Breaking wheel or the Catherine wheel was a torture device used for capital punishment in the Middle Ages and early modern times for public execution by cudgelling to death. It was used during the Middle Ages and was still in use into the 19th century. Breaking on the wheel was a form of torturous execution formerly in use in France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Romania, Russia, the US, and other countries. The wheel was typically a large wooden wagon wheel with many radial spokes, but a wheel was not always used. In some cases the condemned were lashed to the wheel and beaten with a club or iron cudgel, with the gaps in the wheel allowing the cudgel to break through. Alternatively, the condemned were spreadeagled and broken on a St Andrews cross consisting of two wooden beams nailed in an “X” shape, after which the victims mangled body might be displayed on the wheel.
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