Oliver Cromwell: Encyclopedia II - Oliver Cromwell - Death and posthumous execution

Oliver Cromwell - Death and posthumous execution

Cromwell suffered from malaria and from "stone", a common term for urinary/kidney infections. Yet, he was in generally-good health. He was struck by a sudden bout of 'malaria', followed directly by an attack of urinary/kidney symptoms. Although weakened, he was optimistic about the future, as were his attendants. A Venetian diplomat, also a physician, was visiting at the time and tracked Cromwell's final illness. It was his opinion that The Lord Protector's personal physicians were mismanaging his health; leading to a rapid decline and death.

Within two years of Cromwell's death from malaria on September 3, 1658, Parliament restored Charles II as king, as Cromwell's son Richard Cromwell had proved "an unworthy successor".

In 1661, Oliver Cromwell's body was exhumed from Westminster Abbey, and was subjected to the ritual of a posthumous execution – on January 30, the same date that Charles I had been executed. He was in fact hanged, drawn and quartered. At the end, his body was thrown into a pit. His severed head was displayed on a pole outside Westminster Abbey until 1685. Since then, it changed hands several times, before eventually being buried in the grounds of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, in 1960.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Death and posthumous execution", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki