-Caveat Lector-
Thanks for the excellent post. It's a thoroughly creepy story.
But isn't it interesting how so many people become obsessed with the
physical remains of 'great men.'
Most of us on this list have read of the theft of Geronimo's head
by Yale's secretive Skull and Bones. Certainly, in Freemasonry, skull
and bones imagery is pretty common. And from the post we learn that the
head is secretly buried on the grounds of Sydney Sussex College. Why the
need for secrecy. Was it just a fear that someone would dig the head up
and use it for a commercial purpose...or was it a matter of fear of the
magical properties of the head.
I wonder how psychologists would explain this fascination with heads.
We know that the ancient Celts collected the heads of their enemies.
I guess those atavistic urges still survive from one century to the next.
On Thu, 22 Jul 1999, Ric Carter wrote:
> -Caveat Lector-
>
> -Oliver Cromwell's Head-
> Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of Britain from 1653 to 1658
> was given one of the most lavish funerals in English history
> and was buried in Westminster Abbey. After the monarchy was
> reinstated about two years later, Cromwell's body was dragged
> to Tyburn on a sledge and hung until sundown. Cromwell was
> then "executed." Bending Cromwell's nose in the process, the
> executioner threw the Lord Protector onto the block and had
> to swing eight times before his head was cut off. The body
> was flung into a pit, and his head was impaled on a 25 foot
> wooden poll tipped with an iron spike. Tied to the roof of
> Westminster Hall, Cromwell's head remained for 24 years
> until in 1685, a violent storm blew it off. A captain of the
> guard carried the head off and hid it in his chimney and
> the whole city of London searched for the fellow who took
> it. On his deathbed, the captain left the head to his only
> daughter, and by 1710 it was valued at 60 guineas and could
> be seen in a travelling freak show. Actor Samuel Russell
> owned the head in 1775, and he offered it to Sydney Sussex
> College, where Cromwell had studied, but they refused it.
> In 1787, Russell sold it for 118 pounds to a jeweller named
> James Fox, who later sold it for 230 pounds to 3 fellows
> who exhibited it on London's Bond Street. In 1814, after
> the 3 had died, a surviving daughter who didn't want the
> head "about the house" sold it to a Dr. Wilkinson. In 1960,
> the Wilkinson family again offered it to Sydney Sussex
> College, which accepted it and buried it secretly somewhere
> on the grounds of the college. (Summarized from "The Book of
> Lists - 1978 Bantam Books.)
>
> Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658)
> http://www.camelotintl.com/heritage/cromwell.html
> Cromwell 400
> http://www.cromwell.argonet.co.uk/
> Monarchs of England
> http://www.wickham.newbury.sch.uk/topics/monarchs.html
> Oliver Cromwell
> http://rvl4.ecn.purdue.edu/~cromwell/oliver.html
> Oliver Cromwell
>
> http://www.stg.brown.edu/projects/hypertext/landow/victorian/history/Cromwel
> l.html
> Oliver Cromwell: Lord Protector of England (1599-1658)
> http://www.forerunner.com/champion/X0004_3._Oliver_Cromwell.html
>
>
>
>
> * [EMAIL PROTECTED] * http://www.sonic.net/~ric * ICQ# 19633976 *
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DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic
screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters
and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright
frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects
spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL
gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers;
be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and
nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
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