Posthumous execution

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Posthumous execution is the ritual execution of an already dead body.

Examples include:

• Pope Formosus (9th century) following the Cadaver Synod. The body was not executed per se following Formosus's death, however it was dismembered and cast into a river. This is therefore not strictly a posthumous execution, however is worthy of mention.

• John Wyclif (1328–1384), who was burned as a heretic 12 years after he died.

• Vlad the Impaler (1431–1476), who was beheaded following his assassination.

• King Richard III of England (1452–1485), who was hanged by his successor King Henry VII following his death at the Battle of Bosworth Field. His body was further desecrated following the Dissolution of the Monasteries and, according to legend, thrown into the River Soar.

• Pietro Martire Vermigli (1500–1562), who was burned as a heretic following his death.

• A number of the regicides of Charles I of England had died before the Restoration of King Charles II. Parliament passed an order of attainder for High Treason on the four most prominent deceased regicides: John Bradshaw the court president, Oliver Cromwell, Henry Ireton, and Thomas Pride.^[1] The bodies were exhumed and the first three were hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn. The most prominent was the former Lord Protector Cromwell, whose body after said "punishment" was thrown, minus its head, into a common pit. The head was finally buried in 1960. The body of Pride was not "punished" perhaps because it had decayed too much. Of the regicides still alive then, some were executed and others either fled or were imprisoned. For a full list see List of regicides of Charles I.

• The body of Rasputin, the Russian monk, was exhumed from the ground by a mob and burned with gasoline.
• The case of Martin Borman, while not strictly a posthumous execution, might also be mentioned, like that of Formosus. This high-ranking Nazi was sentenced to death at Nuremburg in absentia. It was only decades later that it was learned that he had died a few days before the fall of the Third Reich.
• One of the supporters of François Duvalier ("Papa Doc") (1907–1971), Haitian dictator, whose body was exhumed and ritually beaten to 'death' in 1986.

In Christian countries until relatively recently, it was believed that to rise on judgement day the body had to be whole and preferably buried with the feet to the east so that the person would rise facing God.^[2][3] A Parliamentary Act from the reign of King Henry VIII stipulated that only the corpses of executed murderers could be used for dissection.^[4] Restricting the supply to the cadavers of murderers was seen as an extra punishment for the crime. It follows that if one believes dismemberment stopped the possibility of resurrection on judgement day, then a posthumous execution is an effective way of punishing a criminal.^[5] Attitudes towards this issue changed very slowly in the United Kingdom and were not manifested in law until the passing of the Anatomy Act in 1832. However for many of the British population it was not until the twentieth century that the link between the body and resurrection was finally broken.^{[citation needed]} Respect for the bodies of the dead is still a sensitive issue in the United Kingdom as can been seen by the furor over the Alder Hey organs scandal when the organs of children were kept without parents' informed consent.^[6]

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Journal of the House of Commons: volume 8: 1660-1667 (1802), pp. 26-7 House of Commons Attainder predated to 1 January 1649 (It is 1648 in the document because of old style year)
2. ^ Essex, Mass. - Cemetery: The Old Burying Ground, Essex, Mass.I. Description and History "Up until the early 1800s, graves were marked by pairs of headstones and footstones, with the deceased laid to rest facing east to rise again at dawn of Judgement Day."
3. ^ Grave and nave: an architecture of cemeteries and sanctuaries in rural Ontario "Sanctuaries face east, and burials are with the feet to the east, allowing the incumbent to rise facing the dawn on the Day of Judgment"
4. ^ The history of judicial hanging in Britain: After the execution "Henry VIII passed a law in 1540 allowing surgeons 4 bodies of executed criminals each per year. Little was known about anatomy and medical schools were very keen to get their hands on dead bodies that they could dissect"
5. ^ Miriam Shergold and Jonathan GrantThe evolution of regulations for health research in England(pdf) Prepared for the Department of Health, February 2006. Page 4. "For example, the Church banned dissection and autopsies on the grounds of the spiritual welfare of the deceased."
6. ^ Alder Hey organs scandal: the issue explained by David Batty and Jane Perrone Friday April 27, 2001 in The Guardian