Remains linked to reviled gay lover of Edward II

By Avril Ormsby

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - A mutilated body found at an abbey has been identified as that of Sir Hugh Despenser the Younger, one of the most reviled medieval courtiers and reputed gay lover of the Plantagenet king, Edward II.

Despenser died a gruesome death, being publicly hanged, drawn and quartered for treason in 1326 following Edward's fall.

The remains, found in the 1970s on Despenser's brother-in-law's estate at Hulton Abbey, Staffordshire, bear such hallmarks, anthropologist Mary Lewis says.

Lewis, from Reading University, made the link by drawing on the manner of execution, carbon-dating of the bones and the absence of several parts of the body.

The skull, part of the vertebra and one leg are buried on the family estate at Tewkesbury Abbey.

"Research on the bones shows he was stabbed in the throat and probably stabbed in the stomach, but we would not have any evidence to disembowelment unless the knife had hit any bones," Lewis said.

"It was initially thought that the coffin had been disturbed, but the remains clearly show the body had been cut up."

Despenser was also found guilty of theft at his Hereford hearing, and the remains show the hands had been cut off, which would be in line with such a fate.