[MR] Various: Death and Resurrection of William Cragh

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends,

Here's a story for the Medieval Odd Box, in which I think you will all
enjoy wallowing.

In 1290, a Welsh outlaw and rebel was hanged on the orders of  the
Anglo-Norman lord William de Briouze the Younger at Swansea. Actually, he
was executed twice. The first time the gallows collapsed. The second was no
more successful, though Cragh was declared dead. De Briouze's wife prayed
for Cragh's life to be restored and he revived. Cragh, de Briouse and his
wife then set out on a pilgrimage of thanks for the miracle.

Not surprisingly, Wikipedia has page about Cragh and his resurection (the
site seems to have a page about almost everything):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Cragh .

The reason I stumbled onto this very interesting (and entertaining) story
is that today BBC has a short piece on a trail that retraces the pilgrimage
route from Swansee to Hereford. It includes a very nice photo of the
still-extant shrine to St. Thomas of Herford, the saint to whom Lady de
Briouze prayed: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-44741362 .

But wait, wait! There's more! In 2014 Swansea put up a series of plaques
that commemorate important medieval sites around the town. The BBC's story
on this project includes a map of medieval Swansea which is worth viewing,
as well as more about Cragh's story:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-27927320 . Swansea's own
web site has more maps, stories and resources, plus a larger version of the
map at http://www.medievalswansea.ac.uk/en/ .

Yours Aye,

Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆