Reason First: The Traitorous David III

To be dragged through the streets to the scaffold, hanged, disemboweled and his innards set ablaze because the homicides occurred during the time of suffering of Jesus of Nazareth, and in a botched plan to kill the king, loyalists chopped off David III’s head.

This all points to the bloody trail of history. David III represented the traitorous and treacherous nature of mankind sometimes. In his bid to be “Prince of Wales,” he had conspired against King Edward I. This is a tale of backstabbing and conniving that still reverberates to this day.

Of all the ways to go, this must have been one of the most painful and harsh send offs into the unknown and unknowable. Capital punishment has evolved over the centuries to be far more humane in method and practice.

David III used his guile to ensure that he would be in a position of power. When those around him discovered him to be a traitor, it felt like he had reached the pinnacles of success and fallen from his lofty perch.

To plot against the king certainly meant death (and some excruciating sensations just prior to death). What’s interesting is the idea that Wales has yet to have native Prince of Wales since his demise.

When it came time to execute David III, it seemed like he had already been in hell. The viciousness of humanity could have been on full display with this particular instance.

Not even close to rape or murder, being a traitor carried a heavy price in the 13th century.

If you had run afoul of the ruling class, it wasn’t just off with your head, your guts would be incinerated and you’d be hanged by the dying of the sun.

What this man endured appeared as justice for going against the throne. But what about the other figures who dared to speak or act in opposition to the crown? The patriots of the United States of America didn’t commit treason but certainly sent a message to the king that a new nation of nobility without nobles would arise hundreds of years after this happening.

For David III to not be able to seek mercy from any of his compatriots illustrates a story of fear of the royals. Their regal stature brought them to a level that rivaled the mythical deities, Christian or otherwise.

With his actions to rise up and plot the murder of the king meant his definite death. In terms of making a horrific scene for all to see, royalty sure knew how to do it. Centuries before cinema, this would have been the entertainment for most of the folks under the rule of King Edward I. Blood and guts always make for ghastly showcases.

The ingenuity of this form of torture and death makes eletric chairs and lethal injections look tame. In fact, the way David III got his pink slip into blankness is common in some parts of the world today. Flogging and pushing people off of buildings because of the infraction of heresy or engaging in a sexual act with the same sex receive little attention but remain mainstays in other cultures outside of the USA.

If there is supposed to be some solution to traitors, it ought to be imprisonment, not capital punishment. These Draconian measures of dealing with people had their place during this era where kings actually wielded power over their subjects. They threatened them with imprisonment, yes, but what happened to David III may have been avoided in more rational, thoughtful times.

This isn’t to give David III credit or King Edward I. They both had no conception of individual rights before the law. As they brought about the tyranny of being a traitor or a barbarian, respectively, they possessed none of the qualities of a leader of a free nation.

Now, as the hollow shell of the United Kingdom culls from its husk puppets who have to act like their past had not been as bloody as it was, the world looks on in wonder, even awe.

The placement of David III in history is one of a man who severed his ties with the king, not in the name of independence and freedom and to establish a country like America, instead, he chose to become a figurehead in the annals of time. He is a figurehead that represents treason because he wanted stature and prestige.

This is not selfishness but a selfishness without a self. It is a reflection of the ability to make a hall of mirrors in the soul, each one reflecting an image distorted and twisted. This is what happened in David III’s head. That is until, someone lobbed off such a section of his body.

No, this type of behavior is only reserved for brutes. In trying to keep these ideals together, we see the actual purpose of rational methods of punishment rather than the devious ways to dispatch a person.

King Edward I didn’t free his people and grant rights. Edward III didn’t broadcast a sensibility for liberty and justice. Everything that took place during these various ways to kill a man demonstrates how cruel and unusual punishment actually had been meted out in those days and sometimes now.

King David III could’ve been in a cabinet for the king who could have been a president. In this world of indecision and fire, it is still possible that we could see a surge in more of this kind of behavior. As leaders convene to carve up huge swaths of land, it’s like the slicing open of the abdomen of David III. By his actions, he brought upon himself the full force of the crown.

He could not escape the wrath of the regal authority. Thankfully, in centuries to come, some men and women would actually rise up against another king, George III. Except, France and Spain proved to be heavier foes than the then rinky-dink colonies. He just left them alone and never realized the spectacular success of the most excellent State ever.

David III will always be remembered for the way he went rather than how he actually lived.