Skeletons start to give up their savage secrets at Stirling Castle

The dead are giving up their secrets – revealing the grim realities of battle in the medieval struggles for Stirling Castle.

Historic Scotland has just released research findings from University of Bradford experts who investigated what caused the deaths of nine people whose skeletons were unearthed beneath a lost royal chapel. The outcome is an extraordinary insight into the brutality of conflicts that set Scot against Scot and involved the whole might of England, before and during the Wars of Independence. One man, aged between 26 and 35, now known as Skeleton 150, endured 44 skull fractures from repeated blows with a blunt object, and up to 60 more across the rest of his body. The damage is so shockingly severe that Dr Jo Buckberry, biological anthropology lecturer and experimental officer at Bradford’s Biological Anthropology Research Centre, initially wondered if it came from a freak fall off the castle walls. Yet she found that five skeletons had smashed bones, sometimes accompanied by wounds from weapons like knives or a war hammer. Dr Buckberry was asked to examine the skeletons, which were discovered in the 1990s, because of her skill in identifying whether damage was from disease, accident or battle – and whether a wound was from around the time of death. When I spoke to her, she had just been re-examining the spine of one skeleton to make sure she hadn’t missed anything "before popping him back in his box". Her cheerful tone belies a real empathy for these ancient dead and a commitment to the importance of understanding our past, no matter how discomfiting. We often romanticise medieval warfare – even if we have thankfully got beyond chivalrous white knights, damsels and all those other old Hollywood imaginings. But we seldom truly face up to the horror of it all. Dr Buckberry guides us back to the solemn truth that the men, women and possibly children caught up in the conflicts round Stirling were bludgeoned and beaten with frenzied savagery. No great glory, just pain, death, and loved ones left weeping. Radiocarbon dates for the Stirling skeletons suggest they died during a series of incidents from the 13th century to around 1450. We don’t know for sure who they were – whether they were Scottish, English or both – or who they believed was the rightful king of this realm. But they were probably quite important folk to have been buried in such a prestigious place. It may be that they were siege victims, as Dr Buckberry points out that skeletons from battlefields of a similar period tend to show more evidence of cutting, stabbing or hacking with bladed or sharp weapons. Indeed, her discoveries are likely to lead to fresh debate about whether there were greater differences between siege warfare, and other forms of fighting, than we have hitherto guessed. For example, did the combatants have a preference for weapons such as clubs? The latest research opens up new avenues of enquiry and marks out the Stirling skeletons as being of exceptional archaeological importance. Two of them – one identified as a knight (and tentatively named as Sir John de Stricheley) and the other as a lady – were featured last year in the BBC2 series History Cold Case. They generated such huge interest that Historic Scotland has had facial reconstructions made. The knight’s face was recreated by the University of Dundee using the latest digital scanning and replication techniques, and was painted by a medical artist. The effect is startling – not a bloke I’d mess with, though somebody clearly did. The other, made at Bradford, is a traditional clay model. Both can be seen for the first time on Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 June, during the celebrations for the reopening of the castle’s Renaissance palace block, which has been redecorated and refurnished to look as it may have done in the 1540s. The skeletons were discovered during preparatory archaeological work for the refurbishment, so it is fitting that their story should be told as part of the new exhibition on the castle’s history, which sets the palace in its wider historical context.

Causes of death Some of the dead may only have had soft tissue wounds that left no marks on the bones. But five showed severe peri-mortem (close to the time of death) trauma. Skeleton 148 – A knight, aged 26–35, height 5ft 7in. Probably died between 1392 and 1450. A healed blade injury to his forehead shows he was no stranger to violence. He may have died as a result of a soft tissue injury, or haemorrhaging, after being shot by the arrow found in his grave. Skeleton 150 – Male, aged 26–35, height 5ft 6in. Probably 13th century. His skull had 44 fractures, due to multiple blows with a blunt object. Two blows to his lower jaw fractured his mandible into four pieces. Between 40 and 60 peri-mortem fractures across his body. Thirty-nine were to his ribs. Peri-mortem fractures were also present on his collarbones, shoulder blades, both arms, left hand, possibly his sternum, to three of his vertebrae and to his right femur. Skeleton 176 – Infant of three to six months. Probably died between 1396 and 1454. No evidence of how the baby died. Skeleton 190 – Male, aged 16–20. Probably died between 1290 and 1402. Robust with powerful arms, he had eight peri-mortem fractures to the base of his skull due to blunt-force trauma. Two or three fractures on the lower jaw; probably from a single blow. He suffered fractures to the right scapula, possibly the right clavicle, the right humerus and to two right ribs. A small stab injury is present on the eighth left rib – the weapon either had a narrow blade or was a shallow injury from a larger blade. Skeleton 196 – Unknown sex, aged 16–18, 13th or 14th century. Lower jaw was broken into at least four pieces, around the time of death. Skeleton 523 – Male, aged 18–25, height 5ft 8in, 13th or 14th century. Multiple fractures around the time of death. Five were to his legs, two to his ribs. Skeleton 539 – Female, aged 36–45, height 5ft 4in, 13th or 14th century. A robust woman. She has ten peri-mortem fractures to the right side of her skull, caused by blows to the side of the head. Two rectangular perforations in her skull, from a weapon, suggest the attacker was above the woman – perhaps she was knocked to the ground then killed.

Clashes around the castle There were many clashes around Stirling. The main incidents affecting the castle are shown below, and the ten chapel skeletons could come from one or more of these. 1296 – captured by Edward I of England. 1297 – retaken by the Scots after Battle of Stirling Bridge. 1298 – captured by the English again after the defeat of the Scots at Falkirk. 1299 – surrendered to the Scots by the Constable John Samson. 1304 – the only significant stronghold left in Scots control, it was besieged by Edward I. After the Scots surrendered, he made them stay inside so he could use his favourite weapon against them – a stone-throwing trebuchet called the War Wolf. 1314 – retaken by the Scots after Edward II was defeated at Bannockburn. 1336 – retaken by the English. 1342 – finally returned to Scots control.

● Tickets for the opening event are available from Stirling Castle and need to be bought in advance. – Dr Matthew Shelley is a freelance journalist currently working for Historic Scotland.

Related posts:

1. Costumes and chamber pots at Stirling’s Renaissance royal palace
2. Flaming torches give Hogmanay a fiery start
3. The Moors in Mary of Guise’s court