page_title: Oliver Cromwell's head
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Oliver Cromwell's head / Background
context_page_description: Oliver Cromwell's head sat on the body of Oliver Cromwell, who became Lord Protector and ruler of the English Commonwealth after the defeat of King Charles I in the English Civil War and Charles's beheading. Cromwell died on 3 September 1658 and was given a public funeral at Westminster Abbey equal to those of the monarchs who came before him. His position passed to his son Richard, who was overthrown by the army in 1659, leading to the re-establishment of the monarchy. King Charles II was recalled from exile, and his new parliament ordered the disinterment of Cromwell's body from Westminster Abbey and of those of John Bradshaw and Henry Ireton for a posthumous execution at Tyburn. The three bodies were left hanging "from morning till four in the afternoon" before being cut down and beheaded. The heads were placed on a 20-foot spike above Westminster Hall. In 1685, a storm broke the pole upon which Cromwell's head stood, throwing it to the ground, after which it was in the hands of private collectors and museums until 25 March 1960, when it was buried at Sidney Sussex College in Cambridge.
  The symbolic value of the head changed over time.
context_section_description: Oliver Cromwell, born on 25 April 1599, led the Parliamentarian army in the English Civil War.  Upon his army's victory, he oversaw the conversion of England into a republic, abolishing the monarchy and the House of Lords after the execution of King Charles I in January 1649. Cromwell's rule as Lord Protector (beginning in December 1653) was not dissimilar to the Personal Rule of his royal predecessors. He maintained sole, unrestricted power, and lived in the many royal palaces. In 1657 he was formally offered the title of King, but after an "agony of mind and conscience" turned it down. Throughout 1658, Cromwell suffered illness and family tragedy, and he died on the afternoon of 3 September 1658 (Old Style).
  His death and funeral were treated with the same respect afforded to English monarchs before him. On 20 September, his body was moved to Somerset House to lie in state, which was opened to the public on 18 October. The body had been embalmed, shrouded and sealed in a lead coffin, which in turn was placed in a wooden decorated coffin, placed next to a life-like effigy. The effigy was decorated with the royal symbols, including: "a rich Suit of uncut Velvet ... laced with a rich gold lace, and furr'd with Ermins; upon the Kirtle is the Royal large Robe of the like Purple Velvet laced, and fur'd with Ermins, with rich strings, and tassels of gold ... upon his head, the Cap of Regality of Purple Velvet, furr'd with Ermins ... upon the Cushion of the Chair stands the Imperial Crown set with stones." The elaborate funeral procession, delayed twice by hesitant preparations, made its way through London on 23 November 1658. The body itself had already been buried at Westminster Abbey two weeks earlier due to its fast decay (by the time of the funeral procession, he had been dead over two months). A catafalque had been erected to receive his coffin which was similar to that of King James I, only "much more stately and expensive".
  Cromwell's body lay undisturbed at Westminster until the restoration of the Stuart monarchy under Charles's son, King Charles II, in 1660. After their trial, conviction and sentencing, twelve surviving regicides (those who had participated in the trial and execution of Charles I) were hanged, drawn and quartered—that is, dragged through the streets on an unwheeled sledge or hurdle, hanged by the neck and cut down live, disembowelled while alive, beheaded and dismembered (cut into four quarters).  In addition, the recalled parliament ordered the posthumous execution of the deceased regicides Oliver Cromwell, John Bradshaw and Henry Ireton. The laws of treason placed a traitor's remains at the King's disposal.  Traitors' heads were often displayed on bridges, the Tower of London and other conspicuous points in London, while the quarters were sometimes distributed for similar display in leading provincial cities.
  Cromwell's body, hidden in the wall of the middle aisle of Henry VII Lady Chapel, took effort to exhume because the wood and cloth were difficult to shift. On 28 January 1661, the bodies of Cromwell and Ireton were taken to the Red Lion Inn in Holborn, joined the following day by the body of John Bradshaw, before being taken to Tyburn for execution. On the morning of 30 January 1661, the anniversary of the execution of King Charles I, the shrouded bodies in open coffins were dragged on a sledge through the streets of London to the gallows, where each body was hanged in full public view until around four o'clock that afternoon. After being taken down, Cromwell's head was severed with eight blows, placed on a wooden spike on a 20-foot (6.1 m) pole, and raised above Westminster Hall. Various conspiracy theories exist as to what happened to the body, including a rumour that Cromwell's daughter Mary had it rescued from the pit and interred at her husband's home at Newburgh Priory. A sealed stone vault was claimed to contain the remains of the headless Cromwell, but generations of the family have refused requests, including one from King Edward VII, to open it. Biographer John Morrill stated that it
caption: Oliver Cromwell by Samuel Cooper
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