The origins of the Scold’s Bridle are debatable. The phrase is archaic and needs explaining. Scold meant a derogatory term for a woman who always seemed displeased. The bridle, of course, is a headpiece worn by horses for riding. The origins of the Scold’s Bridle rose from a distorted sense of religion at the time when fundamentalistic Christianity believed that a woman would gain forgiveness from her sins of gossiping if she was made to undergo torture and humiliation.
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Believe this or not but as lithographs prove, the practice was followed as recent as the late 19th century by Christians in America where society believed that a woman could regain innocence after pain and suffering. The bridle was a type of mirror punishment and since the crime was committed from the mouth, hence the Scold’s bridle. One shudders to think what if the crime was sleeping with someone else??
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The 18th century was a time when gossip and slander were loosely defined and the Scold’s bridle was considered a reduced form of punishment for which you could have also been burned at the stake for so much as uttering a pagan belief too. Burning witches were common in that time.
The scold’s bridle could also apply to women who were accused of speaking against the church and through pain and understanding she would reconsider and atone for her sins.
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