Capital punishment survived in many forms in England for several centuries. The annals are filled with stories of beheading, hanging, boiling to death, and various other practices for such crimes as murder, treason, coin clipping, and theft. According to Foucault, public execution was a necessary "political ritual," because criminals offended law-abiding persons, and personally attacked the sovereign "since the law represents the will of the sovereign" (47). Because crime threatened the power dynamic between sovereigns and their people, execution was viewed as a necessary means to restore the proper dynamic within a country (48).
According to John Laurence, William the Conqueror is accepted as having introduced beheading to England, with Waltheof, Earl of Northumberland, as the first victim in 1076 (28). Beheading was considered to be an honourable way to die and was, therefore, used only for nobles or criminals of the higher classes (6). Some famous persons who were executed by beheading include Mary, Queen of Scots (1587); Sir Walter Raleigh (1618); and Charles I (1649). Anne Boleyn was beheaded with a sword (1536), wielded by a Frenchman brought over especially for the occasion (29). Beheading was a problematic form of execution because the level of humanity involved was directly related to how well practiced the executioner was (35). There are many recorded cases of executioners who used several strokes to sever a head from its body.
Hanging was a form of capital punishment that had been practiced for several thousands of years; it is mentioned once in the Mosaic law (see Deut. 21:22-23). In London, the main permanent gallows were located at Tyburn. Sometimes, gallows were set up to supplement those at Tyburn, if there were a large number of hangings that were to occur at the same time. An example of just such an occasion occurred in 1554, when 58 men were hanged in connection with Sir Thomas Wyatt's rebellion. The locations of the extra gallows were recorded by Henry Machyn in his diary:
The xij day of February was mad at evere gate in Lundun a newe payre of galaus and set up, ij payre in Chepesyde, ij payr in Fletstrett, one in Smythfyld, one payre in Holborne, on at Ledyn-hall, one at sant Magnus London [-bridge], on at Peper allay gatt, one at Sant Gorgeus, on in Barunsay [Bermondsey] strett, on on Towr hylle, one payre at Charyngcrosse, on payr besyd Hyd parke corner. (Machyn 55)Most of these gallows were temporary.
Under the reign of Edward III, treason was made punishable by hanging, drawing, and quartering (Laurence 6, 11). The sentence, according to the Statue of Treason of 25 Edward III, 1351, states:
that the traitor is to be taken from prison and laid on a hurdle [. . .], and drawn to the gallows, then hanged by the neck until he was nearly dead, then cut down; then his entrails were to be cut out of his body and burnt by the executioner; then his head to be cut off, his body divided into four quarters, and afterwards set up in some open place as directed. (qtd. in Laurence 11)Records of executions show variations on this sentence for treason and other offenses. For example, in 1576, a goldsmith named Thomas Green was drawn from Newgate to Tyburn, and was there hanged, beheaded, and quartered for the clipping of gold and silver coins (Marks 160). Another example can be seen in Stow's Annals, where Stow records the execution of William Constable in 1556:
The 26. of February Willi. Constable alias Fetherstone was arraigned in the Guild hall of London, who had caused letters to bee cast abrode, that king Edward was aliue, and to some he shewed himselfe to be king Edward, so that many persons both menne and women were troubled by him, for the which sedition the said William had bin once whipped and deliuered, as is aforesaid: But now he was condemned, and the 13. of March he was drawne, hanged and quartered at Tyborne. (qtd. in Marks 153)Some men were similarly punished during the reign of Elizabeth, for printing books which were believed to be seditious and/or in support of Catholicism. Other forms of execution that existed during the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras include burning at the stake (for Protestant heretics and witches), and ducking and drowning (also for witches, in both England and Scotland) (Marks 177; Laurence 10). In London, burning at the stake was conducted at Smithfield, the location made famous by Queen Mary, who was said to have executed nearly three hundred heretics in that manner within a span of three and a half years (Borer 145).
-- Tara Drouillard, 2000