In England, those guilty of treason against the country, king, or queen were Hanged, Drawn, and Quartered
In England, those guilty of treason against the country, king, or queen were Hanged, Drawn, and Quartered Medieval England had a system of execution determined by the offender’s social class. The punishment for murder was, well, to be murdered, but where a commoner would be hanged for the offense, an aristocrat would be beheaded. However, those guilty of high treason – that is, plotting against the ruling monarch or the country at large – would be hanged, drawn, and quartered. Although the punishment had its roots in the medieval period, the last person to be hanged, drawn, and quartered was Robert Emmet in 1809. Thus we can cite the 1660-sentencing of Major General Thomas Harrison for the best account: ‘[dragged] upon a hurdle to the place of execution, and then you shall be hanged by the neck and, being alive, shall be cut down, and your privy members [genitals] to be cut off, and your entrails to be taken out of your body and, you living, the same to be burnt before your eyes, and