Post by THE GREAT OZ on Aug 28, 2011 21:39:12 GMT
At least 35 skeletons were discovered in 2008 on the grounds of Oxford's St. John's College. The skeletons were all male, all aged 16 to 25, and radiocarbon dating places their deaths to between 960 and 1020 CE. The skeletons all suffered serious injuries - most of the skulls were fractured or crushed, and further analysis reveals a number of blade and arrow wounds on the bones as well. The location and number of wounds indicate that these young men were being attacked from all sides.
So what could have possibly motivated such slaughter? We can't know for absolutely certain, but the sixty-year date range around the turn of the 11th century suggests a clear possibility. Historical sources record that, in 1002, the Saxon king of England, Ethelred the Unready, learned of a supposed Viking plot to kill him and so ordered "a most just extermination" of every last Dane living in England. It appears that the people of England complied with this order.
This event became known as the St. Brice's Day Massacre, and records also show that Vikings living in Oxford fled to the church of St. Fridewides looking for sanctuary. The Saxon townspeople, however, chased them down and set the church on fire. These skeletons, who were discovered in a mass grave in the general vicinity of that ancient church, might well belong to the Vikings described in those particular records.
SOURCE
This is known as the St. Brice's Day Massacre. These Vikings came looking for sanctuary however it did not turn out well for them.
It's a chilling archaeological reminder of an otherwise regrettably obscure moment of inhumanity, but at least the Vikings got something of the last laugh. A year after Ethelred ordered the massacre, the Danes invaded England and the king was forced to flee to France. He regained his throne, but died in 1014 in the midst of another war with the Danes, and by 1066 the last Saxon king of England was killed by William the Conqueror, a noble from Normandy...who was descended from Viking settlers on the French coast.
Karma sometimes is a very bad thing...
Bless...OZ
