An instrument of torture used in England during the reign of some of the Tudor monarchs. It was invented by Sir W. Skevington, lieutenant of the Tower in the reign of King Henry VIII. Its action was the opposite to that of the rack; it compressed the body of the tortured so that blood sometimes exuded. Saint Luke Kirby and Blessed Thomas Cottam suffered torture by this cruel machine. It's also known as the cicogna (Italian for stork), Duke of Exeter's daughter, the iron shackle, Skevington's daughter, a Skevington's gyves, a Spanish A-frame, and a stork.