The Execution of Dafydd ap Gruffydd
For nearly 700 years, being hanged, drawn, and quartered was the supreme punishment for high crimes in England. Hundreds of people were executed in this brutal manner.
Today is October 3 2017, and on this date, 734 years back, in 1283, Dafydd ap Gruffydd, the Prince of Wales, was executed.
Dafydd was one of four sons of Gruffyddd ap Llywelyn. His brothers were Owain, Llewelyn, and Rodri.
Their father, Gruffydd, was surrendered as a hostage to the invading English King Henry III by his own brother, Dafydd, in 1241. He died whilst attempting to escape from the Tower of London in 1244 by way of tying his bedsheets into a rope and climbing out the window. Of course, the bedsheet rope broke and he fell to his death.
Two years after their father died, so too did their uncle, and control of Wales fell to the four brothers. Owain, Llewelyn, Dafydd, And Rhodri competed with each other for consolidation of power, which culminated in Llywelyn defeating the combined forces of Owain and Dafydd in 1246 to cement his rule.
Llewelyn would reign until 1282, when his younger brother Dafydd sparked a revolt against the English, now led by Edward I (also known as Edward the Longshanks, the villain of Braveheart, which is a terrible historical film, for the record). This revolt prompted Llewelyn to choose to support the ill-conceived revolution. Llewelyn was killed in the Battle of Orewin Bridge in December of 1282.
Of the remaining three brothers, only Dafydd maintained a thirst for power. Owain, who had soured on politics, died around this time, and Rhodri had sold off all of his claims and titles.
And so Dafydd ap Gruffydd became the unchallenged Prince of Wales in 1282.
By January 1283, Edward had marched his massive armies to the Welsh border, and by June Edward had captured Dafydd and nearly quashed all of the Welsh resistance. These events ended Welsh independence, and the country has been part of the United Kingdom ever since.
On September 30, Dafydd was sentenced to death, and Edward the Longshanks wanted to send a clear message throughout his kingdom. Dafydd ap Gruffydd became the first person to be tried and executed for crimes fitting the definition of high treason, and was the first nobleman to ever be hanged, drawn and quartered.
For those not familiar with the process, it went like this. First, the condemned was dragged by a horse to the site of the execution. They were then hanged by their necks, but not dropped. This was not an attempt to snap their necks, but rather intentional strangulation. Once near death, they were lowered and tied down. As this sentence was only ever levied against men, emasculation, it became common practice to cut off their genitals as well as the traditional disemboweling. The internal organs, once removed, were burned in a fire, and yes, some of the condemned were conscious to see their guts burning before them. After that, whether alive or already dead, the man’s head was removed, and his body cut into pieces. The pieces were usually distributed throughout England as a grotesque warning to would be traitors, while the heads were usually stuck on pikes on London Bridge for the same purpose.
Dafydd ap Gruffydd’s gruesome fate was carried out on October 3, 1283 by Geoffrey of Shrewsbury, who was paid 20 shillings for his role as executioner. Twenty shillings, in modern times, would be valued at around £5000.
Thanks for reading and be sure to check back tomorrow for some Colonial in-fighting during the American Revolution.
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