Roger Mortimer ran England for three years through his lover, Queen Isabella, after deposing her husband Edward II in 1326. The teenage king Edward III overthrew him in a midnight coup at Nottingham Castle in 1330. How was Mortimer executed?
Edward III specifically denied Mortimer the beheading privilege that was normally extended to noblemen. He was hanged naked at Tyburn on 29 November 1330 on the common gallows. Tyburn (modern Marble Arch) would be London's main public execution site for the next 453 years. Beheading on Tower Green was the comparatively dignified end reserved for senior aristocrats — Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard, Lady Jane Grey. Hanging, drawing, and quartering at Smithfield was the punishment for treason against the Crown by commoners. Burial alive was practiced in medieval Europe but not at this level of state ceremony.
Read the full story →Roger Mortimer escaped the Tower, invaded England, deposed a king, and ran the country for three years. His own teenage king-by-grace overthrew him in a midnight coup.
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