Buzz
When your foe dies before you can fully humiliate or punish them, death doesn’t have to be the end of your quest for vengeance.
10. Gilles van Ledenberg – Coffin Hung and Tossed Into a Ditch
The Netherlands endured an 80-year conflict with Spain (1568–1648), interrupted by the Twelve Years’ Truce (1609–21). Once the war concluded, the Dutch quickly turned to a minor theological debate among themselves.
They argued over predestination and the precise moment God determines a soul's entry into Heaven. Additionally, political tensions arose over whether to restart the war, alongside growing friction between the central government and the provinces.
By the 1610s, the situation descended into chaos as the moderate Remonstrant Party lost power under pressure from the stricter Counter-Remonstrants and Prince Maurice, the army's leader.
Among the arrested Remonstrant leaders was Gilles van Ledenberg. He took his own life in September 1618 but was posthumously sentenced to death in May of the following year.
As a result, his embalmed body in a coffin was displayed on a gallows for three weeks before burial. However, on the night of his burial, a mob exhumed van Ledenberg’s remains and threw them into a ditch.
9. Jacopo Bonfadio – Execution by Beheading and Burning
Jacopo Bonfadio, an Italian humanist scholar, was renowned for his poetry, discussions on landscapes, and philosophical works. He authored a history of Genoa that exposed the misdeeds of prominent families, a risky move since he resided in the city at the time.
Influential families exploited a rumor that Bonfadio had seduced a student, leading to his conviction for sodomy. His death sentence sparked outrage, prompting intellectuals across Italy to rally for his defense.
Despite their efforts, Bonfadio was granted the slight mercy of being beheaded before his body was burned. In a letter believed to be written before his execution, Bonfadio displayed remarkable composure, stating that “time will consume all,” and his accusers would also face mortality.
His execution became so infamous that it was referenced to criticize the Genoese government more than two centuries later when they conveniently “misplaced” the records of Bonfadio’s trial.
8. Cunimund – Skull Transformed into a Jeweled Cup
In-laws can be troublesome—so the saying goes. However, murdering your father-in-law and transforming his skull into a drinking vessel is a surefire way to create marital strife. Alboin, a sixth-century Lombard king, discovered this the hard way. His longstanding feud with the Gepids stemmed partly from his killing of their prince, Thorismund, in his younger days.
In 567, Alboin triumphed over the Gepids in battle, slaying their king, Cunimund (likely Thorismund’s brother). The victory was absolute—the Gepids were nearly wiped out—and Alboin claimed two grim prizes.
The first was his rival’s skull, which he transformed into a gold-plated, gem-studded goblet. The second was Cunimund’s daughter, Rosamund, whom Alboin married.
Following this, Alboin led the Lombards in their successful conquest of Italy. To celebrate, he hosted a banquet in Verona in 572, where he forced his wife to drink from her father’s skull.
This act drove Rosamund to kill her husband. She either committed the deed herself while he was in a drunken haze or manipulated one of his servants into doing it.
7. Garcia Jacques – Crushed by Vehicles and Set Ablaze
Garcia Jacques served as the commander of the palace guard under both Francois “Papa Doc” and Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, who ruled Haiti as dictators from 1957 to 1986. The reign of terror under Papa Doc included atrocities like slaughtering all black dogs in the country (believing an enemy had transformed into one) and replacing God’s name with his own in the Lord’s Prayer.
He also practiced voodoo—studying goat entrails and questioning severed heads—while his secret police were responsible for the deaths of up to 60,000 Haitians. Papa Doc passed away in 1971.
In 1986, widespread protests and international pressure compelled Baby Doc, the son, to flee Haiti. He escaped on a plane laden with jewels, Louis Vuitton bags, and high-end artwork, later sustaining himself with Swiss bank accounts holding hundreds of millions stolen from the Haitian populace.
Back in Haiti, enraged crowds stormed Papa Doc’s crypt, only to find his remains allegedly removed. They then targeted the tombs of his allies, including Garcia Jacques. After dragging Jacques’s severely decayed body into the street to be crushed by trucks, they burned the remains.
6. Harold Harefoot – A Watery Grave
From 1035 to 1040, England was ruled by Harold Harefoot, infamously nicknamed and the son of Canute the Great, who once governed the North Sea Empire spanning England, Norway, and Denmark. Harold seized the throne by exploiting his half-brother Harthacnut’s absence in Denmark.
Harthacnut viewed this as a blatant seizure of power. His fury intensified when Harold captured, blinded, and then killed Harthacnut’s half-brother (and Harold’s own stepbrother), Alfred Atheling, in 1036.
Following Harold’s death in 1040, Harthacnut claimed the English throne. He ordered Harold’s body exhumed from its monastic resting place and discarded in a nearby swamp, treating him like a common criminal and denying him a burial in sacred ground.
Ironically, this act backfired on Harthacnut. The defilement of his half-brother’s grave was perceived as an act of petty vengeance, highlighting Harthacnut’s poor leadership. Legend has it that Harold’s body was recovered by fishermen and reinterred at St. Clement Danes, possibly giving the church its name.
5. Lavr Kornilov – Cremated on a Garbage Heap
Lavr Kornilov was a seasoned Russian military officer. Born in 1870, he began his career as an intelligence operative in Central Asia and later earned recognition for his service in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05.
When World War I began, Kornilov commanded a division. He gained fame after being captured by Austrian forces, escaping, and journeying across Romania to return to Russian soil.
This feat led to his appointment as commander-in-chief of the Russian Army by Alexander Kerensky’s moderate government, which had taken control after the tsar’s overthrow in March 1917.
However, the war effort remained disastrous, and unrest grew in Petrograd, the capital. Kornilov dispatched troops toward the city to quell leftist uprisings, though it’s debated whether he acted alone or with Kerensky’s support.
Ultimately, Kornilov overstepped by demanding the government’s resignation and the establishment of military rule. Accused of attempting a coup, he was arrested and imprisoned.
After the Bolshevik revolution, Kornilov managed to escape and joined the White Army in the Don region. During the winter, he led them on the grueling “Ice March” across the unforgiving steppe. His life ended when a shell struck his headquarters during the siege of Ekaterinodar in April 1918.
The White forces were forced to retreat. Meanwhile, Kornilov’s remains were exhumed, hauled to the town square, dumped on a garbage heap, and set ablaze.
4. Simon de Montfort – Dismembered, Castrated, and More
Simon de Montfort was initially favored by King Henry III, who bestowed upon him the earldom of Leicester and arranged his marriage to the king’s sister, Princess Eleanor. However, their relationship gradually deteriorated over time.
Montfort eventually emerged as a leader of the baronial opposition, which dominated the king and significantly curtailed royal authority from 1258 to 1260. However, this coalition fell apart, and Montfort was exiled in 1261.
He returned to England in 1264, captured the king, and ruled with absolute power for a year. Unfortunately for Montfort, Prince Edward—Henry’s heir and the future king—escaped, rallied an army, and defeated Montfort at Evesham.
Though Montfort died in battle, the victorious royalist soldiers desecrated his body. They severed his hands, feet, and head, removed his testicles, and hung them on either side of his nose before forcing them down his throat.
Finally, Montfort’s head was displayed across the countryside before being sent to Roger Mortimer’s wife, Maud, who had aided Prince Edward in his escape.
Unsurprisingly, this deepened the animosity between the families. Montfort’s surviving sons seized their opportunity for revenge in 1271. While Henry III’s nephew, Henry of Almain, was in Italy on a diplomatic mission, the Montforts assassinated him during mass and proceeded to disfigure his body.
3. False Dmitri I – Burned and Shot from a Cannon
Ivan the Terrible, in a moment of rage, killed his eldest son and heir. Upon Ivan’s death, his successors became the mentally impaired Feodor and the infant Dmitri.
Boris Godunov, Feodor’s regent and brother-in-law, swiftly exiled Dmitri, who was later killed. When Feodor passed away, Boris claimed the throne. However, his rule was challenged by an individual claiming to be the deceased Dmitri, who began advancing toward Moscow.
Boris succumbed to illness in 1605, and “Dmitri” assumed the Russian throne after Boris’s young son was murdered. However, Dmitri’s close ties to the Poles and his marriage to the Catholic Polish noblewoman Marina Mniszech alienated his supporters.
As a mob attacked the Kremlin, Dmitri attempted to flee by leaping from a window. He broke his leg and was shot while limping away.
Ropes were tied around his feet and genitals, and he was dragged through the streets before being displayed in Red Square for public scorn. His remains were then burned, and the ashes mixed with gunpowder before being launched from a cannon.
A second Dmitri later appeared, claiming to have survived the coup. Marina miraculously “recognized” him. The couple had a son, Ivan, known as the “Baby Brigand.” After False Dmitri II died in a drunken brawl, Marina was starved to death, and the four-year-old Baby Brigand was executed by hanging.
2. Rasputin – The Fire Zombie
Grigori Rasputin’s life was nothing short of extraordinary. A Russian mystic, he gained favor with the Imperial family due to his ability to alleviate the suffering of the hemophiliac Tsarevich Alexei.
Rasputin was infamous for his indulgent lifestyle and was eventually assassinated. Remarkably, he survived poisoning, gunshots, strangulation, and beatings. Ultimately, he drowned. Recent theories suggest the British Secret Service may have been involved in his demise.
Following the tsar’s overthrow in March 1917, rebellious soldiers vandalized Rasputin’s tomb, defaced the walls, and urinated on the site. They exhumed and opened his coffin, hoping to find valuables, but instead encountered a foul-smelling, decomposed corpse with a darkened face.
Rasputin was quietly reburied, but his body was later exhumed again and transported to a third location—reportedly in a piano crate. However, the vehicle transporting his remains broke down, so his body was placed in a nearby field, soaked in gasoline, and set ablaze.
As if his death wasn’t bizarre enough, Rasputin’s burning, decaying body allegedly sat upright. Experts suggest the heat caused his tendons to contract, creating the illusion of movement.
For those curious about Rasputin’s infamous preserved penis, it was removed during his assassination.
1. Bucer and Fagius – Exhumation and Cremation
Martin Bucer, a prominent Protestant reformer, spent much of his life in the Holy Roman Empire, where he associated with the famed humanist Erasmus and Martin Luther. He worked tirelessly to mend divisions within the Reformation movement, advocating for pragmatism and compromise.
From 1524 to 1548, Bucer participated in nearly every significant religious gathering in Germany. However, political shifts drove him into exile in England in 1549, where he was tasked with reviewing The First Prayer Book of Edward VI. Bucer passed away in 1551, but many of his recommendations were included in The Second Prayer Book.
Edward VI died young in 1553 and was succeeded by his staunchly Catholic sister, Mary. Determined to restore Catholicism in England, she initially sought peaceful methods but ultimately oversaw the execution of around 300 Protestants by burning. This earned her the infamous nickname “Bloody Mary.”
Not all the Protestants subjected to burning were alive at the time. In 1557, Bucer and his companion Paul Fagius were exhumed, put on trial, and their remains chained and burned in the Cambridge marketplace during a bustling market day. The event was accompanied by sermons condemning them, and their books and writings were also cast into the flames.
Mary’s plan backfired, as the rural peasants were more puzzled than persuaded, particularly by the sight of chained bones. Many questioned the necessity of such a punishment.
Mary passed away the following year, and her Protestant sister, Elizabeth, restored the reputations of the two reformers. Elizabeth reportedly reinterred their remains, though it’s uncertain what was left to bury.
