# Drawn and quartered? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 24, 2010, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drawn-and-quartered/530251 "2010-02-24T13:08:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drawn-and-quartered/530251/1 "2010-02-24T13:08:01Z")
From what I understand, the drawing refers to dragging the condemned around behind a horse. After which, the dude is beheaded, then quartered. Quartered = cut into four pieces. So how is a torso + four limbs quartered? Seems to me that it would be fifthed (?) Or, is this just semantics. That is, they cut off the limbs and call it a day? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drawn-and-quartered/530251/2 "2010-02-24T13:30:55Z")
**Cecil** once had something to say about this. [What do “drawn and quartered” and “keelhauling” mean?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1049/what-do-drawn-and-quartered-and-keelhauling-mean) And, [Here’s](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=11571446&highlight=drawn+quartered#post11571446) a link to a thread we did on this about six months ago. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drawn-and-quartered/530251/3 "2010-02-24T13:39:08Z")
Nothing semantic about hung, drawn & quartered. Drawn means disembowelled. After beheading the body is cut/chopped into quarters, making five pieces, plus assorted vicera and gore. Try google, if your stomach is up to it. ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drawn-and-quartered/530251/4 "2010-02-24T13:50:28Z")
I was always under the impression that being drawn and quartered was the act of the victim had his arms and legs fastened to 4 horses, and the horses were ridden/driven in 4 different directions, ripping the person apart. Is this incorrect? ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drawn-and-quartered/530251/5 "2010-02-24T13:56:09Z")
Humans are REALLY really good at coming up with bizarre tortures and execution methods. This may be one reason why we haven’t been asked to join the Galactic Confederation. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drawn-and-quartered/530251/6 "2010-02-24T14:01:32Z")
Drawn and quartering as the OP asks, is Drawn - disembowelling (having your gut cut open and your bowels spilled out). If that didn’t kill you the quartering would. Quartering - using an ax and chopping your torso into four pieces, each with a limb attached, one portion of the upper torso peice would keep the head. There were also variations to this, as previous posters have posted (beheading before quartering and using horses to arbitrarily quarter the body). Medieval torture and execution was very gruesome. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drawn-and-quartered/530251/7 "2010-02-24T14:52:21Z")
Hmmm… In the column Cecil says only the Dutch enacted keelhauling as a punishment… but IIRC it was after I saw the Marlon Brando version of Mutiny on the Bounty in the early 1960’s that I asked my dad what keelhauling was. I can’t believe Hollywood, especially in those days, would so callously ignore historical facts for a good story… ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drawn-and-quartered/530251/8 "2010-02-24T15:31:33Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Hmmm… In the column Cecil says only the Dutch enacted keelhauling as a punishment… but IIRC it was after I saw the Marlon Brando version of Mutiny on the Bounty in the early 1960’s that I asked my dad what keelhauling was. > > I can’t believe Hollywood, especially in those days, would so callously ignore historical facts for a good story… Both the Clark Gable and Marlon Brando versions of the story were ultimately based on novelizations that themselves callously ignored historical facts for a good story. Read Caroline Alexander’s _The Bounty_ to learn the truth behind the matter, and to see how history has soiled the legacy of a genuine English hero. ---
**Author:** ![Dog80](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@Dog80](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dog80)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drawn-and-quartered/530251/9 "2010-02-24T16:13:49Z")
Drawn and quartered? Isn’t that when having a painter make your portrait and being given a house to live? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drawn-and-quartered/530251/10 "2010-02-25T02:40:02Z")
It’s worse to be [slaughtered, gutted and heartbroken.](http://lyrics.filestube.com/song/e09c47a6216f6e7003e9,Slaughtered-Gutted-and-Heartbroken.html) ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drawn-and-quartered/530251/11 "2010-02-25T02:59:12Z")
> [@Kizarvexius](#): > > Both the Clark Gable and Marlon Brando versions of the story were ultimately based on novelizations that themselves callously ignored historical facts for a good story. Read Caroline Alexander’s _The Bounty_ to learn the truth behind the matter, and to see how history has soiled the legacy of a genuine English hero. Although its based on another book, 1984’s _The Bounty_ is IMO the best (and most accurate) screen version of the affair. Has what today would be a dream cast: Mel Gibson, Anthony Hopkins, Daniel Day Lewis, Liam Neeson, and Laurence Olivier! ---
**Author:** ![IAmNotSpartacus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@IAmNotSpartacus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IAmNotSpartacus)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drawn-and-quartered/530251/12 "2010-02-25T03:45:19Z")
> [@PapSett](#): > > I was always under the impression that being drawn and quartered was the act of the victim had his arms and legs fastened to 4 horses, and the horses were ridden/driven in 4 different directions, ripping the person apart. Is this incorrect? In some countries this would be the scenario. I think this was how they did things in France. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Credible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a8b319/32.png) [@Justin\_Credible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Credible)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drawn-and-quartered/530251/13 "2010-02-25T03:57:51Z")
> [@Dog80](#): > > Drawn and quartered? Isn’t that when having a painter make your portrait and being given a house to live? Booooooo! > [@PapSett](#): > > I was always under the impression that being drawn and quartered was the act of the victim had his arms and legs fastened to 4 horses, and the horses were ridden/driven in 4 different directions, ripping the person apart. Is this incorrect? That’s how I always heard it too; also that onlookers would place bets as to which limb the torso and head would stay attached to. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drawn-and-quartered/530251/14 "2010-02-25T04:13:27Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > Humans are REALLY really good at coming up with bizarre tortures and execution methods. > This may be one reason why we haven’t been asked to join the Galactic Confederation. On the other hand, the Galactic Confederation may consider our methods too pedestrian and uncreative, especially in the past century or two. They had such hopes for us as a species. Perhaps its time for them to come down and give lessons. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drawn-and-quartered/530251/15 "2010-02-25T14:35:46Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > Although its based on another book, 1984’s _The Bounty_ is IMO the best (and most accurate) screen version of the affair. > > Has what today would be a dream cast: Mel Gibson, Anthony Hopkins, Daniel Day Lewis, Liam Neeson, and Laurence Olivier! A recommendation I second. It sticks very close to the facts and the cast is stellar. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drawn-and-quartered/530251/16 "2010-02-25T16:13:39Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > From what I understand, the drawing refers to dragging the condemned around behind a horse. > [@Wilbo523](#): > > Drawn and quartering as the OP asks, is > > Drawn - disembowelling (having your gut cut open and your bowels spilled out). A note - it is uncertain what the word “drawn” means in the context. Some linguists think it refers to the act of being dragged along the ground, others think that it refers to the act of the entrails being pulled out. ---
**Author:** ![TerpBE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc8723/32.png) [@TerpBE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TerpBE)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drawn-and-quartered/530251/17 "2010-02-25T21:44:43Z")
If you pull all four limbs in different directions, eventually the body will be ripped into four pieces - three individual limbs, and one limb with the torso still attached, unless the torso itself is somehow secured to something. To try something similar, put two parallel tears most of the way across a piece of paper. Then, by pulling only on the outside parts, try tearing the paper into three pieces with one pull. You can’t do it. The middle part will always stick to whichever end had a slightly better grasp on it. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drawn-and-quartered/530251/18 "2010-02-26T01:50:57Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > A note - it is uncertain what the word “drawn” means in the context. Some linguists think it refers to the act of being dragged along the ground … If that were the case wouldn’t it be “drawn, hung and quartered”? ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drawn-and-quartered/530251/19 "2010-02-26T02:54:00Z")
The article by Cecil expands on the meaning of “drawn” including[this](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1049/what-do-drawn-and-quartered-and-keelhauling-mean) addendum: \*Dear Cecil: In your column you suggest that the Encyclopaedia Britannica entry “drawing and quartering” is incorrect in interpreting the term “drawing” to refer to the prisoner’s disembowelment. Although David M. Walker’s The Oxford Companion to Law agrees with the Britannica interpretation, we found your interpretation favored by several sources, including the Oxford English Dictionary as well as Sir Frederick Pollock and Frederick William Maitland’s The History of English Law Before the Time of Edward I. It is clear that in this context “drawing” is more correctly understood as referring to the act of dragging the prisoner to the place of execution, and the entry will be amended at the earliest opportunity. Thank you for bringing the matter to our attention. — Peter Meyerhoff, assistant editor, Encyclopaedia Britannica \*