“1. That the aforesaid … be drawn to the gallows of …
2. He is there to be hanged by the neck, and let down alive.
3. His bowels are to be taken out,
4. And, he being alive, to be burnt.
5. His head is to be cut off.
6. His body is to be divided into four parts,
7. And his head and quarters are to be placed where our lord the king shall direct.”
There is no doubt that, originally, the prisoner was drawn to the gallows immediately after trial, but later, the first clause was made to run that the prisoner should be taken from the court to the place whence he came (the prison), and from thence to the place of execution. The sentence is given in this later form by Sir William Stanford in his work, “Les Plees del Coron.” 1560, fols. 182, 182b.
It is difficult to say when the sentence, as given above, was first carried out. In relating the execution in 1283 of David, Prince of Wales, the chroniclers give the several punishments in this order: drawing, hanging, beheading, disembowelling, quartering.[46] This is not quite conclusive, as will be seen by the next instance.