Medieval History
The soldier now known as Towton 25 had survived battle before. A healed skull fracture points to previous engagements. He was old enough?somewhere between 36 and 45 when he died?to have gained plenty of experience of fighting. But on March 29th 1461, his luck ran out.
Towton 25 suffered eight wounds to his head that day. The precise order can be worked out from the direction of fractures on his skull: when bone breaks, the cracks veer towards existing areas of weakness. The first five blows were delivered by a bladed weapon to the left-hand side of his head, presumably by a right-handed opponent standing in front of him. None is likely to have been lethal.
Click here to read this article from the Economist
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- Towton: Mass Graves To Shed Light On Britain's Bloodiest Battle
It was one of the biggest and probably the bloodiest battle ever fought on British soil. Such was its ferocity almost 1 per cent of the English population was wiped out in a single day. Yet mention the Battle of Towton to most people and you would probably...
- Handguns From The Battle Of Towton Discovered
Two men have discovered what are believed to be the earliest known fragments of battlefield handguns, which are thought to have been used at the Battle of Towton, fought in northern England in 1461. The find has been described as being of ?genuine historical...
- Brain Surgery Was Performed In Ninth-century Ireland
Remarkable new details were revealed this week from the discovery of a medieval grave in County Donegal in Ireland. One of the most notable is that archaeologists have come across the remains of a young woman buried around the year 800 AD who underwent...
- St Mary's Lead
HDR - St Mary Lead Church, near Towton Battlefield, North Yorkshire, originally uploaded by Tiddler.This isolated fourteenth century building stands in a field close to the site of the battle of Towton, near Tadcaster in Yorkshire. Fought in the driving...
Medieval History
The battle of Towton: Nasty, brutish and not that short
The soldier now known as Towton 25 had survived battle before. A healed skull fracture points to previous engagements. He was old enough?somewhere between 36 and 45 when he died?to have gained plenty of experience of fighting. But on March 29th 1461, his luck ran out.
Towton 25 suffered eight wounds to his head that day. The precise order can be worked out from the direction of fractures on his skull: when bone breaks, the cracks veer towards existing areas of weakness. The first five blows were delivered by a bladed weapon to the left-hand side of his head, presumably by a right-handed opponent standing in front of him. None is likely to have been lethal.
Click here to read this article from the Economist
- Bones Of Leper Warrior Found In Medieval Cemetery
The bones of a soldier with leprosy who may have died in battle have been found in a medieval Italian cemetery, along with skeletons of men who survived blows to the head with battle-axes and maces. Studying ancient leprosy, which is caused by a bacterial...
- Towton: Mass Graves To Shed Light On Britain's Bloodiest Battle
It was one of the biggest and probably the bloodiest battle ever fought on British soil. Such was its ferocity almost 1 per cent of the English population was wiped out in a single day. Yet mention the Battle of Towton to most people and you would probably...
- Handguns From The Battle Of Towton Discovered
Two men have discovered what are believed to be the earliest known fragments of battlefield handguns, which are thought to have been used at the Battle of Towton, fought in northern England in 1461. The find has been described as being of ?genuine historical...
- Brain Surgery Was Performed In Ninth-century Ireland
Remarkable new details were revealed this week from the discovery of a medieval grave in County Donegal in Ireland. One of the most notable is that archaeologists have come across the remains of a young woman buried around the year 800 AD who underwent...
- St Mary's Lead
HDR - St Mary Lead Church, near Towton Battlefield, North Yorkshire, originally uploaded by Tiddler.This isolated fourteenth century building stands in a field close to the site of the battle of Towton, near Tadcaster in Yorkshire. Fought in the driving...