One of the most feared and notorious methods of execution which was used in England and
in Britain was to be hanged, drawn and quartered.
This was a horrific ordeal for a condemned prisoner to be subject to, and it was reserved
for the most serious crimes.
It was used for high treason, plotting to overthrow or even kill a monarch and because
of this, the criminal was publicly shamed first being drawn behind a horse, before they
were then hanged on a gallows until nearly dead and then quartered and beheaded.
The practice was used to serve as a very strong warning to any possible traitors to think
twice about their actions, and the remains of an executed individual would be often displayed
in public places such as London Bridge.
Join us today as we look at one of History’s most brutal execution methods, and remember
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To be hanged, drawn and quartered was a very serious punishment, and possibly one of the
most brutal administered in History.
The crime was seen as adequate justice for the attack on the authority of the English
monarchy, and for this, the most extreme form of punishment was used.
Treason as a crime had a rather wide meaning for the Kings and Queens who felt threatened
during the Medieval, Tudor and following eras.
Henry VIII for example believed that simply predicting the death of the monarch was enough
for someone to be condemned for this, and he had Elizabeth Barton a woman who did this
executed for treason.
But there were accounts during the Elizabethan period, of a number of treasonous plots against
the Tudor queen, and because of this scores of men were executed being hanged, drawn and
quartered following the plans to put Mary Queen of Scots on the throne, in plots such
as the Babington Plot.
Hanging Drawing and Quartering in it’s simplest form was an execution method that used a number
of different stages aimed to inflict great pain and suffering, but also aimed to shock
the public.
The point of this was to get the public to fall into line, and if they saw a brutal execution
they would be less likely to commit crimes such as treason because of it.
The first part was the drawing, in which a prisoner would be collected from their place
of incarceration and then attached usually to a hurdle or a wooden frame.
They would be tied to this, and then this would be attached to the back of a horse who
would draw them through the streets.
Sometimes the prisoner would not be tied to a wooden frame and their head would bash against
the cobbled streets, and also they could slip from the frame and this would cause pain.
They were paraded throughout the streets where the public would often throw things and shout
obsenities their way, before they were taken to a place of execution.
They would then be handed over to an executioner, and would be hanged from a gallows or a wooden
frame until they almost died.
If someone passed out then they would be revived, and some executioners to inflict more suffering
would then hang them again.
After this, the person was then disembowelled and emasculated, with their entrails pulled
out and then burned in front of them on a fire.
Obviously this could easily kill, but often condemned individuals were forced to watch
with their parts being burned in front of them.
They were then beheaded using an axe, and then their body was cut into four pieces with
these being sent to different places in a country to be displayed, to act as a gory
reminder to the people to behave themselves.
Heads were also displayed in prominent places such as London Bridge after the execution.
During the 13th and 14th century, in England those who were found guilty of treason were
punished in many different ways, including drawing and hanging, and also more brutal
ways such as beheading, disembowelling and even burning.
It was said in the 13th century, that a man who plotted and attempted to kill Henry III
was, ‘dragged asunder then beheaded, and his body divided into three parts, each part
was then dragged through one of the principle cities of England and was afterwards hung
on a gibbet used for robbers.’
The first recorded examples of hanging, drawing and quartering were during the reign of Edward
I. Dafydd ap Gruffyd turned against Edward I, and declared himself the Prince of Wales
and for this, he was captured and then sentenced to what we would regard as high treason.
Because of this, Dafydd was drawn through the streets of Shrewsbury near the Welsh Marches
where he was then executed.
He was dragged attached to a horse’ tail, and then hanged alive, before being revived
and then disembowelled, eviscerated and he was forced to watch his entrails being burned
infront of him for ‘sacrilege in committing his crimes in the week of Easter.’
After this his body was cut into quarters for plotting to kill the King, and his remains
were sent to different parts of England to be displayed as a gory reminder to the people
to fall into line.
His right arm was sent to york, left arm sent to Bristol, right leg to Northampton and left
leg to Hereford with his head placed on a spear at the Tower of London.
William Wallace in 1305 the Scottish knight and military leader classed as Braveheart
was also executed in London following his capture in a similar way, and he was forced
to wear a crown of laurel leaves as he was drawn through London to Smithfield when he
encountered the brutal punishment.
Further executions in the manner occured during the medieval period, but treason had not been
officially outlined in law until the Treason Act 1351 which was passed by Edward III.
This claimed that a monarch’s right to rule was absolute, and that any questioning of
this was seen as treason.
It was also the monarch’s duty to protect their throne and lands, and petty treason
was also introduced which outlined offences such as killing a lord or master, and men
found guilty of petty treason were drawn and hanged, and women were also burned at the
stake.
But it was high treason which was deemed the most serious offence.
The Treason Act said that someone was committing high treason if they committed a number of
different offences.
These were, compassing or imagining the death of a king, his wife or eldest son and heir,
violating the King’s wife, his eldest daughter if she were unmarried or the wife of his eldest
son and heir, levying war against the King in his realm, adhering to the King’s enemies
in his realm, giving them aid and comfort in his realm or elsewhere, counterfeiting
the great seal or privy seal or the King’s coinage, knowingly importing counterfeit money
and killing the chancellor, treasurer or one of the King’s justices while performing
their offices.
With this, hanging drawing and quartering was seen as the standard sentence for these
offences.
The execution of the 3rd Duke of Buckingham outlined his sentence in brutal fashion.
He was executed in May 1521, and it was said he would be, ‘laid on a hurdle and so drawn
to the place of execution, and there to be hanged, cut down alive, your members to be
cut off and cast in the fire, your bowels burnt before you, your head smitten off, and
your body quartered and divided at the King's will, and God have mercy on your soul.’
During certain executions which featured a very angry crowd, they would often get involved
with the killing and shaming process to.
William Wallace was whipped and attacked by the crowd with rotten food and rubbish thrown
at him, and a priest Thomas Pilchard who was executed for being a Catholic priest it was
said was Barely alive when he reached his execution.
After the King’s commission and the sentence of death had been read out, the crowd were
then asked to move back from the scaffold when the the brutal execution was performed.
Sometimes executioners or officials would ask questions to the condemned person following
their drawing to get them to confess their treason, and they were sometimes allowed to
speak to a crowd before hand.
Often other condemned people would be forced to watch others being executed in the same
way before hand, for example in 1584 Priest James Bell was forced to watch his friend
John Since being quartered.
Also Edward James and Francis Edwards’ were forced to watch Ralph Crockett’s execution
in 1588 for refusing to accept Elizabeth I’s religious settlement.
It is debated at what point someone would be dead along the process.
Drawing as mentioned was very dangerous itself, often resulting in a prisoner’s head being
smashed against the ground.
A victim may be along conscious at the part of the ordeal where his entrails were burned,
shortly before the heard was removed and the body beheaded and cut into four bits.
It was said that during the execution of Major General Thomas Harrison, a man who signed
the death warrant of King Charles I that he was alive for several minutes after being
hanged, and then when he was cut open and disembowelled, he then apparently tried to
hit his executioner and because of this his head was then cut off quicker.
During being disembowelled, John Houghton it was said began to pray before the final
part of his ordeal occured.
One of the most famous people to be hanged, drawn and quartered was Guy Fawkes one of
the leading men involved int he gunpowder plot.
Fawkes had been caught guarding the gunpowder in the undercrofts of the Houses of Parliament,
and after his torture which involved the rack, he was hanged, drawn and quartered.
However Fawkes jumped off the scaffold before in one final act of defiance, and it’s claimed
broke his neck before the sentence was then carried out.
The practise of hanging, drawing and quartering continued for centuries, and it the accounts
of them were very brutal.
Hanging, drawing and quartering was abolished in England by the Forfeiture Act of 1870,
only just over 150 years ago which is shocking considering how brutal the practice was.
Hanging and posthumous beheading replaced the old disembowelling and quartering in 1814,
but it was a very brutal practice.
The last hanging drawing and quartering was of David Tyrie in 1782.
He was a scotsman who was caught corresponding with the enemy French.
It was said of his execution, 'From the time he was put on the sledge, till be came to
the gibbet, he continued in an unconcerned conversation with the gaoler, in which he
expressed that he thought there were not three better, sounder, or honester hearts in the
kingdom, than his own, which was just going to be burnt.
That there was only one thing which gave him concern, which was, that his father was living,
and he feared this misfortune would bring his grey hairs with sorrow to the grave.
He never hung his head the whole time.
— When arrived at the place of execution, no halter was provided, upon which he smiled,
and expressed astonishment as the inattention and neglect of his executioners; and indeed
the business would have been retarded for some time, had not a rope and pulley been
procured out of a lugger that lay under shore, during which time he read several passages
in a bible he carried in his hand.
– Before he was drawn up, he delivered a paper, setting forth, that he had authorised
no person to publish any account of his life, nor was there any one who knew sufficiently
of him to give any genuine particulars of his transactions in the world.
After hanging exactly twenty-two minutes, he was lowered upon the sledge, and the sentence
literally put in execution.
His head was severed from his body, his heart taken out and burnt, his privities cut off,
and his body quartered.
He was then put into a coffin, and buried among the pebbles by the sea-side; but no
sooner had the officers retired, but the sailors dug up the coffin, took out the body, and
cut it in a thousand pieces, every one carrying away a piece of his body to shew their messmates
on board.
— A more dreadful, affecting execution was perhaps never seen.’
Hanging drawing and quartering was certainly one of the most sadistic execution methods
used throughout history.
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