Oliver Cromwell’s Posthumous ExEcution
Despite his death over 350 years ago – Oliver Cromwell continues to provoke a strong reaction following his significant role in a dramatic and troubled period of British history…..
Oliver Cromwell was born in Huntingdon, a small town near Cambridge, on 25 April 1599.
Although not a direct descendent of Henry VIII’s chief minister Thomas Cromwell, Oliver’s great-great-grandfather, Morgan Williams, married Thomas Cromwell’s sister Katherine in 1497.
Following King Charles exEcution in 1649, The Commonwealth of England was introduced and lead by a Council of State, to replace the monarchy.
In December 1653, Cromwell became Lord Protector – a role in which he remained until his death five years later.
It is thought that Cromwell suffered from kidney stones or similar urinary/kidney complaints – and in 1658 in the aftermath of malarial fever, Cromwell was once again struck down with a urinary infection.
This saw his health decline and resulted in his eventual death at the age of 59, on Friday 3rd September 1558.
Cromwell received an elaborate funeral ceremony, and buried in a newly-created vault in Henry VII’s chapel at Westminster Abbey.
But……..
On 30th January 1661, Oliver Cromwell’s body was removed from Westminster Abbey.
He was to be posthumously tried for high treason, and ‘executed’.
This symbolic date was chosen to coincide with the exEcution of Charles I, twelve years previously.
Cromwell’s body was hung from the Tyburn gallows in chains, before being b-headed at sunset.
Cromwell’s body was then thrown in a common grave, and the head displayed on a twenty foot spike at Westminster Hall.
The head remained there until 1685, when a storm caused the spike to break – tossing the head to the ground below.
Cromwell’s head was found by a soldier, who hid it in his chimney.
On his deathbed, he bequeathed the relic to his daughter.
In 1710 the head appeared in a ‘Freak Show’, described as ‘The Monster’s Head’.
For many years the head passed through numerous hands, the value increasing with each transaction, until a Dr. Wilkinson bought it.
The head was offered by the Wilkinson family to Sydney Sussex College in 1960.
It was given a dignified burial, in a secret place in the college grounds.
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