#OTD in 1326 Hugh Despenser the Younger was gruesomely executed at Hereford, on the orders of Queen Isabella of France and her ally, Roger Mortimer. He was hanged, drawn and quartered. Froissart claims he was emasculated while still alive, although this was not usual.

Hugh had previously been subjected to a show trial, in which he was convicted of a long list of charges. Some of these were exaggerated, or simply made up: there is no evidence, for instance, that he had someone called ‘Lady Baret’ tortured into insanity. Nor is there any truth in the charge (invented very recently) that he raped Isabella.

Even so, there is no doubt that Hugh and his father, Hugh the Elder, had been Edward II’s accomplices in the last years of the reign. This has, justly, been called a reign of terror. After the defeat of Thomas of Lancaster, Edward and the Despensers engaged upon widespread larceny, intimidation, theft, kidnapping and extortion, all with the aim of getting rich.

Finally, Edward’s subjects deserted him, and refused to defend England against the Hainaut-backed invasion of Mortimer and Isabella. Even when he emptied the gaols to find soldiers, as his father had done, no Englishman would lift a finger in defence of the king and his hated favourites. Not even King John or Henry III had fallen this low. Edward did have some loyal supporters among the Welsh gentry, who continued to fight in his name for several years afterwards.

And so to Hereford. Hugh was stripped of his clothes and had biblical verses written on his skin, before being dragged by four horses to the place of execution.