Medieval Whippings

An episode of Robin Hood on the BBC a couple of weeks ago has had me pondering medieval whippings for days, much to the detriment of anything else I was supposed to be doing. Of course, the episode was not forthcoming with actual "medieval whipping" goodness, such programmes rarely delivering the goods, but there was enough there to spark my interest.
The scenario was quite perfect. A young woman, dragged by her father in front of the sheriff of the town for refusing to marry any of the men of his choice. The hearing was held in public, in front of the castle. In the programme, the young woman was set free. Boring. How much better a turn of events if she had been sentenced to be whipped, in public, for disobeying her father's wishes. Locked in a room overnight to ensure she didn't escape, and then brought out in her shift the next morning, proud and defiant, to be punished before the waiting crowd. My fiction writing abilities don't often get tested, but this particular fantasy may have them seeing the light of day sometime soon.