Tag: Black Death

I am very grateful to Kat Baxter, Curator of Archaeology at Leeds Museums and Galleries, for writing this guest blog for the Medieval Section. There is still time to go and see this exhibition, which includes a number of fascinating Medieval skeletons, before it closes on 7th January. So if you are wanting an excuse to get away from the seasonal over-indulgence and sitting in front of the television go and see this great exhibition at the Leeds City Museum.

There isn’t much time before we say goodbye to the wonderful ‘Skeletons: Our Buried Bones’ exhibition in Leeds City Museum.  The exhibition, in partnership with the Museum of London and Wellcome Collection, brings together the skeletons of 12 individuals from across Yorkshire and London to unearth their stories and share clues to life and death in the past.

Here are some of the stories written on the bones of the Medieval individuals on display.  Visit the exhibition before 7^th January 2018 to find out more about these and other skeletons of those who have gone before us.

The Green Goddess

1350 – 1400, St Mary Graces, Royal Mint, East Smithfield, London. On loan from the Museum of London

This skeleton of a woman age 26-35 shows no evidence of disease or trauma.  It does, however, show how activities after burial can affect a person’s skeleton.  She was buried under the Royal Mint, where coins were manufactured.  The process produced copper waste which ended up in the earth and subsequently stained her skull and neck green.

The Anchoress

1432-1488, All-Saint’s, Fishergate, York. On loan from The University of Sheffield

 This skeleton of a middle-aged lady who lived in York nearly 600 years ago was uncovered in the apse of the Medieval stone church at All-Saint’s.

The lady was probably of high status, considering the prestige placed on being buried in a church at this time.  But she was found in an unusual position, tightly crouched with her knees raised up towards her chest.

Historical records tell us that there was an anchoress called Lady Isabel German who lived in the All Saint’s churchyard from 1428 until 1448.  An anchoress is a female anchorite, or someone who decides to live their life in isolation to concentrate fully on their spiritual growth.  The apse of the church was a small room and was likely to have been where she lived out her days with the door sealed shut.

Her bones show that in life she suffered from severe osteoporosis, not surprising if she was confined to such a small space.  More surprisingly, the skeleton also shows that she suffered from venereal syphilis, a sexually transmitted infection.

Is it possible that Lady Isabel German became an anchoress to repent her sins because she contracted this disease as a young woman?  Was she forced into retreating from society or was it a path she chose for herself?  Although we can speculate, we do not know the answers and much of her life remains a mystery.

 The Plague Victim

1348-1350, East Smithfield Black Death cemetery, London. On loan from the Museum of London

The skeleton of this man shows that he lived with a serious injury.  He was found with an iron arrowhead lodged in his spine, which had just avoided damaging his spinal cord.  The bone around it had healed, indicating that he had recovered from the attack.  Unfortunately for him he was later killed by the plague which arrived in London in 1348.  His bones do not tell us this however – the plague killed too quickly to leave any marks on the skeleton.  We know because he was excavated from one of London’s ‘catastrophe’ burial sites, specifically created to accommodate plague victims.

The Soldier

This man’s remains were found in a mass burial of 40 skeletons at Towton Hall in 2006, all of whom were soldiers at the Battle of Towton.  This skeleton shows evidence of extremely violent injuries, far beyond what would have been needed to kill him.  Square holes in his skull were made by a pole axe, and blade injuries are evident on his skull, arms and wrists.  Injuries caused to his neck by a bladed weapon suggest that he was decapitated.  It is likely that all of the individuals in the mass grave were executed after the battle rather than killed on the battlefield.