Drawing and quartering was part of the penalty once ordained in England for treason. It is considered by many to be the epitome of "cruel" punishment and was reserved for traitors because treason was deemed more heinous than murder and other capital crimes. According to Alistair Horne, this punishment also applied to regicide in France. François Ravaillac, who killed Henri IV, was drawn and quartered after being tortured. A penalty is a punishment: a legal sentence, e. ... Royal motto: Dieu et mon droit (French: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area  - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population  - Total (2001)  - Density Ranked 1st UK 49,138,831 377/km² Ethnicity... In law, treason is the crime of disloyalty to ones nation. ... The statement that the government shall not inflict cruel and unusual punishment for crimes is found in the English Bill of Rights signed in 1689 by William of Orange and Queen Mary II who were then the joint rulers of England following the Glorious Revolution of 1688. ... In law, treason is the crime of disloyalty to ones nation. ... Capital punishment, also referred to as the death penalty, is the judicially ordered execution of a prisoner as a crime, often called a capital offense or a capital crime. ... Sir Alistair Allan Horne (November 9, 1925-) is a British historian of modern France, known for books including one on the Paris Commune. ... The broad definition of Regicide is the deliberate killing of a king, or the person responsible for it. ... François Ravaillac François Ravaillac (1578 – May 27, 1610) was the killer of Henry IV of France. ... By Frans Pourbus the younger. ...

Details of the Punishment

Until 1870, the full punishment for the crime was to be "Hung, drawn and quartered" in that the culprit would be: 1870 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ...

1. Dragged on a hurdle (a wooden frame) to the place of execution
2. Hung by the neck, but removed before death
3. Disembowelled, and the genitalia and entrails burned before the victim's eyes
4. Beheaded and the body divided into four parts (quartered).

Typically, the resulting five parts (i.e., the four quarters of the body and the head) were gibbetted (put on public display) in different parts of the city or town to deter would-be traitors. Gibbeting was abolished in England in 1843. Hanging is a form of execution, or a method for suicide. ... Disembowelment is evisceration, or the removing of vital organs, usually from the abdomen. ... // Beheading—Facsimile of a Miniature on Wood in the Cosmographie Universelle of Munster: in folio, Basle, 1552. ... Gibbet is a term applied to several different devices used in the capital punishment of criminals and/or the deterrence of potential criminals. ... 1843 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

There is confusion among modern historians about whether "drawing" referred to the dragging to the place of execution or the disembowelling, but since two different words are used in the official documents detailing the mock trial of William Wallace ("detrahatur" for drawing as a method of transport, and "devaletur" for disembowelment), there is no doubt that the victims of this extraordinarily cruel form of punishment were in fact disembowelled, even though some have tried to hide the horror by exploiting the ambiguity of "drawing".

History

This gruesome penalty was first used by King Edward I ('Longshanks') in his efforts to bring all of Great Britain under English rule. It was first inflicted in 1283 on the Welsh prince Dafydd ap Gruffydd, and on Sir William Wallace two decades later. King Edward I of England (June 17, 1239 – July 7, 1307), popularly known as Longshanks because of his 6 foot 2 inch frame and the Hammer of the Scots (his tombstone, in Latin, read, Hic est Edwardvs Primus Scottorum Malleus, Here lies Edward I, Hammer of the Scots), achieved fame... Events June 1 - Treaty of Rheinfelden - Duke Rudolph II of Austria has to waive his right to the Duchies of Austria and Styria Teutonic Knights subjugate Prussia Sopot comes under the control of Gdańsk Gregory Cyprius becomes Patriarch of Constantinople Northern section of the Grand Canal of China is completed... National motto: Cymru am byth (Welsh: Wales for ever) Waless location within the UK Official languages English(100%), Welsh(20. ... David or Dafydd ap Gruffydd (c. ... Sir William Wallace (c. ...

Other notable victims of the punishment include Guy Fawkes and his co-conspirators in the Gunpowder Plot to assassinate James I, and Edward Marcus Despard and his six accomplices for plotting to assassinate George III. Guy Fawkes tried to kill himself by jumping when the noose was placed around his neck. Unfortunately for him the rope broke, so he was drawn fully conscious. Guy Fawkes Guido Fawkes (April 13, 1570—January 31, 1606), most commonly called Guy Fawkes, was a member of a group of Roman Catholic conspirators who attempted to assassinate King James I and all the members of both branches of the Parliament of England by blowing up the building while... The Gunpowder Plot of 1605 involved a desperate but failed attempt by a group of provincial English Catholic extremists to kill King James I of England, his family, and most of the Protestant aristocracy in one fell swoop by blowing up the Houses of Parliament during the State Opening. ... James VI of Scotland and I of England (Charles James) (19 June 1566–27 March 1625) was a King who ruled over England, Scotland and Ireland, and was the first Sovereign to reign in the three realms simultaneously. ... Edward Marcus Despard (1751-1803), Irish conspirator, was born in Queens Co. ... George III (George William Frederick) (4 June 1738–29 January 1820) was King of Great Britain, and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until 1 January 1801, and thereafter King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death. ...

During the English Civil War (1639-1651) the first prominent Parliamentarian captured by the Royalists was John Lilburne. Proposals to try him for treason were dropped when the Parliamentary side threatened to retaliate against captured Royalists. Instead Lilburne was freed in an exchange of prisoners. The term English Civil War (or Wars) refers to the series of armed conflicts and political machinations which took place between Parliamentarians and Royalists from 1642 until 1651. ... Events January 14 - Connecticuts first constitution, the Fundamental Orders, is adopted. ... // Events January 1 - Charles II crowned King of Scotland in Scone. ... The Roundheads was the nickname given to big supporters of the Parliamentarian cause in the English Civil War. ... The noun or adjective, Royalist, can have several shades of meaning. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

In 1660, at the Restoration of Charles II, nine of those convicted of the regicide of Charles I in 1649 were executed in this manner. Additionally, the corpses of Oliver Cromwell, John Bradshaw and Henry Ireton were disinterred and hanged, drawn and quartered posthumously for their involvement in the regicide. The English Restoration or simply Restoration was an episode in the history of Great Britain beginning in 1660 when the monarchy was restored under King Charles II after the English Civil War. ... Charles II (29 May 1630–6 February 1685) was the King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 30 January 1649 (de jure) or 29 May 1660 (de facto) until his death. ... The broad definition of Regicide is the deliberate killing of a king, or the person responsible for it. ... Charles I (19 November 1600–30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland and Ireland from 27 March 1625, until his death. ... // Events January 30 - King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland is beheaded. ... Unfinished portrait miniature of Oliver Cromwell by Samuel Cooper, 1657. ... John Bradshaw (1602-October 31, 1659) was one of the judges to preside over the trial and subsequent death sentence of Charles I of England. ... Henry Ireton Henry Ireton (1611 - November 26, 1651), English was a general in the army of Parliament during the English Civil War. ...

During the American war of independence (1775-1783) notable captured colonists were treated as prisoners of war rather than as traitors, and thus were spared this punishment. The American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), also known as the American War of Independence, was a war fought primarily between Great Britain and revolutionaries within thirteen of her North American colonies. ... 1775 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... 1783 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... This article refers to a colony in politics and history. ... Geneva Convention definition A prisoner of war (POW) is a soldier, sailor, airman, or marine who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. ...

By 1817 the three leaders of the Pentrich Rising, convicted of high treason, suffered hanging and beheading only. 1817 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Pentrich is a small village between Belper and Alfreton in Derbyshire. ...

The sentence was last carried out in 1820 (though it was passed as late as 1867). 1820 was a leap year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... 1867 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ...

Similar, Lesser Punishments for Treason

Men convicted of the lesser crime of petty treason were dragged to the place of execution and hanged until dead, but not subsequently dismembered. Women convicted of treason or petty treason were burned at the stake rather than being subjected to this punishment. Petty treason is, in English common law, any betrayal of a superior by a subordinate. ... Burning of two sodomites at the stake outside Zürich, 1482 (Spiezer Schilling) Execution by burning is capital punishment by fire. ...

Class Distinctions in its Application

In Britain, this penalty was usually reserved for commoners, including knights; noble traitors were "merely" beheaded, at first by sword and later by axe. The different treatment of lords and commoners was clear after the Cornish Rebellion of 1497: lowly-born Michael An Gof and Thomas Flamank were hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn, while their fellow rebellion leader Lord Audley was beheaded at Tower Hill. If there was a large rebellion against the Crown, only a few of the ring leaders would be "hanged drawn and quartered", most would either be hanged, sent to penal colonies, or pardoned. The Bloody Assizes of Judge Jeffreys after the Monmouth Rebellion is a notorious post Civil War English example, but in the aftermath of rebellions in Ireland and Scotland punishment was often just as ruthless. The Cornish Rebellion of 1497 was a popular uprising in 1497 by the tin miners of Cornwall in the south west of Britain. ... Michael An Gof (also known as Michael Joseph; An Gof is Cornish for blacksmith) and Thomas Flamank (a Bodmin landowners son and London lawyer) led the Cornish Rebellion of 1497, in which rebels marched on London to protest at King Henry VIIs levying of a tax with which... Thomas Flamank was a lawyer from Cornwall who together with Michael An Gof led the Cornish Rebellion against taxes in 1497. ... Tyburn was a former village in the county of Middlesex which now forms part of Londons City of Westminster. ... Tower Hill is an elevated spot outside the Tower of London and just outside the limits of the City of London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. ... A Penal Colony is a colony used to house prisoners. ... The Bloody Assizes were the series of trials in the aftermath of the Battle of Sedgemoor, which ended the Monmouth Rebellion in England. ... George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys (1648-1689), Baron Wem, better known as Hanging Judge Jeffreys, became notorious during the reign of King James II, rising to the position of Lord Chancellor. ... The Monmouth Rebellion of 1685, also known as the Pitchfork Rebellion, was an attempt to overthrow the King of England, James II, who became king when his elder brother, Charles II, died on 6 February 1685. ... The Wars of the Three Kingdoms include an intertwined series of conflicts that took place in Scotland, Ireland, and England between 1639 and 1651 which included the Bishops Wars of 1639 and 1640, the Scottish Civil War of 1644-5; the Irish Rebellion of 1641, Confederate Ireland, 1642-9 and...

Mention in Literature

Shakespeare's play Henry V features the discovery of a French plot to kill King Henry V before he sailed to France. Two of the conspirators (Henry, Lord Scroop of Masham, and Richard, Earl of Cambridge) were nobles and were beheaded; Thomas Grey, Knight of Northumberland, was drawn and quartered. William Shakespeare—born April 1564; baptised April 26, 1564; died April 23, 1616 (O.S.), May 3, 1616 (N.S.)—has a reputation as the greatest of all writers in English. ... Henry V is a play by William Shakespeare based on the life of King Henry V of England. ... Henry V Henry V, (August 9 or September 16, 1387 – August 31, 1422), King of England, son of Henry IV by Mary de Bohun, was born at Monmouth, Wales, in September 1387. ... Richard, Earl of Cambridge (c. ...

External link

• William Wallace's execution