William Cragh

William Cragh.
William Cragh (born c. 1262, died after 1307) was a medieval Welsh warrior and supporter of Rhys ap Maredudd in his rebellion against King Edward I of England. Captured in 1290, Cragh was tried and found guilty of having killed thirteen men. He was hanged just outside Swansea twice, as the gallows collapsed during his first hanging. Signs of life were noticed the next day, and in a few weeks he had made a full recovery; he lived for at least another eighteen years. The main primary source for Cragh's story is the record of the investigation into the canonisation of Thomas de Cantilupe, which is held in the Vatican Library. Cragh's resurrection was one of thirty-eight miracles presented to the papal commissioners who in 1307 were charged with examining the evidence for Cantilupe's saintliness. The hanged man himself gave evidence to the commission, after which nothing more is known of him.