The severity of the sentence was measured against the seriousness of the crime.

Matthew Lambert was among the most notable Irishmen to suffer this punishment, in 1581 in Wexford. The same punishment applied to traitors against the king in Ireland from the 15th century onward William Overy was hanged, drawn and quartered by Lord Lieutenant Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York in 1459, and from the reign of King Henry VII it was made part of statute law.

For reasons of public decency, women convicted of high treason were instead burned at the stake. His remains would then often be displayed in prominent places across the country, such as London Bridge, to serve as a warning of the fate of traitors. The convicted traitor was fastened to a hurdle, or wooden panel, and drawn by horse to the place of execution, where he was then hanged (almost to the point of death), emasculated, disembowelled, beheaded, and quartered. To be hanged, drawn and quartered became a statutory penalty for men convicted of high treason in the Kingdom of England from 1352 under King Edward III (1327–1377), although similar rituals are recorded during the reign of King Henry III (1216–1272). The execution of Hugh Despenser the Younger, as depicted in the Froissart of Louis of Gruuthuse Legal punishment in medieval England, Wales, and Ireland for high treason

Hands making a heart sketch