# Braveheart question **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 26, 2000, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braveheart-question/38403 "2000-10-26T12:53:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DuhMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9c0ed/32.png) [@DuhMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DuhMan)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2000, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braveheart-question/38403/1 "2000-10-26T12:53:45Z")
Last night I happened to catch the last hour or so of Braveheart on HBO. I have seen the movie several times, but one question has always plagued me… Spoiler alert for those who have never seen this movie … In the final scene where Wallace is being tortured, they lay him down on this cross looking thing and the guy rips his shirt open with some twisted tool of torture. My question is… exactly what the hell does he do with that tool of his? They never show what he is doing. I can only assume that it is something completely disgusting that they could not show, but my morbid mind needs to know what was going on. I know that some of you have to be up on your medieval torture methods, so please enlighten me. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Kiting\_Illini](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e274bd/32.png) [@Kiting\_Illini](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiting_Illini)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2000, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braveheart-question/38403/2 "2000-10-26T13:01:09Z")
I believe that they disemboweled him. This is foreshadowed to in the previous scene where the midget clowns ‘play’ for the crowd Not a great way to die, but then, what is? ---
**Author:** ![headshok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@headshok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/headshok)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2000, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braveheart-question/38403/3 "2000-10-26T13:04:37Z")
Wallace was disemboweled. It’s been a few years since I saw the movie, but I think they hanged him to the point of semi-consciousness, nearly pulled him apart from the legs and arms, disemboweled him, and then beheaded him, which was the “hanging, drawing, and quartering” punishment that was given to traitors and enemies of the state in ancient Britain. ---
**Author:** ![DuhMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9c0ed/32.png) [@DuhMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DuhMan)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2000, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braveheart-question/38403/4 "2000-10-26T13:08:32Z")
Thanks guys. That was my original thought, but I wanted to get another opinion to make sure I’m not crazy. Mmmmm… disembowelment… I think I’ll pass. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Zero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Saint\_Zero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Zero)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2000, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braveheart-question/38403/5 "2000-10-26T13:11:03Z")
[http://www.wwlia.org/uk-wall.htm](http://www.wwlia.org/uk-wall.htm) Or, if you just want the jucy details… > [@](#): > > The sentence of death was read and Wallace was quickly led outside and tied to a team of horses, where he was pulled to a field outside of the city walls, jeered along the way, onto the grounds of the St. Bartholomew Hospital. A massive crowd cheered on as the executioners first hanged him until he was semi-conscious. Then he was tied down and, while still alive, his genitals were cut off and his stomach opened. His intestines were pulled out and burned, all while he still lived. Finally and mercifully, he was beheaded. “A cruel yet fully deserved death,” wrote an observer. > > Edward was not yet finished with Wallace. As an added deterrent, he ordered Wallace’s body cut in four and the pieces brought to cities at the four corners of England, where they were displayed. Wallace’s head was impaled on the spikes at London Bridge. That’s what happened in real life. They compressed it in the movie. Mel did a fine job, but you couldn’t pack the whole deal into even the 3hrs it runs. ---
**Author:** ![xenophon41](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xenophon41/32/253_2.png) [@xenophon41](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xenophon41)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2000, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braveheart-question/38403/6 "2000-10-26T13:11:12Z")
That was the “drawing” part of “drawn and quartered”. As **Agent LeManof Verona** said, this involves disemboweling the victim and _drawing_\* the intestines out to show to the victim before they die. The idea being to provoke a confession and to instill terror in the enemies of the state. Those kookie Medieval Europeans were always inventing new social engineering techniques… ---
**Author:** ![Kiting\_Illini](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e274bd/32.png) [@Kiting\_Illini](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiting_Illini)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2000, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braveheart-question/38403/7 "2000-10-26T14:32:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by xenophon41 \* > \*\*Those kookie Medieval Europeans were always inventing new social engineering techniques… \*\* Now I know where my company got their ideas for their version of the ‘Annual Performance Review’ ---
**Author:** ![Milossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Milossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milossarian)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2000, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braveheart-question/38403/8 "2000-10-26T15:22:01Z")
Yeah, yelling “Freedom!” instead of begging for mercy was pretty good. But Wallace could have _really_ dissed them if, after they showed him his intestines, he’d have said, “I wish I’d eaten more fiber.” ---
**Author:** ![Kiting\_Illini](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e274bd/32.png) [@Kiting\_Illini](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiting_Illini)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2000, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braveheart-question/38403/9 "2000-10-26T15:34:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Milossarian \* > \*\*“I wish I’d eaten more fiber.” \*\* Considering the huge volume of oats in the average Scots diet at that point in history…I don’t think that is something that he could say… ---
**Author:** ![lurkernomore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@lurkernomore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lurkernomore)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2000, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braveheart-question/38403/10 "2000-10-26T16:06:45Z")
Is this what inspired haggis? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2000, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braveheart-question/38403/11 "2000-10-26T18:24:45Z")
> [@](#): > > That was the “drawing” part of “drawn and quartered”. As **Agent LeManof Verona** said, this involves disemboweling the victim and drawing the intestines out to show to the victim before they die. For the actual definition of “drawing and quartering,” see Cecil answer [What do “drawn and quartered” and “keelhauling” mean?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_239.html) (complete with letter from the editor of the **Encyclopædia Britannica** thanking Cecil for providing corrective information for the error the **EB** had printed). Disembowelment is part of the procedure, but the “drawing,” as Cecil notes, indicated dragging the prisoner to the place of execution. ---
**Author:** ![xenophon41](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xenophon41/32/253_2.png) [@xenophon41](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xenophon41)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2000, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braveheart-question/38403/12 "2000-10-26T20:26:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tomndebb \* > **For the actual definition of “drawing and quartering,” see Cecil answer [What do “drawn and quartered” and “keelhauling” mean?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_239.html) (complete with letter from the editor of the Encyclopædia Britannica thanking Cecil for providing corrective information for the error the EB had printed)…** Well, shiver me timbers! Thanks for the link, **tomndebb** ; you’ve contributed to fighting my ignorance on this subject.