The execution of Oliver Cromwell, Henry Ireton and John Bradshaw in 1661, from a contemporary engraving.
He died on September 3, 1658, from sepsis following a urinary infection.
And he was executed on January 30, 1661more than two years after his natural death.
This makes Oliver Cromwell one of very few people who has been executed posthumously.
Lets look at some of the most dramatic examples of posthumous executions.
Oliver Cromwell
Portrait of Oliver Cromwell, and his head on a spike following his posthumous execution.
The stage was set for a Civil War.
A series of armed conflicts followed, and King Charles I was overthrown and executed.
Of the 59 who signed the death warrant, several were hanged while others were imprisoned for life.
Even those who had died were not sparred.
The death warrant of King Charles I of England containing seals and signatures.
Oliver Cromwells signature is the third down on the left.
In the afternoon, the body was taken down and beheaded.
Formosus was more than happy to crown Arnulf the new Emperor, while Guys son Lambert went into exile.
That same year, Formosus died, leaving Lambert once again in power.
A mock trial, which came to be known as Cadaver Synod, was organized.
Unsurprisingly, Formosus was found guilty and had his papal vestments stripped of.
Fearful of the conviction and the torture that he would be subjected to, Ledenberg committed suicide.
But he was wrong.
Ledenberg was still convicted and along with another conspirator, was sentenced to death.
Ledenbergs embalmed body, still in its coffin, was hanged from a gibbet.
John Wycliffe
John Wycliffe’s bones being burnt in 1428.
He disapproved of clerical celibacy, pilgrimages, the concept of purgatory and praying to saints.
His unorthodox views gained him as many followers as enemies.
In 1415, Council of Constance declared Wycliffe a heretic and banned his writings.
The Council also decreed that Wycliffe’s body remains should be removed from consecrated ground.
This act was performed in 1428, forty four years after his death.
Wycliffe’s corpse was exhumed and burned and the ashes cast into the river.
