This was the ultimate punishment available in English law for men who had been convicted of high treason. Women were burned at the stake instead, for the sake of decency.

It should properly be called drawing, hanging and quartering as the condemned was drawn to the place of execution on a hurdle (Similar to a piece of fencing made from thin branches interwoven to form a panel.) He was tied to the hurdle which was dragged by a horse. Once there the prisoner(s) were hanged in the normal way (i.e. without a drop to ensure that the neck was not broken) but cut down whilst still conscious. The penis and testicles were cut off and the stomach was slit open. The intestines were removed and burned before them. The other organs were torn out and finally the head was cut off and the body divided into four quarters.

The head and quarters were parboiled to prevent them rotting too quickly and then displayed upon the city gates as a grim warning to all.

At some point in this agonising process the prisoner inevitably died of strangling and/or haemorrhage and/or shock and damage to vital organs but it often took a long time to happen.

It has to be one of the most sadistic forms of execution ever invented, which it was in 1241, specifically to punish William Maurice who had been convicted of piracy.

In 1283 David, the last Welsh Prince of Wales was tried for treason at Shrewsbury in Shropshire and was sentenced "to be drawn to the gallows as a traitor to the King who made him a Knight, to be hanged as the murderer of the gentleman taken in the Castle of Hawarden, to have his limbs burnt because he had profaned by assassination the solemnity of Christ's passion and to have his quarters dispersed through the country because he had in different places compassed the death of his lord the king".
(As far as we know he never got into trouble with the law again afterwards!)

In the 1500's a total of 105 Catholic martyrs were hanged drawn and quartered at Tyburn in London for what amounted to "spiritual treason" - failing to recognise the official religion of the day.

Guy Fawkes and his fellow "Gun powder Plot" conspirators are possibly the most famous and best remembered victims of this punishment. Fawkes was captured and tortured on the rack to get him to reveal the names of the others who were then arrested. They were tried at Westminster Hall in 1606 and all seven sentenced to be hanged drawn and quartered. The executions took place on January 30th and 31st of that year. The first three, Sir Everard Digby, Thomas Bates and Robert Winter were put to death near St. Pauls church whilst Guy Fawkes, Ambrose Rookwood, Thomas Winter and Robert Keyes suffered the following day in the Old Place Yard in front of the Houses of Parliament. Their heads were placed upon spikes on London Bridge. (see gunpow.jpg for an engraving of the execution scene)

Strangely by tradition we burn the "guy" on the bonfire on fireworks night in celebration of the Gun powder Plot although Fawkes was not burnt.

Hanging, drawing & quartering remained the lawful punishment for treason until abolished in 1814. It was not used often as it was considered so barbaric and the governments of the day were concerned about public opinion even in those days. Ordinary hanging (until dead) replaced it although the Monarch could still order beheading of the body.

<Back to Executions