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"St. Brice’s Day Massacre Victim VK261
Genetic Sex
Male
Time Period
900 CE to 1100 CE
Burial Location
Ridgeway Hill Mass Grave, Dorset
United Kingdom
About St. Brice’s Day Massacre Victim VK261

In the late 10th and early 11th centuries CE, the newly established Kingdom of England was under constant threat from raids by Danish Vikings. Fearing that the Danes were plotting to overthrow him, King Æthelred II of England (also known as “Æthelred the Unready”) ordered the mass execution of all Danish settlers in his kingdom. The event has since come to be known as the St. Brice’s Day Massacre, as the killings were carried out on November 13th, 1002 CE, the feast day of Saint Brice of Tours, a 5th century Frankish Bishop.

Among those killed was Gunnhild, the sister of Denmark’s King Sweyn Forkbeard, along with her husband. Enraged by the murder of his sister and brother-in-law, Sweyn launched a campaign of intensified raids that ultimately led him to seize the English throne in 1013 CE, sending Æthelred into exile. Yet, Sweyn’s rule of England was short-lived; he died just five weeks later due to unknown causes (some sources say that he fell from a horse while others say that he was killed).

While the St. Brice’s Day Massacre undoubtedly resulted in significant bloodshed, historical records provide little insight into the exact number of Danish lives lost. But several archaeological finds have helped researchers understand the enormity of the event.

In 2009, archaeologists unearthed a mass grave in Dorset England while they were surveying the region in advance of the construction of the Weymouth Relief Road. The grave contained the remains of approximately 50 individuals, the majority of whom were identified as young adult males based on their skeletal morphology (and later confirmed through DNA analysis). The grave was made out of a repurposed Roman-age quarry that had since fallen into disuse. Archaeologists speculate that it was chosen as a burial site out of convenience. All the individuals buried in the grave were decapitated, with their bodies carelessly thrown into the burial pit and their heads piled together at its southern edge.

The jumbled arrangement of the bodies indicates that all of the individuals were buried at the same time, after a single mass execution event. The massacre likely involved more than one executioner, as it appears that bodies were thrown into the pit from multiple different sides. Based on the wounds inflicted on the victim’s skeletons, archaeologists believe that the executioners likely didn’t have much experience performing decapitations–on average each execution involved four separate blows. Many individuals also had sharp force lesions on their arms and on the tops of their skulls, possibly indicating that they tried to fight back against their executioners. Archaeologists also recovered more beheaded skeletons than skulls, suggesting that the heads of some of the victims may have been kept as trophies.

Analysis of isotopes extracted from the individuals’ remains indicate that most of them were likely recent immigrants to the British Isles, as their diets were more consistent with those of people who lived in Scandinavia, northern Iceland, the Baltics, or regions further east.

It is clear that VK261 and the others he was buried with died during some sort of violent massacre and were likely quickly buried by their executioners. Based on the age of the grave, which has been dated to the 10th or 11th century CE, archaeologists believe that it could be connected to a number of different historical events, including the ravaging of Portland in 982 CE or one of a number of Viking attacks in Dorset that were carried out during this period. Based on the age and style of the burials, and the identities of the individuals buried within the grave, a likely explanation is that they were victims of the St Brice’s Day massacre in 1002 CE."

According to 23andMe I share DNA with Massacre Victim VK261 and two other victims of the St. Brice’s Day Massacre.
 
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