DNA and Jewish Persecution in Medieval Britain

Gone Medieval

History Hit

History

4.5 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 8 October 2022

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When the skeletons of six adults and 11 children were found at the bottom of a Medieval well in Norwich in 2004, they were thought perhaps to be the victims of plague or famine or civil unrest. Now scientific advances in DNA analysis have made it possible to not only age the victims, but identify their Jewish origin and - in combination with historical sources - the precise day they died.

In this episode of Gone Medieval, Matt Lewis unravels the mystery of the bodies in the well with Dr. Selina Brace, an ancient DNA specialist at the Natural History Museum.

The Senior Producer on this episode was Elena Guthrie. It was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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2:01.5	Welcome to this episode of God Medieval, I'm Matt Lewis. A while ago, a group of skeletons were
2:06.4	found at the bottom of a disused well in Norwich as part of construction work on a new shopping centre.
2:12.0	They were identified as Medieval and almost certainly as murder victims. Since then,
	...

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