In ancient times, when no one had heard about human rights, cruel torture and executions were widespread among almost all peoples. People accused of crimes were subjected to terrible torment on completely legitimate grounds. Quarterly was considered one of the most famous methods of execution since ancient times. So what does “quartering” mean? And what are the features of this execution in different countries?
What does it mean to “quarter” a person?
Quartering is one of the most common methods of execution in the world, which consists in dissecting the body into four or more parts. Especially dangerous criminals, as well as traitors, traitors, rebels and conspirators, were subjected to such execution. Often, before the quartering, the offender was subjected to other torture. A quarter could be a living person, or already dead.
Although the essence of torture is clear without explanation, in different countries this type of execution had its own differences.
Quartering in England
Quartering in England was part of one of the most painful tortures that state criminals were subject to. Initially, the criminal was hung on the gallows. Barely alive he was pulled out of the loop, his stomach was ripped open with a knife and the insides were pulled out. After the offender was cut off his head and cut off his limbs. The king could show his mercy and order to leave the criminal on the gallows until his death, which means that they already quartered a dead body. In 1867, the quartering was officially abolished.
Quartering in France
In France, the torture was that the prisoner was tied to the horses by the arms and legs. At the same time, the hands were wrapped in a loop from the wrist to the elbows, and the legs from the feet to the knees. The horses were first taken in turns to the sides, thereby bringing terrible torment to the criminal. And then, when the man was barely alive from pain, the horses were allowed in different directions, as a result of which they tore off the executed hands and feet. If the criminal’s joints were too strong, the executioner himself chopped off the prisoner’s limbs first, and then his head.
Quartering in Russia
It is known that in the time of Ancient Rus, young trees were used for quartering. Their tops bent down, a man was tied with ropes to their limbs, after which the trees were released. In the Russian Empire, when quartering with an ax, their legs, arms and head were chopped off. The last quartering in Russia took place in 1775.
In the European part of the world, this torture was no longer practiced at the end of the 18th-beginning of the 19th centuries. Quartering as an official form of execution for the civilized world is a thing of the past.