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If a wife talked too much during the Middle Ages, you were often forced to wear metal torture devices on their face to serve as punishment by their husbands.
Apparently being a chatterbox or a nag back in the Middle Ages could get you strapped into this thing, or numerous other metal torture devices meant to be worn on the face. It was known by various names such as scold's bridle, a witch's bridle, a brank's bridle, or simply branks. Either way, it was an instrument of punishment, used as a form of torture and public humiliation.
The devices had iron framework, screws, and sometimes a muzzle that enclosed the head. Though these were primarily used on women, the Burgh Records of Scotland's major towns reveal that the branks were also used on men at times.
