Saturday, May 4, 2013

A knight in Edinburgh

This May, researchers have found a family crypt of a knight and his family under a car park in Edinburgh.  Why it should be a surprise that they would find skeletons under a known ancient monastic building is anybody's guess, however this is the whole article from the Daily Mail

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2317097/Researchers-family-knight-Middle-Ages-buried-Edinburgh-car-park.html






Click on the image to embiggen, then click "beside" the image to come back here.

Why do I find this interesting?  Well, being a knight was more than just being a random soldier.  A knight was the law, the kings representative, the dispenser of justice...a lot more than being just a man at arms.  The cracked sand stone grave marker above shews a great sword.  Such a sword is not really made for fighting...it is a "great" sword, a symbol of the hand of royalty on the person under the stone.  Such "great swords" were used in judicial combat because they represented royalty.  "you gonna fight amongst yourselves boys, then you use these swords".  Often they were blessed by representatives of the church, and consequently, people felt they invested a lot of "right" on their side.  No doubt swinging such a big heavy sword would slow the hand of the guilty...a psychological effect which must not be overlooked!

The knight himself did not seem to have had much in the way of injuries...and the skeleton is of quite a small man...cause of death undetermined at this time.  What is poignant is the skeletons of the kids.  Death was never far away in those days. 




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