The Favourite Whose Hanging at Hereford in 1326 Lasted Four Hours and Was Watched by the Queen
Hugh Despenser the Younger was Edward II's principal favourite from about 1318 until the king's deposition in 1326. His public execution at Hereford was one of the most elaborately brutal of the English medieval period — and the man who had ruled England with him died in a Berkeley castle basement nine months later.
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