A Medieval Murder

Abstract

On rare occasion, the body or skeleton of a murder victim may be discovered hundreds of years, or even millennia, after the crime. The murder of the 5000-year-old Stone Age man, found frozen in the ice of the Italian Alps, being the most recent example. In most of these cases too much time has passed to allow the application of modern forensic technology. We describe here a homicide that occurred between 1310 and 1390. The victim died of a crossbow injury, with a bolt passing between the 2nd and 3rd vertebrae, completely transecting the brainstem. The crossbow was, for more than 2 and one half centuries (1200-1460), the weapon of choice in European armies, and its use would not have been unusual. The choice of weapon, and other features of the crime, makes it possible to arrive at some reasonable conclusions about the circumstances of the death.