#charles mackay

The punishment for the contumacious was expressed by the words onere,frigore,et fame. By the first was meant that the culprit should be extended on his back on the ground, and weights placed over his body, gradually increased, until he expired. Sometimes the punishment was not extended to this length, and the victim, being allowed to recover, underwent the second portion, the frigore, which consisted in his standing naked in the open air, for a certain space, in the sight of all the people. The third, or fame, was more dreadful, the statute saying, ‘That he was to be preserved with the coarsest bread that could be got, and water out of the next sink or puddle, to the place of execution; and that day he had water he should have no bread, and that day he had bread, he should have no water;’ and in this torment he was to linger as long as nature would hold out.

Charles Mackay, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds(1841).Contumacious refers to the crime of contumacy, the refusal to acknowledge or comply with judicial authorities.