Hanging drawing and quartering: Encyclopedia II - Hanging drawing and quartering - Religious considerations

Hanging drawing and quartering - Religious considerations

Dismemberment of the body after death was seen by many contemporaries as a way of punishing the traitor beyond the grave. In western European Christian countries, until relatively recently, it was believed that to rise on judgment day the body had to be whole and preferably buried with the feet to the east so that the person would rise facing God. A Parliamentary Act from the reign of Henry VIII stipulated that only the corpses of executed murderers could be used for dissection. Being thus dismembered was viewed as an extra punishment not suitable for others. There are cases on record where murderers would try to plead guilty to another capital offence so that, although they would be hanged, their body would be buried whole and not be dissected.

Attitudes towards this issue changed very slowly in Britain and was not manifested in law until the passing of the Anatomy Act in 1832. However, for many of the British population it was not until the 20th century that the link between the body and resurrection was finally broken. Respect for the dead is still a sensitive issue in Britain as can been seen by the furore over the "Alder Hey organs scandal" when the organs of children were kept without parents' informed consent^[3].

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Religious considerations", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki