"Long-Term Effects of Medieval Skull Injuries" Topic

Skull fractures can lead to an early death, even if the victims initially survived the injuries, according to a new study that looked at skulls from three Danish cemeteries with funeral plots dating from the 12th to the 17th centuries.

This is the first time that researchers have used historical skulls to estimate the risk of early death among men who survived skull fractures, experts said. The study showed that these men were 6.2 times more likely to die an early death compared with men living during that time without skull fractures. Today, the risk of dying after getting a traumatic brain injury is about half that, likely because of improvements in modern medicine and social support, according to the researchers.

"Their treatment then would have been pretty much go home, lie down and hope for the best," said study researcher George Milner, a professor of anthropology at Pennsylvania State University. "There was very little that could be done at that time."…

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Interesting…there is a theory that Henry VIII suffered traumatic brain injury after his jousting accident. His personality totally changed.

With a lifespan only into the middle 30's in the Middle Ages, what is considered an early death? Warfare just makes a short, brutal existence, shorter and more brutal.Head injuries make it even more so.

Interesting about the changes in personality with Henry VIII. Didn't the same thing happen to Caligula after a serious "brain fever"?

With a lifespan only into the middle 30's in the Middle Ages

The life expectancy at birth in Medieval Britain was about 30, however by the age of 21, life expectancy would have increased to 64. Mainly due to the high incidence of child and infant mortality in the period.
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It is to be assumed that most men suffering such head injuries were aged 21 or over …

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot. Being pistol-whipped or maced, same result.

I've been knocked unconscious twice, that I remember. :) I'm 62 and still kickin'. Lucky, I guess….

That video that was posted on TMP a few weeks back, showing crazy Poles whacking on each other with two-handed weapons in full plate armor. There was one guy who poleaxed another guy to the base of the skull from behind. The poleaxed guy went down like a sack of wheat, not a flicker of movement, just WHAM! and down he went sliding along the ground into the barrier. The poleax wielding dude just turned on the next guy to whack and didn't seem to notice or care how potentially deadly his blow had been. I think he's a murderer masquerading as a re-enactor….