NOTTINGHAMSHIRE, ENGLAND—Archaeologists have identified pieces of metal uncovered at Rufford Abbey as one of only four medieval scourges known in England. The scourge, made of woven copper-alloy wires braided together, may have been used by the abbey’s Christian monks in the penitential act of self-flagellation, and to ward off the Black Death of 1348. Similar scourges have been found at Rievaulx Abbey in Yorkshire, Grovebury Priory in Bedfordshire, and Roche Abbey in South Yorkshire. “Each archaeological dig at Rufford Abbey unearths something new about its remarkable history and this is another fascinating discovery which helps us to build a picture of what life could have been like for the monks living in the Abbey during the dark days of the Black Death and its aftermath,” Councilor John Knight, Committee Chairman for Culture at Nottinghamshire County Council said in a press release. To read more about medieval English archaeology, go to “Writing on the Church Wall.”
