Castle bones may belong to knight

[Adsos Letter]

Source: BBC

Archaeologists believe that bones discovered at Stirling Castle may have belonged to a knight killed in battle or during a siege in the early 1400s.

It is thought that despite the warrior's relatively young age of about 25, he may have suffered several serious wounds from earlier fights.

Researchers thinks it is also possible he may have been living for some time with a large arrowhead in his chest.

The bones were discovered in a chapel at the castle in 1997.

They were excavated when archaeologists were working in an area of the castle which turned out to be the site of a lost medieval royal chapel.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/tayside_and_central/8124109.stm

[REP]

1. Neat!

Extremely unlikely, but fun to think it might be a distant ancestor (my family was called 'of Stirling' before taking the name we use now, and many were born on the grounds of Stirling Castle).

[Hannah Bell]

2. or maybe you were just one of the Stirling's serfs!

just like slaves in the US, serfs sometimes had the names of their masters/lords. "John of Stirling" = john the serf of stirling estates

[REP]

3. Not really how it worked in this area

If you're really interested, I'll explain; if not, let's just say it's fun to pretend they found a relative, although I actually do know where in Stirling Castle my ancestors are buried.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

5. I'm interested

but then I've done genealogical research for over 30 years. You know, if they do a DNA test on this fellow, and you have one run, there is a chance you are related. But back to how the landlord/tenant thing worked in this area. I'm interested in understanding it, so yes, please, explain.

[Hannah Bell]

6. sure, i'm interested.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. Apparently the 13th and 14th centuries were quite violent

when one finds a female skeleton with wounds on the skull, apparently from a "war hammer". So much for knightly chivalry. Wonder if there were any marks of violence on the young child that was also found in the tomb? The article doesn't say.

[LeftHander]

7. so were the 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th....n

[scheming daemons]

8. Arrowhead in his chest? "It's just a flesh wound!"

;-)

[pipi_k]

9. Yeah, rub some dirt on it and stop being a sissy!

:7

[proteus_lives]

10. Very cool!

He may been 25 but life was so hard back then.