Thomas Bisp and the face of time
A nineteenth century skull on display in a Danish cultural history museum
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5617/nm.10076Abstract
In 1822, Danish farmer Thomas Thomassen Bisp was beheaded for the murder of his wife. After the execution his body was parted and laid on wheels, and the head was spiked onto a steep. The remains of the criminal were buried at an unknown place. But in 1900 the head, still spiked, was unearthed by accident, and ever since the skull has been housed in the Vendsyssel Historiske Museum in Hjørring, Denmark. This article discusses how the status of the skull has changed over time, since it first landed in a cultural history museum a mere 80 years after the beheading of Bisp. Drawing on concepts from the history of knowledge the article explains how the status of the skull has changed continuously through negotiations between changing museum directors, outside authorities, the general public and not least the descendants of Thomas Bisp.
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