To be hanged, drawn and quartered was, from 1351, a penalty in England for men convicted of high treason, although the ritual was first recorded in the 13th century. Convicts were fastened to a hurdle, or wooden panel, and drawn by horse to the place of execution. Once there, they were hanged (almost to the point of death), emasculated, disembowelled, beheaded and quartered (chopped into four pieces). For reasons of public decency, women convicted of high treason were instead burnt at the stake. The severity of the sentence was measured against the seriousness of the crime. As an attack on the monarch's authority, high treason was considered an act deplorable enough to demand the most extreme form of punishment. Over a period of several hundred years many men found guilty of high treason were punished in this fashion, including English Catholic priests executed during the Elizabethan era. Although the Act of Parliament that defines high treason remains on the United Kingdom's statute books, the sentence was modified in the 19th century and became obsolete in England in 1870. The death penalty for treason was abolished in 1998.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanged,_drawn_and_quartered

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1456:

Twenty-five years after her death, Joan of Arc was declared innocent of heresy in a posthumous retrial. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retrial_of_Joan_of_Arc

1798:

The Quasi-War, an undeclared war fought entirely at sea, began after the United States rescinded their treaties with France. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quasi-War

1963:

The police of Ngo Dinh Nhu, brother and chief political adviser of President of South Vietnam Ngo Dinh Diem, attacked a group of American journalists who were covering a protest during the Buddhist crisis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Seven_Day_scuffle

1983:

After writing a letter to Soviet premier Yuri Andropov, American schoolgirl Samantha Smith visited the Soviet Union as Andropov's personal guest, becoming known as "America's Youngest Ambassador". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samantha_Smith

2005:

Suicide bombers killed 52 people in a series of four explosions on London's public transport system (emergency responders pictured). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7_July_2005_London_bombings

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

sanguinary: 1. Attended with bloodshed. 2. Eager to shed blood; bloodthirsty. 3. Consisting of, covered with or similar in appearance to blood. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sanguinary

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

A rational anarchist believes that concepts such as "state" and "society" and "government" have no existence save as physically exemplified in the acts of self-responsible individuals. He believes that it is impossible to shift blame, share blame, distribute blame … as blame, guilt, responsibility are matters taking place inside human beings singly and nowhere else. But being rational, he knows that not all individuals hold his evaluations, so he tries to live perfectly in an imperfect world … aware that his effort will be less than perfect yet undismayed by self-knowledge of self-failure.   --The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Moon_Is_a_Harsh_Mistress