Austrian monarchy.

Despite the Prince's resignation from government, the brave and determined Hungarians were at first remarkably successful on the battlefield, turning the early tide against them, and prompting the abdication of the Austrian emperor Ferdinand in favour of his nephew Francis Joseph. Soon, however, the weight of numbers was too much and the reconstituted Austrian army launched new assaults taking the Hungarian capital city of Pest within 2 weeks.

The outcome of hostilities was finally decided when the Russians, under Czar Nicholas I, who had stood by and watched developments, finally decided that if Hungary proved successful, revolt might begin within the Russian empire, and so decided to crush the Hungarians in order to deter such thoughts.

In June of 1849, two Russian armies entered Hungary, a total of nearly half a million men now opposing the Hungarian regime. It was too much. The Hungarian government fled into exile and, on 13th August 1849, the Russian Commander Marshal Paskievicz was able to report to his Czar. 'Hungary lies at your feet your Majesty.'

Now the full weight of Russian retribution hit Hungary. The country was placed under a military administration and thirteen of Hungary's senior officers were publicly hanged. Prince Batthyany, unable to escape from the country with his family, had tried to commit suicide by cutting his throat but was forcibly prevented from doing so. He was arrested and on October 6th 1849 was shot by firing squad. The occupying forces then proceeded to run riot, tearing down Hungarian flags and wrecking Hungarian shops. About 100 more executions followed until an amnesty spared the remainder, including the widowed Princess Irene Batthyany who was allowed to remain in the her lavish home until it was decided what to do with her.

The mood of the mob, which at first had been so supportive of Hungarian independence, turned sour in the aftermath of humiliating defeat, much of the anger turning on the exiled Government and the Batthyany family. Boosted by the public mood, a group of Russian officers decided one weekend in November of 1849 to teach the widowed Irene Batthyany a humiliating lesson. A dozen Russian soldiers gate crashed the Palace of the Batthyany family and found Princess Irene alone apart from her serving maid. Frightened, she demanded they leave only to be told that, for her arrogance and because her sons had fought with the rebel Hungarian forces, she should accept her share of responsibility and punishment for bringing her country to such a parlous low.

Despite her shrieks of protest, Irene Batthyany was carried out of her palace by the officers and taken, kicking and screaming to the Pest market square where an enthusiastic mob soon gathered to witness Irene's humiliation. The terrified Irene was put up onto a platform and her head and hands secured in a pillory reserved usually for the vagrants and prostitutes who were regularly punished in public.

If her shame at such treatment was not enough, Irene was further mortified to see the Croat leader Jellacic, who she had oft derided, seated on the platform with a group of Croat officers all thirsting to witness her degradation. Cheered on by the mob, the Russian officers lifted Irene's dress and petticoats, securing them to her shoulders, then pulled down her lace drawers exposing her naked bottom to the jeering mob. One of the Russians then removed his thick leather belt and proceeded to spank the bare bottom of the shrieking Princess before handing over to another soldier who continued the punishment. The punishment continued until all the officers had administered the belt to Irene's by now scarlet and roasting bottom for some considerable time.

When Princess Irene Batthyany was shrieking in anguish, her bottom crimson and swollen with pain, the Russians relented and she was released. She was made to kiss the hand of Jellacic and offer apologies for past slights before being allowed to pull up her drawers and adjust her dress. The poor woman, having adjusted her clothing, was then compelled to drag herself home on foot, completely humiliated, through a howling mob who pelted her with rotten fruit and vegetables.

Eventually the military dictatorship was replaced, in July 1850, by a civilian one which eased up on the brutality but made certain that any traces of Hungary's abortive attempts at independence were carefully removed. This included dispersing the Batthyany family into the countryside and rehousing them in more frugal accommodation, taking them and their brief acquaintance with fame out of the limelight for ever.

Number 11-13. Jeanne Du Barry and Caroline de Rozen (This is the text from Alex's blog, edited by Alex in 2008)

The future Countess du Barry was born on August 19th 1743 in Vaucoleurs, France, as humble Jeanne Becu, a child born out of wedlock to a pastry cook named Annie Becu. It is suggested that Jeanne's father may well have been a friar who served as spiritual advisor to the local convent (the irony is not lost!) a man named Jean Baptiste Gormand of Vaubernier who was certainly Annie Becu's lover.

Thanks to the friar's influence, Jeanne had a better education than she might have expected at the convent of Saint-Aure in Paris. At fifteen she left school and took on several positions as lady's maid to the wealthy and influential, thus she had access to the nobility of Paris. In 1763 she met a notorious rake named Jean du Barry, and eventually became his mistress. He was known in Paris as 'Jean the Vile' and was frequently interviewed by the police for his custom of prostituting his lovers, Jeanne Becu included. It appears from journals written to friends that Jeanne had begun to loathe the degradation into which she had sunk and was anxious to attain more respectability.

In 1768, Jeanne Becu was introduced at court and came to the attention of Louis XV who was immediately attracted to her and wanted her as his mistress. Convention at the time decreed that, in order to deflect gossip, a mistress had to be a married woman who would thus arrive at court with her husband, the husband then presumably waiting patiently while the King dallied with his wife, and would then, dutifully, take her home. Decorum was thus preserved. So Jeanne Becu married Guillaume Barry, the brother of her procurer, Jean, in order to become one of Louis XV's many mistresses. Her future was thus secured and she became a woman of some influence.

Jeanne du Barry became a patron of the arts and a known protector of artists and intellectuals. She was an attractive, excitable woman of strong passions and little patience. It is said that she made friends easily thanks to her outward-going nature and easy laughter, but frequently lost them again thanks to her jealousy and sensitivity to perceived slights.

Among the many contacts the Countess du Barry made at court were the Countess of Provence and her teenage lady-in-waiting, Caroline, Marchioness de Rozen. While the relationship between the two Countesses was never more than cordial at best, Jeanne du Barry formed an immediate attachment to the pretty young lady-in-waiting who was eighteen or nineteen at the time of their first meeting. It appears to have been reciprocal for the young Marchioness appeared to revel in the company of the vivacious Jeanne du Barry. So much so that the two became firm friends, the young Caroline always being on Du Barry's guest list for every social function. There was no suggestion of any sexual liaison, they were like two sisters, happy in each others company, and the young Marchioness would boast to her friends that she was one of Jeanne du Barry's favourites, never far away when she was needed and always present at every glittering ball and social function.

Given natural human jealousy and possessiveness, such an idyllic existence could not last for ever and the Countess of Provence, who had watched the developing friendship with growing anger, finally put her foot down. She told her young lady-in-waiting, in no uncertain terms, that this close friendship with Du Barry had to stop. It was, she told the girl, demeaning for herself to be excluded from so many functions to which the young Marchioness was invited and that the girl was not to continue the friendship any longer. Frightened of the wrath of her mentor, the Marchioness ignored future invitations to any of Du Barry's social occasions and, when compelled to go to the Palace with her own mistress, treated Jeanne du Barry with coldness and indifference.

Jeanne was furious and very upset by this snub and complained to Louis XV about the slight she had received. The King, most probably in jest, replied that the Marchioness was little more than a child with all the temperamental vagaries of a child. He apparently suggested that 'a taste of the rod would do that little thing no harm' and chuckled that he wouldn't mind watching Caroline's young bottom get a taste of it either!

Whether this was intended to be taken seriously or not, the angry Jeanne du Barry took him at his word. She sent a message to the young Marchioness asking if she could visit in secret the next morning as there were important matters that needed to be discussed relating to her future at court, suggesting it would be to her benefit if she could get away. Flattered by the hint, and undoubtedly curious, Caroline made some excuse to her mistress and took a carriage into Paris to Du Barry's sumptuous home.

In the meantime, Jeanne du Barry had informed the King that, if he were to arrive in secret and hide behind a dressing screen in her boudoir, he might see something to his liking. Puzzled, but happy to play his lover's games the King duly arrived and took his place behind the screen.

Downstairs, an apparent reconciliation had been effected with Jeanne and the young Marchioness breakfasting together amid great cordiality. Once the repast was over, Jeanne du Barry told her young guest that there were documents pertaining to her future role at court in Jeanne's boudoir and that they should go up there with all haste. Suspecting nothing, Caroline de Rozen followed the Countess into her bedroom whereupon the door was rapidly slammed shut and four very strong chamber-maids grabbed the young Marchioness and dragged her, screaming, over to the bed where she was thrown face down.

As the girl shrieked in fear and shame, at a word from Jeanne du Barry, her long skirts and petticoats were hoisted up high on her back, completely baring her bottom. Jeanne then angrily told the girl this was the price for snubbing the Countess du Barry, and that, after today's experience, she would never do such a thing again.

Before the delighted eyes of the King secreted behind the screen, while two of the maids held the struggling Caroline, the other two picked up stout birch rods and began to whip the young Marchioness across her bare buttocks very severely until the skin broke and little spots of blood began to run down her thighs. At this point Jeanne du Barry ordered that the whipping be stopped and the girl be allowed to rise. This she did with great difficulty, weeping hysterically before fleeing back to her carriage and home... presumably kneeling all the way!

Unable to tell her mistress, the Countess of Provence, what had happened for she had broken a promise and would be in more trouble, Caroline de Rozen wrote directly to the King complaining about her treatment. She received a reply, apparently sympathetic, saying he would question Jeanne du Barry on the matter , but that of course he would be unable to do anything unless Caroline was prepared to come to court and display the evidence to him. Such a humiliating proposal made it obvious to the Marchioness that her complaint was falling on deaf ears, and she sought advice from her friends on what to do next.

All, without exception, suggested that she make up with Jeanne du Barry with all haste for the Countess was too powerful an enemy to confront, and Caroline took the advice. She wrote to Jeanne asking if she could visit once more, apologising for past slights and confessing that her chastisement was no more than she deserved.

Delighted by the success of her actions, Jeanne was pleased to welcome back her young friend and agreed that the friendship would continue in secret in order that the Countess of Provence would not be discomfited in any way, and so it was done.

In 1774, Louis XV died and, for some time, Jeanne du Barry became a forgotten figure in France. Not one to let the grass grow under her feet for long, she courted the new power in the land, the Duke of Brissac and became his lover of many years. in 1789, the French Revolution began and Jeanne began to make many trips to London, ostensibly to secure her jewellery in safe banks. She made contact with a number of exiled aristocrats while in England, a very dangerous practice, which led eventually to her downfall and death. The Revolutionary Government considered her actions as treacherous and, in 1793, Jeanne du Barry was arrested and charged with working against the revolution.

She was sentenced to death and on 8th December 1793, at the age of fifty, the Countess Jeanne du Barry went to the guillotine. She did not meet impending death with any great courage or dignity (and who could blame her!), collapsing several times in the tumbril en route to the guillotine and screaming to the crowd from the platform "Why do you want to hurt me? Why?" and eventually becoming so hysterical that she was difficult to restrain. The last words she ever spoke are probably her most famous, "Encore un moment, monsieur le bourreau, un petit moment," ("One moment more, executioner, one little moment") and then the blade did its work.

Number 11-13. Catherine the Great (This is the text from Alex's blog, edited by Alex in 2008)

Catherine the Second of Russia, later to be known as Catherine the Great, was born Sophia Augusta Fredericka, Princess of Auhalt-Zerbst on 2nd May 1729 in Stettin, Prussia. Her father was Prince Christian August, a general in the Prussian army but the driving force in the young Sophia's eventual rise to fame was her mother, Princess Johanna Elizabeth, a woman of great ambition.

The seeds of influence were sown early when Prince Karl August, one of Princess Johanna's brothers, became engaged to Elizabeth, the Empress of Russia, but the boy died unexpectedly in 1727 before any nuptials could be arranged. Johanna's cousin, Karl Frederick, had also married the daughter of Peter the Great, so the strength of relationship between the Prussian and Russian courts was firmly established by the early part of the 18th century.

When Empress Elizabeth sought a wife for her son and successor, Peter III, much deep and earnest correspondence ensued between Elizabeth and the Prussian Princess Johanna with the result that, on January 1st 1744, the young Sophia and her mother were invited to St. Petersburg by Elizabeth and her son. Sophia was then just fourteen years old. The Empress was delighted by the young Sophia for she found a very attractive young girl, intelligent and perceptive beyond her years. Thus it was agreed that, subject to Sophia's conversion to the Russian Orthodox Church, the girl would marry Peter. As part of the conversion process, Sophia had to be given a new name ordained by the Empress and Elizabeth chose to call the girl 'Catherine' in honour of her own mother.

Peter III proved to be a sickly young man and had several bouts of serious illness during Catherine's visit, and had survived a serious bout of measles in 1743 which left him sterile. This fact appears to have been withheld from Catherine until well after the two were married on 2nd August 1745.

Marriage thus proved to be a horror for Catherine. Her role was to produce a male heir and it didn't happen. She began to feel guilty and fractious, leaning on only a few trusted advisors and friends. She saw little of her husband, spending her time riding horses and reading the works of Voltaire. A few months into the marriage, the Empress Elizabeth reorganised Catherine's court circle, dismissing many of the girl's close friends and replacing them with advisors of her own choosing. One of these was Sergei Saltykov, a long time friend of the Empress and. many dared only whisper, probably more than that. Saltykov had a reputation as a strong and virile ladies man who was encouraged by Empress Elizabeth to become close to the young Princess Catherine. It soon became clear to the young girl what her mother in law was doing and she acceded to the Empress's clear desire that she take Saltykov to her bed in order to produce a child, a task for which her husband was incapable.

After two miscarriages Catherine finally gave birth to a son on 20th September 1754, the child being named Paul. The fact that the child was a boy took all the weight of expectation from Catherine's shoulders and allowed her greater freedom of movement and a chance to study English, at which she rapidly became fluent.

In 1761 the now ailing Empress Elizabeth died on Christmas Day and Peter III became Emperor of Russia. If his health was not a big enough handicap, Peter lacked any political savvy and consequently, during his period of waiting to step into his mother's shoes, had made himself very unpopular. Catherine, his wife, on the other hand, had steadfastly cultivated her own friends, her own advisors and her own 'court' and, amazingly for someone who was a foreigner, was very popular throughout Russia.

Catherine was advised, even before Elizabeth was laid to rest, to overthrow her husband and take the Russian throne but she sought various counsel and decided against it.

The coup was not long in coming, however, and by June 1762, Catherine and her advisors realised that there could be no further prevarication for the situation in the country was becoming ever more hostile to Peter so, on 28th June 1762, Catherine led a march through St Petersburg which picked up support and momentum along the way. Peter and his mistress escaped from the city to a country retreat where, on July 6th, he was tracked down by Catherine's agents and murdered. It became clear that Count Alexei Orloff, one of Catherine's most trusted advisors, had conspired with her in this murder but she justified it on the grounds that Russian independence was threatened by the Prussian links of her late husband..... of which she, of course, was the first!

Catherine was crowned on Sunday 22nd September 1762 in the Kremlin and proceeded to install all her trusted advisors in key positions, including the aforementioned Count Orloff who became Minister of Police and the Interior, a role in which he would exercise more than a slight taste for corporal punishment. Catherine ruled as a benign dictator who, in fact, scrapped the death penalty and brought in some enlightened social legislation.

If Catherine was basically a benign and enlightened despot, there were two areas in which she would have no patience or sympathy. One was her lack of regard for anyone who, whether through foolishness or malice, might betray Russia, and the other was anyone who would spread malicious gossip about Catherine herself. Catherine had ample cause to worry on both counts for revolts and minor uprisings were rife in the early years of her reign and her propensity for affairs with countless men left her vulnerable to attack. In both areas her wrath was manifested through severe physical retribution.

An example of such was an incident which followed a masked ball at the Palace of St Petersburg where a very well connected lady, the wife of a senior Russian general, had apparently drunk a little too much and was making very indiscreet remarks concerning Russia's alliances and her husband's opinion of them. The ball was attended by a number of foreign dignitaries who could clearly hear some of the lady's opinions and were not best pleased. The lady's indiscretions soon came to the ear of Catherine and she passed word to Orloff to get something done about it. The lady was told that her husband, who was away in the army, had left word for her and she was to return home. Unsuspecting, the General's wife left the ball in the company of Orloff's men, but instead of being taken home, she was taken to Orloff's Interior Ministry and down to a basement.

To her horror, she saw that the room contained a vaulting horse and an array of rods and birches. Count Orloff himself came into the room and read her the riot act about loose tongues undermining the Empress and the State. To her shame and horror, the frightened lady was told to strip naked, at which she protested violently, citing her position in society and her husband's rank. Orloff told her, in no uncertain terms, that her husband would have no military rank if she did not do as she was told and, as far as her position in society was concerned, the punishment had been ordained by the Empress Catherine herself, and that her future at court was very much in the balance.

The lady hesitated no longer and stripped naked, then was firmly strapped down over the vaulting horse. On Orloff's command, she was birched soundly until her shrieks rang round the room and her bottom was red raw. She was then released, allowed to dress, and sent home with a warning that any repeat of such injudicious behaviour would result in imprisonment.

An example of what happened when Catherine's personal trust was betrayed can be illustrated by the experience of one of her most trusted Maids Of Honour. The girl was responsible for the Empress's intimate dressing and bathing, thus of course found herself privy to some very private secrets including the sight of certain of Catherine's lovers arriving and departing the boudoir. The girl was engaged to be married and could not resist passing some juicy tittle-tattle to her fiance who, in turn, repeated it at one of his dining clubs in St Petersburg. Inevitably the gossip got back to the Empress who was livid with rage. Instead of reacting immediately, Catherine bided her time until the girl's wedding. After the happy couple had retired to the bedroom to consummate their marriage, the bedroom was forced open by six men of Catherine's personal bodyguard. Without ceremony, the sheets were stripped from the naked couple and the girl dragged out of bed. She was 'horsed' on the back of one of the guards while another birched her bottom mercilessly. The helpless husband was ordered to kneel naked and watch the proceedings on his knees.

When the birching was over and the girl was crying in anguish, the couple was told to enjoy their married life and, as far as Catherine was concerned, the flogging was the end of the matter. The couple was told that should any further indiscretions occur, however, both would be sent to a labour camp in Siberia. Needless to say the 'hint' was taken seriously.

Catherine's reign was a difficult one in many ways, yet she ruled Russia for over thirty years. Although she had her critics, she was greatly loved for her enlightened social policies and her military wisdom. Her final years were haunted by illness and depression, including a loss of faith in her son, Paul, who she attempted to have removed from the line of inheritance. The attempts failed and the now ailing Catherine died, following a stroke, on 5th November 1796. Her son did indeed inherit the throne of Russia, immediately tried to reverse many of his mother's reforms, and in fact, restored the memory of his 'father', Peter III, holding a new lying in ceremony so that Peter was buried next to his wife in the Peter and Paul Cathedral of St Petersburg.

Moments in C.P. History. Numbers VII-IX

Moments in C.P. History
A Series by Paul Melrose

"You're gonna hate me, readers, but as there aren't that many left I'm going to do just do one per post from here on in, but I'll add a bit more detail to each" (Alex put the phrase in his blog, before he began to post the numbers from 7 to 14 of this series. He meant that some texts, which he will post in his blog, will differ from those texts, which were published in Februs. I'm in the future will always warn readers, if some text is taken from Alex's blog and differs from the original text from the magazine)

Number 7. The Boston Quakers (This is the text from Alex's blog, edited by Alex in 2008)

From the very beginning of the migration of religious dissidents from England to the New World, Puritans, mainly Calvinists, had built and developed the city of Boston as a tribute to God's Kingdom on earth, a shining example of strict theology, subservience to church elders and to elected magistrates. They perceived true faith to be represented through strong personal discipline and obedience. Then, in 1656, the first Quakers began to arrive in Massachusetts, many missionaries finding their way to Boston.

Initially there were no laws within Boston preventing Quakers from worshiping as they saw fit or spreading their version of the faith. However, it soon became clear to the Calvinists just what a frightening threat to the established order the Quakers presented with their ideology of 'inner light', independent convictions and individual conscience. All this 'anarchy' was complete anathema to the strict Puritan ethic and very soon the leaders of the community resolved to rid the state of Quakers by any means possible. The first 'shot across the bows' was fired when a ship called The Swallow arrived in Boston harbour in July 1656, carrying two devout Quaker missionaries named Mary Fisher and Anne Austin. They were immediately arrested when they set foot on shore and all their belongings confiscated. Both women were stripped naked in the presence of six male magistrates and humiliatingly searched for evidence of witchcraft. None was found and the two women were sent back to England, but only after all their Quaker tracts had been burned in the market place.

Laws were hastily brought in tightening the screw on Quakers and making it illegal to ship them into Boston. The laws included a whipping sentence for all Quakers who entered the city and heavy fines on any ships captain who transported them. All this did was encouraged more brave Quakers to flood into the city to advance their faith and to express their outrage. In 1659, three Quakers travelled from Rhode Island to Massachusetts to protest against the persecution of their faith. The two men were arrested and hanged and the woman, Mary Dyer, escaped death and was returned to Rhode Island. This brave, or foolhardy (take your pick), woman returned a year later saying it was God's will that she be sent to Boston and this time she too was hanged.

One incident above all others changed the climate for the Quakers because it shamed and embarrassed the local populace and forced are think of some attitudes. This was the arrival in 1662 of three young English Quaker women to the township of Dover, near Boston. They were Ann Coleman, Mary Tompkins and Alice Ambrose. They made a general nuisance of themselves preaching against the established faith and restrictions on individual conscience. Eventually an influential church elder named (yes honestly!) Hatevil Nutter organised a petition to have the women arrested. On receipt of the petition, Richard Waldron, the Crown magistrate issued an order to the constables of each of eleven towns within the Boston area that the three young women should be tied to a cart tail, stripped to the waist, and given ten stripes apiece with a horse whip on their naked backs in each of the eleven towns.

This was a hideous ruling, a total of 110 stripes each, in addition to the forced march tied half naked to the cart tail to each of the towns, a journey of more than 80 miles in bitterly cold winter weather.

On a freezing cold day, in Dover, the three young women were stripped to the waist, tied to the cart tail and severely whipped while the local populace stood and laughed. They were then towed to Hampton, the second of the towns, and delivered to the constable. Early the next day, the cart was set up in the market place and the three women were again ordered to strip to the waist. Two of them obeyed, but Anne Coleman bravely refused. As a result she was stripped completely naked by the constable, displayed to the crowd and then forced to suffer her whipping naked before being allowed to dress her lower half again. Then the three women were towed to Salisbury where the appalling punishment was delivered for a third time.

In Salisbury however, providence came to their aid. A local doctor who was also a magistrate, one William Barefoot, rather bravely overturned the Crown order and declared the punishment to be complete. He personally dressed the wounds of the three women and returned them personally to the state of Maine and safety just across the river. Had the full sentence been administered there is every possibility that the women might have died. As it was, the public humiliation vented on these poor women gave some Boston worthies some uncomfortable food for thought, and pressure to ease up on Quaker persecution began to grow.

Eventually in 1663, these three brave young women returned to Dover and established a Quaker church. By the year 1670, a third of the citizens of Dover, Massachusetts were Quakers, so the sacrifice made by these young women and their predecessors did at last bear fruit.

Number 8. Catherine de Medici (Original text from Februs 39)

Catherine de Medici was born in 1519 in Auvergne and was related via her maternal grandmother to the royal house of France. She was orphaned when only a baby but her fortunes appeared to have changed when, still only thirteen years old, she was given in marriage to Henry, the second son of King Francis I of France. Much political intrigue had surrounded this match because Pope Clement VII was Catherine's uncle and the King had hoped, by this marriage, to gain much influence in papal circles. However, when the Pope died the year following the wedding, all Francis' scheming with regard to marrying off his son came to naught, thus Catherine became 'disposable' and was consigned to obscurity for ten years even after Henry became King. The humiliation she suffered was intense, having to pander to the whims of her husband's beautiful mistress, Diane of Poitiers, merely to retain some degree of respect and authority. It is said that this experience coloured much of her attitude in later life.

She became very powerful once Henry died in 1559 and her son Francis II took the throne. He was the husband of Mary Stuart and worshipped his mother, allowing her great political influence in the affairs of state which she grasped eagerly, being a shrewd political operator. Her second 'reign' began in 1560 when her son Francis died. As her second son, Charles IX, was only ten years old, Catherine became regent and virtually sovereign. She displayed great political skill and diplomacy in her dealings with Protestant England, under Elizabeth I, Catholic Spain under Phillip II (who was her son in law), and the Huguenots within her own borders who were demanding a state within a state. Catherine persisted in her policy of moving back and forth between the Huguenot, English Protestant and Catholic positions refusing to ally herself with one or the other. When Charles IX attained his majority, he told his mother she should have even more power, but the fragile alliances were falling apart. Catherine was frightened that the young king, inclined to the Huguenot cause, would create problems with Spain and she gave the order for the murder of one of the leading Huguenot statesmen in order to deflect her son from such a course.

Tragically, Charles IX died aged only 25 in 1574 and her third son, Henry Duke of Anjou became King of France. He was a much more independent man than his two brothers and the influence of Catherine fell very rapidly It was at this time that Catherine's flirtation with the sect of the flagellants became a matter of public record and one can surmise that a powerful woman suddenly deprived of influence might need some alternative source of spiritual guidance and direction. To the consternation of many, including her son, she found it with the Black Brotherhood, a flagellant sect which, in late 1574, marched through Avignon with Catherine at its head.

Her power slipping away, Catherine's private behaviour began to reflect her newly found public obsession. Dark stories began to circulate around the Palace that Catherine had begun to physically chastise her errant female staff and that one lady's maid, who had apparently been caught trying on a dress belonging to the now Queen Mother was whipped with birch rods until her bottom bled copiously. This became a regular pattern of behaviour during the latter part of her life and there were few maidservants who survived a week without severe stripes across their buttocks. The least blemish in behaviour by any of her maidservants, a soiled bedsheet, dust in the corners, breakfast brought late, all punished by the poor girl stripping naked for a sound dose of the rod before being allowed tearfully and painfully to resume her duties.

Catherine began to preach the gospel of flagellation and corporal punishment both as an instrument of restored religious values and as a necessary domestic correction. She attempted to persuade her son to restore the flagellant sect to a position of influence within the country but Henry was outraged and would have none of it. So she compensated by practising on her staff at every given opportunity.

Perhaps the most notorious of Catherine's excesses followed a violent outburst of anger when she overheard four of her ladies in waiting making fun of her irritability and increasingly eccentric behaviour. These were not common serving maids but themselves ladies of the nobility for whom serving the Queen Mother was a stepping stone to finding a husband of some wealth and influence. What followed therefore must have been as humiliating an experience as it was possible to bear. Catherine hosted a dinner party for a number of influential members of the nobility during which the four young ladies in waiting were summoned into the room. To the surprise, and in most cases, severe embarrassment of the mainly male guests the unfortunate ladies in waiting were naked from the waist down and made to stand in front of the guests while Catherine delivered a public condemnation of their behaviour. Then, in front of the assembled gathering, the four young women were bent over a table and birched personally by Catherine until their screams rang round the Hall. Such was the disgust felt by many of the onlookers that Henry III felt obliged to warn his mother that no such behavior on her part would he ever tolerated again, and it seems she heeded his warning.

Meanwhile, Henry III had fallen into bad company and allowed his reign to fall into disrepute. He had no children and Catherine, now growing old and bitter, saw her fourth child Francis of Valois die in 1584 leaving the future of France to Henry of Bourbon, a Protestant. All that Catherine had worked for was falling apart before her eyes, yet she was still politically astute enough to try to save Henry III from his own bad judgements. Still desperate to keep traditional alliances intact, Catherine was in despair when she found out that Henry had murdered his arch rival the Duke of Guise. Old, bitter and totally disillusioned, Catherine died on 5th January 1589, only 13 days after hearing this news.

Catherine de Medici was a fascinating mixture of wife, mother, peacemaker, diplomat, tyrant and sadist. Ostensibly clever, historians have judged that far from securing the future of France, her devious and unscrupulous alliances which may have looked shrewd at the time actually sowed the seeds of long term instability and distrust in France which took many years to overcome.

Number 9. Father Cornelius Adriason (This is the text from Alex's blog, edited by Alex in 2008)

Cornelius Adriason was born in Brussels in 1518, effectively an only child, though his mother had given birth to a still-born infant earlier. He was brought up in a well-to-do, caring and religiously devout family whose most earnest wish was to see their son pass his theological examinations and enter the priesthood, which he succeeded in doing after hard work and application, not being the most naturally gifted of students.

He spent some time teaching in a church school and was, by all accounts, industrious rather than inspirational and it was not long before he realised his calling lay in more internal Church work. He applied through his diocese for an assignment to a monastic order and was duly appointed to a monastery in Brussels teaching theology where his plodding manner was not so much of a handicap.

Cornelius appears to have been a success in this role which he undertook for five years when, at the age of 30 he was appointed as spiritual mentor to the Convent of the Little Sisters in Bruges in 1548. This was a marked step up the ladder for Cornelius for, in such a convent where he was the only male authority figure, his word was law, his standing in the convent hierarchy above even that of the Mother Superior. By understood convention, however, the spiritual mentor did not interfere with the running of the convent in any way but had overall responsibility for the spiritual well-being of the nuns within its walls.

For the first six months of his tenure, he appears to have applied himself to the role with legitimate and wholesome vigour, earning much respect from the nuns and strengthening his individual position. Sometime within that first year, Cornelius, who had always been a solitary man with no experience of women, underwent an experience which was to change his life. On two separate occasions and concerning two different girls, Cornelius was approached by the Mother Superior with very serious concerns about the behaviour of a young nun. Cornelius, along with the Mother Superior, counselled the errant girl on each occasion and, prompted by the Mother Superior's insistence that suitable punishment should follow, it was agreed that Cornelius would flagellate the offender in public view of the entire convent. As was the custom, the girl was stripped to the waist and a scourge applied to her naked back.

Although by Cornelius' own account the punishments were not overly severe, the humiliation of a half-naked girl displayed to all and the administration of the whip appears to have fired desires in the priest which were to lead to outrageous excesses.

Adjacent to the convent was a girls' school which served the daughters of the wealthy merchants of Bruges and which functioned as a finishing school for older female pupils, virtually young women, who would become distinguished ladies in the society of the time. The school was proud of both its academic record and its commitment to teaching the Catholic faith, visits both to church on Sundays and to regular confessional at the adjacent convent being mandatory for all the girls. The pupils were indoctrinated with the power of the church and an awed respect for their spiritual confessor who they would visit, in the convent, to receive a blessing any any appropriate penance. Cornelius soon realised, by the very nature of his position, how much power he had over these girls and he soon determined to take advantage of it.

He was very careful in the way he devised his scheme, not rushing his fences or allowing himself to fall prey to carnal temptation which would have ruined the plan. Instead he counseled all the girls over a period of time, chose the ones he considered to be the most desirable and vulnerable, then proceeded to work on their innate sense of guilt. In modern legal parlance, Cornelius was undoubtedly guilty of 'grooming'. Soon he managed to persuade most of the girls he had targeted that mere penances of prayer and drudgery were not achieving the desired results and that more painful remedies were necessary. These poor impressionable girls, many very upset by what they now perceived to be their dreadful failings, were induced to virtually beg for corporal punishment to expiate their sins.

Cornelius was so cunning that he even demanded that they be certain that a whipping was what they needed then, on receiving affirmation, would accompany the girl to her home. There he would confront the distressed parents, the poor girl would break down and admit all her sins, and Cornelius would obtain written consent from the parents to administer discipline in any way he chose.

The trap having been laid and the bait taken, Cornelius was free to do as he wished. The errant girls were taken to his home which adjoined the convent, each girl having to report to him on a weekly basis. He arranged his schedule in such a way that he had 'wicked girls' to punish every day of the week. When the girl, nervous and ashamed, was ushered into Cornelius' home she was ordered to strip completely. Too frightened and respectful of the priest to refuse, she would do his bidding immediately. The girl would then be ordered to bend over a stool whereupon Cornelius would administer a variable number of strokes, either with a birch or a whip, to the girl's naked bottom. After the punishment, the girl would have to display her stripes for some time before being allowed to dress and return home.

Unbelievably, this practice continued, unabated for ten years during which time Cornelius later admitted, at his ecclesiastical enquiry, to having whipped or birched over 500 young women, some on multiple occasions. How long he would have continued to enjoy his abuse of power is anybody's guess but eventually, in 1558, the sexual desire which inevitably accompanied the whippings finally proved his undoing, but even then his unmasking was through accidental discovery, and not as the result of a victim's complaint.

It transpired that one student, who I believe to have been named Marie-Ann Leveque (although accounts differ), a niece of the Mayor of Bruges, was one of the penitents whose parents had agreed to regular disciplinary visits and who were quite happy in the knowledge that their daughter was receiving corporal correction at the hands of the priest. After all it WAS for her own good... Marie-Ann had admitted so herself. However one morning, the girl's mother woke her sleeping daughter, who had returned from a disciplinary visit to the priest the previous evening unusually tearful and distressed, and pulled back the sheet.

She was somewhat shocked by the number and intensity of red weals on her daughter's bottom but even more concerned by what were obviously spots of blood on the sheet. There being no obvious signs of broken skin as a result of the punishment, the girl was questioned by her angry mother and, under intense interrogation, Marie-Ann broke down. She said that when the punishment was over, the priest had held her tightly while she remained bending over then she felt something enter her 'shameful place'. A doctor was called who confirmed anal penetration and a shocked Leveque family began proceedings against the priest.

At first a wall of silence was thrown around the complaints by the Church but eventually, after great persistence by the girl's family and their influential civic contacts, an ecclesiastical enquiry was opened into the conduct of Father Cornelius Hadrian.

Amazingly, the priest did little to defend himself, virtually admitting every charge that was thrown at him, possibly because of guarantees obtained in advance to avoid embarrassing the Catholic Church with a protracted ecclesiastical 'trial'. He was dismissed from his post as mentor to the convent but on full pension and no criminal charges were ever brought against him.

It is assumed that the embarrassed parents, shocked at their own gullibility, had no wish to see their naivety exposed in open court thus Cornelius virtually escaped scot-free, happy in the knowledge, one assumes, that it was great while it lasted!

Moments in C.P. History. Numbers IV-VI

Moments in C.P. History
A Series by Paul Melrose

Number 4. Rose Keller

A woman stood outside the Church of the Little Fathers in the Place des Victoires in Paris begging for alms. Her name was Rose Keller and she had done this every day since losing her job as a cotton spinner. She had been a respectable married woman from Strasbourg but the premature death of her husband and the loss of her job had reduced the thirty six year old Rose to a life of begging of which she was ashamed. In the Paris of 1768, however, there were few choices for working women thrown into penury and Rose had taken the one she believed to be the least dishonourable... the other choice being one such a modest woman would not contemplate. Who knows how long Rose would have continued this sad ritual until disease and ultimately death from cold and exposure would claim her... but it was not to be, for one fateful day, events occurred which would have significant consequences for both Rose and for another.

The day was Easter Sunday, April 3rd 1768 and the man who approached the wretched woman begging for alms was named Donatien Alphonse Francois, the Marquis de Sade. He watched for a few moments as passers by thrust their small change into her grateful hand and then offered her two livres, a substantial sum, if she would follow him to his country cottage. Rose Keller was no fool and immediately sensed what she might have to do for such a considerable sum. Indignantly she protested that though she may have been reduced to begging she was 'not THAT sort of woman' and initially refused Sade's invitation.

Sade glibly informed Rose that, temporary resident in Paris as he was, he needed a housekeeper and this was a way to help her out of her difficulties. She was persuaded that the job carried a guarantee of plentiful food and shelter and this seductive promise convinced her to accept, a welcome relief from the desperate circumstances in which she had been living. De Sade's coach took them both to his cottage at Arcueil, just outside Paris, where the smooth convincing nobleman showed his guest to her new bedchamber and promised her some food and drink. Rose was overwhelmed by her new surroundings, hardly able to believe her good fortune, when Sade returned and invited her down to the breakfast room.

Once inside, Sade locked the door and ordered Rose to take off all her clothes. Genuinely shocked, Rose angrily refused declaring that she had been tricked and had explained that she was not a prostitute. Sade told her brusquely that unless she did as he ordered he would kill her and bury her in the garden. Terrified, Rose began to undress but, being a modest woman, refused to remove her chemise. The enraged Sade tore off the chemise then pushed the terrified naked woman face down onto his bed and began to whip her back and buttocks with, alternately, a bundle of canes and a cat o' nine tails.

During the whipping, as Rose was later to testify, Sade poured what felt like molten wax into her weals. The louder Rose screamed the harder Sade whipped until eventually she heard the Marquis shudder and groan, a sign that he had reached orgasm, and only then did her whipping cease.

Sade then locked Rose Keller in the bedroom after telling her he would take her back to Paris that evening but the shocked and terrified woman still feared that she might be murdered.

Left alone, Rose tore the sheet into strips and knotted the strands, escaping through the bedroom window. The woman then ran down the village street despite being spotted by Sade's valet who ran after her and offered a purseful of money for her silence. Hysterical and afraid, Rose brushed him aside and kept running until she reached the village where three women took her in hand, ultimately taking her to the home of the Chief Bailiff and to a police officer, where she repeated her story. The Bailiff's wife, a Mme Lambert, heard the story and examined Rose Keller's wounds, an experience which upset her so much she burst into tears and retired to her room.

The next day, Easter Monday, the charge was heard by a judge and it became apparent that Rose Keller was a very reliable witness. Sade's family was now certain that the Marquis was in serious trouble. A deputation was dispatched to see Rose, who was still recovering at the home of the town bailiff, and they were shocked to find that this 'simple' beggar woman had a sound financial head on her shoulders despite the ordeal. She demanded 3000 livres, the equivalent of about £9000, in order to drop any charges. The Sade family were stunned by the demand but eventually Rose Keller settled on 2600 livres, a truly sizeable sum.

Rose Keller's life changed for the better overnight as a result. A nightmare encounter which she feared might result in her death had in fact provided her with riches beyond her dreams, a chance of a new life and the opportunity to meet and marry a new husband, thus fate can deal a strange hand. For the Marquis, who appeared to have got away with it, this incident allied to others provided his enemies, primarily his mother in law, with the opportunity to convince the King that Sade should be put away for good. Ever the hedonistic libertine, Sade managed to commit more outrages on the moral senses of his neighbours, including a weekend long orgy involving sexual and flagellant activity with a number of very young girls before his eventual capture. Finally, after protracted attempts to fend off the inevitable, Sade was arrested and sent away to prison where he would spend most of his life until released by the forces of the Revolution, an old and sick man. During his long incarceration, Sade wrote some of the most controversial works of literature, the content of which is now being reevaluated by literary critics as something deeper than merely hideous and cruel pornography, a label with which it was once dismissed.

Number 5. Boadicea

The humiliating flogging of the Druid Queen Boadicea, certainly the earliest example in this series, was truly a defining moment in the history of corporal punishment and prompted a violent and unexpected backlash which took the occupying Roman army by surprise and forced it into a terrible and bloody conflict.

Boadicea was the wife of Prasutagus, Druid King of the Iceni, a tribe whose lands spanned the modern counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and parts of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire. Prasutagus ruled his people through a long period of Roman occupation and, politically astute, had allied himself with his Roman conquerors in order to guarantee a peaceful life for his people. The Romans were prepared to allow this arrangement, like most occupying armies, on the basis of mutual benefit. However by the year AD60, Roman patience with the ancient Britons was running very low and anger had replaced tolerance, particularly following an attempt to subdue the ancient Isle of Mona, long a refuge for Druids and discontented Britons who wished to escape the Roman yoke. Although the Romans eventually triumphed on Mona they had at first to suffer the humiliation of a retreat under the onslaught of more than 2000 virtually naked Druid women and priests, their hair wild, eyes wide and screaming abuse as they charged the Roman ranks armed only with fiery torches. The terrified Roman soldiers broke ranks and backed off to a safe hillside fort only to be galvanised by the anger and contempt of their officers for an army which had allowed a group of women to intimidate them. They regrouped, advanced and took a fearful bloody revenge, killing virtually every man, woman and child in the community.

The atmosphere in the rest of Britain was close to boiling point with anti Roman revolt simmering everywhere. Prasutagus, by now ailing, was aware of the danger to himself and his family of the highly volatile climate. He sought to protect his wife and daughters from harm by making a will which gave his master, the Roman Emperor Nero, a third share in his property and lands on his death. Duly in AD61 Prasutagus died in the misguided belief that his wisdom had ensured a safe outcome for his family.

Unfortunately, when the terms of Prasutagus' will were made known to Paulinus Suetonius, Nero's British Consul, he was roused to irrational anger that this Druid underling should have the temerity to decide exactly what the Emperor was entitled to receive. Telling his commanders that these Iceni needed a lesson in humility, he told them to take whatever steps were needed to achieve just that. The result was swift and shocking for within days of the decree a Roman force, including some slaves, was despatched to Prasutagus' palace where they forced an entry and the slaves began to ransack the palace of all valuables.

Boadicea, then aged around 45, and her two daughters, possibly in their twenties, were then dragged out of the palace by the Roman soldiers into the grounds where the shocked Boadicea was forced to watch while the two girls were stripped and raped by the Roman soldiers who then handed them over to the slaves for further violation. Boadicea herself was taken to Winchester where she was put on a platform in front of the Roman troops and many of her Iceni subjects, tied to a whipping post then stripped naked and flogged severely with a whip until blood was drawn.

Before this moment, Boadicea had been a quiet and dutiful Queen but these events were to scar her mind and from that moment she lived only for vengeance. With powerful and emotional speeches, Boadicea and her daughters travelled their tribal lands inciting the Iceni to rise up against their cruel masters, a plea which needed little urging and soon the Iceni were joined by other neighbouring tribes sick of the Roman yoke. Because Britain had been relatively quiet compared to problems elsewhere in the Empire, there were only four Roman legions, approximately 20,000 men, in the whole island. Two of these were in Wales, one in Lincoln and the other in Gloucester as the furious Britons marched on Colchester, the centre of Roman culture and religion, defended only by a handful of town militia.

The inhabitants hadn't a chance. Everything Roman that stood was burned to the ground and everything Roman that lived was murdered. The temple was destroyed and the town burned to a cinder. Part of the Roman legion at Lincoln was despatched in haste to the scene but, to their horror, found a tribal force twelve times their size. By sheer weight of numbers the Britons slaughtered every one of the Roman infantry, the commander escaping along with some of the cavalry, on horseback.

Suetonius, whose humiliating treatment of Boadicea had begun this reaction, was horrified and went with a small force to London expecting to be reinforced but his Legion commander refused to commit his troops and Suetonius decided he must leave the Londoners to their fate. The Britons fell upon the town killing every man, woman and child who stood in their way including those Britons who had given aid to their Roman masters. After that Boadicea's army turned on St Albans with similar results, the death toll in the three cities exceeding 70,000.

In the face of such military might as the Romans possessed, it was inevitable that these successes would be short lived and, within weeks, Suetonius was reinforced and now had two legions totalling ten thousand men at his command. Still they were outnumbered 8 to 1 by the Britons, but the Romans' military skill had led them to choose a battlefield which suited their strategy. With consummate nerve they awaited the onslaught of the populous but indisciplined Britons, Boadicea and her daughters riding through the British ranks in a chariot exhorting their troops to victory. It was not to be, for the tactical skill of the Romans overcame the weight of numbers and at least 80,000 Britons including many women were massacred without mercy, the Romans losing only 400 men. The battle was one of the earliest recorded examples of deliberate terror tactics being used, the Romans mutilating the bodies of the dead Britons, men and women, and hanging them up for all to see.

Boadicea herself, seeing defeat inevitable, took poison and died on the battlefield, while her daughters were captured and sent into slavery. The price Britain paid for the revolt was massive, Nero sending forty thousand more troops from Germany to keep the province under control, which they did with dreadful violence. Thus, finally, Suetonius prevailed but at what an appalling cost. One wonders if he ever reflected on his original decision which had sparked all this and decided 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scourged!'

Number 6. Lady Sophia Lindsay

In 1660, after a bitter Civil War and many years of Oliver Cromwell's Protectorate, England was restored to a monarchy with the triumphant return of Charles II as King. For many, their delight at seeing the restoration of the monarchy was soon tempered by the degree of retribution exercised by the new King for past crimes against his father and his own followers under the Cromwellian regime.

Before his return from exile, the new King had promised that all religious opinions throughout the lands of England and Scotland would he respected, yet soon signed a series of Acts of Parliament which outlawed any religious gatherings except those which pursued the authorised Prayer Book. Dungeons in England and Scotland were soon overflowing, a prime target for the new King being the rebellious Presbyterian Scots whose religious dissent was put down with ruthless ferocity.

The King's brother James, Duke of York, became extremely powerful and, in many parts, feared, because as well as being a man of ruthless ambition he was a Catholic and therefore distrusted by the new restored Anglican Parliament. After some years as a kind of roving ambassador for Charles II, James was given a Scottish estate and appointed his brother's unofficial representative for Scotland, which gave him sweeping powers of attorney. The Scots were suffering great hardship and torment in defence of their religious beliefs and rose up in revolt, eventually being routed at Bothwell Bridge by an army led by the Duke of Monmouth. The Duke of York now increased his campaign against Scottish dissenters but, with breathtaking hypocrisy, secured his brother's permission to institute a Scottish Protestant Parliament dedicated to preventing a 'return to popery' while ensuring that he, a Catholic, would remain all powerful in Scotland.

The new Scottish Parliament instituted an oath which was confusing in the extreme but which intended to ensure that every sitting Member pledged allegiance to the organised Protestant faith. One of those members was the Earl of Argyll who was a Presbyterian and took the opportunity of such confusion to announce that he saw nothing in the oath which would prevent him from favouring changes to the law regarding Church and State while still remaining loyal to the Crown. In such a climate, these words were as a red rag to a bull and Argyll was arrested and charged with high treason. The Earl was tried by a jury of which the Marquis of Montrose (a Charles Stuart loyalist) was foreman, found guilty and sentenced to hang.

The news was received with horror by Argyll's family and it was resolved that something daring needed to be done to avert this fate. One of the visitors allowed the Earl during his incarceration was his beautiful daughter, Lady Sophia Lindsay, the wife of Alexander Lindsay, Earl of Buccleugh. Lindsay himself was known to be a 'soft' Anglican thus trusted by the King's representatives but who allowed his wife her Presbyterian views just so long as they were not publicly expressed. A very daring plan was hatched within the Earl's family, apparently unknown to Alexander Lindsay, whereby Lady Sophia would visit her father accompanied by maidservants and pages. Because of her position, the family gambled that no obstacle would be placed in the path of such a visitation. They took extra clothing with them and, after distracting the guard for some minutes, they made up the Earl's bed with blankets to make it appear that he was sleeping then the Earl of Argyll escaped, dressed as a page, as part of his daughter's entourage. The deception was not discovered until too late and the Earl had contacted influential friends who spirited him away in a boat to Holland.

When the prime agent of this deception was discovered, Lady Sophia Lindsay was arrested and tried by a Civil Council. Such was the anger at her effrontery that the Council voted that the young woman should be stripped to the waist, tied to a cart tail and whipped all day through the streets of Edinburgh. The sentence was received with horror by Lady Sophia's family, not least by her husband who sought urgent talks with the Duke of York, pleading desperately for some reduction in the sentence, emphasising the degree of humiliation for the whole family including himself, a Stuart supporter, should such a sentence be carried out.

The Duke of York listened sympathetically and, to Lindsay's relief, agreed to substitute an alternative private punishment. He told Lindsay that as his young wife had behaved like a spoilt child she would be treated like one and pronounced his alternative judgement.

Thus it was that on a May morning in 1681, a very tearful Lady Sophia Lindsay was taken to a private room in Edinburgh Castle and there she found waiting a Sergeant-at-Arms, her embarrassed husband and her frantic mother. Knowing her intended punishment, she pleaded with her husband that she be spared this indignity but Lindsay bluntly pointed out that she had brought this upon herself and was fortunate that the affair was not public as originally intended. The Sergeant-at-Arms motioned the duty guard that Lady Sophia was to be made to kneel down over a low stool with her face pressed to the carpet, bottom thus fully raised. When that was done, her long dress and petticoats were lifted up and pinned to her shoulders thus completely exposing her naked bottom. The Sergeant-at-Arms then took up a birch rod and proceeded to give the young woman a very thorough and painful birching lasting half an hour after which she was released into the custody of her husband, amid floods of tears, presumably unable to sit down for a week! Some unsubstantiated reports have said she was given 50 strokes of the birch rod, wearing out two substantial birches in the process. The experience must have been painful and deeply embarrassing but surely preferable to the original sentence!

Sadly, the lady's sacrifice was all too short term for the Earl of Argyll made his way secretly back to Scotland where he was caught, tried once more and this time he was executed.