The Earle of Strafford’s Ghost

Complaining of the Cruelties of his Country-men in Killing one another. And persuading all great Men to live honestly, that desire to die Honourably. An anti war pamphlet published in 1644, using a woodcut of the Earle of Strafford in loin cloth and winding sheet coming back from the dead. It’s an arresting image, that to be frank doesn’t help us much in identifying contemporary clothes, but which does show what the folk of the 1640s expected to see in their ghosts. His winding sheet has been untied at the bottom so he can walk about, but the top knot has stayed in place and he has a cloth around his middle for modesty. He’s also carrying some kind of flower in his right hand which also seems to have been the mark of the walking dead. I’d love to know what it was if anyone has any thoughts.

Screen Shot 2013-06-26 at 10.23.22

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