The Ballad Of The Sex-Crazed Nun

It's a tale as old as time: A sex-crazed nun is castigated for her transgressions, buried face down in a ditch, and uncovered as a skeleton 900 years later next to a football stadium. Hang on a minute, I'm being told now that this is not a tale as old as time. That's Beauty and the Beast. I always get those two stories confused.

According to The Mirror (link below), archaeologists recently discovered several skeletons buried near Oxford United football stadium, all of which are between 600 and 900 years old. 

"We knew the church was there and we knew we would find something, but the number of burials was a real surprise," said archaeologist Paul Murray who is leading the dig.

Paul doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who gets surprised easily, but that's likely because he's British. They're thoroughly unfazed by everything.

The site sits next to the closed Priory pub, which is built on the remains of the Littlemore Priory nunnery which was founded in 1110.

According to historians, the nunnery was closed down int he 1500s due to the immoral nature of the nun's activities.

Being buried face down - a so-called 'prone burial' - was reserved for sinners and witches.

They would often be buried some distance away from the church. However, the team found this particular skeleton close to the remains of the nunnery which supports the idea that it was one of the nuns themselves.

"This woman is buried in the church which suggests she was an important person who had sinned - we can't know for sure but it could tie in with the story of the behaviour of the nuns," Murray said 

So essentially what they're getting at is that when Hamlet tells Ophelia, "Get thee to a nunnery," he's calling her a whore. Or something, I don't know. Shakespeare was never my strong suit. Except for Two Gentlemen in Ramona, that's a sweet flick. 

Via The Mirror