It is truly fascinating to me that
one can go their whole life without ever discovering any of the major details
of their past. I find it intriguing that even after living most of your life
that you still may not know everything about yourself and your family
history. Up until last year, I knew
nothing about my ancestry, nor did I care to be quite honest; but then my
sister did her genealogy project. My sister was assigned a project for her 11th
grade honors history class. This project was to research your family history as
far back as possible, and she ended up finding some fascinating information
that perfectly coincides with what we have been learning in honors history 9.
Recently we
learned about the English Civil War; which occurred in August of 1642 and
lasted about 7 years. The war was caused by King Charles I’s negligence towards
including Parliament in any political decisions. There were two sides; The
Roundheads, who supported Parliament, and The Cavaliers, who supported King
Charles. The leader of the Roundheads was a Puritan man by the name of Oliver
Cromwell. When the war was over, the Roundheads were the victors. King Charles
I was put on trial and found guilty and sentenced to death. On January 30th,
1649, King Charles I was executed.
After Charles’s
execution, England was to be ruled by Parliament, but in 1653 Cromwell was
named Lord Protector of England. Under his rule, England became a military
dictatorship. So long story short, Oliver Cromwell ended up dying of natural
causes and was buried in Westminster Abbey. However, 3 years after his death,
Cromwell’s body was dug up from his resting place and beheaded. His severed
head was put on display for all of England to see.
 |
| Photo of Oliver Cromwell |
So while my
sister was researching my mother’s side of the family, we discovered we have a
connection to the horrible beheading of Oliver Cromwell. My mother’s father’s
family, The Copithorne’s, are originally from England. After much research, it
was discovered that a Copithorne was believed to be the soldier in charge of
Oliver Cromwell’s beheading.
It’s truly
fascinating to me that I probably would have gone my whole life without knowing
that my great great great great (etc. etc.) grandfather was responsible for
such a famous historical event! Of course it not a very pleasant event or one
to be proud of, but it’s certainly an interesting one. It’s apart of English
history and will be taught for many years so to have that personal connection
to it is really cool to me.
Picture courtesy of:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/oliver-cromwell-15991658-62668
This is so cool, Julia! It's so surprising to me, hearing that one of your ancestors was involved in the beheading of Cromwell. It's weird to think about, our ancestors doing such crazy things! Though it's not necessarily something to brag about, given the circumstances of your ancestor's actions, it's still quite cool, and rather hard to wrap your head around, especially for people like me who know how sweet your family is and all! This was such an interesting post, and so well written; great job! :)
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