A fibula closes the female genitals by actually having a piece of metal, ivory or wood pass through the labia. A chastity belt which was really a fibula of this sort was invented by a certain Francesco de Carerra, an imperial judge in Padua in the fifteenth century. His invention was a padlock which "locked up the seat of voluptuousness." Carerra was eventually ordered - on account of various crimes to be judicially strangled. One charge was that he locked up all his mistresses by means of his fibula. The device was also known as the Bernasco padlock, and it was sold briefly in France during the reign of Henry 11. According to one tale, an itinerant Italian peddler opened a stall at the fair of San Germain and sold the locks so quickly that French gallants became alarmed. The enterprising tradesman was soon obliged to flee the town.