by After carrying out their malicious inspiration to destroy parliament, Guy Fawkes and his co-conspirators received one of the harshest judicial sentences in English history: hanging, drawing and quarters. According to the Treason Act 1351, this punishment applied to:
That you will be dragged on a cot to the place of the dead, where you will be hanged by the neck and you will be born alive, that your secret member will be cut off, and that your insides will be taken out and burned before you, your head will be separated from your body. and your body divided into four quarters to be disposed of at the will of the King.
The purpose of this process was not only to cause great pain to the condemned, but to be a hindrance – showing the fate of those who betrayed the Crown. Although Fawkes apparently jumped from the gallows – meaning he avoided the full extent of his punishment – it seems his co-conspirators were not so lucky.
By dissecting each stage of this medieval punishment from an anatomical perspective, we can understand the deep pain that each of them endured.
Torture for confession
Before his public execution on 31 January 1606, Fawkes was tortured to force a confession to his involvement in the “gunpowder plot”.
Tower of London records confirm that King James I personally authorized “first the noblest tortures”. Accounts indicate that Fawkes was stretched on the rack – a device designed to slowly pull the limbs in opposite directions. This stretch involved severe trauma to the shoulders, elbows and hips, as well as the spine.
The forces exerted by the rack probably exceeded those required for joint or hip displacement under normal conditions.
Significant differences between Fawkes’ signatures on confessions between 8 November and shortly before his execution may indicate the extent of nerve and soft tissue damage caused. It also shows how significant his last jump from the gallows was.
Step 1: hanging (part of strangulation)
After torturing the wreck, Fawkes and his gang faced the next stage of their punishment: hanging. But this type of hanging only affected some of the condemned – preserving their consciousness and increasing their suffering.
Partial strangulation puts extreme pressure on several vital neck structures. The hyoid bone, a small u-shaped structure above the larynx, is prone to bruising or fracture under compression.
At the same time, pressure on the carotid arteries restricts blood flow to the brain, and compression of the jugular veins causes pooling of blood in the head – likely resulting in visible hemorrhages in the eyes and face.
Because the larynx and trachea (both essential for airflow) are partially blocked, this makes breathing labored. Strain on the cervical spine and surrounding muscles in the neck can cause tearing, muscle spasms or dislocation of the vertebrae – causing severe pain.
Fawkes ended his pain too soon by jumping from the gallows. Accounts from this time tell us:
His body was weak from the torture and the illness, he was barely able to climb the ladder – but with much delay, with the help of the gallows, he went high enough to break his neck in the fall.
This probably caused him to suffer a bilateral fracture of his second cervical vertebra, aided by his own body weight – an injury known as a “hanger’s fracture”.
Step 2: Drawing (disembowelment)
After a sustained partial hangover, the victim would then be “pulled” – a process of de-absorbing them while they were still alive. This action focused mainly on the organs of the abdominal cavity – including the intestines, liver and kidney, as well as large blood vessels such as the abdominal aorta.
The physiological response to disassembly would be immediate and intense. There is a high concentration of pain receptors in the abdominal cavity – especially around the membrane lining of the abdomen. When punctured, these pain receptors would send intense pain signals to the brain, overwhelming the body’s ability to manage pain. Shock would soon follow due to the rapid drop in blood pressure caused by massive amounts of blood loss.
Step 3: quartering (dismemberment)
The quartering was also supposed to be done while the victim was still alive. Although there are no accounts that specify the stage at which victims usually lost consciousness during the execution, it is unlikely that many survived the shock of being dragged.
So, at this point, publicity replaced punishment because of the victim’s earlier demise. Limbs removed from criminals were preserved by boiling them with spices. They then toured the country to act as a deterrent to others.
Although accounts suggest that Fawkes’ body parts were sent to “the four corners of the United Kingdom”, there is no specific record of what was sent where. However, his head was on display in London.
Punishment of the traitor
The punishment of hanging, drawing and quartering was designed to be as anatomically devastating as it was psychologically terrifying. Each stage of the process exploited the vulnerabilities of the human body to create maximum pain and suffering, serving as a grim reminder of the consequences of treason.
This punishment also gives us an insight into how medieval justice systems used the body as a canvas for social and political messages. The fate of Fawkes, although unimaginable today, shows the extremes to which the state could and would go to maintain control, power and authority over its subjects.
The sentence of hanging, drawn and quartered was officially removed from English law as part of the Forfeiture Act of 1870.
This article from The Conversation is republished under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Michelle Spear does not work for, consult with, own shares or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and does not she disclosed any relevant connections beyond their academic appointment.
