The Scold's Bridle: Why Medieval England Punished Women for Speaking

The scold's bridle was an iron cage locked onto women's faces for the crime of speaking. Used legally across England and Scotland for over three centuries, the scold's bridle wasn't a medieval curiosity — it was civic equipment, lent to husbands, ordered by courts, and last used in 1824. The scold's bridle tells us exactly who had power, and who they feared.
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