Oliver Cromwell's Death Mask Britons have always been a vengeful people. Their punishment of innocent peas stands testament to their fanaticism, a mushy warning to anyone -- man or vegetable -- who dares stand against them. And in January, 1661, that wrath was posthumously visited upon Oliver Cromwell, remembered by history as both hero and villain. Cromwell might have learned a little about British revenge from the story of Guy Fawkes, the almost-terrorist who planned to blow up the Houses of Parliament. Fawkes was hanged, drawn, quartered, and then burned in effigy each November for 400 years. Of course, young Master Oliver was only six years old when Fawkes was (first) punished -- and too young to guess what his own fate might be. When Cromwell died (painfully) in 1658, of malaria complicated by bladder and kidney infections, that just wasn't enough for the jolly old English. Apparently Cromwell's behavior -- from his execution of King Charles I to his brutal tyranny across the British Isles -- just wasn't their cup of tea. And so, on January 30, 1661 -- three years after his death -- Oliver was exhumed, beheaded, and hanged in chains in Tyburn Village, London. "Has he had enough, Britons?" cried the newly restored Charles II. "NO!" cried the rabid masses. They went on to post Ollie's head on a pole outside Westminster Abbey for 14 aromatic years, until said head was taken down, sold, and finally reburied in 1960. Now that's a grudge! Suggested Sites... Wikipedia: Oliver Cromwell - the whole story, told as only Wikipedia can tell it. The Oliver Cromwell Website - the Cromwell Association herein provides a pro-Cromwell collection of all things Cromwell, including a genealogy, timeline, and list of distinctly Cromwellian places to visit in England. A Brief History of the English Civil War - the story of a noble battle, just as Cromwell would have liked to remember it. Plagiarist.com: W.B. Yeats' "The Curse of Cromwell" - the Irish -- who were massacred and sold into slavery by Cromwell's army -- do not remember him quite so fondly. YouTube: The Ulster Plantations and Cromwellian Genocide - documentary outlining the way the Irish remember it. The battle rages on in the comments.

Directory categories: Oliver Cromwell, History of England, Charles I, Christian Reformation, History of Ireland

Archived under: Anniversaries, Death, England, History, London, Oliver Cromwell, U.K. History, United Kingdom

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