Inequality in medieval Cambridge was “recorded in the bones” of its residents

Social inequality has been “recorded in the bones” of medieval Cambridge residents, according to a new study of hundreds of remains excavated in three very different cemeteries in the historic city center.

Cambridge University researchers examined the remains of 314 individuals dating from the 10th to the 14th century and collected evidence of “skeletal trauma” – a barometer for the levels of suffering faced in life.

Bones were recovered from across the social spectrum: a parish cemetery for ordinary workers, a charity “hospital” where the sick and needy were buried and an Augustinian convent that buried rich donors alongside the clergy.

The researchers carefully cataloged the nature of each break and fracture to build a picture of the physical suffering caused to city dwellers by accident, occupational injury or violence during their daily lives.

Using X-ray analysis, the team found that 44% of workers had bone fractures, compared with 32% of those in the convent and 27% of those buried in the hospital. Fractures were more common in male remains (40%) than female (26%) at all burials.

The team also discovered noteworthy cases, such as a friar who resembles a modern-day victim who was run over and fled, and bones that suggest lives destroyed by violence. The results are published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.

“By comparing the skeletal trauma of mortal remains buried in various locations within a city like Cambridge, we can assess the dangers of daily life experienced by different spheres of medieval society,” said Dr. Jenna Dittmar, lead author of the After study. the Plague at the University’s Department of Archeology.

“We can see that ordinary workers are at a higher risk of injury compared to the friars and their benefactors or the interns of better protected hospitals,” she said.

“These were people who spent their days working long hours doing heavy manual labor. In the city, people worked in trades and trades, as a bricklayer and blacksmith, or as workers in general. Outside the city, many passed from dawn to dusk doing jobs crushing the fields or taking care of the cattle. “

The University was embryonic at this time – the first academic upheavals occurred around 1209 – and Cambridge was mainly a provincial town of artisans, merchants and farmers, with a population of 2,500 to 4,000 in the middle of the 13th century.

Although poor workers may have borne the brunt of physical labor compared to better off people and those in religious institutions, medieval life was difficult in general. In fact, the most serious wound was found in a friar, identified as such by his grave and belt buckle.

“The friar had complete fractures in the middle of both femurs,” said Dittmar. The femur [thigh bone] it is the largest bone in the body. “Whatever caused both bones to break in this way must have been traumatic and possibly the cause of death.”

Dittmar points out that today’s doctors are familiar with these automobile injuries – it is the right time. “Our best guess is a cart accident. Maybe a horse got scared and was hit by the cart.”

Injuries were also inflicted by others. Another friar lived with defensive arm fractures and signs of head trauma. These skeletal injuries related to violence were found in about 4% of the population, including women and people from all social groups.

An elderly woman buried on the parish grounds seemed to have marks of domestic violence throughout her life. “She had many fractures, all healed well before her death. Several of her ribs were broken, as well as several vertebrae, her jaw and her foot,” said Dittmar.

“It would be very unusual for all of these injuries to occur as a result of a fall, for example. Today, the vast majority of broken jaws seen in women are caused by intimate partner violence.”

Of the three sites, the São João Evangelista Hospital had the lowest number of fractures. Established in the late 12th century, it housed needy Cambridge residents, providing food and spiritual care. Many had skeletal evidence of chronic diseases, such as tuberculosis, and could not work.

Although most of the remains were “prisoners”, the site also included “corrodians”: retired residents who paid for the privilege of living in the hospital, much like a modern retirement home.

The Hospital was dissolved to create St John’s College in 1511, and excavated by the Cambridge Archaeological Unit (CAU), part of the University, in 2010 during a renovation of the College’s Divinity School building.

CAU excavated the Augustinian convent in 2016 as part of the construction work on the website of the university’s new museums. According to records, the convent acquired rights to bury members of the Augustinian order in 1290, and not members in 1302 – allowing wealthy benefactors to take a plot on the convent’s grounds.

The convent operated until 1538, when King Henry VIII stripped the nation’s monasteries of their income and assets to fortify the Crown’s coffers.

The parish of Todos os Santos near the Castle, north of the River Cam, was probably founded in the 10th century and in use until 1365, when it merged with a neighboring parish after the fall of local populations following the bubonic plague pandemic of the Plague Black.

Although the church itself was never found, the cemetery – next to what is still called Castle Hill – was first excavated in the 1970s. The remains were housed in the University’s Duckworth collection, allowing researchers to revisit these findings for the most recent study.

“Those buried in All Saints were among the poorest in the city and clearly most exposed to accidental injuries,” said Dittmar. “At the time, the cemetery was in the hinterland where the urban met the rural. The men may have worked in the field with heavy plows drawn by horses or oxen, or dragged stone blocks and wooden beams in the city.

“Many of the women in Todos os Santos probably did difficult physical jobs, like taking care of cattle and helping with the harvest, along with their domestic duties.

“We can see this inequality registered in the bones of medieval Cambridge residents. However, serious traumas prevailed across the social spectrum. Life was more difficult at the bottom – but life was tough everywhere.”