Public Executions in Medieval London
Public executions were a major part of life in the largest and most significant City in the Kingdom. The first recorded execution happened there in 1196, but we can be certain that capital punishment took place in London long before the 12th century. London offered an impressive backdrop for some of the most infamous executions in history. As the power of the state became greater, public punishments were used to deter others from taking on a life of crime. The watching crowds grew larger as people became more comfortable with the spectacle of violence. Executions were always carried out in public, but in London they became a theatrical performance. The medieval period was notoriously a grim and gritty time with battles and clan wars happening on a pretty regular basis.
The first named person to be executed in London was William Fitz Osbert, who was also known as Longbeard. Osbert came from a good family and had fought in the Third Crusade in 1190. Once back home, he championed the poor, holding gatherings and making rousing speeches at Saint Paul’s Cathedral. According to the English historian William of Newburgh, Osbert started “a powerful conspiracy inspired by the zeal of the poor against the insolence of the rich.” Tensions were high, so Osbert soon gathered more than 52,000 supporters and they stockpiled weapons all around London to break into wealthy houses. Although he declared loyalty to King Richard I, Hubert Walter, the Archbishop of Canterbury, decided that he had to be stopped before it was too late. Osbert fled to the church of Saint Mary-le-Bow; however, Walter had the church set alight. As Osbert fled the burning building, he was stabbed in the stomach and arrested. Convicted of treason, Osbert was first drawn asunder by horses, being dragged through the streets on a wooden board by a horse to the place of execution. In this case, it was the Elms at Smithfield, where Osbert was then “hanged on a gibbet with nine of his accomplices.”
After drawing, hanging was the next stage when the prisoner would be hanged by the neck until they were nearly dead before being taken down. At this point, they would often be castrated or disemboweled, or both. Sometimes their genitals and entrails would be burned next to them. The final stage was to be cut into quarters. There was actually quite a high degree of skill involved in keeping the prisoner alive throughout the first two stages.
For the common people, hanging was the usual form of punishment. Suspended from the gallows, the prisoner would either stand on a cart which would be pulled away, or they would be made to climb a ladder from which the executioner would push them off. Either way, they would be left to dangle, strangled by their own body weight. Those who had committed heresy and women who had committed treason would be burnt to death. A woman who had murdered her husband would be considered to have committed treason because she was seen as betraying her superior. Coinage crimes such as clipping were punishable by burning right up until the 18th century.
The first record of someone being beheaded on Tower Hill was in 1388. Only a handful of important prisoners were actually executed inside the grounds of the Tower of London itself; many more met their death on the hill where there was a lot more space for a bigger crowd. A decapitation, either by axe or by sword, was often bungled. Some poor victims had to endure two or more blows from the blade once the crowd jeered at the sloppy work of the executioner.
By executing someone in this most public way, the state’s aim was to make an example of the condemned criminal. Thousands of people would have witnessed the execution which, when the charge was treason, was particularly severe. Some of the most popular criminals would have messages of encouragement shouted at them from the crowd and have flowers thrown at them, so there was always a risk of making the prisoner into a martyr, which is what happened with Osbert. His followers declared him a martyr and gathered together daily at the place of his hanging. The soil there was collected by the poorer classes as a keepsake of their leader until a pit was created in the ground. Eventually, guards were posted at the spot to keep the people away.
After Lollard Richard Wyche, the vicar of Deptford, was executed on Tower Hill in 1440, packets of his ashes were sold to his devotees. Apparently, the amount of ashes sold to his gullible followers were enough to have come from several burnt corpses. During the Middle Ages, there were three places in London that were particularly associated with public executions: Tyburn, Tower Hill, and Smithfield.
Some prisoners willingly went to their deaths. They were practically excited and joyous about their imminent release from the earthly world, perhaps out of a religious conviction or just sheer relief. Others might be less accommodating. On their walk to the gallows, violent males would have to be tied to a sled and pulled along. There could be hundreds of spectators as public executions became part of popular culture for the medievals. Far from being a somber affair, they were noisy, unruly, and often shockingly disrespectful depending upon who was being marched to their death. Just like people today who arrive early to get to the front of the stage for a concert, so too with the spectators of an execution who came to view the death of another human being as a form of entertainment. A lot of gallows humor came into use, with people referring to the act as “stretching” and the event as “collar day” and a “hanging fair.”
Some executions might take place at the spot where the crime had occurred. This was so local people could witness justice being carried out up close and personal and discourage them from following the path of crime. One man in London complained bitterly that he didn’t want an execution carried out in front of his shop because he was frightened of the notoriety that it would bring to the building. On these occasions, people would lean out of nearby windows or sit on rooftops. Some would stand on one another’s shoulders in the hope of getting a better view of the gruesome event.
There were certain ceremonies involved on the day of execution which began with the condemned person being taken to the place of death. Often the prisoner would be allowed to stop for a drink at an inn on the way; this may be where the expression “one for the road” comes from. It would depend on the criminal and the offense that had been committed as to the reaction of the crowd. Those who were particularly hated would have dirt, stones, and excrement thrown at them. Guards might even be used to hold the crowds back if they became too frenzied.
London Bridge became the perfect place for displaying the decapitated heads of any criminals who had been beheaded, a tradition that goes all the way back to 1305. During the Middle Ages, coming into London from the south of the city, you would almost certainly have to cross the bridge to reach the City of London. This meant that thousands of people would walk beneath the gatehouse at the front of the bridge. It was only prominent offenders who would have their heads placed on the sharp spikes and be displayed in this way. The official keepers of the heads lived in the gatehouse and were responsible for tossing the heads into the River Thames below whenever they became too rotted to be recognized. It is more than likely that there were other heads displayed on London Bridge before, but the Scottish leader Sir William Wallace was the first one that was recorded. According to chronicles, at one time there were as many as 34 heads chillingly exhibited together over the river.
Originally known as Smoothfield, Smithfield was a grassy place beyond the city walls and near to the Fleet River. It was the perfect place for a cattle market because of its access to grazing and water. During the medieval summer, Smithfield was a very important place; it hosted some fairs and jousting tournaments and, of course, the occasional execution. Smithfield was also known as The Elms, and there have been many elm trees there which were used for hangings. This was where Sir William Wallace was hanged and quartered, as well as John Badby, who was an early Lollard martyr.
The Lollards were a Protestant Christian movement that began in the middle of the 14th century who sought for reform and criticized the Roman Catholic Church. Badby believed that during the act of communion—that is, the taking of bread and wine—the bread was not actually the physical body of Christ even though it had been consecrated. Refusing to renounce this belief, Badby was arrested in March 1409 and declared a heretic in a court presided over by Archbishop Thomas Arundel. Badby was condemned to be burned at Smithfield. Badby was placed inside an empty barrel which was bound to the stake by chains. After being surrounded by dry wood, it was set alight as he cried for mercy. The Prince of Wales, who later became King Henry V, witnessed the execution and commanded that the fire should be put out. Then he encouraged Badby to recant and save his own life by offering a pardon and a yearly pension. But Badby shockingly refused and was subsequently burnt to death. Wat Tyler, who led the 1381 Peasants’ Revolt, was killed at the Elms, and later Richard Roose was boiled alive for poisoning guests at the home of the Bishop of Rochester. There is a plaque to honor William Wallace at the nearby Saint Bartholomew’s Hospital, and people regularly go there to leave flowers in his memory.
During the 15th century, Tyburn became the go-to destination for an execution. Now close to the busy area of Marble Arch, in the Middle Ages, it was just a village. At one execution there in 1447, five men were being hanged together and had been stripped of their clothing prior to the events. When a last-minute pardon arrived for the men, the hangman refused to give them their clothes back. Their reprieve meant that the executioner would have to take a loss on the day’s proceedings, so the released prisoners had to walk back home to London naked.
For most condemned prisoners, the thought of escape either from jail or on the way to the gallows was a dream. In 1430 though, a soldier by the name of Knight was able to do just that. Knight was in Newgate Prison when his friends made up a plan to fabricate debt charges against him. This meant that he had to be taken to Guildhall. The man’s friends waited at Panyer Alley which was on route. As Knight passed by the south side of the church of Saint Martin’s-le-Grand, they jumped out and dragged him into the church precincts. But the city Chamberlain, the alderman, and the sheriff stormed the church and arrested all of the men, thereby violating the laws of sanctuary. The case was heard in front of the Star Chamber, which was the highest court in England, and all of the men including Knight were returned to the sanctuary of Saint Martin’s Church by order of King Henry VI. In the eyes of the law, sanctuary was sacrosanct.
Now there are oak trees and a plaque on the pavement of Marble Arch to symbolize the triangular gallows that once stood there. People often pay their respects there and say prayers for the dead. Other places were also used for public executions in London such as Kennington Common, the Old Palace Yard of Westminster where Guy Fawkes met his end, and the Banqueting House of Whitehall where King Charles I was beheaded. The last public execution took place in London in December 1867, when Michael Barrett was hanged outside Clerkenwell Prison for terrorism.
