THE SCOTTISH BROTHERS

Little is known of The Scottish Brothers of the mid 1400’s (1460 -1488 being the best estimate) and, by the earliest descriptions, there is a strong chance that the pair were dicephalus conjoined twins – two heads on a single body.

The twins were born near Glasgow and were brought to the court of King James III at an early age. They spent their lives attending the court and lived there for most of their twenty-eight years.

They were very well treated and well educated. They spoke and read several different languages. They were renowned for their singing grand duets - one would sing tenor and the other bass.

It was said that the two often argued and physically fought, which was likely a very unusual sight - even more so than the sight of a two headed boy.

The cause of death is unknown; however they were most certainly mourned by the King and his court.

RELATED ATTRACTIONS

farah :) on January 16th, 2009 at 3:59 am

sad story
Dan on February 11th, 2009 at 8:32 am

Sad only for the fact they lived only 28 years - but, considering they lived in the mid 1400s - residing in the Court of King James - and being so highly educated for their time - does not seem such a bad way to pass the time…
mag on March 3rd, 2009 at 12:19 am

i read in a book that when one died the other was mourning piteosly, walking aroung the courtyard broken hearted,for several days( with the deceased body which is cojoined) until he finally died.. Is it true?
J Tithonus Pednaud on March 3rd, 2009 at 9:40 am

Absolutely impossible. While it makes for a great story, a conjoined twin will die within hours of his sibling due to their shared blood supply.
mag on March 4th, 2009 at 12:32 am

thats what i thought too. thanks.
Steve on March 7th, 2009 at 8:36 am

Why impossible? If the cause of death was, say, brain haemorrhage then as long as one brain was functioning enough to cause the heart to beat, surely the other twin could go on living?

I’m no doctor, obviously, I’m just curious.
hope on October 22nd, 2009 at 12:59 pm

I don’t find anything sad about this story! It’s refreshing, actually. Sounds like they were respected, and lived good lives. (Short, by our standards, but life expectancy for the 15th century was around 30 years.)
Next Korea.com » Frauds and Monsters on November 18th, 2009 at 4:53 am

[...] Scottish Brothers–I’d never heard of them either, before I started researching this lesson–were [...]