While we’re on the subject of execution, historians and forensics experts in England believe they’ve identified some medieval remains as those of King Edward II’s reputed lover, Sir Hugh Despenser the Younger: “Despenser died a gruesome death, being publicly hanged, drawn and quartered for treason in 1326 following Edward’s fall. The remains, found in the 1970s on Despenser’s brother-in-law’s estate at Hulton Abbey, Staffordshire, bear such hallmarks, anthropologist Mary Lewis says. Lewis, from Reading University, made the link by drawing on the manner of execution, carbon-dating of the bones and the absence of several parts of the body.” [UK Reuters]
