Oliver Cromwell is regarded by some as a heroic man who stood up to the tyranny of King Charles
I, and defeated the royalist army in the English Civil War against all odds.
But to others he was a war criminal who committed scores of atrocities across the lands he took
his army including Ireland.
He was a man who campaigned greatly for the execution of King Charles I, and he got his
wish on a cold January morning as the King who many believed had been sent by god to
rule walked out on to the executioner’s scaffold in Whitehall in London.
Cromwell after the King’s execution was offered the crown but he refused it, and instead
became the Lord Protector and he liked to consider himself a watchman of the English
realm.
But he remained in this position until his death, but following the Restoration of the
Monarchy his body was exhumed from Westminster Abbey and was subject to a posthumous execution.
It was dragged through London and hanged in chains at Tyburn before an executioner took
many swings to hack the decaying head off.
But following Cromwell’s death, a number of death masks were cast of his face showing
his importance, and today they show a haunting image of the man who was considered by Winston
Churchill as a military dictator.
But what is the story of his death mask?
Cromwell as the Lord Protector imposed a large number of puritan beliefs onto the English,
and chances are by the time his death came many people were relieved that the strict
lifestyle they had to live would come to an end.
But Cromwell at the end of his life was suffering from a number of health issues including kidney
stones and also malaria.
He was ill for some weeks, and he rallied a number of times and there was very little
concern about the future of England and his regime until the very end, as many people
believed Cromwell was incredibly strong.
It was said that he first became ill at Hampton Court, but then the disease began to have
a number of desperate symptoms and he was moved to Whitehall in Westminster.
Whilst here, his chaplains and priests along with his family came to visit him and prayed
for him.
But on the 3rd September 1658, Cromwell would succumb to what is believed to have been malarial
fever, or sepsis caused by a urinary infection that he had been also struck down with.
IT’s believed that his final days were made shorter by the upset he felt with the death
of his daughter who died the following month.
But he died at the age of 59, which was interestingly on the anniversary of two of his victories
at Dunbar and also Worcester.
On the night of his death, there was a huge storm which swept across England and Europe,
and many interpreted this as a sign from God about the death of Cromwell once they found
out.
Following his death, his body was washed and laid out and his family returned to come and
see him.
His body was then cut open, and it was embalmed and the physicians wrapped Cromwell in a cere
cloth six double, and put his remains into an inner sheet of lead, which was then enclosed
in an elegant coffin.
Some accounts say that when his body was placed inside the coffin, it swelled and burst and
his body exploded such was the filth and deadly stink that was coming from it, and his burial
its believed was then hastened because of the state of his remains after this.
However as he was so important and was practically a King, preparations took time, but on the
26th September over 3 weeks since his death at 10 at night, the coffin was removed from
Whitehall and it was taken to Somerset House, and was prepared for public view.
Crowds flocked to see him, and the first room the public entered was covered in black, and
then the next few rooms had guards stationed to allow people to pass throwgh.
The fourth room was hung with black velvet, and there was the effigy of Cromwell, made
from wax and fashioned like the Protector.
It ws placed lying on it’s back, and was adorned in a costly suit of velvet.
On the effigy’s head was a purple velvet cap.
The time then came for the huge funeral, and it was one which was fit for a King despite
Cromwell not being royalty.
A crown was placed on the wax effigy and a sword was by his side and a globe and sceptre
placed in it’s hands.
The open chariot carrying the coffin was adorned with black velvet and it made it’s way to
Westminster Abbey.
It was a huge ceremony with the most prominent people across the land flocking to see it,
and it was the last ceremony to honour Cromwell the Lord Protector.
His funeral it’s believed was based upon James I’s, the father of King Charles I
the very man he helped to condemn to death.
However at some point before the funeral, there were a number of death masks cast of
Cromwell’s face, and many of these today show his countenance in a number of different
postures and ways.
Across different castles today, you can still see these for example at Warwick Castle hanging
in the great hall is the death mask of Cromwell.
This shows his eyes clasped shut, and with a slight goatee style beard, with his signature
wart on top of his face above his eye.
Death masks were cast of significant figures to ensure that in the future, people could
see what they would look like, and sometimes these inspired the very effigies that were
used at the funeral.
One poet wrote upon seeing the dead body of Cromwell that, ‘I saw him dead, a leaden
slumber lies and mortal sleep over those wakeful eyes.
Yet dwelt that greatness in his shape decayed, that still though dead greater than dead he
laid.’
The death masks show in some senses show different sides of Cromwell as they were taken at different
times.
There is one inside a museum in Cambridge that shows Cromwell similarly to the one mentioned
previously, and it’s believed that there was actually an original wax mask that was
cast whilst Cromwell’s body was being embalmed.
After this, white plaster copies were then made, and it’s these that have survived
over time and that these copies are what can be seen today.
A wax copy of the death mask is owned by the British Museum, and this was taken after his
body had been embalmed, as it shows the cerecloth that had been bound around his head to cover
it.
It also shows his face having a beard and a moustache, but the wart above his eye was
not on this one.
This was given to the museum from Sir Hans Sloane in 1753 as it became less fashionable
to own items linked to Cromwell.
Cromwell’s corpse was subject to a gruesome autopsy after his death as there was a belief
that he had been poisoned, and embalming took a number of hours.
It’s then when the death mask was cast, and one of these shows his sunken eyes, and
the bandages covering the top of his head had been removed from this, and it may have
been reproduced in the years after his death after a growing demand for artefacts linked
to Cromwell, and a number of these were cast in the 18th century by not just British casters,
but European artists.
But Cromwell’s death mask would not be the most captivating story in the years after
his death involving the former Lord Protector.
Cromwell’s posthumous execution following the restoration of the monarchy saw his remains
dragged through London before he was beheaded.
IT would have been shocking to see Cromwell’s decaying corpse paraded throughout the capital,
but after his death his head went on a crazy journey, where it was passed through many
people’s hands.
It even appeared in 1710 inside of a Freak Show, and was described as the Monster’s
Head.
Today it rests inside of his former university, and was given a dignified burial inside a
secret place on the grounds of the college.
The death mask of Oliver Cromwell brings a rather strange figure throughout history to
life, and his death mask in a sense is rather haunting.
He was a man who petitioned for the execution of the King, and he would even sign the King’s
death warrant before Charles I was executed by an axeman.
Despite looking peaceful in his death mask, he was a man who brought a significant amount
of bloodshed to innocent people, and he was a main part of the English Civil War, the
bloodiest conflict that ever happened on English soil.
Thanks for watching
To support please subscribe