Talk:Posthumous execution

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Attainder of Oliver Cromwell, &c.[edit]

The method of "execution" of Oliver Cromwell differs from that given in the Cromwell article. Specifically, the latter says he was draw and quartered. I don't know which is true.

Sorted. It looks like the Oliver Cromwell article was changed after this article was created, because the information under each of the subheadings was taken from the articles of the respective people in each case. -- Graham ☺ | Talk 22:14, 16 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Sources on the excution of Oliver Cromwell:

--PBS 13:31, 14 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Can somebody give us a source for Richard III? There are various accounts of what happened to his body e.g. it was thrown into a ditch, but this is the first I have come across of the claim that it was formally executed. PatGallacher 10:52, 17 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Yes certainly. It is actually written in stone (literally) in two places in Leicester: firstly at the site of the original church where he was first buried, and secondly next to the Bow Bridge from where his body was thrown and landed up in the river. I may be able to provide a written reference (like in a book and everything) but that'll involve a trip to Leicester itself. -- Francs2000 13:59, 17 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Relevance of matter on scientific disposition of cadavers[edit]

The whole front end of the article is about the use of bodies for research which is hugely incidental. The exhumation and trying of corpses for crimes putatively committed during their former lives may be taking "due process" and revenge to a new level, while giving the show trial its most extreme form, but it has very, very little to do with research on dead bodies. The latter may show changing views on the offensiveness of disrespecting/disinterring bodies, but, in context, it wholly displaces any article content about the topic of the article, that is, posthumous execution in general. As it is, it looks like someone accidentally dropped part of another article here. The front end of the article should be removed and replaced with some appropriate text or even nothing at all--it would certainly be less confusing and make the article better. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.24.243.60 (talk) 02:20, 7 January 2007 (UTC).[reply]


It is very relevant. It was not uncommon for people in England to plead guilty to another capital offense which still end in their execution, because it would mean that their bodies would not be dissected. It shows that posthumous executions that were carried out in Christian Europe were until relatively recently perceived by many as punishment that could have real consequences after death. It helps to explain the motives of those who carried out such executions, which by todays point of view seem nothing but macabre. --PBS 21:27, 12 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I've trimmed it down to the relevant sentences and moved the extra padding to Resurrection of the dead#Influence on secular law and custom. And none of the cited references related to posthumous execution. jnestorius(talk) 17:58, 17 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Alexander Peden[edit]

If a source can be found it might be worth mentioning his brush with Posthumous execution.Geni (talk) 12:20, 20 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Abusing a Corpse immediately after death[edit]

A posthumous execution implies some amount of time between death and execution and some formal process for ordering the execution from my perspective. If you beat someone to death and then, in your enthusiasm, keep going for awhile that is something different. Accordingly, I removed the following two examples:

RevelationDirect (talk) 04:02, 3 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Example of Li Linfu[edit]

The article Li Linfu states that he was never exhumed and executed, but only punished before his funeral by having his titles removed, etc. I have changed the entry on this page to reflect his biography, but I now think it may not fall into this category at all. AtHomeIn神戸 (talk) 01:51, 30 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Not all desecrations are posthumous executions[edit]

Execution implies an official act. For example the "execution" of Cromwell's corps.

Adding a simple desecration of a corps is not an example of posthumous execution. For example mobs desecrating bodies and soviet soldiers desecrating Blucher's corps are not posthumous executions. -- PBS (talk) 16:24, 1 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]