One brother being crushed by a wagon, another the victim of an attack by bandits: it sounds like the plot of a medieval mystery. But according to new research, these are some of the possible accidents that have hit those in the centuries before.
An analysis of bones of 314 individuals aged 12 years or older, dating from about 1100 to the 1530s, and found at three different sites in Cambridge, shows that bone fractures were common among cemeteries in a cemetery – where many ordinary workers would have been buried. But the team also found evidence of horrific injuries among those buried in an Augustinian greenhouse, suggesting the clergy were not protected from violent events.
“Medieval life was difficult for everyone,” said Dr Jenna Dittmar, lead author of Cambridge University.
Dittmar and his colleagues write in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology and tell how they analyzed previously excavated medieval bones until the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII. Although she said that not all bones at the three sites were excavated and analyzed, the investigations so far provide insight into different spheres of society.
‘[Our results] will be quite representative, because we have a community cemetery, we have a hospital and we also have an Augustinian courtship, ”she said.
According to the team, bone fractures are the most common among the cemeteries in the cemetery. 44% of the skeletons analyzed show signs of such damage, compared to 32% of the cemeteries. Multiple fractures were also the most common among the cemetery in the congregation.
“The people buried in All Saints Cemetery would have led really difficult lives,” Dittmar said. He noted that many people were ordinary people who had handicrafts, from agricultural work to builders. In contrast, those buried in the incubator would have led a spiritual life or been wealthy benefactors.
Although such injuries are more common among men, some women have also shown them. ‘[One] a poor woman broke her jaw at some point in her life, and it healed … but she had a number of other injuries, including broken ribs and [a] foot, ”said Dittmar – although she said it was not clear if the injuries were due to one incident. Although the broken jaw could come from a fall, there are other possibilities, Dittmar said: in modern times, women generally maintain broken jaws due to domestic violence.
Only 27% of the people excavated at St John the Evangelist Hospital have evidence of bone fractures, although one man appears to have broken his knee in a fall.
“People assume that a hospital is a place where individuals who are sick or poor or disabled would go, and you would expect them to have more fractures – which apparently was not the case,” Dittmar said.
Dittmar said the hospital focuses more on pastoral care. “The concept of a medieval hospital has become a bit accustomed to modern times,” she said, noting that many people in the hospital would have been poor, elderly and chronically ill with conditions such as tuberculosis.
Dittmar, says another surprise, was that there was no evidence of gun-related injuries, whether healed or not, among the dead – despite wars common in the Middle Ages.
But that did not mean that violence was unknown. The team indeed reports the remains of a brother who survived what Dittmar said could include an attack by bandits, with signs that he had been hit on the head with a blunt object.
“He could have bumped his head into something,” Dittmar said. ‘[But] he also has a fracture to his arm, which is a defensive injury, so it indicates that he pulled up his arm to protect himself. ”
Another brother was not so happy: his skeleton showed a broken neck and legs – with one possibility that he was run over by a wagon.
“The injuries he has are very similar to what people experience when they are hit by the car, roughly at the thigh level,” Dittmar said. “We think it is safe to say that he probably died as a result of whatever serious accident he was involved in.”