Reply #24: I just need to nit-pick, H2Oman...

[La_Fourmi_Rouge]

"Feith ought to be drawn, quartered, and hung."

This seems illogical. In my humble opinion, he would have to be hung BEFORE he was drawn and quartered, but if he was hung, it would pretty much negate completely the "drawing" part. So, the unnamed administration official was Wrong (geez, can't they do anything right, it's a disease or sumthing). The proper method would be: Drawn, Hung, then Quartered, and Gibbeted thereafter.

I know I don't add to much to these threads, but I just had to add my bit of criticism to another fine post.

"To be hanged, drawn, and quartered was the penalty once ordained in England for treason. It is considered by many to be the epitome of "cruel" punishment, and was reserved for treason as this crime was deemed more heinous than murder and other capital offences. It was only applied to male criminals. Women found guilty of treason in England were burnt at the stake, a punishment abolished in 1790.

Details of the punishment

Until 1870, the full punishment for the crime was to be "hanged, drawn, and quartered" in that the convict would be:

1. Dragged on a hurdle (a wooden frame) to the place of execution. (drawn)
2. Hanged by the neck for a short time or removed until almost dead. (hanged).
3. Disembowelled, and the genitalia and entrails burned before the victim's eyes (often mistaken for drawing).
4. 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 gibbeted (put on public display) in different parts of the city, town, or, in famous cases, country, to deter would-be traitors. Gibbeting was abolished in England in 1843." (wiki)

Drawing and Quartering