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Medieval woman was executed and displayed on London riverbank

A skeleton found in London records a brutal killing about 1200 years ago, thought to be a rare example of a judicial execution of a woman in medieval England

By Christa Lesté-Lasserre

27 May 2025

The shore of the river Thames in London, close to where the woman’s remains were found

Crispin Hughes/Alamy

A woman was tortured for days, killed and then put on display at the side of the river Thames in central London around 1200 years ago. The case is thought to be one of the only examples of a judicial execution of a woman in medieval England in the archaeological record.

“This isn’t the story of one blow, and it’s not clandestine,” says Madeleine Mant at the University of Toronto in Canada. “It’s the story of purposeful violence, and…

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