Lead-lined coffin helps preserve the body of a medieval knight intact for over 500 years beneath a church in England.
More than 40 years ago, researchers discovered the almost perfect remains of a medieval man lying in a lead-lined wooden coffin. Now, they have a clearer understanding of the identity of the famous mummy known as St Bees Man, according to IFL Science. The medieval mummy was excavated in 1981 from a burial chamber located beneath the side aisle of the dilapidated St Bees Priory church in Cumbria, northern England. In addition to the lead-lined coffin, archaeologists also found the skeletal remains of a woman whose soft tissue had completely decomposed over the centuries.
Lead coffin located in the burial chamber of St Bees Priory. (Photo: St Bees).
Based on the dating of the woman’s remains, the archaeological team hoped to find another skeleton when they opened the coffin. To their surprise, they found an extremely well-preserved body tightly wrapped in burial cloth. It is likely that the body was kept in an unpolluted condition due to the lead-lined coffin, an ancient method of body preservation.
Researchers concluded that the man was buried between the years 1290 and 1500. He died around the age of 40 (with a possible variation of 5 years) due to multiple broken ribs, a fractured jaw, and a punctured lung. These injuries could have been sustained in battle or through brutal assault. The ultimate cause of death was due to pneumothorax and blood in the pleural cavity within the chest.
Initially, the identity of the man was a mystery. The lavish grave indicates he held a high social status, but there are no recorded documents to prove who he was or why he was buried in such a manner. A leading hypothesis suggests that he was Sir Anthony de Lucy, who died in 1368 in present-day Lithuania during the northern crusades. From the 12th century onward, Christian kings in Western Europe conducted a series of military campaigns against the peoples in the Baltic, Finland, and Western Slavs to compel them to convert.
Some evidence suggests that English forces attacked the fortress in Kaunas, resulting in three fatalities. The injuries of Anthony de Lucy, including a fractured jaw and punctured lung, match those of the man in the coffin.
The identity of the woman buried alongside him is less clear. Anthony de Lucy’s wife later remarried and died in London at the age of over 70. The most likely candidate for the woman is Maud de Lucy, his sister, who inherited much of the wealth after Anthony’s death and had a close relationship with her brother.
