The Consequence of Treason

Throughout the world and history there have been many punishments, to deter crime many of them unduly severe, but there cannot be many more Draconian than execution by hanging, drawing and quartering, which was the prescribed punishment for treason in the British Isles from the 13th to the early 19th century. Unless you are a person with a strong constitution, I advise that you look away now, as the events hereafter are quite gory, and may upset people of a sensitive nature.

In the year of our lord 1241 a pirate by the name of William Maurice was captured, tried and executed by being hung drawn and quartered, he was luck enough to be the first victim of this form of punishment. The punishment consists of being tied to a hurdle and dragged from the gaol to the place of execution, the hurdle was usually dragged by a horse, the victim was then hung by the neck until he wasn’t dead, whilst he was not dead he was dragged to the quartering table, where he was first castrated (just in case the crime, whatever it may be, was hereditary) if this was not bad enough he was then disemboweled, and his genitals were burned before him, (well that’s the diet and family planning taken care of) just when the victim thought it could not get any worse his heart would be torn out, and shown to the baying crowd, the authorities considered this was not severe enough so they chop his head off, convinced that the punishment still wasn’t severe enough they tie his arms and legs to four horses, and send them off in different directions, so that what is left of the body is torn into four pieces. William’s case was by way of an experiment and this form of execution was passed into English law shortly afterwards.

It is worth noting that all the victims of hanging, drawing and quartering were male and mostly commoners, before the executions, confessions were sometimes extracted, usually by torture, females and nobles were usually executed by hanging (common women) or beheading (noblemen and women) after the executions the head was usually displayed on a spike in The Tower of London and the remaining body parts were displayed in other towns, as a deterrent to other would be traitors, it is also worth noting that the occurrence of re offending was nil.

There are many cases of hanging drawing and quartering, and all the executions were carried out in public, once again as a deterrent, here follow a few of the more notable cases. William Wallace (hands up those who have not seen Brave heart)  was tried in 1305 at Westminster Hall, he was found guilty of treason and executed at the Tower of London, he was drawn to the tower for treason, hanged for homicide, castrated and disemboweled for sacrilege, beheaded for being an outlaw, and quartered for “divers deprivations”.