Sir Hugh Spencer (Hugh Le Despenser) fastened to a ladder and disembowled alive in Hereford while a crowd of spectators gathers around a fire below the ladders. Coloured lithograph.

Date:
[1845]
Reference:
43450i
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Description

"Despenser was taken to Hereford. Outside the city he was stripped and then reclothed with his arms reversed, and he was crowned with stinging nettles. Condemned to death as a traitor, on 24 November 1326 he was drawn on a hurdle to the gallows, and then hanged from a height of 50 feet. Still alive, he was cut down and eviscerated before finally being beheaded. His head was displayed on London Bridge; his quarters were sent to Bristol, Dover, York, and Newcastle.'"--Oxford dictionary of national biography

Publication/Creation

[London] : [W. Smith], [1845]

Physical description

1 print : lithograph, with watercolour ; image 9.7 x 8.8 cm

Lettering

Execution of Sir Hugh Spencer French lettering within the print

Reference

Wellcome Collection 43450i

Reproduction note

Facsimile of a page in a manuscript of Jean de Froissart, Chronicles

Type/Technique

Languages

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