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A head crusher is a torture device used in the early modern period. It is not documented before the 16th century.

Use
This device was used solely in Germany, first recorded in 1530; and called Kranz or Schneiden. This metal device featured a plate that sat below the victim's jaw, which was connected by a frame to the head cap. As the torturer slowly twisted the handle, the gap between the head cap and plate decreased, crushing the skull, including the teeth, mandible and facial bones, and ultimately inducing death. Even if the torturer stopped before death, permanent damage to the facial muscles and structure would have occurred. The victim's head would slowly be crushed, killing the victim, but not before the victim's jaw had been crushed, and their eyes may have possibly extruded from their sockets. To aggravate the pain, the torture master would sometimes amuse himself by tapping on the metal cap with a small hammer. The head crusher was used to extract information from criminals. It would scare them to the point of giving up knowledge that was crucial to solving serious criminal cases.

There were many variations of the head crusher during the early modern period, some of which even had a receptacle in the front to catch the eyes of the victim.

Use as a Political Tool
The use of the Head Crusher was deliberately used as a political tool in the Medieval Times. It was a historical use of punishment to try to detract information from an individual involved in a crime. It was considered that the more brutal the punishment, the better, which is why the head crusher was so effective. Torture was used as mass marketing in history, like in England when they would showcase decapitated spiked heads on the gate of the London Bridge. It was portrayed as similar to a theatrical performance. Doing it in front of the public was a crucial part of the marketing. Getting the support for the state was brought out by the collective sentiment of the society. Having this embarrassing torture done in front of everyone displayed the state's power, and reminded citizens who was in control. This was why the Spectacle of the Scaffold was such an important part of mass marketing of torture for the state.

The Middle Ages
The Middle Ages or Medieval Ages took place over the 5th to the 15th century. In Europe, it spanned over a few time periods including the fall of the Western Roman Empire to the Renaissance and even into the Age of Discovery. This was a time where they used extreme punishments for crimes that would now be considered trivial or unimportant. The head crusher was one of the main devices used during these times because of it's gruesome torture. People could have also been beheaded, whipped, and burned. Some examples of common crimes that resulted in torture were:
 * Disobeying the 10 Commandments
 * Witchcraft
 * Theft
 * Heresy
 * Murder
 * Stealing
 * Treason
 * Working on Sundays

Like talked about in the Use as a Political Tool section, they used torture devices to scare people from doing crimes. Although they tried this, it didn't seem to work. The crime rates didn't decrease because people were so poor they would ration or steal and just hope for the best outcome. For the most part, people didn't get away with crimes because soldiers or bystanders would tell the emperor because they feared if they found out that you knew, you would be punished as well. As time went on, the punishments got less cruel because the crimes weren't deemed as bad as they used to be.

The Spanish Inquisition
The Spanish Inquisition was established by Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabel I of Castile in 1840. It was supposed to replace the Papal Control on the Medieval Inquisition. It operated in Spain and all of the Spanish Colonies. It was used to make sure of the orthodoxy of the people who had converted from different religions including Judaism and Islam. The main purpose was to fight "heresy" which is basically not believing what other people believe.

It was considered one of the worst genocides in history because they used this is to justify the brutal torture and deaths of all non-Catholics. Anyone but Catholics were prompted to get out or die. This lead to 40,000 Jews fleeing which resulted in an economic depression. Instead of realizing the mistakes they had made, they stole from the richest minorities they could find that stood their ground.

There was nine total Crusades that resulted in one of, if not the darkest time for the Christian history that many people don't even know about. The suspects of this time were guilty until proven guilty. There could be little to no evidence, no jury, and no legal counsel. They used torture devices, including the Head Crusher, to get the answers/confessions out of them, which seems to be a recurring theme. Galileo and Giordano Bruno were two people that were victims to these torture methods.

Torquemada was one of the most brutal people and was named the Grand Inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition in 1483. As soon as he as named the Grand Inquisitor, it was chaos and mayhem across Spain. He had killed almost 2,000 people by himself and had to have four assisstants sent by the Kind to restrain him and his zealous acts. He used torture for more than religious purposes. He showed no mercy for adulterers, blasphemy, sodomy, and sometimes sorcery. It was said that the Head Crusher was used almost exclusively by the Spanish Inquisition and can be thought of as the most diabolical device used.

In popular culture
Megadeth's song "Head Crusher" (from the album Endgame) is about the device.

Popular TV series by Canal Plus and Netflix, "Borgia" has an example of this device in Season 3, Episode 1 ("1495").