The
worst ways of execution
Being
Hanged, Drawn and Quartered
First recorded in England during the 13th
century, this unusually extreme — even for the time — mode of execution was
made the statutory punishment for treason in 1351. Though it was intended to be
an act of such barbarous severity that no one would ever risk committing a
treasonous act, there were nevertheless plenty of recipients over the next 500
years.
The
process began with the victim being dragged to the site of execution while
strapped to a wooden panel, which was in turn tied to a horse. They would then
experience a slow hanging, in which, rather than being dropped to the
traditional quick death of a broken neck, they would instead be left to choke
horribly as the rope tore up the skin of their throat, their body weight
dragging them downwards.
Some
had the good fortune to die at this stage, including infamous Gunpowder Plot
conspirator Guy Fawkes, who ensured a faster death by leaping from the gallows.
Once
half strangled, the drawing would begin. The victim would be strapped down and
then slowly disemboweled, their stomachs sliced open and their intestines and
other major organs hacked apart and pulled — “drawn” — from the body.
The
genitals would often be mutilated and ripped from between their legs. Those
unlucky enough to still be alive at this point might witness their organs
burned in front of them, before they were finally decapitated.
Once
death had finally claimed them, the recipient’s body would be carved into four
pieces — or “quartered” — and the parts sent to prominent areas of the country
as a warning to others.
The
head would often be taken to the infamous Tower of London, where it would be
impaled on a spike and placed on the walls, “for the mockery of London.”
