The "dunking stool", also known as a "ducking stool" or "diving chair", was used to identify witches and also serve as punishment for minor offenders, prostitutes and scolds. The dunking could last for an entire day or just a few seconds.  In this article we'll explain how they were made and used and also find out about some similar devices including a most bizarre appearence by our much loved trebuchet...

Submitted by Aubergine

There are many variations o­n a theme with the dunking stool so we shall start by familiarising ourselves with these various designs and connotations...

Dunking Stool or Ducking Stool

Here's some medieval poetry to start the proceedings (great stuff!):

"I'll speed me to the pond, where the high stool
On the long plank hangs o'er the muddy pool:
That stool, the dread of every scolding queen."

The stool often resembled a "see saw". The offender would be strapped in to the seat and then lowered in to a pond, stream or river.

Other designs used a pulley system and sometimes the offender was merely tied to a rope and thrown in to a river!

Cucking-Stool or Cuck-Stool

A "cucking-stool" is NOT the same as a "ducking stool". A cucking-stool was indeed a "stool" but there was no water involved - the offender would merely be forced to sit in a strong chair (the "cucking-stool") outside their house and would sometimes be carried around the town o­n it for people to stare and otherwise frown upon them.  Sometimes people would even throw inedible vegetables at the offender to break the monotony.

Trebuchet or Trebucket

Sound familiar?  The trebuchet we have all come to know and love thanks to Stronghold and Crusader is based o­n something far more modest...

The trebuchet, or trebucket, was a stationary and simple form of a ducking machine consisting of a short post set at the water's edge with a long beam resting o­n it like a see-saw; by a simple contrivance it could be swung round parallel to the bank, and the culprit tied in the chair affixed to o­ne end.  The offender could be swung out over the water and see-sawed up and down into the water.

When this machine was not in use, it was secured to a stump or bolt in the ground by a padlock because when left free it proved too tempting and convenient an opportunity for tormenting village children to duck each other.

Tumbrels, Scold's Carts, Gumstool and Coqueen-Stool

A tumbrel was a chair set o­n wheels and having very long wagon-shafts, with a rope attached to them about two feet from the end. When used it was wheeled into a pond backward, the long shafts were suddenly tilted up, and the scold sent down in a backward plunge into the water.

When the ducking was accomplished, the tumbrel was drawn out of the water by the ropes.

Moving swiftly o­n...

Where Were they Located?

All of these devices were located near to ponds, streams or rivers - anywhere that sufficient cold water could be found.  Often the devices would be located close to a tree to allow them to be "tied down" to stop children playing with them.

The sole exception is the "cucking-stool" which did not require water - this could be located anywhere but was usually placed outside the offenders house.

Who Was Punished?

The dunking stool was generally reserved for women.  In a volume called "Miscelaneous Poems", written by Benjamin West and published in 1780, is a descriptive poem entitled "The Ducking Stool":

"There stands, my friend, in yonder pool
An engine called the ducking-stool;
By legal power commanded down
The joy and terror of the town.
If jarring females kindle strife,
Give language foul, or lug the coif,
If noisy dames should o­nce begin
To drive the house with horrid din,
Away, you cry, you'll grace the stool;
We'll teach you how your tongue to rule.
The fair offender fills the seat
In sullen pomp, profoundly great;
Down in the deep the stool descends,
But here, at first, we miss our ends;
She mounts again and rages more
Than ever vixen did before.
So, throwing water o­n the fire
Will make it but burn up the higher.
If so, my friend, pray let her take
A second turn into the lake,
And, rather than your patience lose,
Thrice and again repeat the dose.
No brawling wives, no furious wenches,
No fire so hot but water quenches."

Men would be dunked if they had committed slander or brawling and sometimes quarrelsome married couples would be dunked (tied back to back) to persuade them to stop quarreling.

Reasons for Punishment

The dunking stool was mostly used for crimes such as:

• Gossiping
• Being Argumentative
• Brawling
• Slander

What Was the Punishment?

The dunking stool was mostly used to "cool o­nes' temper" by dunking a person in to often freezing cold water.  Whether it was done by lowering a chair, pushing a chair backwards or any other means, o­ne thing was certain - you would get wet and cold!

The French traveler, Misson, who visited England about the year 1700 left in his story of his travels gives this lucid description of a ducking-stool:

"The way of punishing scolding women is pleasant enough. They fasten an
armchair to the end of two beams twelve or fifteen feet long, and parallel
to each other, so that these two pieces of wood with their two ends
embrace the chair, which hangs between them by a sort of axle, by which
means it plays freely, and always remains in the natural horizontal
position in which a chair should be, that a person may sit conveniently in
it, whether you raise it or let it down. They set up a post o­n the bank of
a pond or river, and over this post they lay, almost in equilibrio, the
two pieces of wood, at o­ne end of which the chair hangs just over the
water. They place the woman in this chair and so plunge her into the water
as often as the sentence directs, in order to cool her immoderate heat."

The duration and depth of the "dunk" was at the descretion of the person operating the dunking stool. They might partially or completely submerge the offender for anything from a few seconds to a few days.

It was common for elderly people to die of a heart attack due to the shock of the freezing cold water.

Witch Ducking

Between 1100 and 1700 AD the dunking stool was used to determine if someone was a witch. This method was deemed to be foolproof as it was so easy to spot the difference between a witch and a normal person:

• If the person sank or drowned, they were not a witch. The fact that they would be dead was seen as o­nly a minor issue compared to the benefits of being cleared of any charges of witchcraft.
• If the person floated then they were definately a witch as their body must have rejected the "baptismal water". Confirmed witches would usually be burnt at the stake.

So, if you were lucky you would drown but if you were unlucky you would be dunked in freezing water then burnt alive!

Unlike normal dunking, witches would have their right thumb tied to their left toe to inhibit them from making any attempt to swim or otherwise resist being dunked.