Dismemberment 693320 219458474 2008-06-15T09:35:49Z 69.231.25.83 {{Unreferenced|date=November 2007}} {{dablink|"Dismember" redirects here. For the [[Death metal]] band see [[Dismember (band)]]. For other uses, see [[Dismember (disambiguation)]]. }} [[Image:Dieric Bouts 013.jpg|thumb|250px|The ''Martyrium of the Hippolyt'' by Dieric Bouts, shows a man about to be dismembered.]] '''Dismemberment''' is the act of cutting, tearing, pulling, wrenching or otherwise removing, the [[Limb (anatomy)|limb]]s of a living thing. It may be practiced upon human beings as a form of [[capital punishment]], as a result of a traumatic [[accident]], or in connection with [[murder]], [[suicide]], or [[cannibalism]]. As opposed to [[surgical]] [[amputation]] of the limbs, dismemberment is often fatal to all but the simplest of creatures. Dismemberment was carried out in the [[Middle Ages|Medieval era]] by tying a person's limbs to a chain or other constraint, then attaching the restraint to two separate movable entities (eg. a vehicle) and moving them in opposite directions. Also referred to as "disruption" or being "[[Hanging, drawing and quartering#French "quartering"|drawn and quartered]]", it could be brought about by chaining four horses to the condemned's arms and legs, thus making them pull him apart, as was the case with the execution of [[Robert-François Damiens]] and [[François Ravaillac]] in 1610. Queen [[Brunhilda of Austrasia]], executed in 613 is generally regarded to have suffered the same death, though she was tied to the tail of a single horse. There are many instances of dismemberment in modern cases, including those of murder. [[Serial killer]] [[Jeffrey Dahmer]] is infamous for his dismemberment and consumption of his victims. In 1993, [[Lorena Bobbitt]] severed her husband's penis (this was not a murder, as her husband was not killed). In 1998, three men from [[Texas]] dismembered [[James Byrd, Jr.]] by chaining him to their [[pickup truck]] and dragging him for miles. In 2005, a student from the University of Texas at Austin dismembered a young woman by severing her hands and head (which also counts as a [[decapitation]]) {{Fact|date=April 2008}}. A famous device used for dismemberment is the [[Rack (torture)|rack]], upon which the condemned is chained down by the wrists and ankles, on a large bed-like frame, and a wheel is subsequently turned, winding in the chains and causing an immense stretching. Dismemberment was a form of capital punishment for convicts of [[high treason]] in the korean kingdom of [[Joseon]]. Dismemberment is not known to be used by any modern governments as a form of [[torture]] or [[capital punishment]]. [[Image:Tupac amaru execution.jpg|350px|thumb| The famous execution of [[Túpac Amaru II]] (José Gabriel Condorcanqui), who was initially sentenced to be dismembered by having four horses pull out his limbs, an action the Spaniards were not able to accomplish.]] ==See also== *[[Decapitation]] [[Category:Torture]] [[Category:Execution methods]] [[de:Vierteilung]] [[es:Desmembramiento]] [[fa:مثله کردن]] [[fr:Écartèlement]] [[ja:八つ裂きの刑]] [[nl:Vierendeling]] [[ko:거열]] [[ko:차열]]