Hung Drawn and Quartered 3 October

On this day, 3 October, in 1283, the last native Welsh Prince of Wales, Dafydd ap Gruffydd, had imposed upon him the dubious honour of becoming the first person in history to suffer the punishment of being "hanged, drawn and quartered" for treason against 'Longshanks' - King Edward I. The execution of Dafydd effectively ended Welsh independance and left Edward free to concentrate on biffing the rebelious Scots. William Wallace suffered a similar fate twenty years later.

To be hanged, drawn and quartered was the penalty reserved for treason. It was introduced by Longshanks because treason was deemed more heinous than murder and other capital crimes - this remained the view of subsequent Monarchs for six centuries (Monarchs are, as you all know, noted liberals). The punishment was reserved for male traitors - women found guilty of treason in England were let off lightly and merely burnt at the stake. The extraordinarily cruel punishment of hanging drawing and quartering was finally abolished in England in 1870, whilst burning at the stake was abolished in 1790.

The punishment, for those of you who don't know, was designed as much for deterence as punishment.

The hapless culprit was:

• Dragged on a hurdle (a wooden frame) to the place of execution.
• Hung by the neck, but taken down before death.
• Disembowelled, and the genitalia and entrails burned before the victim's eyes. The heart was the last organ to be removed and was shown to the victim before the entrails were burned.
• 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 other would-be traitors.
  

Apart from Dafydd ap Gruffydd, other famous victims of this 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.

And people moan about ASBOs.