Head on a spike
Oliver Cromwell's head was placed on a spike and erected in the 17th century. A drawing from the late 18th century.
Placing a severed head on a spike (or pike or pole) is a custom used sometimes in human history and in culture. The symbolic value may change over time. It may give a warning to spectators. The head may be a human head or an animal head.
Noted examples
- Simon Fraser (d. 1306)
- Thomas More (1478 – 1535)
- Oliver Cromwell (1599 – 1658)
- Staker Wallace (1733 – 1798)
- John Murphy (1753 – 1798)
- Vela Peeva (1922 – 1944)
Gallery
A sketch of a head impaled on a pike, included in a letter to Ronald Fuller dated 1924
Drawing of the French Revolution: "Aristocratic Heads on Pikes"
See also
- Decapitation
- Mouting points and synonyms:
- Battlefield Cross, a symbolic replacement of a cross made up of the soldier's rifle stuck into the ground with helmet on top
- London Bridge
- Impalement, in which the object is alive at the time of penetration
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