Dark History for October

3rd October On this day...

735 years ago on October 3rd 1283 the first nobleman was executed by hanging, drawing and quartering. This execution was saved for men who committed the heinous act of “high treason" and this usually meant rebelling against or attempting to assassinate the English king.

David the last Prince of Wales.

Dafydd ap Gruffydd was part of the royal family of Wales when Wales was independent. He was second in line for the throne but he had a thirst for power and tried to rebel against his brother Llywelyn 3 times, being forgiven every time, this meant twice Dafydd joined with the English as they fought to get Wales under English rule. Llywelyn was then lured into a trap and killed by Edward I. This meant that Dafydd got his power but as Edward I was encroaching up Wales building fortifications such as Caenarfon, Conwy and Harlech castle.

Dafydd was not happy with the amount of power he had and wanted to keep an Independent Wales and keep the most amount of control so he attacked Edward I at Hawarden Castle for the last mass rebellion from the last true prince of Wales. Arguably, the attack on Hawarden Castle caused Edward I to call for a slow and painful death because of this treachery. For Daffydd's High Treason he was to be hanged, drawn and quartered which was not officially a punishment until 1305 with the death of William Wallace. It was not repealed as a punishment until 1870 with the last death recorded in the Old Bailey as 1820.

Being hanged, drawn and quartered is one of the most brutal British executions and is saved for the most infamous rebels mainly some of the most famous being William Wallace in 1305, Guy Fawkes in 1606 and Robert Emmett in 1803. These were all rebels against English rule and all were used to warn their countrymen not to rebel. Wallace’s body was sent back to Scotland and gibbetted , Emmett to Ireland, Fawkes remained in London and Dafydd went back to Wales. This was the final part of the terrible process. There were many difference between these “traitors" is that all they were under an official punishment unlike Dafydd and certainly Emmett's execution was more humane than the others as the early 19th Century removed the disembowelment whilst alive and all destruction of the corpse was post mortem. The Old Bailey has a description of the final execution in 1820 which describes the use of the hurdle to help drag the condemned and the hanging but ends there until the head is severed post-mortem which despite being bad, it was not as bad as he died quickly.

A fate worse than a fate worse than death...

Concentrating on Dafydd's execution, the process of this execution was horrific. Dafydd was caught  and taken to Shrewsbury where he waited 3 months for a decision. Once that was made, Geoffrey of Shrewsbury was paid 20 Shillings (£5000) to carry it out. Dafydd was tied to the tail of a horse and drawn behind a charging horse to the site of the execution. After having been humiliated this way he was taken to the gallows ready to be hanged.

It is worth noting that many men died whilst being dragged behind the horse, so a wooden hurdle was added to ensure each condemned man made it to the gallows.

Once on the gallows a crowd watched, as with most hangings, but this would be rather more horrific. With a normal hanging the condemned would be hooded and dropped through a trap so that there was a large possibility that the neck would snap immediately and so relieving the suffering. Although this did not happen every time, in which case the person would suffocate. When being hanged for the purposes of drawing and quartering the condemned was lifted to endure suffocation until the point of death then taken down and revived if not to full consciousness then as near as possible.

For the final part, after the humiliation of being dragged through the streets and the agony of suffocation, the condemned man was made to watch or at the very least feel the pain and ejaculation as their genitals were removed and thrown on a fire and then slice through the abdomen and pull out the viscera again throwing it in the fire. This was a harrowing process all round and the condemned could even last as long as the hearts removal before dying. The head was then removed and parboiled to stop putrifactio so it could decorate a pike.

The body was then cut into four prices post-mortem and each piece was gibbeted to warn any other rebels of their fate. For the most part this worked, as in 577 years there were, on average, less than 3 deaths per year; in comparison to other execution techniques, this was a very small number. One of the most notable times this method was used was following the Monmouth Rebellion were 200 people were sentenced to being hung, drawn and quartered.

 

So, even after the pain of knowing that Wales would fall under the rule of an English monarch and lose its independence, knowing that he would die and his family were imprisoned, Dafydd went through one of the most horrifying execution methods in Britain. On this day 735 years ago Dafydd ap Gruffydd, the last and turbulent Prince of Wales, lost everything for the sake of his lust for power.

Fun Fact: Conwy, Harlech and Caenarfon Castle are stalwart symbols of Welsh heritage and large tourist attractions for Wales but actually symbolise a the removal of Wales’ independence.