Running the gauntlet
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Running the gauntlet (or - gantlet) was a form of physical punishment by which a person is compelled to run though a double line of comrades who attempt to strike him as he passes.
Roman predecessor
Fustuarium (a Latin abstraction from the Latin fustis, a branch or rod) was a Roman military form of execution by cudgeling, which was imitated by later armies.Since laxness on guard duty or desertion could endanger the entire corps and even the Roman state, a slacking soldier was liable to be found as unworthy of the uniform, stripped, and beaten to death with sticks by his comrades, whose trust he had betrayed, as a collective exercise of ultimate discipline against what could be considered as passive equivalents of high treason. The excruciating effects on the condemned are comparable to running the gauntlet (see below); compare also to breaking on the wheel. It was also applied for such villified crimes as theft (especially from comrades) and sodomy or to certain captured enemies.
It could also be applied to every tenth man of a whole unit as a mode of decimation, which was reportedly rather done by sword. Some sources claim it could also take the form of stoning.
Post-Roman usage
A very similar military punishment found in later armies was known as "running the gauntlet." The condemned soldier was stripped to the waist and had to pass between a double row (hence also known as die Gasse, "the alley") of cudgeling or switching comrades, while stopped from running through by the blade of a subaltern walking in front of him. The condemned might sometimes also be dragged through by a rope around the hands or prodded along by a pursuer. Various rules might apply, such as banning edged weapons, requiring the group to keep one foot in place, or allowing the soldier to attempt to protect his head with his hands. The punishment was not necessarily continued until death (if so, he might be finished off when unable to walk), and actually considered far less dishonoring than a beating with exposure to ridicule on the pillory, pranger, or stocks, since one could 'take it like a man' upright among soldiers.
In some traditions, if the condemned was able to finish the run and exit the gauntlet at the far end, his faults would be deemed paid, and he would rejoin his comrades with a clean slate (and serious injuries), elsewhere he was sent back until death followed.
- A Prussian cavalry variation was to beat the condemned with spurs instead of rods.
- It was also common practice in the French army, especially for thieves.
- Also used in training, notably on military cadets, as in a scene in the movie Oberst Redl.
- There was also a naval version, on deck, stopped from rushing by the master-at-arms with a cutlass and pushed forward by a corporal, notably for minor theft (hated by the shipmates) in the Royal navy, using rope yarns that were plaited into so-called knittles (a word for a string; possibly sound-associated with nettles), looking like an improvised mini-version of the cat o' nine tails (of which formal scourger the culprit got an excruciating dozen lashes in advance, guaranteeing any further hit to hurt his lacerated back badly), which was also used –even with knots, worsening the sting- on severe theft charges but then immobilizing them by ropes.
- Mild forms, not intended to cause permanent damage, have also been used on or by children.
The practice persisted in parts of Germany (mainly Prussia) and Austria as the [Spießrutenlaufen], or pike-run, and also in Russia, until the 19th century.
Native American usage
A number of Native American tribes of the Eastern Woodlands culture area forced prisoners to run the gauntlet. The Jesuit Isaac Jogues was subject to this treatment while a prisoner of the Iroquois in 1641. He described the ordeal in a letter that appears in the book "The Jesuit Martyrs of North America" (c 1925, The Universal Knowledge Foundation, p. 163): "Before arriving (at the Iroquois Village) we met the young men of the country, in a line armed with sticks..." and that he and his fellow Frenchmen were made to walk slowly past them "for the sake of giving time to anyone who struck us."Other European-Americans captured by Native Americans and made to run the gauntlet included John Stark, Daniel Boone and Simon Kenton.
Modern use
The expression "(to run) the gauntlet" is now applied to various punishments or tests consisting of consecutive blows or tasks endured sequentially and delivered collectively, especially by colleagues such as roommates.Thus a fraternity paddling during hazing and/or as a punishment by all present brothers can follow this mise-en-scène. Common variants include having to crawl through on all fours, being made to halt in front of every paddle in exposed (bended) position, wearing only undergaments or ridiculous costume, or being smeared and soiled before and/or during.
Similar practices are used in other initiations and rites of passage, as on pollywogs (those passing the equator for the first time[link] includes a paddling version), in aviation when a new pilot gets his first license, or in mountaineering when reaching a certain summit for the first time. As these do not cause serious injuries, only bearable pain, they are sometimes eagerly anticipated by the initiant as a sign of acceptance into a more prestigious group.
It is also used to express the idea of a public but painless, merely ritual humiliation such as the walk of shame.
- In team sports such as lacrosse and football, "the gauntlet" is also a common name for a drill, following a similar pattern: players are blocked or checked by the entire team in sequence.
Sources and references
- [a section of the extensive CORPUN website on corporal punishment]
- [Dictionary.com: "gauntlet"]
- [Etymology on line]
- [historialago.com: Prizes and punishments] (Spanish)
- [Curious Punishments of Bygone Days- Military]
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