Executing the Dead

On the morning of January 30th 1661 a crowd of hundreds assembled at Tyburn, London for a gruesome display. Tyburn had been the site of public executions since the 1400s and the people of London were used to the macabre ritual of the gallows. However, the execution on that January morning was different, for those who were to be executed were already dead and had been for quite a while.

The head of Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell, John Bradshaw and Henry Ireton were exhumed from their graves, their open coffins dragged through the streets and their bodies were hanged from the gallows until around 4pm. At that point they were cut down, what was left of their remains were disembowelled and their heads cut off. But why go to the effort of publicly executing three men who were already dead?

In 1660, Charles Stuart was invited by parliament to reclaim the crown which eleven years earlier had been forcibly removed from his father along with his head. The now King Charles II was determined that those who had been responsible for his father's trial and execution should pay for their treason. While a general pardon called the act of oblivion was issued to most parliamentarians, this did not extend to those who had designed the trial and signed Charles I's death warrant. Parliament produced a list of 104 individuals who were to be excluded from the pardon and face trial for treason. The problem was, 24 were already dead - including the three which the public and king held most responsible for the regicide.

Henry Ireton was Cromwell's right hand man and one of the most zealous in pursuing the trial and execution of Charles I - he died in 1651. John Bradshaw was the President of the High Court of Justice and presided over the trial and sentencing of Charles I - he died in 1659. And finally, there was Oliver Cromwell, self proclaimed Lord Protector was king in all but name and his death in 1658 caused the republic to collapse and led to the restoration of Charles II.

Posthumous execution of Cromwell, Bradshaw and Ireton

Death was not going to get in the way of Charles II's quest for justice and as the remains of convicted traitors belong to the crown the king ordered the posthumous execution. As a constant reminder to those who might look back at the days of Cromwell and yearn for a republic the head of Cromwell, Ireton and Bradshaw were displayed atop of Westminster Hall. Cromwell's head stayed there for almost 25 years, the reign of Charles II. What happened to the head after this is a matter of some debate, but the tradition is that the head blew off Westminster Hall in the late 1680s and was taken home by a guard. Between then and 1960 it passed through several private collections until it was buried at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge where Cromwell studied. As to whether it is actually Cromwell's head, we will never know for certain.