3. Oliver Plunkett was hanged, drawn, and quartered in 1681, and someone made off with his head.
Although we’ve already had two heads (five if you count all of John Chrysostom’s), the head of Oliver Plunkett (1629-81) could not be left off this list for the simple reason that it’s absolutely hideous. Plunkett was Archbishop of Armagh in Ireland, a country recently ravaged by the wicked Puritan Oliver Cromwell. There were also serious divisions within both the Irish church and Catholicism generally about devotional practices. Extremely popular in Ireland nonetheless, Plunkett was falsely accused by Titus ‘Titus the Liar’ Oates of plotting to kill the king of England as part of the fictional Popish Plot.
Plunkett was taken to London to stand trial, as the authorities feared a strong backlash from his Irish supporters at home. He was found guilty, and hanged, drawn, and quartered for high treason. His body-parts were buried at London’s Saint-Giles-in-the-Fields Church, but devoted Catholics dug them up as ready-made relics, and packed them off around Europe. Plunkett’s theatrically-despondent head was first sent to Rome, and returned to Ireland after a brief stint in the Holy City. It’s been at a church in Drogheda, Ireland, since 1929, where it attracts pilgrims and intrigued tourists alike to this day.
