Hanged, drawn and quartered
To be hanged, drawn and quartered became a statutory penalty for men convicted of high treason in the Kingdom of England from 1352 under King Edward III (1327–1377), although similar rituals are recorded during the reign of King Henry III (1216–1272). The convicted traitor was fastened to a hurdle, or wooden panel, and drawn behind a horse to the place of execution, where he was then hanged, emasculated, disembowelled, beheaded, and quartered. His remains would then often be displayed in prominent places across the country, such as London Bridge, to serve as a warning of the fate of traitors. For reasons of public decency, women convicted of high treason were instead burned at the stake.
The execution of Hugh Despenser the Younger, as depicted in the Froissart of Louis of Gruuthuse
As illustrated in Matthew Paris's Chronica Majora, William de Marisco is drawn to his execution behind a horse.
Edward I Longshanks, King of England (1272–1307)
Edward III, under whose rule the Treason Act 1351 was enacted. It defined in law what constituted high treason.
High treason in the United Kingdom
Under the law of the United Kingdom, high treason is the crime of disloyalty to the Crown. Offences constituting high treason include plotting the murder of the sovereign; committing adultery with the sovereign's consort, with the sovereign's eldest unmarried daughter, or with the wife of the heir to the throne; levying war against the sovereign and adhering to the sovereign's enemies, giving them aid or comfort; and attempting to undermine the lawfully established line of succession. Several other crimes have historically been categorised as high treason, including counterfeiting money and being a Catholic priest.
William Joyce ("Lord Haw-Haw") was the last person to be tried for treason in the UK, here seen under armed guard in 1945.
To be hanged, drawn and quartered was from 1351 a penalty in England for common men convicted of high treason.