by Barbara Johnson
A team of construction workers employed at demolishing an old pub last
month in the Bermondsey district of the London borough of Southwark,
have discovered an ancient and badly damaged wooden crate containing
three pierced human skulls, presumably the severed heads of criminals or
traitors that had been impaled on pikes and displayed at the southern
gatehouse of the Old London Bridge. The remains, which were sent to the
Ireland to be analyzed by a team of archaeologists associated with the
National Museum of Ireland, have turned out to be those of 14th
Century rebel heroes of the Wars of Scottish Independence, including
that of the former Guardian of Scotland, William Wallace.
All three heads have visibly been dipped
in tar and boiled for preservation, before being pierced by pikes or
spears. According to the various tests and analysis realized on
the three heads, two of the skulls have been proven by DNA, to belong
to the brothers, John and Simon Fraser, while the third is strongly
believed to have belonged to William Wallace. All three men were indeed
condemned to being executed in 1305 and 1306, and many contemporary
writers describe how the head of the three men were exposed at the same
time atop the London Bridge, starting a tradition of gruesome dissuasion
that was to continue for another 355 years . The Bermondsey district
was less densely urbanized at the time and it is quite possible that
after their period of public exposure, the heads were simply buried near
the foundation of the bridge.
Two
of the skulls, turned out to have very similar genetics suggesting they
were siblings. DNA comparison with descendants of John and Simon Fraser
of Oliver and Neidpath, have confirmed that these were indeed the
remains of the famous rebel knights banneret.
All three rebels were in fact separately
condemned to being hanged, drawn and quartered, an exceptionally cruel,
long and bloody method of public execution. Convicts were fastened to a
hurdle, or a wooden panel, and drawn by horse to the place of
execution, where they were hanged almost to the point of death, but
released while still alive. They were then emasculated, eviscerated
and their bowels were burnt before them, before they
were finally beheaded. Their bodies were then cut into four parts, to be
exposed like the head, in different parts of the Kingdom.
In the case of William Wallace, contemporary chronicles state that his preserved head was placed on a pike atop London Bridge while his limbs were displayed, separately, in Newcastle upon Tyne, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Stirling, and Perth.
Sir William Wallace (from the Gaelic Uilliam Uallas)
was a Scottish member of the lesser nobility who became one of the main
leaders of the rebels during the Wars of Scottish Independence. Along
with Andrew Moray, Wallace defeated an English army at the Battle of
Stirling Bridge in September 1297, and was appointed Guardian of
Scotland by an assembly of noblemen. He commanded the Scottish army
until his defeat at the Battle of Falkirk in July 1298, when he resigned
from his function. He was captured in August 1305 in Robroyston, near
Glasgow, after the betrayal of the Scottish knight John de
Menteith, and was handed over to King Edward I of England, who had him
tortured and killed for high treason and crimes against English
civilians. He is depicted in the very inaccurate but award-winning
historical drama Braveheart, directed by and starring Mel Gibson, that was released in 1995.
According
to most experts, the historical William Wallace most likely wore chain
and plate mail and looked more like a medieval knight than a painted
Celtic warrior with a kilt.
The remains of the three men will be
sent to Scotland in a few weeks, after the scientists have gathered all
possible information from the bones. They should then be placed in the
crypt of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption, a Roman catholic
cult located in Edinburgh.
No comments:
Post a Comment