The Most Gruesome Executions Recorded in The Middle Ages

The executions of William Wallace in 1305, Joan of Arc in 1431, and Conradin in 1268 were carefully choreographed events designed to terrify, instruct, and legitimize. These iconic deaths reveal how medieval rulers used violence not just to end lives, but to control narratives and crush ideals.

Wallace, the Guardian of Scotland, was hanged, drawn, and quartered in London, his body dismembered and scattered to silence rebellion and warn others of the price of treason. Joan, a peasant girl who claimed divine visions and led French troops to victory, was burned alive in Rouen to extinguish her spiritual influence and defame her as a heretic. Conradin, the teenage heir of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, was beheaded in Naples to erase a royal bloodline and affirm papal-backed political order. Each death was symbolic—targeting resistance, sanctity, and hereditary legitimacy.

These executions shaped not only the politics of their time, but also the collective memory of generations. Wallace’s gruesome fate galvanized future Scottish resistance; Joan’s martyrdom became a cornerstone of French identity and religious reverence, culminating in her canonization; and Conradin’s unjust killing became a rallying cry for critics of papal temporal power. What was meant to terrify instead inspired.

Join us as we examine how medieval executions became tools of propaganda and public ritual—where blood, fire, and spectacle wrote the stories that shaped kingdoms and forged legends still remembered today.

0:00 Intro
0:47 William Wallace: Dismembered and Hung, Drawn and Quartered
12:17 Joan of Arc: Burned Alive
26:08 Conradin: Beheaded in Cold Blood

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