Skeleton Reveals Violent Life and Death of Medieval Knight
“Archaeologists believe that bones found in an ancient chapel on the site are those of an English knight named Robert Morley who died in a tournament there in 1388.
Radio carbon dating has confirmed that the skeleton is from that period, and detailed analysis suggests that he was in his mid-20s, was heavily muscled and had suffered several serious wounds in earlier contests.”
Filed under: Archaeology, Middle Ages History, Medieval History on June 29th, 2009
Very interesting! This guy was tough to survive all those wounds.
Since they appear to know his name, why don’t they know more about his history? Was he in a battle? I can’t imagine arrows being used in a tournament.
Yes, the arrow wounds would have occurred in battle; they wouldn’t have used arrows in a tournament. I was shocked that he survived an axe wound to his head. That’s impressive.
This definitely disproves the myth that knights were fat, lazy nobles. Their grit and constitution is inspiring.
Zach — yes, knights were extremely fit and well-conditioned. They were much like the modern day professional athletes of their time, receiving training from a very young age (starting around 7 or so).