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A traitor's death? The identity of a drawn, hanged and quartered man from Hulton Abbey, Staffordshire

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Mary E. Lewis
Mary E. Lewis*
Affiliation:
*Department of Archaeology, School of Human and Environmental Studies, University of Reading, Reading, Berkshire RG6 6AB, UK (Email: m.e.lewis@reading.ac.uk)
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Extract

Analysis of a set of bones redeposited in a medieval abbey graveyard showed that the individual had been beheaded and chopped up, and this in turn suggested one of England's more gruesome execution practices. Since quartering was generally reserved for the infamous, the author attempts to track down the victim and proposes him to be Hugh Despenser, the lover of King Edward II.

Keywords

Hulton Abbeyexecutionquarteringperimortem traumaHugh Despenser the YoungerEdward II
Type
Research article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 82 , Issue 315 , March 2008 , pp. 113 - 124
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2008

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