murder
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Over the past 20 years or so, advances in archaeology have enabled us to test isotopes in human and animal teeth, showing possible places of origin and effects of diet; we can extract DNA and unlock the genome, not only finding living relatives but having a good guess at hair and eyes colour and other…
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Just as the construction Crossrail exposed human burial grounds, so has HS2. Here, in Wendover, Buckinghamshire we have an Iron Age burial that is likely to have followed a murder, possibly a ritual murder, or an execution. An Iron Age man was discovered, face down, his unusual position indicating that he was most likely bound…
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Last night I settled down to watch a two-hour documentary I’d recorded from the History Channel. No, it wasn’t about Richard III, or even the English medieval period, but about the Fourth Dynasty of Ancient Egypt. Specifically about the discovery of the long-fabled fourth pyramid, some five miles from Giza: here Unfortunately, I haven’t been…
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To the best of my knowledge I’ve never seen a ghost, although when I was six/seven and living near Castle Archdale on the shores of Lough Erne in County Fermanagh, our landlady’s dog, named Master Dash, sat on the steps outside the great house (no longer there) and howled. He was a soft old…
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Because of Richard III, and all that could be accurately gleaned from his remains, it is now very interesting to read of other cases where bones give up fascinating details. This article describes a grisly discovery on an Orkney beach. How old might it be? I quote: “….The world leading forensic bone scientist heads a…
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It is a fact that the medieval Church was ruthless in its acts and ambitions. We all know of particular popes, cardinals and archbishops who would stop at nothing to achieve their own personal and political ends, but it came as a surprise to me to discover just how brutal the Church could be on…
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Occasionally, an image glimpsed quickly on TV appears to be something it is not. This happened to me when I first saw the TV trailer for the series Catching History’s Criminals: the Forensics Story on the Yesterday channel. Being inured to the old, old propaganda that Richard III was the first criminal in all Creation,…
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UPDATED POST ON sparkypus.com A Medieval Potpourri https://sparkypus.com/2020/05/22/murder-and-mayhem-in-medieval-london/ Here is a link to an interesting map and article on the murder hotspots of medieval London. Click on a dot and details pop up of that particular murder. Most of the culprits either just simply disappeared pronto or skedaddled into sanctuary and frustratingly the outcomes are…
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While researching fourteenth-century Northamptonshire, I happened upon Sir John Stanley (1350-1414). “Stanley’s father was Master-Forester of the Forest of Wirral, notorious for his repressive activities. Both Stanley and his older brother, William (who succeeded their father as Master-Forester), were involved in criminal cases which charged them with a forced entry in 1369 and in the…
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