Thank you for this video. I was once outside Westminster Abbey and fell into a scam. I bought Oliver Cromwell's skull, or so I was told. The next day the same bloke was selling Oliver Cromwell's skull, and I challenged him. Admittedly the skull was smaller, but he said, 'Oh this was when he was a boy.'
Really interesting video Allan. BTW, don't let the comment section get you down. The increase in comments of a less than charitable nature are actually a sign of the success of your channel and the controversal nature of the subject, congratulations on your much deserved and well earned success.
That's a good point, I was also going to say how since the thumbnail shows what is assumed to be a desecrated corpse (of cromwell?) Maybe people interested in the pure shock value of seeing it might have influenced some negatively, not exactly his fault, sometimes the internet is shitty :/
Civil Wars are touchy subjects. As a boy all my comics portrayed the "Roundheads" as bad folk and Royalists as merry folk. After all the British had a Queen forgetting of course that the British removed the Catholic James Stuart Charles the seconds brother in 1788 resulting in an invasion by Dutch troops to install William of Orange a good Prody. Royalty being thus subordinated to Parliament. Hopefully for Charles is head of the Armed forces. King Edward the 8th and his wife and perhaps all Royalty were pro Nazi! Certainly 80% of the British Aristocracy leaned that way. Hitlers list of supporters is still secret to this day!
Hello all, well Cromwell is a person who brings out a visceral reaction in people. This video isn't a political opinion piece and this isn't a political channel, it is simply an exposition of the known facts. Please be gentle with one another in the comments box.
As an amateur student of history, I certainly appreciate this video's informative perspective. The Tudor and Stuart eras of UK history have always fascinated me, and this video helps me understand the latter family's actions, post-restoration. It truly was a black-and-white world in that era!
And the Knight moved on. Gently please said the Queen! Bye the Bye traitors certainly had their Viscera removed. Unfortunately Cromwell died of Malaria but Charles did his best!
You just keep doing an amazing job researching history and educating us who are interested. One thing you can't do is police the "professionals" in the comment section. Everyone has an opinion and not all are popular or intelligent 😂 all you do is state the FACTS and no one can argue that. I love your channel. 👑
I don't have pity for Cromwell. Remember he was responsible for the slavery and mass genocide of Irish nation. My Irish ancestors were nobles. They lost their aristocracy, castles and lands to Cromwell's troop. They lost everything, when they refused to denounce their Catholic faith.
Truly fascinating Allan. What always fascinates me though is how remains were souvenired sometimes just for personal pleasure and not even for financial gain. Such as the sentry stuffing Cromwell's head up a chimney and Horace Wilkinson keeping it at the end of his bed. Truly dreadful things happened to the body of Catherine of Valois as well and pieces of her body were also souvenired never to be seen again. It is almost unimaginable that this could happen to a body today, let alone that of a Queen! Many thanks again for your insights Allan.
It couldn't happen. Catherine of Valois story is truly terrible. Shifted out of Henry VII's chapel here coffin was kept for many years just next to Henry V's tomb. Samuel Pepys even records giving her a kiss on his birthday one year. It took until the 19th century before she was given a proper burial and that was bizarre, inside an altar in her husband's chantry.
Most of the wax death masks are in pretty perfect order, especially the Ashmolean's - so the lop-sided red one looks the odd man out. The portraits of Cromwell are worth a closer look. A faint hint of a facial lop-sidedness in the nose (an unpainted scar on the cheek to the left side) of Cromwell's face, and the warts are where they should be. In most portraits of Cromwell there's a bit of *Cladette Colbert* going on. (She famously refused to be photographed or filmed from one specific side of her face and would only be lit and filmed from her preferred *one* side.) So far, portraits of Cromwell are all painted from the *right side* of his face. (That's probably more a portraits thing of the period.) The best portrait is by far the 1650 *Samuel Cooper* one. You can clearly see the assymetry in the left nostril in the nose that matches the death masks. What creeps me out most is my ex's ancestor married Cromwells favourite daughter.
The uglier the father the more beautifull the Daughter perhaps. I think Cromwell very handsome. Charles 2 his replacement was called the Darkie by people not too fond of him. He had 27 children on the wrong side of the blanket. His brother James was responsible for the attenuation of Woyalty and possibly Parliament as at presece callapsing into Bedlam. A Chance for Charlie 3 perhaps for a return of the Monarchy Xmas Plum puddings and dancing round the Maypole and general Merriment. Wouldn't that be a GAS! He would be known as the Merry Monarch 2!
@@theshamanarchist5441 I have beautifull ears not at all imbecilic. You must be a simpleton. Why don't you go off to join the Azov battalion and do us all a favour. NAZI!
Well done, and many thanks to you for this! Honestly, I've never spent much time learning about Oliver Cromwell, as he wasn't a monarch and that was where my interests lay. He was a bit of a Kipling 'The Man Who Would Be King' in the end.
Hello 👋 Sarah. How are you doing ? Hope are you fine. I'm Mark Clifford and am from Denver Colorado, where are you from . You seem like a real country girl
Really very interesting.I had no idea the head still existed,never mind its travelling adventures.Thank you.A new subscriber here.P.S. Yes great pictures of people just casually posing with Cromwells emballed head,you know as one does,haha
@@alancoe1002 sadly all of Thomas Cromwell's own daughters died of sweating sickness before they married. It was his nephew Richard Williams (his sister's son) who changed his name to Cromwell and from whom Oliver is descended.
I had never contemplated the question, what happened to Cromwell's body. I have also completely forgotten most of the details i was taught in early school about Cromwell. 😂 thanks for this reminder, i think. Enjoyed the video.😊
Thank you for this very interesting, in depth, analysis of the historical details of a man who still engenders very diverse feelings within the public’s imagination, even after all this time. You have a new subscriber, and I look forward to seeing more of your work in the future.🏴
I've been studying mortuary sciences, so videos like this really intrigue me. I'm hoping to become a historian of funeral customs or a professor. I'm thrilled to have stumbled upon your channel. Keep up the great work!
Just a correction of a common mistake. The gallows at Tyburn, despite all the say so of experts wasn't actually where Marble Arch now stands. Cromwell's corpse was probably placed on the gallows at what is now the junction of Henrietta Place, and Cavendish Square. The square used to have "burial ground" marked on old maps, now dropped. Lady Antonia Fraser in her biography of Cromwell, quotes an old source that says that his "body was thrown onto a dung heap" Which probably means that Cavendish Square burial site, where it remains to this day along with other executed people, and overlooked by Tony Blair's house!
@@allanbarton Sorry, serious error I made with the location of Cromwell's remains. I haven't been to the area for years, so next visit I must go to Connaught Square, not Cavendish! The area around Connaught is known as "Tyburnia". This is from a scholarly site. I can't put a link here, but I copied this. Sorry about the error. ¶"Burials of corpses from Tyburn were recorded from 1689 and brought profit to the minister and churchwardens of Paddington in the late 17th and the 18th century, (fn. 12) when execution days came to be known as 'Paddington fair'. (fn. 13) Remains were also buried under the scaffold and unearthed when the area came to be built up. Among them were the presumed bones of Oliver Cromwell and fellow regicides, whose posthumous consignment to a pit at the gallows' foot in 1661 probably gave rise to William Blake's allusion to 'mournful ever-weeping Paddington" **there is a reference to the site being the junction of Connaught Square near number 49.
Interesting video. As someone with a direct ancestor who was an officer in his army in England and Ireland, and then immigrated to the Americas not long after his death
I do like a bit of history. Richard Cromwell died of old age a few hundred meters from my current abode. The longest lived English head of state before QE2. I also have a link to the Tyburn tree, A relative ended his days upon it.
Thank you for this very interesting video. I come from Germany and i am very interested in european royal burial sites. In 2005 and 2008 i visited London and went to Westminster Abbey. It was so amazing to see all the old graves from the kings and queens who were buried there before all the following monarchs found their last resting place in St. Georges Chapel. Unfortunately i haven't made it to Windsor Castle yet but i hope i will have the chance to go there one day. By the way, i always wanted to see a picture from the grave of Henry VIII. but i never found one. When i saw this video it was the first time i got a look on the coffins in the crypt. It was also very interesting what you told when they opened the coffins to have a look on the corpses. I really enjoyed it to listen to you. Good work. Keep it on please. Regards!😊
@@allanbartonDon't mean to be macabre but I would rather you not hold back on any information. I think it is quite important to be told all the facts. I don't have enough time to do much research so I do appreciate your providing as much detail as you can. Just my humble opinion, hoping you will give it some serious consideration.
But wasn't Cromwell against such pomp and richary ? I have tried to research this myself without much success. Bit puzzled here so would appreciate comments of wisdom 😊 . Thanks for any knowledge giving . Edit : why is the word Commonwealth used, did it have a different connotation then ?
A commonwealth used to be any government explicitly founded for... well, the _"common wealth",_ that is to say, for the good of _all_ the people in it. In the 17th Century, "Commonwealth" was the English word for "Republic". Note the Latin inscriptions on some of the things in the video. In _English,_ Cromwell was the Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland, which the translators of the time rendered as "Protector _Republicae_ Angliae, Scotiae, et Hiberniae". When France and the United States decided to stick with the Latin, "commonwealth" moved to the background and "republic" became the generally preferred English term for a democratic state. It's only very recently that "Commonwealth" has come to mean "the collection of crypto-republics that was once the British Empire".
Ostensibly Cromwell did endorse puritan ideals, supporters of Puritanism didn't believe in ostentatious symbolism, they were famous for stripping churches of anything that they perceived were symbolisms of idolatry, virtually anything fun was outlawed under Cromwell because they wanted to strip back religion to it's sober fundamentals as they saw it. I personally think Oliver Cromwell was a hypocrite though, he forbade listening to or playing music but had musicians play for him privately amongst other things, like the rich garb he later wore. If you want a different look at some of the laws he instituted, check out the show Horrible Histories did on Oliver Cromwell, it educates in an interesting but fun way.
This is what I thought, too. Honestly, I don’t know much about Cromwell, but from what I do know, personally, I think he was a hypocrite. Was against the idea of monarchy, but buried in Westminster Abby along with his family, given a monarchs funeral.
@@lawrencekedgettjr2364 Then we are likely 10th cousins, plus removes if any. Interestingly, when we moved in here 11 years ago, I found I had a 7th cousin living directly across the street.
I, too, am a many-greats niece of Oliver.,(don't have the actualcount here in front of me). Also, Capt. Wm Lewis Cromwell was in the American Revolutionare War, he's a multi great nephew of Oliver, and my 5x great grandfather. .
Goodness!!! What an interesting story. The people of England really made his pay after death for the brutality he paid out to the people, poor, rich, royal, aristocratic and religious. The fate of his body was almost comical like a scene from Black Adder. Chaucer would have had a chuckle at this.
I Sugest you look up the records of the Burial Vault of the Falconberg family Vault of St Nicholas Church in Chiswick that is now sealed in Concrete!! Ask about the extra headless corpse not listed found during restorative underpining work??
I never cared much about Oliver Cromwell except to wonder if he was related to Thomas Cromwell of the Tudor era (and I found out he is by 1️⃣ of the comments here). However, I found this video 📹 very interesting. Thank you
One thing I noticed on the “royal” Arms of the Lord Protector, is that the supporters are a crowned Lion and a Dragon, instead of the Unicorn . Why the Dragon? was he of Welsh descent? i see the harp of Ireland and the cross of St George for England and the cross of St Andrew for Scotland on his shield, but what does that smallL Lion Rampant overlay. signify? And then you showed his arms impaled with that of his wife, whiich is three Lions Passant, what does it tel about her? and of course the shield is surmountd by a red crown? or cap embroidered with pearls .It all looks very grand, i am not an exper on healdry, but very inerested and trying to “read” the symbology. You mentioned “Acheivements”, what are they? Thank you. thisi has so very interesting and educational. And , also, what does the latin inscription under the arms say? i can make out Pax and Bello., peace and war, please. ?
The escutcheon (the little shield) is the arms of Cromwell himself. The dragon represents Wales. An achievement is a coat of arms, with supporters (the lion and dragon) along with the helmet and mantling on top and the crown. Everything that expresses the status of the person who bears the coat of arms.
We don't precisely know his motivation. He was certainly given a traitor's death. Most of the regicides that were living in 1660 were similarly treated.
Thank-you. My interest in this is the fact that a huge statue of Cromwell is outside Westminster Hall between it and the road. That story must be somewhere: from exhumation, decapitation, public shaming and, then, to monumental statuary. Hmmm . . .
Simple: they could desecrate his corpse, but they couldn't beat him in the field, or at Westminster. They never arrested his son Richard, who was his less successful successor. The King didn't come back for two years after his death. Cautious.
Your quite right. He advanced England to being Europe's most advanced country. No one will pull his statue down. Since he advanced England to being the premier country in Europe. Desecrating corpses is about the utmost level Woyalty reaches with this horrible macabre and disgusting and morbid tale!
it's nice that Cromwell had a nice adventure , meeting new people , going to many parties for a couple of hundred year's, I bet he had a blast, then again he was a puritan.
The narrator does not mention it, but the Josiah Wilkinson who bought the head in 1815 happened to be the brother of Priscilla Wilkinson, the wife of David Ricardo MP, the well-known economist - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Ricardo , (whose house, Gatcombe Park, is currently the home of Princess Anne). David Ricardo was my great-grandfather's uncle, and my mother told me about Canon Wilkinson keeping Cromwell's head (I imagined it as a paper-weight on his desk...!) There is correspondence between David Ricardo and his brother-in-law about the head.
Wow, this story blows my mind, from beginning to end. Thank you for sharing it. I'm sitting here in the US trying to figure out if that sort of thing could have ever happened to one of our presidents. England is something else! (We would have had to put it all back, apologize to the universe, and erect a monument to his monument.)
A bizarre tale it is too. Sounds like there was a lot of insanity going around. First, he's a pseudo king, then he is a traitor, then they play silly buggers with his head for the next 2 centuries, what a debâcle.
@@allanbarton Although this was fairly standard treatment for those who fell foul of political changes or power plays for most of human history. The bloodless consitutionalism of modern advanced states is the exception in human history, not the rule. One only need look at what happened to those who refused to follow along the reformation under Henry VIII such as Sir Thomas Moore, the undignified burial of Richard III, the humiliating death of Richard II. Who knows how Henry VI or Edward V died. The attainder of Earl of Strafford, the deaths of Thomas Cromwell or Sir Walter Raleigh. There's Lady Jane Grey's death or the burning of Archbishop Cranmer by Queen Mary. Consider the sad case Mary Queen of Scots being imprisoned for years before finally being dispatched by Elizabeth. And Charles II was lucky to escape when he did else he would have been unlikely to be have survived. Politics was a brutal life-or-death struggle back then.
If people have an opinion they should express themselves. I definitely understand why Cromwell was treated thusly. It caused Charles II an amazing amount of pain as well as the people. The situation as I have read is due to Charles I inability to judge the climate of situation until it was too late. I really don't have much sympathy for Charles, but understand I wouldn't have been a fan of living under the REIGN of the Lord PROTECTOR. Not one of Englands greatest moments.
Hello 👋 Kathryn. How are you doing ? Hope are you fine. I'm Mark Clifford and am from Denver Colorado, where are you from . You seem like a real country girl
Not one of England's greatest moments ? It was probably as great a moment as forcing John Lackland to Runnymede, in that it was a crucial step in the development of the Anglo Saxon form of democracy whereby rulers are prevented from absolute power. Certainly Charles II came back with the clear impression that the ideas of his father about princely divine right would not be tolerated. His brother chose to ignore what lead to the Commonwealth, and was ignominiously booted out, with Parliament enforcing its supremacy, and drawing up the Bill of Rights.
Let me add more mystery. Somewhere around 1958-9 a schoolmaster in Stratford-upon-Avon made a strange anouncement. Any boy who cared to visit his formroom over one lunchtime could see the head of Oliver Cromwell. Feeling myself superior, as a 6th former, I considered it a hoax by younger boys, and did not go. Those who did were totally convinced. It was in a silk-lined box. Apparently Whitfield claimed he had a family connection. The teacher was Mr A. J. Whitfield, the school - King Edward VIth Grammar. Years later in a library book about Cromwell's head, I personally saw that one of the head photographs was credited to A. J. Whitfield. I cannot now track that book down. What do you make of that ?
Thank you for a really interesting video. I don't know the British history so well, i didn't know that there was before a differrent Commonwealth than now. Why on earth did they bury Cromwell's head? Ok, it is creepy, but the decapitated head on a pole would be a really insteresting peace in a church or museum.
This was really interesting, thanks for releasing this. As usual you have managed to include extra tit-bits that I wasn’t aware of. It’s usually the rather macabre details that I find most interesting, and you didn’t disappoint! Did he deserve the post-mortem treatment he got? Well probably not by modern standards and mores, but I can perfectly understand Charles II’s wish for much overdue revenge for his father’s execution. And that’s the way they did things in those days! Hope there’s more lovely stuff like this video to come, I can hardly wait!
It is certainly not something we would even consider by modern western standards - he did plenty of things like this to others, he would perhaps see it as just desserts for the failure of his political settlement. Lots more to come.
@@rivenoak The very same king who refused to pay his navy, so the sailors left the ships at the mercy of the Dutch fleet which promptly sailed up and sunk them, something they never managed when Oliver was alive, and had such interesting aquaintences that his pockets were picked as he was on his deathbed
Post mortem revenge was common in those times. William Tyndall was executed by strangulation and his body burned for translating the bible into English. His predecessor John Wycliffe's body was dug up 50 years after his death and burned with the ashes thrown into the River Swift for the same deed.
Our family are related to OLIVER. My sister went to see the execution warrant. She discovered that her husbands family were also from another signatory like Cromwell. Spooky what
I'm adopted, but my Mom( real Mom, not birth Mom)Maternal side of family are related to Oliver Cromwell. I recently learned this as Mom( 82 next month❤) was showing me the extensive genealogy my Grammy left her. In recent years, I've become really fascinated with European history, as my Country; the U.S. has a very short history post stealing it all from the Indigenous peoples.
Well be sure to beat yourself up and self-flagellate over centuries old events that you obviously didn’t participate in, had no control over and cannot change.
Oliver Cromwell's great-great grandson left no son to carry on the family line and he died in 1821. So how is your non-biological mother's maternal side of the family related to Oliver Cromwell? Interesting claim but prove it?
The US as a nation may have a “short” history, however, as a culture, it is explicitly linked to Britain and therefore British history is our history as well, but I’m not surprised by your ignorance based on your last comment.
If you look at his vicious history he deserves everything he got. I had relatives that had to serve under him as he dragged his group of English to Ireland to displace the Irish and overtake as much Irish land as possible. Thank God some of my relatives got away; or I wouldn't be writing this comment today.
Thanks for your comment Janet, this video isn't really an opinion piece and judgement of his actions but a relation of the facts surrounding his death. Thank God some of your ancestors escaped.
I didn't know Cromwell was given the title His Highness!! He was King in all but name!! Considering that Cromwell was a Puritan, I'm surprised he had such an elaborate funeral!! I thought Puritans frowned upon such things!! Even though Oliver Cromwell was no angel, I think how his body was treated after he died was ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING!! I suppose his enemies wanted their revenge, albeit a macabre one!! Thanks for this VERY INFORMATIVE video, Allan!! 💚💖👍
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
Cromwell's investiture cost £60,000. Today that amount would be worth approximately £15,000,000! Very interesting video again. 👏
Thank you for this video.
I was once outside Westminster Abbey and fell into a scam. I bought Oliver Cromwell's skull, or so I was told. The next day the same bloke was selling Oliver Cromwell's skull, and I challenged him. Admittedly the skull was smaller, but he said, 'Oh this was when he was a boy.'
This is pure gold 😂
One born every minute.
Hilarious, you made my day! 🤣🤣🤣
Malcolm . You really need taken in hand for your own good.
Cromwell's head is on a pike on the Brooklyn Bridge and i will be happy to sell you the whole thing.
Really interesting video Allan.
BTW, don't let the comment section get you down. The increase in comments of a less than charitable nature are actually a sign of the success of your channel and the controversal nature of the subject, congratulations on your much deserved and well earned success.
That's a good point, I was also going to say how since the thumbnail shows what is assumed to be a desecrated corpse (of cromwell?) Maybe people interested in the pure shock value of seeing it might have influenced some negatively, not exactly his fault, sometimes the internet is shitty :/
The comments are justified. Cromwell was a mass murderer, an absolute POS.
Civil Wars are touchy subjects. As a boy all my comics portrayed the "Roundheads" as bad folk and Royalists as merry folk. After all the British had a Queen forgetting of course that the British removed the Catholic James Stuart Charles the seconds brother in 1788 resulting in an invasion by Dutch troops to install William of Orange a good Prody. Royalty being thus subordinated to Parliament. Hopefully for Charles is head of the Armed forces.
King Edward the 8th and his wife and perhaps all Royalty were pro Nazi! Certainly 80% of the British Aristocracy leaned that way. Hitlers list of supporters is still secret to this day!
1688. Peace and Love, Brothers and Sisters. ❤
Excellent presentation and detail - and so refreshing not to have background music!
"A deadly and noisesome stink" is perhaps the best way to tell someone they smell bad I've ever heard.
Thank you Allan from Arizona, USA. This story was completely---if grotesquely---fascinating!
Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for watching!
Hello all, well Cromwell is a person who brings out a visceral reaction in people. This video isn't a political opinion piece and this isn't a political channel, it is simply an exposition of the known facts. Please be gentle with one another in the comments box.
As an amateur student of history, I certainly appreciate this video's informative perspective. The Tudor and Stuart eras of UK history have always fascinated me, and this video helps me understand the latter family's actions, post-restoration. It truly was a black-and-white world in that era!
And the Knight moved on. Gently please said the Queen! Bye the Bye traitors certainly had their Viscera removed. Unfortunately Cromwell died of Malaria but Charles did his best!
You just keep doing an amazing job researching history and educating us who are interested. One thing you can't do is police the "professionals" in the comment section. Everyone has an opinion and not all are popular or intelligent 😂 all you do is state the FACTS and no one can argue that. I love your channel. 👑
Thanks for this. I was wondering what happened to Oliver Cromwell’s remains. I actually didn’t mind him.
I don't have pity for Cromwell. Remember he was responsible for the slavery and mass genocide of Irish nation. My Irish ancestors were nobles. They lost their aristocracy, castles and lands to Cromwell's troop. They lost everything, when they refused to denounce their Catholic faith.
My new favorite channel. Thanks for the brilliant content.
Thank you Louise.
This is one of those tales that make history so exciting! Thanks for a very fascinating story!
My pleasure, thanks for watching.
A nicely done post,very enjoyable,thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it, thanks very much!
Thanks for sharing your video.❤😊
My pleasure, thanks for watching!
Great content! Very strange story but I like the way you presented it. Subscribed!
Thanks very much, glad you enjoyed it!
Excellent…… A great bit of history expertly narrated….well done.
Thank you.
Fascinating, Allan -- in a grisly sort of way...😐 Thanks, as always, for the interesting information!
My pleasure.
Truly fascinating Allan. What always fascinates me though is how remains were souvenired sometimes just for personal pleasure and not even for financial gain. Such as the sentry stuffing Cromwell's head up a chimney and Horace Wilkinson keeping it at the end of his bed. Truly dreadful things happened to the body of Catherine of Valois as well and pieces of her body were also souvenired never to be seen again. It is almost unimaginable that this could happen to a body today, let alone that of a Queen! Many thanks again for your insights Allan.
It couldn't happen. Catherine of Valois story is truly terrible. Shifted out of Henry VII's chapel here coffin was kept for many years just next to Henry V's tomb. Samuel Pepys even records giving her a kiss on his birthday one year. It took until the 19th century before she was given a proper burial and that was bizarre, inside an altar in her husband's chantry.
Fascinating! Thank you for sharing.
Glad you enjoyed it!
'Heraldic Funerary accoutrement'' Lovely phrase! Another brilliant video Allan- thank you
Especially in the good old British accent.
@@codeslacker77 even better in my Scottish accent 😁
@@aileenbuckle8062 Oh my, I wasn't aware of that. Upmost apologies
@@codeslacker77 oh no-no need to apologise at all! I actually Did mean it IS funny in my Scottish accent. No offence taken at all ❤️
That was a real informative video. I look forward to watching more.
Most of the wax death masks are in pretty perfect order, especially the Ashmolean's - so the lop-sided red one looks the odd man out.
The portraits of Cromwell are worth a closer look. A faint hint of a facial lop-sidedness in the nose (an unpainted scar on the cheek to the left side) of Cromwell's face, and the warts are where they should be.
In most portraits of Cromwell there's a bit of *Cladette Colbert* going on. (She famously refused to be photographed or filmed from one specific side of her face and would only be lit and filmed from her preferred *one* side.)
So far, portraits of Cromwell are all painted from the *right side* of his face. (That's probably more a portraits thing of the period.)
The best portrait is by far the 1650 *Samuel Cooper* one.
You can clearly see the assymetry in the left nostril in the nose that matches the death masks.
What creeps me out most is my ex's ancestor married Cromwells favourite daughter.
The uglier the father the more beautifull the Daughter perhaps. I think Cromwell very handsome. Charles 2 his replacement was called the Darkie by people not too fond of him. He had 27 children on the wrong side of the blanket. His brother James was responsible for the attenuation of Woyalty and possibly Parliament as at presece callapsing into Bedlam.
A Chance for Charlie 3 perhaps for a return of the Monarchy Xmas Plum puddings and dancing round the Maypole and general Merriment. Wouldn't that be a GAS! He would be known as the Merry Monarch 2!
@@mikefay5698 but he'll always be a jug eared imbecile to me mate.
@Charlie Smith good job you never had any kids with her then.....?
@@theshamanarchist5441 I have beautifull ears not at all imbecilic. You must be a simpleton. Why don't you go off to join the Azov battalion and do us all a favour. NAZI!
Well done, and many thanks to you for this! Honestly, I've never spent much time learning about Oliver Cromwell, as he wasn't a monarch and that was where my interests lay. He was a bit of a Kipling 'The Man Who Would Be King' in the end.
Hello 👋 Sarah. How are you doing ? Hope are you fine. I'm Mark Clifford and am from Denver Colorado, where are you from . You seem like a real country girl
Sarah Green: I agree. I was never interested in Oliver Cromwell for the same reason you give. But this was very informative.
This was really good. So much great information! Thank you!!!
Absolutely fascinating and almost as comedic as an old o/w British movie. Excellently narrated. Thank you.
Love this. I believe I have found a kindred spirit in you with respect to the macabre. He he he…love the chuckles❤
I can't help myself with the chuckles, all of this just really excites me.
You’ll enjoy young Alfred in the three heads video then:)
Fairly gruesome stuff but fascinating!
I enjoyed every minute of this video! Thanks again, Allan!
Glad you enjoyed it David, thank you.
Extraordinary and very interesting, thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Really very interesting.I had no idea the head still existed,never mind its travelling adventures.Thank you.A new subscriber here.P.S. Yes great pictures of people just casually posing with Cromwells emballed head,you know as one does,haha
What a fabulous video! Thank you!
I so enjoyed this video Allen, keep them coming, wonderful details and storytelling👌👌👌👏👏👏
So glad you enjoyed it, thanks for watching!
Fascinating, I knew some of these details but have learned a lot from this video. Thank you for a very interesting watch and listen!
This story has a moral. Quit while you're ahead!!
Or quit before you're just a head. 😀
Class video my friend. You have gained a subscriber 🤜🏼🤛🏼
Awesome, thank you!
Superb article.
Thanks very much, glad you enjoyed it!
Great video something l have not seen even in Documentaries about Cromwell
Wow never knew this. I have subscribed to your channel and look forward to more videos thank you for your hard work
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching.
Fascinating. Thanks.
Glad you enjoyed it
Wow , he certainly didn't rest in peace ! This was really interesting. I'd like to know what the relation was between Thomas and Oliver Cromwell ,
Oliver was descended from Thomas Cromwell's nephew Richard Williams alias Cromwell.
Great question. I've always wondered about that too!
The man that married Tho. Cromwell's daughter changed his last name from Williams to Cromwell. Then time passed.
@@alancoe1002 sadly all of Thomas Cromwell's own daughters died of sweating sickness before they married. It was his nephew Richard Williams (his sister's son) who changed his name to Cromwell and from whom Oliver is descended.
@@doctorgoodguy1 Me, too. And I was about to ask when I saw this comment. I always suspected the 2️⃣ were related. Now I know. Thank you❗️
Love your content,I have subscribed
This was incredible and amazing 👏.
Thanks very much, glad you enjoyed it!
What an interesting video! Thank you for posting this.😊😊
Glad you enjoyed it!
Very fascinating. Thanks
Very impressive death masks. And interesting story, thank you for posting.
I had never contemplated the question, what happened to Cromwell's body. I have also completely forgotten most of the details i was taught in early school about Cromwell. 😂 thanks for this reminder, i think. Enjoyed the video.😊
Really well done and very interesting. Thank you.
Thank you for this very interesting, in depth, analysis of the historical details of a man who still engenders very diverse feelings within the public’s imagination, even after all this time.
You have a new subscriber, and I look forward to seeing more of your work in the future.🏴
Thank you Shena for your subscription and kind comment. Much more to come.
Thanks a Brilliant Video
Superb video, thanks 👍
Interesting video
Thanks for this interesting video. I was near the site of the Tyburn Tree the other day and well worth visiting.
It gives you the shivers just to think of the horrific way so many people lost their lives there - some of whom did not deserve it.
@@allanbarton Yes. Slow strangulation resulting in 'the Tyburn Jig'.
new sub , excellent, looking forward to bingeing on your previous works.
Thanks and welcome
excellent stuff 👍🏽
Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for watching!
I've been studying mortuary sciences, so videos like this really intrigue me. I'm hoping to become a historian of funeral customs or a professor. I'm thrilled to have stumbled upon your channel. Keep up the great work!
Thrilled? You must be a caprolite!
Just a correction of a common mistake. The gallows at Tyburn, despite all the say so of experts wasn't actually where Marble Arch now stands.
Cromwell's corpse was probably placed on the gallows at what is now the junction of Henrietta Place, and Cavendish Square. The square used to have "burial ground" marked on old maps, now dropped. Lady Antonia Fraser in her biography of Cromwell, quotes an old source that says that his "body was thrown onto a dung heap"
Which probably means that Cavendish Square burial site, where it remains to this day along with other executed people, and overlooked by Tony Blair's house!
Now that is really interesting thank you. I will be looking at the location later.
@@allanbarton
Sorry, serious error I made with the location of Cromwell's remains.
I haven't been to the area for years, so next visit I must go to Connaught Square, not Cavendish!
The area around Connaught is known as "Tyburnia".
This is from a scholarly site. I can't put a link here, but I copied this.
Sorry about the error.
¶"Burials of corpses from Tyburn were recorded from 1689 and brought profit to the minister and churchwardens of Paddington in the late 17th and the 18th century, (fn. 12) when execution days came to be known as 'Paddington fair'. (fn. 13) Remains were also buried under the scaffold and unearthed when the area came to be built up. Among them were the presumed bones of Oliver Cromwell and fellow regicides, whose posthumous consignment to a pit at the gallows' foot in 1661 probably gave rise to William Blake's allusion to 'mournful ever-weeping Paddington"
**there is a reference to the site being the junction of Connaught Square near number 49.
Well that Ghoul did his share of killing!
@@mikefay5698 Blair, the war criminal or Cromwell, the man who sold the world (to Mannesah bin Isreal in 1656)??
"Lord Protector"-that's one heck of a dubious title for a regicidal (Charles 1) and genocidal (Ireland) destroyer from Hell itself.
Nothing wrong with having a crack at the Mick dear boy.
@@carladams8691 i neglected to mention,also fratricidal (English Civil War )
@@brendankane3546 you also neglected to mention what you were doing whilst all your parentheses were getting a well deserved spanking?
France had a protectorate too!
@@carladams8691 And nothing wrong with Paddy getting his own back, old bean.
Thank you that was good.
Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for watching!
Excellent, thank you!
I went to the Cromwell Museum in Huntingdon yesterday and it was a really interesting little place.
Interesting video. As someone with a direct ancestor who was an officer in his army in England and Ireland, and then immigrated to the Americas not long after his death
Cromwell was a Murdering Skumbag
ironic that a man who fought against royalty has a royal funeral 🤔
I do like a bit of history. Richard Cromwell died of old age a few hundred meters from my current abode. The longest lived English head of state before QE2. I also have a link to the Tyburn tree, A relative ended his days upon it.
What was that nice piece of music that the video opened with ?
Brilliant channel
Very interesting
Amazing video!!!
Thank you.
Thank you for this very interesting video. I come from Germany and i am very interested in european royal burial sites. In 2005 and 2008 i visited London and went to Westminster Abbey. It was so amazing to see all the old graves from the kings and queens who were buried there before all the following monarchs found their last resting place in St. Georges Chapel. Unfortunately i haven't made it to Windsor Castle yet but i hope i will have the chance to go there one day. By the way, i always wanted to see a picture from the grave of Henry VIII. but i never found one. When i saw this video it was the first time i got a look on the coffins in the crypt. It was also very interesting what you told when they opened the coffins to have a look on the corpses. I really enjoyed it to listen to you. Good work. Keep it on please. Regards!😊
Another excellent video I appreciate the scholarship and lack of intrusive music
Fascinating, if a bit grizzly. Thank you for your research and elucidation of this end to a disturbing era in British history.
Very grizzly, I think I am ready for a pause on the grizzly details for a while on here however fascinating. Thanks for commenting.
@@allanbartonDon't mean to be macabre but I would rather you not hold back on any information. I think it is quite important to be told all the facts. I don't have enough time to do much research so I do appreciate your providing as much detail as you can. Just my humble opinion, hoping you will give it some serious consideration.
In truth @@peterbilt-bo1vy I don't really hold back! I give you everything I have warts and all (pun intended).
But wasn't Cromwell against such pomp and richary ? I have tried to research this myself without much success. Bit puzzled here so would appreciate comments of wisdom 😊 . Thanks for any knowledge giving . Edit : why is the word Commonwealth used, did it have a different connotation then ?
A commonwealth used to be any government explicitly founded for... well, the _"common wealth",_ that is to say, for the good of _all_ the people in it. In the 17th Century, "Commonwealth" was the English word for "Republic".
Note the Latin inscriptions on some of the things in the video. In _English,_ Cromwell was the Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland, which the translators of the time rendered as "Protector _Republicae_ Angliae, Scotiae, et Hiberniae".
When France and the United States decided to stick with the Latin, "commonwealth" moved to the background and "republic" became the generally preferred English term for a democratic state. It's only very recently that "Commonwealth" has come to mean "the collection of crypto-republics that was once the British Empire".
Ostensibly Cromwell did endorse puritan ideals, supporters of Puritanism didn't believe in ostentatious symbolism, they were famous for stripping churches of anything that they perceived were symbolisms of idolatry, virtually anything fun was outlawed under Cromwell because they wanted to strip back religion to it's sober fundamentals as they saw it.
I personally think Oliver Cromwell was a hypocrite though, he forbade listening to or playing music but had musicians play for him privately amongst other things, like the rich garb he later wore.
If you want a different look at some of the laws he instituted, check out the show Horrible Histories did on Oliver Cromwell, it educates in an interesting but fun way.
Thank you to everyone for your replies. I like learning new things. Peace and love to you all. ❤️
@@amp279 Thank you so much.
This is what I thought, too. Honestly, I don’t know much about Cromwell, but from what I do know, personally, I think he was a hypocrite. Was against the idea of monarchy, but buried in Westminster Abby along with his family, given a monarchs funeral.
Oliver Cromwell was my 8th Great-Granduncle. I have a portrait of him on the wall of my office.
I my self am a direct decent of Oliver as well ,, I have the proof in my family genealogy,, as well a decent of Charles the first ,,,,
@@lawrencekedgettjr2364 Then we are likely 10th cousins, plus removes if any. Interestingly, when we moved in here 11 years ago, I found I had a 7th cousin living directly across the street.
I, too, am a many-greats niece of Oliver.,(don't have the actualcount here in front of me). Also, Capt. Wm Lewis Cromwell was in the American Revolutionare War, he's a multi great nephew of Oliver, and my 5x great grandfather. .
Show us the sketch that is cool
Goodness!!! What an interesting story. The people of England really made his pay after death for the brutality he paid out to the people, poor, rich, royal, aristocratic and religious. The fate of his body was almost comical like a scene from Black Adder. Chaucer would have had a chuckle at this.
How did they preserve Cromwells body for the 7 -9 week viewing? I’m very curious
They wrapped it in waxed cloth and then enclosed it in lead.
I Sugest you look up the records of the Burial Vault of the Falconberg family Vault of St Nicholas Church in Chiswick that is now sealed in Concrete!! Ask about the extra headless corpse not listed found during restorative underpining work??
I never cared much about Oliver Cromwell except to wonder if he was related to Thomas Cromwell of the Tudor era (and I found out he is by 1️⃣ of the comments here). However, I found this video 📹 very interesting. Thank you
My pleasure Diane.
Strange parallels with the corpse of Eva Peron!
Very much so.
@@allanbarton Was she desecrated in her grave. I think not. Good musical but. Lloyd the composer wanted to Hitler and Eva but too too much!
One thing I noticed on the “royal” Arms of the Lord Protector, is that the supporters are a crowned Lion and a Dragon, instead of the Unicorn . Why the Dragon? was he of Welsh descent? i see the harp of Ireland and the cross of St George for England and the cross of St Andrew for Scotland on his shield, but what does that smallL Lion Rampant overlay. signify? And then you showed his arms impaled with that of his wife, whiich is three Lions Passant, what does it tel about her? and of course the shield is surmountd by a red crown? or cap embroidered with pearls .It all looks very grand, i am not an exper on healdry, but very inerested and trying to “read” the symbology. You mentioned “Acheivements”, what are they? Thank you. thisi has so very interesting and educational. And , also, what does the latin inscription under the arms say? i can make out Pax and Bello., peace and war, please. ?
The escutcheon (the little shield) is the arms of Cromwell himself. The dragon represents Wales. An achievement is a coat of arms, with supporters (the lion and dragon) along with the helmet and mantling on top and the crown. Everything that expresses the status of the person who bears the coat of arms.
Even with the embalming I still can’t imagine how the skull kept it’s skin and hair after 24 years exposed to the elements?
God didn't want him. 😂
Back in college, my World History prof told us that Charles II had Oliver's corpse exhumed and hung as punishment for executing his father Charles I.
We don't precisely know his motivation. He was certainly given a traitor's death. Most of the regicides that were living in 1660 were similarly treated.
Yes, that’s what it says it this video 😂
Thank-you.
My interest in this is the fact that a huge statue of Cromwell is outside Westminster Hall between it and the road.
That story must be somewhere: from exhumation, decapitation, public shaming and, then, to monumental statuary. Hmmm . . .
Simple: they could desecrate his corpse, but they couldn't beat him in the field, or at Westminster. They never arrested his son Richard, who was his less successful successor. The King didn't come back for two years after his death. Cautious.
Your quite right. He advanced England to being Europe's most advanced country. No one will pull his statue down. Since he advanced England to being the premier country in Europe.
Desecrating corpses is about the utmost level Woyalty reaches with this horrible macabre and disgusting and morbid tale!
@@alancoe1002 thank-you!
The history of the promotion of the Statue from proposal to erection must be well documented somewhere.
@@mikefay5698 thank-you!
Fascinating.
Excellent 👏👏👏very interesting like him or hate he’s part of our history 👍🤗🤷♀️
it's nice that Cromwell had a nice adventure , meeting new people , going to many parties for a couple of hundred year's, I bet he had a blast, then again he was a puritan.
The narrator does not mention it, but the Josiah Wilkinson who bought the head in 1815 happened to be the brother of Priscilla Wilkinson, the wife of David Ricardo MP, the well-known economist - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Ricardo , (whose house, Gatcombe Park, is currently the home of Princess Anne). David Ricardo was my great-grandfather's uncle, and my mother told me about Canon Wilkinson keeping Cromwell's head (I imagined it as a paper-weight on his desk...!) There is correspondence between David Ricardo and his brother-in-law about the head.
Wow, this story blows my mind, from beginning to end. Thank you for sharing it.
I'm sitting here in the US trying to figure out if that sort of thing could have ever happened to one of our presidents. England is something else! (We would have had to put it all back, apologize to the universe, and erect a monument to his monument.)
Part of Cromwell's' deathbed prayer. "Pardon such as desire to trample upon the dust of a poor worm, for they are thy people too."
That's a fabulous video, thank you. I never knew these details. I'm Irish so I'll stop there. Thanks again.
David
Interesting and Fascinating…
A bizarre tale it is too. Sounds like there was a lot of insanity going around. First, he's a pseudo king, then he is a traitor, then they play silly buggers with his head for the next 2 centuries, what a debâcle.
It is rather - bizarre by our modern standards.
@@allanbarton Although this was fairly standard treatment for those who fell foul of political changes or power plays for most of human history. The bloodless consitutionalism of modern advanced states is the exception in human history, not the rule. One only need look at what happened to those who refused to follow along the reformation under Henry VIII such as Sir Thomas Moore, the undignified burial of Richard III, the humiliating death of Richard II. Who knows how Henry VI or Edward V died. The attainder of Earl of Strafford, the deaths of Thomas Cromwell or Sir Walter Raleigh. There's Lady Jane Grey's death or the burning of Archbishop Cranmer by Queen Mary. Consider the sad case Mary Queen of Scots being imprisoned for years before finally being dispatched by Elizabeth. And Charles II was lucky to escape when he did else he would have been unlikely to be have survived. Politics was a brutal life-or-death struggle back then.
@@allanbarton No worse than deliberately cutting off your gas and blowing it up!
music/ tune in the beginning?
If people have an opinion they should express themselves. I definitely understand why Cromwell was treated thusly. It caused Charles II an amazing amount of pain as well as the people. The situation as I have read is due to Charles I inability to judge the climate of situation until it was too late. I really don't have much sympathy for Charles, but understand I wouldn't have been a fan of living under the REIGN of the Lord PROTECTOR. Not one of Englands greatest moments.
Hello 👋 Kathryn. How are you doing ? Hope are you fine. I'm Mark Clifford and am from Denver Colorado, where are you from . You seem like a real country girl
@@markclifford1857 You creepy fooker. This is youtube not tinder FFS!!
The worst man in human history since Akhenaten.
Not one of England's greatest moments ? It was probably as great a moment as forcing John Lackland to Runnymede, in that it was a crucial step in the development of the Anglo Saxon form of democracy whereby rulers are prevented from absolute power. Certainly Charles II came back with the clear impression that the ideas of his father about princely divine right would not be tolerated. His brother chose to ignore what lead to the Commonwealth, and was ignominiously booted out, with Parliament enforcing its supremacy, and drawing up the Bill of Rights.
@@Fanakapan222The Anglo-saxon period ended in 1066 You're talking about the plantagenets. The Anglo-saxons had long since gone.
Well, just when I thought I'd heard everything here comes Allan with a truly bizarre story. All I can say is...Thanks.
Let me add more mystery.
Somewhere around 1958-9 a schoolmaster in Stratford-upon-Avon made a strange anouncement. Any boy who cared to visit his formroom over one lunchtime could see the head of Oliver Cromwell.
Feeling myself superior, as a 6th former, I considered it a hoax by younger boys, and did not go.
Those who did were totally convinced. It was in a silk-lined box. Apparently Whitfield claimed he had a family connection.
The teacher was Mr A. J. Whitfield, the school - King Edward VIth Grammar.
Years later in a library book about Cromwell's head, I personally saw that one of the head photographs was credited to A. J. Whitfield.
I cannot now track that book down.
What do you make of that ?
Well, what a missed opportunity! Surely it is the same head.
@@allanbartonBut was it actually Cromwell's head? Wouldn't that be the question here?
I think on balance it probably is - but we will never know. @@peterbilt-bo1vy
Thank you for a really interesting video. I don't know the British history so well, i didn't know that there was before a differrent Commonwealth than now.
Why on earth did they bury Cromwell's head? Ok, it is creepy, but the decapitated head on a pole would be a really insteresting peace in a church or museum.
This was really interesting, thanks for releasing this. As usual you have managed to include extra tit-bits that I wasn’t aware of. It’s usually the rather macabre details that I find most interesting, and you didn’t disappoint! Did he deserve the post-mortem treatment he got? Well probably not by modern standards and mores, but I can perfectly understand Charles II’s wish for much overdue revenge for his father’s execution. And that’s the way they did things in those days! Hope there’s more lovely stuff like this video to come, I can hardly wait!
It is certainly not something we would even consider by modern western standards - he did plenty of things like this to others, he would perhaps see it as just desserts for the failure of his political settlement. Lots more to come.
Westminster Abbey was and is royal peculiar; so the king was at least fully entitled to remove him from the abbey.
@@rivenoak The very same king who refused to pay his navy, so the sailors left the ships at the mercy of the Dutch fleet which promptly sailed up and sunk them, something they never managed when Oliver was alive, and had such interesting aquaintences that his pockets were picked as he was on his deathbed
@@johnfrancis2215 not relevant; the peculiar rules are old as eff. no need to be a shining example of royalty to exercise such rights
Post mortem revenge was common in those times.
William Tyndall was executed by strangulation and his body burned for translating the bible into English. His predecessor John Wycliffe's body was dug up 50 years after his death and burned with the ashes thrown into the River Swift for the same deed.
Crazy that someone could be revered so much, then promptly be exhumed, disrespected/head on a stake etc.
.....
It is a swift change of fortunes.
@@allanbarton But why?
True or not, quite an interesting account. The wart sold me!
Our family are related to OLIVER. My sister went to see the execution warrant. She discovered that her husbands family were also from another signatory like Cromwell. Spooky what
@Craig Brown serious oneupmanship. I concede
I'm adopted, but my Mom( real Mom, not birth Mom)Maternal side of family are related to Oliver Cromwell. I recently learned this as Mom( 82 next month❤) was showing me the extensive genealogy my Grammy left her. In recent years, I've become really fascinated with European history, as my Country; the U.S. has a very short history post stealing it all from the Indigenous peoples.
You had to ruin your interesting story by adding the last sentence.😏
Well be sure to beat yourself up and self-flagellate over centuries old events that you obviously didn’t participate in, had no control over and cannot change.
Did you know that in the UK, at least a third of people are descended from King Edward III. We are all so closely related.
Oliver Cromwell's great-great grandson left no son to carry on the family line and he died in 1821. So how is your non-biological mother's maternal side of the family related to Oliver Cromwell? Interesting claim but prove it?
The US as a nation may have a “short” history, however, as a culture, it is explicitly linked to Britain and therefore British history is our history as well, but I’m not surprised by your ignorance based on your last comment.
For all the good things he did for the common man. He still cancelled Christmas, dancing and generally having a good time.
He was a killjoy and a bore.
@@allanbarton . I heard he was pretty handy in a punch up but would never have got on with the 'portrait artist of the year' producers.
Steeleye Span's song "Cromwell's Skull" is a must-listen.
If you look at his vicious history he deserves everything he got. I had relatives that had to serve under him as he dragged his group of English to Ireland to displace the Irish and overtake as much Irish land as possible. Thank God some of my relatives got away; or I wouldn't be writing this comment today.
Thanks for your comment Janet, this video isn't really an opinion piece and judgement of his actions but a relation of the facts surrounding his death. Thank God some of your ancestors escaped.
Crap.
@@mikesey1 what is?
@@mikesey1 Typical sh*t remark from an Englishman. I could care less.
I didn't know Cromwell was given the title His Highness!! He was King in all but name!!
Considering that Cromwell was a Puritan, I'm surprised he had such an elaborate funeral!! I thought Puritans frowned upon such things!!
Even though Oliver Cromwell was no angel, I think how his body was treated after he died was ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING!! I suppose his enemies wanted their revenge, albeit a macabre one!!
Thanks for this VERY INFORMATIVE video, Allan!! 💚💖👍
He deserved it !
Check out what he did in Ireland.
No One Escapes "The Law of Karma" 🙏
He deserved everything he got...its just a shame he was dead by then and it did not happen whilst he was alive
It is appalling, but was perhaps seen as a fitting end at this time to this time of trouble, a cleaning almost. Difficult to imagine.
Didn’t know about the title either. Fact completely absent from the interregnum course I did in third year history, and the source materials we used.