Dublin, Feb 26 (IANS): An 800-year-old Irish "crusader" from a crypt in a Dublin church has been decapitated by vandals.
Archdeacon David Pierpoint said the crusader's head has been "severed from his body and taken away", the BBC reported on Tuesday.
The discovery was made as a tour guide was preparing to open the crypt of St. Michan for visitors on Monday afternoon.
Archdeacon Pierpoint said he was upset and disappointed that the church has been targeted again by vandals. The crypt was vandalised in 1996.
Crusaders fought in a series of religious wars known as the crusades which were sanctioned by the Church in the medieval period.
The most commonly known of the crusades were campaigns in the Easter Mediterranean aimed at recovering the Holy Land from Muslim rule.
There were seven major crusades as well as many less significant ones.