December 8. Resolved, by the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament, That the carcases of Oliver Cromwell, Henry Ireton, John Bradshaw, Thomas Pride, whether buried in Westminster Abbey or elsewhere, be, with all expedition, taken up and drawn upon a hurdle to Tyburn, and there hanged up in their coffins for some time: and after that buried under the said gallows: and that James Norfolke Esquire, Serjeant at Arms attending the House of Commons, do take care, that this order be put in effectual execution by the common executioner for the County of Middlesex, and all such others to whom it shall respectively appertain: who are required in their several places to conform to and observe this order, with effect; And the Sheriff of Middlesex is to give his assistance herein, as there shall be occasion: And the Dean of Westminster is desired to give directions to his officers of the Abbey to be assistant in the execution of this order.[188]
A new gallows had been erected for the purpose. Let Evelyn tell us of the use to which it was put on January 30, 1661:—
1661. January 30. This day (O the stupendous and inscrutable judgments of God!) were the carcases of those arch-rebels, Cromwell, Bradshawe (the judge who condemned his Majesty) and Ireton (son-in-law to the Usurper) dragged out of their superb tombs in Westminster among the Kings, to Tyburn, and hanged on the gallows there from nine in the morning till six at night, and then buried under that fatal and ignominious monument in a deep pit: thousands of people who had seen them in all their pride being spectators.[189]
Here is another account, showing the feelings of a partisan:—
“The odious carcasses of O. Cromwell, H. Ireton, and J. Bradshaw drawn upon sledges to Tyburn, and being pull’d out of their Coffins, there hang’d at the severall Angles of that Triple-tree till Sun-set. Then taken down, beheaded, and their loathesome Truncks thrown into a deep hole under the Gallowes. Their heads were afterwards set upon Poles on the top of Westminster Hall.”[190] Here Pepys saw them.
Neal says that the bodies were drawn upon hurdles, but the two words were at this time used indifferently for the same thing.
There were various legends on the subject. One was that Cromwell was not buried in Westminster Abbey, but on Naseby field. Another, that his friends contrived that the body of Charles I. was substituted for that of Cromwell, and was hanged on the gibbet. It was said that persons present observed a seam on the neck—the head having been joined to the body after decollation.[191]
Many bodies, including those of Cromwell’s mother and daughter, Admiral Blake and John Pym, were taken from the Abbey, and buried in a pit in St. Margaret’s churchyard.[192]
1660. On June 9 the House of Commons resumed debate on the Act of general Pardon, Indemnity, and Oblivion, and a list was produced of some who, though they did not sit at the trial of Charles I., on January 27, 1648, did sit on some of the preceding days. The subject was considered on subsequent occasions, and finally an Act was passed, 13 Charles II., c. 15 (1661), enacting that Lord Monson, Sir Henry Mildmay, and Robert Wallop (and others who had fled) should on January 27, 1662, be “carried to the Tower of London and from thence drawne upon Sledges with Ropes about theire necks, and according to the manner of persons executed for High Treason quite through the streets of London unto the Gallows att Tiburn,” and then carried back in like manner to the Tower or such other prison as the king may think fit, and remain prisoners during their lives.