My understanding is that the official head-chopper-offer refused to do his duty in this instance, being too afraid to displease god by taking the life of someone anointed by him. So, an amateur was wrangled, and obvious mess ensued. This artifact seems to disprove my understanding.
If all you want is to scoop up big frosty servings of sweet, sweet revenge, sure. And if you’re interested in building a different, less destructive way to exercise power… its a more complicated recipe.
It’s a really nice shirt. The perfect accessory to having your head chopped off.
We need this genre today.
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I was just going by how the Irish hate the royalists of that time, but hold a special loathing for Cromwell.
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Largely attributable to:
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Cromwell being in charge at the time that the Irish Revolution was suppressed. Charles’ relationship to the revolutionaries was complicated by his desire for Irish troops to use against Parliament, but I’d argue that anyone who thinks that Charles would have peacefully permitted Irish secession is fooling themselves.
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Post-Cromwellian British culture and history (including Ireland) was utterly saturated in royalist propaganda
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Oh, but not everyone agrees, so it must not be true… /s 
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It seems like an insult, of sorts, even today.
WH, people of Congress… take note (you scumbags).
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Other executions by beheading were bungled, but this one wasn’t- it was a single clean cut, which suggests an experienced headsman.
Nobody actually knows who swung the axe. The official executioner in London at the time was a man named Richard Brandon, who denied having done it until his own (natural) death six months later. There were various other men rumoured to have been the executioner, one of whom stood trial for it after the Restoration and was sentenced to death, but then had the conviction overturned when he was able to prove it wasn’t him.
The executioner, whoever he was, wore a mask (which wasn’t normal practice, cartoons notwithstanding) and did not, as was customary, announce “Behold the head of a traitor!” as he held up the king’s head- possibly for fear of being recognised by his voice.
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Au contraire …
“This is the head of a traitor!”
“No it’s not; it’s a huge pumpkin with a pathetic moustache drawn on it!”
“Oh yes — so it is! Sorry! I’ll try again.”
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See Mary Queen of Scots.
“Third time’s a charm.”
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The Richard Brandon element comports with my understanding. I live in what had been the fourth largest city in North America, and there was a pervasive rumor, still in some tourist guides, that the CoE/Episcopal churchyard (1705/1723) hosts the remains of one William Jefferay, said to have been the regicide, though I’ve seen no other supporting information.
I guess Anne Boleyn had the right idea, requesting a swordsman.
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Enhance it CSI style. Or send it to one of the special labs they have on that show that process DNA in a few hours, where in real life rape kits sit there for years assuming they’re analyzed at all.
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It stops with the wives and children of the monarch.
Or “Tumbledown Dick” .
What a wasted opportunity for a Republic - as soon as Parliament found it could pretty much choose who it wanted, and remove who it didn’t from the throne (safer that than Lord Protector) it was doomed for all time.
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Yeah, that tactic worked so well in history.
Yeah, so did letting the elites hoard all the wealth…
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