Posted on 05/09/2015 9:08:43 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
King Harold II, the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, has long been thought to have been killed at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. But British archaeologists are to test a theory he survived on the anniversary of the famous battle this Tuesday. The battle, on Oct. 14, 1066, marked a turning point in British history as the Normans conquered medieval England.
There are different accounts of how he was killed, one of them pictured in the Bayeux Tapestry, which appears to have him gripping an arrow that had pierced his eye. Another account has Harold being killed by knights and his body dismembered. But Peter Burke, an amateur historian in southern England, has suggested Harold may have survived as a hermit for a further 40 years. Archaeologists will begin to test his theory on Tuesday by launching a scan of the grounds of Waltham Abbey Church in Essex, where Harold was supposedly buried. The scan will be carried out by Stratascan, the same geological survey company that helped locate the remains of King Richard III in 2012 beneath a parking lot.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
I'm not saying I'd ever be as interesting or important to warrant that sort of treatment. My position is that it is what was inside the skull was far more important.
Still, in any case, I just have an aversion to examining any bones or remains where one can reasonably be certain they had a name and that name is known beforehand. At some point, respect for the dead has to triumph over academic curiosity.
I remember reading that article as a kid. It was fascinating.
I saw him sipping coffee in a night cafe with James, Marylin, and Elvis.
He ain’t dead, he’s just restin’.
He was the Moe Greene of his day.
He was the Moe Greene of his day.
Harry Percy (Hotspur) died from an arrow to the face; Henry 5 took one to the face and survived - both at the Battle of Shrewbury. A common way to go so I wouldn’t be surprised about Harold.
;’) True story!
“Peter Burke, an amateur historian... has a theory Harold may have survived as a hermit for forty years.”
I have a theory myself. I think Harold was the person who, during his hermit days, originated the phrase, “I’ll keep an eye out for ya.”
I don’t mean to be nasty, but I’d like to see Mr. Burke’s bona fides on the subject.
LOL... the guy’s flatly wrong — Harold didn’t survive 40 years, he survived over five hundred years, and was the real author of Shakespeare’s plays.
My view is more like the Klingons — the corpse is just a husk. Cremation suggests that its practitioners think so as well, glad to see an alternative to that view.
Monty Python — ‘Undertaker’s Sketch’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWWg5shNWR4
Fearless Fosdick Flashback.
I must have missed it on the going-through back at the time, beats me how, seems like someone would have seen it, posted it, and mentioned it, in some order. :’)
Bayeaux, Bay ay ay eaux...
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Bayeux_Tapestry_scene57_Harold_death.jpg
On a more serious note, William the Bastard was, and also a liar. He held Harold hostage and forced him to swear on holy relics to acknowledge the Bastard as king when Edward the Confessor (another loser) without issue. It’s my understanding the Bastard’s bloated corpse blew up at his funeral, proving he was a liar and cheat.
Long live King Harald, England’s rightful king.
I’d go further and say that the story that Harold was ever shipwrecked was completely made up b******t, just part of the supporting myth used to rationalize William the Usurper’s conquest and rule.
Just as our LEOs now, even wearing bullet-proof vests, are still vulnerable to a bullet to the head.
Would not surprise me.
He was probably just running around the battlefield with a sharp arrow in his hand.
His mother, Gytha Thorkelsdóttir, warned him not to do that. It's a little known fact that King Harold II's face was permanently contorted into a grotesque grim. Yes, he didn't believe Madam Thorkelsdóttir when she said if he didn't quit, it would freeze like that.
;’)
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