Throughout history one of the most shocking and horrifying execution methods used was
hanging, drawing and quartering.
Kings such as Henry VIII used this as a powerful method of punishing those who were guilty
of treason as he believed that other members of the public would be so horrified by what
they saw that they would never commit such terrible crimes.
One part of the process which was incredibly brutal was the drawing process, in which a
prisoner was tied to the back of horses and they were then dragged through the streets
of a town or city.
One man who was subjected to this was William Wallace, who is also known as Braveheart,
who was captured by Edward I’s soldiers and he then was taken to London and condemned
to death.
But before his execution, he was dragged through the streets, with his head smashing against
the cobbled streets of the capital as the public jeered and taunted the Scottish rebel.
But in certain lands, hanging, drawing and quartering was not commonly used, but instead
to dismember a condemned prisoner, horses were used to pull someone to pieces, and quarter
them.
Join us today as we look at ‘ripped apart by horses, history’s most brutal execution
method.’
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Dismemberment was given as an execution method for many people throughout the centuries in
different lands, and it was done in a number of different ways.
In the medieval period and modern era, it could be done by tying the condemned persons
limbs to chains or other restraints, and then these would be attached to something that
could move quickly in a different direction.
Horses, animals and other vehicles could be used to do this, literally tearing someone
limb from limb, but executioners would sometimes sever the tendons and ligaments to make the
limbs be literally torn from the body easier.
But one common method of doing this was by as mentioned chaining four horses to the condemned
persons arms and legs, and then driving them off in different directions and the limbs
would then be separated and pulled apart.
This was used in France for the most serious offenders.
Francois Ravaillac was a Catholic zealot who assassinated King Henry IV.
It was said that, ‘The King’s coach, His coach, entering from St Honoré to Ferronnerie
Street, was blocked on one side by a cart filled with wine and on the other by a cart
filled with hay...
Ravaillac climbed on the wheel of the above-named coach and with a knife trenchant on both sides
stabbed him between the second and third ribs.’
Following this, Ravaillac was tortured before he was taken to the Place de Greve in Paris,
and was tortured just before he was pulled apart by horses, which was a method of execution
reserved for regicides.
It was said of his execution that, ‘He was condemned to be tortured with red-hot pincers
on four limbs and on each breast.
His wounds were to be sprinkled with molten lead and boiling oil and his body was then
to be torn in pieces by four horses, the remains being subsequently burnt.’
Michal Piekarski in 1620 was also executed in this manner for attempting to kill the
Polish Kling Sigismund III.
An executioner tore his body up slowly with heated pliers whilst he was alive on a cart
in Warsaw, and he was then taken to a platform where his right arm was cut off and incinerated,
before he was then dismembered by horses.
His ordeal was shocking, but then 137 years later the punishment was used again for the
high profile execution of Robert Francois Damiens, the attempted assassin of King Louis
XV of France.
It was said that his last words were ‘O death.
Why art thou so long in coming,’ as his ordeal was brutal.
It was said that his limbs did not separate easily after the horses bolted, and that the
horses had to perform the execution again after the execution Charles Henri Sanson had
to sever his tendons with a knife.
It was said his torso was still living before it was burned at the stake.
One witness said of his execution that, ‘Damiens' agony went on for hours as each torture was
applied.
When the horses failed to disconnect the sinews between his body and his limbs, his body,
still alive, was quartered with a knife.
His friend, the infamous Casanova, reports that he "watched the dreadful sight for four
hours".
"I was obliged to turn away my face and to stop my ears as I heard his piercing shrieks,
half his body having been torn from him."
But even as late as 1781, being pulled apart by horses was given to a Peruvian rebel leader
named Tupac Amaru II.
He was given this death sentence by Spanish colonial authorities, and his death sentence
said that his tongue will but cut out, and that he would be forced to also watch the
executions of his family, before his hands and feet were tied, ‘to four horses who
will then be driven at once toward the four corners of the plaza, pulling the arms and
legs from his body.
The torso will then be taken to the hill overlooking the city ... where it will be burned in a
bonfire ... Tupac Amaru's head will be sent to Tinta to be displayed for three days in
the place of public execution and then placed upon a pike at the principal entrance to the
city.
One of his arms will be sent to Tungasuca, where he was the cacique, and the other arm
to the capital province of Carabaya, to be similarly displayed in those locations.
His legs will be sent to Livitica and Santa Rosas in the provinces of Chumbivilcas and
Lampa, respectively.’
But being ripped apart by horses was used in the quartering part of executions during
the centuries.
It was believed that this would have been a quick method of separating the limbs from
the torso, and things were incredibly brutal.
Witnesses seeing this would be disgusted by what they saw as the horses were driven off
in different directions.
There were accounts throughout history in which animals were used in different executions,
as elephants throughout the centuries were used to stomp some condemned people to death.
But in a similar manner, there was an account in which some Barbary corsairs or privateers
and pirates utilised the ripped apart by horses as a method of killing and applied it to their
naval activities.
One 17th century Dutchman said that a frequent maritime death penalty amongst the corsairs
was to chain the hands and feet to four different ships.
When the ships sailed off in different directions, the chains got tight and the man in between
them was torn apart.
This kind of thought had also been applied during the roman period, who utilised military
discipline to ensure their soldiers did not break rank.
Emperor Aurelian had a reputation for strictness, and he brought in a rule that soldiers who
seduced the wives of their hosts would have their legs tied to two bent down trees, which
were then released and the soldier would be ripped in two.
This was used for centuries and a British diplomat in 1808 travelling to the Shah wrote
what he saw regarding someone being torn apart by trees.
He wrote, ‘ for the King never pardons theft, and orders a convicted thief to be
executed instantly.
The mode is as follows: two young trees are by main strength brought together at their
summits, and there fastened with cords together.
The culprit is then brought out, and his legs are tied with ropes, which are again carried
up and: fixed to the top of the trees.
The cords that force the trees together are then cut; and, in the elasticity and power
of this spring, the body of the thief is torn asunder, and left thus to hang divided on
each separate tree.
The inflexibility of the King in this point has given to the roads a security, which,
in former times, was little known.’
Being torn apart by horses was a terrifying and brutal method of execution which resulted
in the horrific death of a condemned prisoner.
It was used for the most serious of offenders including those who tried to kill kings and
members of the royal family.
It was a shocking sight for people to see, and even those who would flock to witness
executions would be disgusted by what they saw.
It was comparable with hanging drawing and quartering used by Henry VIII and other Kings
to send a clear message to the public.
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