Hugh Despenser the Younger — Edward II's principal favourite — was executed in November 1326 in spectacular fashion. Queen Isabella watched. How long did the execution last?
Hereford, 24 November 1326. Despenser was dragged through the streets, hanged from a 50-foot gallows, cut down still conscious, castrated and his genitals burned in front of him, disembowelled, heart cut out and burned, then quartered. Isabella reportedly ate dinner during the proceedings. The execution set the template that English political theatre would apply to fallen favourites for the next three centuries — Roger Mortimer would receive a similar treatment at Tyburn four years later.
Read the full story →Hugh Despenser the Younger was Edward II's principal favourite from about 1318 until the king's deposition in 1326. His public execution at Hereford was one of the most elaborately brutal of the English medieval period — and the man who had ruled England with him died in a Berkeley castle basement nine months later.
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