92. Special Episode: The New Guys Celebrate Christmas, Plymouth (Massachusetts), December 25, 1621
In 1647, the Puritan-led government of Cromwell made celebrating Christmas illegal in England. Roughly a decade later, Massachusetts Bay Colony did the same.
Yup. There once was a time it was illegal to celebrate Christmas. The mid-seventeenth century.
In this episode, we consider the Puritans’ reasons for banning Christmas, how the public reacted, and how long the prohibitions remained in place. Along the way, we meet John Taylor, the Water-Poet.
SOURCES
Capp, Bernard. The World of John Taylor, the Water-Poet: 1578-1653. Clarendon, 1994.
Flanders, Judith. Christmas: A Biography. St. Martins, 2017.
Nissenbaum, Stephen. The Battle for Christmas. Random House, 1996.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_controversies
https://www.cromwellmuseum.org/cromwell/did-oliver-cromwell-ban-christmas
https://www.historytoday.com/archive/feature/christmas-under-puritans
https://www.livescience.com/32891-why-was-christmas-banned-in-america-.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_Turned_Upside_Down
http://www.lukehistory.com/ballads/worldup.html
https://www.cassidycash.com/john-taylor-the-water-poet-with-bernard-capp-ep-208/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Taylor_(poet)
https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Taylor%2C%20John%2C%201580%2D1653
Many thanks to Thomas Stobierski, who wrote our music, “Calisia Carnival,” provided by Lynne Music, through NEO Sounds; and to Zencaster, for our ability to double record; and to Audacity, our sound editing software; and to Buzzsprout, for hosting the podcast, and to Bluehost, for hosting our website, and WordPress, for the website software.
91. Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck Pretend to be Kings, England 1487 and 1491
“Treason doth never prosper. What’s the reason? For if it doth prosper, none dare call it treason.” Sir John Harington’s (1560-1612) famous couplet applies equally to pretenders to the throne. You’re only a pretender if you fail.
Henry VII, the first Tudor monarch, faced challenges holding onto his crown. Among them, several pretenders, most famously Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck. But common-born boys who declare that they are in fact royalty are not taken seriously on their own. Only with powerful backers (usually acting in their own self-interest) did these rebellions gain traction. In this episode, we examine who had motive to back the pretenders, what happened to the pretenders and their supporters, and the pop culture fascination with them that started contemporaneously and hasn’t waned since.
SOURCES
History
Amin, Nathen. Henry VII and the Tudor Pretenders: Simnel, Warbeck, and Warwick. Amberley Publishing, 2020.
http://www.historyofyork.org.uk/themes/tudor-troubles
https://aelarsen.wordpress.com/tag/lambert-simnel/
https://tudortimes.co.uk/military-warfare/lambert-simnel-revolt/emergence-of-simnel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambert_Simnel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perkin_Warbeck
“Missing Princes” Project: https://www.revealingrichardiii.com/solved.html
Pop Culture
John Ford. Perkin Warbeck. 1630. http://elizabethandrama.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Perkin-Warbeck-Annotated-Plain.pdf
Mary Shelley. The Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck. 1830. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fortunes_of_Perkin_Warbeck
1976 play: https://www.nytimes.com/1976/12/13/archives/warbeck-a-promising-drama.html
2005 Princes in the Tower—TV historical drama about the interrogation of Warbeck. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0462488/
2022 play about Warbeck’s wife Katherine Gordon: https://www.playwrightspublishing.com/scriptshop/prod_7818462-The-Lady-in-Waiting-a-fulllength-historic-drama-set-in-15th-century.html
Horrible Histories: https://horriblehistoriestv.wordpress.com/the-original-tudor-song-lyrics/
Songs about Lambert Simnel:
https://blythpower.bandcamp.com/track/lambert-simnel
https://www.jiosaavn.com/lyrics/dublin-king-lyrics/NUU4HFlxBXc
Novel about Lambert Simnel:
Henry VII’s marriage bed
The Marriage Bed of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York: A Masterpiece of Tudor Craftmanship. Ed. Peter N. Lindfield. Oxbow Books, 2023.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriage_bed_of_Henry_VII
https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/articles/the-royal-bed-of-henry-vii-elizabeth-of-york/
Many thanks to Thomas Stobierski, who wrote our music, “Calisia Carnival,” provided by Lynne Music, through NEO Sounds; and to Zencaster, for our ability to double record; and to Audacity, our sound editing software; and to Buzzsprout, for hosting the podcast, and to Bluehost, for hosting our website, and WordPress, for the website software.
89. Vasvilkas, Grand Duke of Lithuania, is Assassinated, Volodymyr, Ukraine 1267
Vaisvalkas was a prince, but he wanted to be a monk. Since he had brothers, he could. But when his father and brothers were assassinated, he left the monastery to take back Lithuania from the murderers. Once he had control again, he turned over the Grand Duchy to his sister’s husband and returned to his monastery.
Whereupon he was prompted assassinated, in 1267.
Oh ho, you might think. A blood-feud emerges. Relatives of the murdered murderers taking their own turn at murder?
That would make soooo much more sense.
Vaisvalkas was killed by his brother-in-law’s brother, because he was peeved Vaisvalkas did not divide the country between them.
Whaaaat?
I know.
In this episode, we discuss the stupidest assassination we have covered so far. (Well, I think it is. Anne picks a different one, as you’ll hear.)
SOURCES
https://en-academic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/921001
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vai%C5%A1vilkas#:~
https://dbpedia.org/page/Vai%C5%A1vilkas
Goldfrank, David M. “The Lithuanian Prince-Monk Vojšelk: A Study of Competing Legends.” Harvard Ukrainian Studies, vol. 11, no. 1/2, 1987, pp. 44–76. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41036240. Accessed 1 Nov. 2023.
—-. “From Butcher to Saint: The Improbable Life and Fate of Vaisvilkas/Vojselk/Lavrys/Elisej of Lithuania and Black Rus.” In Portraits of Medieval Eastern Europe, 900-1400. Routedge, 2018. 50-57.
Rowell, S.C. Lithuania Ascending: A Pagan Empire within East-central Europe, 1295-1345. Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought. Cambridge UP, 1994.
Many thanks to Thomas Stobierski, who wrote our music, “Calisia Carnival,” provided by Lynne Music, through NEO Sounds; and to Zencaster, for our ability to double record; and to Audacity, our sound editing software; and to Buzzsprout, for hosting the podcast, and to Bluehost, for hosting our website, and WordPress, for the website software.
88. St. Scholastica Riot, Oxford England, February 10, 1355
On February 10 (St. Scholastica’s Day), 1355, a couple of students got into it with a local Oxford taverner. Not an uncommon thing to happen in college towns, where the mutually-advantageous/mutually-exploitive relationship between students and residents resulted in low-key tension. Which at times became high-key tension. Occasionally, violence.
A lot of violence, in this case.
By the time things settled down, three days later, somewhere between 70 and 100 people were dead.
In this episode, we discuss the causes and ramifications of the St. Scholastica Day riot, the ways in which the town-gown relationship has changed since (and how it hasn’t), the presence of the riot in pop culture.
SOURCES
History
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Scholastica_Day_riot
https://historydaily.org/st-scholastica-day-riot-facts-stories-trivia
https://aelarsen.wordpress.com/tag/the-st-scholasticas-day-riot/
https://www.oxfordhistory.org.uk/mayors/government/scholastica.html
Pop Culture
87. King Philip Augustus Fakes a Genealogy, Paris, France 1194
Philip II of France married Ingeborg of Denmark on August 14th, 1193—and renounced her on August 15th, 1193. It’s not known why he decided after one night that he could not tolerate the political match he had so carefully negotiated. (Which hasn’t stopped people speculating. Lots and lots of speculating.)
He pushed for an annulment immediately, using the traditional grounds employed by noblemen to rid themselves of troublesome wives: ‘Oh, whoops, sorry, just discovered we’re too closely related. Re-do.’
So what if he had forge a genealogy to make that argument?
Unfortunately for Philip, different winds were stirring in Rome.
In this episode, we discuss Philip’s mistreatment of Ingeborg, the places it crosses into criminality, his shifting reasons for wanting an annulment, and why the Pope wouldn’t grant one. We also discuss the Ingeborg Psalter, the Queen’s stunning prayer book.
SOURCES
Rousseau, Constance M. “Neither Bewitched nor Beguiled: Philip Augustus’ Alleged Impotence and Innocent III’s Response.” Speculum 89/2 (April 2014), 410-436.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingeborg_of_Denmark,_Queen_of_France
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_II_of_France
https://www.creativehistorian.co.uk/blog/read_185817/unlucky-princesses-ingeborg-of-denmark.html
Ingeborg Psalter
https://www.facsimilefinder.com/facsimiles/ingeborg-psalter-facsimile
https://scalar.usc.edu/works/a-nostalgic-filter/ingeborg-psalter
https://bvmm.irht.cnrs.fr/iiif/182/canvas/canvas-122349/view
Many thanks to Thomas Stobierski, who wrote our music, “Calisia Carnival,” provided by Lynne Music, through NEO Sounds; and to Zencaster, for our ability to double record; and to Audacity, our sound editing software; and to Buzzsprout, for hosting the podcast, and to Bluehost, for hosting our website, and WordPress, for the website software.
86. Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor, Does Various Bad Things, Germany, Italy, and Sicily, 1169-1197
Henry VI was only 31 years old when he died, but he squeezed a lot of badness into his short life. In addition to holding Richard the Lionheart for ransom (we refer you to our earlier episode about said extortion), he demanded (and got) money from the Byzantine emperor for not invading, had an archbishop candidate murdered, disappeared his grand-nephew William III of Sicily (a child) so that he could seize the throne of Sicily. When the Sicilians didn’t like it, he brutally suppressed a rebellion and tortured its leaders.
He was also, by the time of his death, the most powerful king in Christendom.
In this episode we discuss the collection of crimes of Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor, his misfortune to be the son of one famous king (Frederick Barbarossa) and the father of another (Frederick II) and thus comparatively ignored (there are no book length studies of Henry VI on his own), the range of scholarly assessment of Henry VI, and his presence at a tragic but also hilarious occurrence in 1184 known as the Erfurt Latrine disaster.
SOURCES
Fuhrmann, Horst. Germany in the High Middle Ages, c. 1050-1200. Cambridge Medieval Textbooks. Cambridge University Press, 1986.
Henderson, Ernest F. A History of Germany in the Middle Ages. Haskell House Publishers, 1968. First published 1894.
Stubbs, William. Germany in the Early Middle Ages: 476-1250. Howard Fertig edition, 1969. First published 1908.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_VI,_Holy_Roman_Emperor
https://www.spottinghistory.com/historicalperiod/hohenstaufen-dynasty-germany/’
Erfurt Latrine disaster
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erfurt_latrine_disaster
https://www.touren-lutherland-thueringen.de/en/point/church/st-peter-s-church-erfurt/16573371/
https://archive.org/details/monumentaerphesf42hold_0/page/400/mode/2up
Historical fiction
Many thanks to Thomas Stobierski, who wrote our music, “Calisia Carnival,” provided by Lynne Music, through NEO Sounds; and to Zencaster, for our ability to double record; and to Audacity, our sound editing software; and to Buzzsprout, for hosting the podcast, and to Bluehost, for hosting our website, and WordPress, for the website software.
85. Eorpwald of East Anglia is Murdered, East Anglia c. 627
Around the year 627 CE, Eorpwald, king of East Anglia, was assassinated by a pagan nobleman who was disgruntled by the king’s conversion to Christianity. Eorpwald is thus the first known king of England to have been martyred. It’s possible there were others; we know about Eorpwald’s killing only from the Venerable Bede’s An Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Such are the caveats of history.
In this episode, we discuss the circumstances and tensions that led to Eorpwald’s assassination, the sources or lack thereof for the history of the East Anglian kingdom, the Venerable and indefatigable Bede, how the magnificent ship burial discovered at Sutton Hoo in 1939 revised our understanding of early East Anglia, and Netflix’s 2021 film The Dig (based on a 2007 novel) that tells the story of the find.
SOURCES
Eorpwald
Yorke, Barbara. Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England. Routledge, 1997.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eorpwald_of_East_Anglia
http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=get&type=chron&id=615a
https://anglosaxonheritage.com/the-wuffingas-dynasty-wolf-kings-of-east-anglia/
Bede
The Cambridge Companion to Bede. Ed. Scott Gregorio. Cambridge, 2010.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bede
https://www.durhamworldheritagesite.com/learn/history/bede
Sutton Hoo
Carver, Martin. The Sutton Hoo Story: Encounters with Early England. Boydell, 2017.
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/death-and-memory/anglo-saxon-ship-burial-sutton-hoo
The Dig
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-suffolk-55877934
https://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/the-dig/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dig_(novel)
https://www.britishmuseum.org/blog/inside-dig-how-star-studded-film-squares-reality-sutton-hoo
Many thanks to Thomas Stobierski, who wrote our music, “Calisia Carnival,” provided by Lynne Music, through NEO Sounds; and to Zencaster, for our ability to double record; and to Audacity, our sound editing software; and to Buzzsprout, for hosting the podcast, and to Bluehost, for hosting our website, and WordPress, for the website software.
84. Melisende, Frankish Queen of Jerusalem, is Falsely Accused of Adultery, Jerusalem 1134
King Baldwin II of Jerusalem had no sons, but he had four daughters and a plan. He raised his eldest two daughters to be his heirs. When he knew he was dying, he had his oldest daughter, Melisende, crowned at his bedside, jointly with her small son and her husband, and retired to a monastery to live out his (few) remaining days.
Said husband was not amused. Fulk of Anjou had given up his holdings in France to marry Melisende and become (he believed) sole ruler of Jerusalem upon Baldwin’s death. But Fulk had grown sons from a prior marriage and Baldwin had no intention of allowing his bloodline to be shouldered aside. Hence the deathbed crowning, witnessed by the lords of Jerusalem.
But Fulk, too, had a plan.
In this episode, we consider the accusation of infidelity against Melisende and its aftermath. We are pleased to discover that Melisende is at last garnering wider attention, as recent books attest.
SOURCES
History
Hamilton, Bernard. “Women in the Crusader States: The Queens of Jerusalem, 1100-1190)” in Crusaders, Cathars, and the Holy Places. Routledge, 1999. Reprinted from Studies in Church History Subsidia 1, 1978.
Pangonis, Katherine. Queens of Jerusalem: The Women who Dared to Rule. Pegasus, 2022.
Park, Danielle E.A. “The memorialisation of Queen Melisende of Jerusalem: rom the medieval to the modern.” The Making of Crusading Heroes and Villains. Taylor and Francis, 2021.
Phillips, Jonathan. Holy Warriors: A Modern History of the Crusades. Random House, 2009.
Newman, Sharan. Defending the City of God: A Medieval Queen, The First Crusades, and the Quest for Peace in Jerusalem. Palgrave, 2014.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melisende,_Queen_of_Jerusalem
https://www.monstrousregimentofwomen.com/2015/08/melisende-queen-of-jerusalem.html
Melisende Psalter
https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/melisende-psalter
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melisende_Psalter
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/652569
Popular Culture
Tarr, Judith. Queen of Swords. Forge, 1997. https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780312858216
Play planned for spring 2024: https://www.katemosse.co.uk/novels/
Many thanks to Thomas Stobierski, who wrote our music, “Calisia Carnival,” provided by Lynne Music, through NEO Sounds; and to Zencaster, for our ability to double record; and to Audacity, our sound editing software; and to Buzzsprout, for hosting the podcast, and to Bluehost, for hosting our website, and WordPress, for the website software.
83. Hugh de Lacy is Assassinated, Durrow, Ireland 1186
After the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland, King Henry II granted Hugh de Lacey a large tract of land in the north of Ireland, intending to counterbalance the power of Strongbow in the south, whom the king feared meant to create an independent Norman-Irish kingdom. Of course, the Irish thought they still, you know, had a claim to Ireland, which is why Rory O’Connor burnt Hugh de Lacey’s first, wooden fortification at Trim. It’s also Hugh de Lacey was assassinated in 1186.
I know, I know, it’s astonishing someone would loathe a Norman lord enough to kill him.
In this episode, we discuss the entirely unsurprising end to Hugh de Lacey and the entirely awesome replacement castle he built at Trim.
SOURCES
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_de_Lacy,_Lord_of_Meath
https://www.libraryireland.com/HistoryIreland/Hugh-De-Lacy.php
https://www.historyireland.com/relentlessly-striving-for-more-hugh-de-lacy-in-ireland/
https://www.coleslane.com/1172—hugh-de-lacy-and-the-lordship-of-meath
https://heritageireland.ie/places-to-visit/trim-castle/
https://www.meath.ie/discover/heritage/heritage-sites/trim-castle
https://great-castles.com/trim.html
https://www.ireland.com/en-us/things-to-do/attractions/trim-castle/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Song_of_Dermot_and_the_Earl
Many thanks to Thomas Stobierski, who wrote our music, “Calisia Carnival,” provided by Lynne Music, through NEO Sounds; and to Zencaster, for our ability to double record; and to Audacity, our sound editing software; and to Buzzsprout, for hosting the podcast, and to Bluehost, for hosting our website, and WordPress, for the website software.
82. Arthur of Brittany Disappears, Rouen, France c. 1203
Technically, after Richard I’s death, his nephew Arthur had a better claim to the throne then his younger brother John. But Arthur was twelve years old, not quite old enough to press his claim personally, but old enough for people around him to make mischief on his behalf until he was. Which he did, in 1202. His campaign ended in 1203, when he was captured by John’s forces and never seen again.
Sure, we’re guessing John had Arthur murdered. But it’s a reasonable guess. His own contemporaries (remember Maud de Braose, who John had tossed locked up and left to die? Because she was saying he killed his nephew?) had their suspicions. A whole lot of people ever since have had their suspicions. In this episode, we discuss the OG ‘prince in the tower’ and John’s motivation for wanting him to vanish. We also discuss Arthur’s presence in literature and art.
SOURCES
History
https://www.shakespeareandhistory.com/arthur-duke-of-bretagne.php
https://medium.com/@johnwelford15/the-murder-of-prince-arthur-by-king-john-60978965f574
https://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/doc/Jn_HistoricalNotes/section/Arthur%20of%20Brittany/index.html
https://www.bl.uk/magna-carta/articles/the-origins-of-magna-carta
Literary/Cultural Presence
https://www.tsm.edu/wp-content/uploads/John%20Bale,%20William%20Shakespeare,%20and%20King%20John.pdf
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/a/thomas-b-costain-4/below-the-salt/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Robin_Hood_(TV_series)
https://www.chateau-guillaume-leconquerant.fr/actualite/index.phphttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_I,_Duke_of_Brittany
Many thanks to Thomas Stobierski, who wrote our music, “Calisia Carnival,” provided by Lynne Music, through NEO Sounds; and to Zencaster, for our ability to double record; and to Audacity, our sound editing software; and to Buzzsprout, for hosting the podcast, and to Bluehost, for hosting our website, and WordPress, for the website software.
81. Johannes Ryneken is Executed for Adulterating Saffron, Nuremberg Germany, 1444
Spices were serious business in the Middle Ages, and none more than saffron. Which was why, in 1444, a spice merchant was burnt to death for the crime of adulterating it.
Punishment for cutting high-quality saffron with lesser, or without something else altogether, or storing it somewhere damp so it absorbed moisture was fairly common in the fifteenth century. Usually, the spice was burned rather than the spice merchant, but capital punishment was not unheard of.
In this episode, we consider the crime of adulterating saffron, specifically in Nuremberg in the fifteenth century. We discuss the long history of human cultivation of saffron, the many uses to which it was (and is) put, the continued problem of sketchy saffron into the present, and that time the King of Denmark and Norway’s ship sank with a truly stunning amount of saffron in his portable royal spice cupboard.
SOURCES
Freedman, Paul. Out of the East: Spices and the Medieval Imagination. Yale University Press, 2008.
Ganeshram, Ramin. Saffron: A Global History (Edible). Reaktion Books, 2020.
Willard, P. (2002), Secrets of Saffron: The Vagabond Life of the World’s Most Seductive Spice, Beacon Press, ISBN 978-0-8070-5009-5
https://www.google.com/books/edition/Geschichte_des_N%C3%BCrnbergischen_Handels/fn47AAAA
cAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Safranschau&pg=PA221&printsec=frontcover
https://www.google.com/books/edition/Foods/FV3XAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1
https://manybooks.net/featured-authors/michelle-fogle-immersive-historical-fiction
https://www.whatshouldireadnext.com/subject/spice+trade
Many thanks to Thomas Stobierski, who wrote our music, “Calisia Carnival,” provided by Lynne Music, through NEO Sounds; and to Zencaster, for our ability to double record; and to Audacity, our sound editing software; and to Buzzsprout, for hosting the podcast, and to Bluehost, for hosting our website, and WordPress, for the website software.
80. William de Marisco is Executed for Treason, London England 1242
Even for an ambitious lord, William de Marisco got himself into more than the usual amount of trouble. After William de Braose’s fall from King John’s good graces, Marisco was granted land in Limerick and built a castle there—which he promptly lost when he got in trouble for taking the Earl of Pembroke’s side in a quarrel with the king (now Henry III). Things went downhill from there. The next year (1235), Marisco was involved in the murder of Henry Clement, a messenger of the king.
At which point, oh dear listeners, Marisco high-tailed it to an island his family happened to own in the Bristol Channel and became a pirate.
Yup. Another pirate.
In this episode, we discuss the life and death of William de Marisco. You will not be surprised that eventually the king became so very annoyed with attacks on trade ships in the Bristol Channel that he took a force, invaded the island, captured Marisco, and had him tried and then executed. We talk about that, as well as the awesome weirdness that is Lundy Island, the awesomeness in general that is Matthew Paris, Henry III’s (apparently) designated pirate hunter, connections to both Eustace the Monk and King Haakon of Norway (that guy who had Snorri assassinated), and the tragic lack of a presence of Matthew Paris in pop culture but the entirely unsurprising presence of William de Marisco there.
SOURCES
William de Marisco
https://www.executedtoday.com/tag/william-de-marisco/
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Marisco-20#_ref-4
https://academic.oup.com/ehr/article-abstract/X/XXXVIII/294/398793?redirectedFrom=fulltext
Matthew Paris
Vaughan, Richard. Matthew Paris. Cambridge Studies in Medieval Thought and Life, New Series: Volume 6. Cambridge University Press, 1958.
—. The Illustrated Chronicles of Matthew Paris: Observations of Thirteenth-Century Life. Alan Sutton Publishing, 1993.
Lewis, Suzanne. The Art of Chronica Majora. University of California Press, 1987.
https://www.stalbansmuseums.org.uk/whats-on/chroniclers-history
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Paris
https://www.ped.muni.cz/weng/outline_of_english_fiction/terms/matthew_paris.html
https://www.google.com/books/edition/Matthew_Paris_s_English_History/Oh42AAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0
https://www.stalbansmuseums.org.uk/visit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cahorsins
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nidarholm_Abbey
https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/vaughan-richard-1927
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10742582/Richard-Vaughan-obituary.html
Coonagh/Coolbaun Castle
Lundy Island
https://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/lundyisland/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lundy
https://lfs-resources.s3.amazonaws.com/is/LFS_Island_Studies_Harfield-Owners.pdf
https://lfs-resources.s3.amazonaws.com/newsletter/LFS_Newsletter_23.pdf
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/22765/22765-h/22765-h.htm
Popular Culture Presence of William de Marisco
Historical Fiction: https://samsmithbooks.weebly.com/historical-fiction.html
Historical Romance: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/katherine-bone/sea-rovers-curse.htm
Music: https://andylefevre.com/about.php
Manga: https://www.deviantart.com/hayahachi/art/Hetalia-Lundy-Info-Sheet-174947208
New Zealand Winemaker: https://thecraftyvintner.co.uk/product/marisco-the-king-s-wrath-pinot-noir
https://www.marisco.co.nz/shop/TheKingsSeries/TheKingsBastardChardonnay2018.html#
Many thanks to Thomas Stobierski, who wrote our music, “Calisia Carnival,” provided by Lynne Music, through NEO Sounds; and to Zencaster, for our ability to double record; and to Audacity, our sound editing software; and to Buzzsprout, for hosting the podcast, and to Bluehost, for hosting our website, and WordPress, for the website software.
79. Snorri Sturluson Is Assassinated, Reykholt, Iceland 1241
I had heard of Snorri Sturlson. I knew he was a writer whose work is important for Icelandic history and a crucial source of information about Viking mythology.
I did not know he had been assassinated on order of the Norwegian king.
Whhaaaaattt?
In this episode (our second about a murdered writer!), we investigate why the Norwegian king had a poet and historian murdered.
We lament the tragic lack of historical novels and/or movies about Snorri, particularly when Vikings are having a moment right now. Get on it, Hollywood. We also take a side trip to a nineteenth century French general who ends up king of Sweden. Really. Also someone who seriously deserves a movie.
SOURCES
Lindow, John. Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs. Oxford UP, 2001.
Somerville, Angus A. and R. Andrew McDonald. The Vikings and their Age. University of Toronto Press, 2013.
http://vsnrweb-publications.org.uk/Snorri%20Sturluson%20(Viking%20World).pdf
http://vsnrweb-publications.org.uk/
http://www.vsnrweb-publications.org.uk/Edda-1.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heimskringla
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snorri_Sturluson
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/244826/snorri-sturluson/
https://realscandinavia.com/jean-bernadotte-the-french-soldier-who-became-king-of-sweden/
Many thanks to Thomas Stobierski, who wrote our music, “Calisia Carnival,” provided by Lynne Music, through NEO Sounds; and to Zencaster, for our ability to double record; and to Audacity, our sound editing software; and to Buzzsprout, for hosting the podcast, and to Bluehost, for hosting our website, and WordPress, for the website software.
78. Special Episode: April Fool’s Debunking of the Myth of the Medieval Shame Flute
If you Google “Shame Flute,” you will get page after page of results, chock-full of articles confidently asserting that this was real thing in the Middle Ages, used to punish bad musicians. There is even a Finnish rock band that call themselves “Flute of Shame” after it. One article about the band begins:
In medieval times, if you wanted to play music publicly you had to be up to snuff or some primitive screw heads would strap an iron pipe around your neck and then bolt your fingers along the metal shaft. Then, just so you really got the point that you were a piece of shit, they would force you to parade around the town square where peasants and serfs would gleefully pelt you with rotten vegetables. This could last for days.
That’s…a really detailed description.
In this April Fool’s Day episode, we investigate the widespread claim that in the Middle Ages, musicians who commit the crime, or at least social faux pas, of playing badly were punished by being locked in a Shame Flute. Along the way we discover one of the inventors of interactive children’s books, the source for the movie Edward Scissorhands, torture-themed Christmas ornaments, anthropomorphic cat art, and, oh yes, whether Shame Flutes were real.
SOURCES
Shame Flute
https://upthewoods.net/miscellany/punishment-in-the-middle-ages.html
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flute_of_Shame_Torture_Museum_Amsterdam.jpg
https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/music/staff/420/professor-richard-rastall
https://pure.mpg.de/rest/items/item_2098607/component/file_2098606/content
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlandish_Proverbs
Fake Medieval Torture Devices
Ernest Nister
https://www.ebay.com/itm/333813934172
https://library.unt.edu/rarebooks/exhibits/popup2/nister.htm
https://www.ebay.com/itm/333813934172
https://upthewoods.net/miscellany/punishment-in-the-middle-ages.html
https://www.loc.gov/pictures/search/?q=LOT%206963&fi=number&op=PHRASE&st=gallery
Louis Wain
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Wain
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Electrical_Life_of_Louis_Wain
Adolf Jodolfi
https://fineartamerica.com/featured/the-wrong-player-adolf-jodolfi.html
For all your grotesque Holiday needs:
https://fineartamerica.com/shop/ornaments/punishment
Public Shaming
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-36641921
https://londonist.com/2015/12/publicshaming1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charivari
Davis, Natalie Zemon. Society and Culture in Early Modern France. Stanford University Press, 1975.
Muir, Edward. Ritual in Early Modern Europe. Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Nash, D., Kilday, AM. (2010). Private Passions and Public Penance: Popular Shaming Rituals in Pre-Modern Britain. In: Cultures of Shame. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230309098_2
Rastall, Richard with Andrew Taylor. Minstrels and Minstrelsy in Late Medieval England (Woodbridge, Boydell & Brewer, 2023). Page 131.
The Finnish Rock Band
https://www.vice.com/en/article/z68q4r/we-interviewed-the-flute-of-shame-about-the-flute-of-shame
Many thanks to Thomas Stobierski, who wrote our music, “Calisia Carnival,” provided by Lynne Music, through NEO Sounds; and to Zencaster, for our ability to double record; and to Audacity, our sound editing software; and to Buzzsprout, for hosting the podcast, and to Bluehost, for hosting our website, and WordPress, for the website software.
77. Diarmait Mac Murchada Invites the Anglo-Normans into Ireland, Leinster, Ireland 1167
In 1169, the deposed Irish king Dermot MacMurragh committed the crime, or at least made the criminally stupid decision, to approach Henry II of England for help getting his throne back.
It worked.
Kind of.
Once the Anglo-Normans had Ireland in hand, they quickly realized they could keep Dermot’s kingdom for themselves rather than give it back.
Thus began centuries of colonization—and with it, scores of crimes. In this episode, we discuss Dermot’s reasons for this poor choice, the effect of hundreds of years of colonial occupation in Ireland, and how once again, William Faulkner is annoyingly correct, as we consider how the continued colonization of Ireland affected and was affected by scholarship on the Anglo-Norman invasion in the 19th and 20th centuries.
SOURCES
Anglo-Norman Invasion in 1169
Early Medieval Ireland: 400-1200. Daibhi O Croinin. Longman History of Ireland. Longman, 1995.
Colonial Ireland, 1169-1369. Robin Frame. Helicon History of Ireland, 1981. Reissued Four Courts Press, 2012.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/middle_ages/medieval_ireland_01.shtml
https://www.discoveringireland.com/the-anglo-norman-conquest/
https://www.historyireland.com/1169-and-all-that/
19th and 20th Century Scholarly Defenses of the Colonization of Ireland
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Horace_Round
https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/68933/pg68933-images.html#Page_137
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goddard_Henry_Orpen
https://archive.org/details/irelandundernorm01orpeuoft/page/8/mode/2up
Duffy, Seán. “Goddard Henry Orpen, Ireland under the Normans, 1169-1333 (1911-20).” Irish Historical Studies, vol. 32, no. 126, 2000, pp. 246–59. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/30006999. Accessed 3 Mar. 2023.
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/242299
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._S._L._Lyons
https://www.jstor.org/stable/568408
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Ewart-Biggs
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Ewart-Biggs_Memorial_Prize
https://www.jstor.org/stable/44779905?mag=britains-blueprint-for-colonialism-made-in-ireland
Many thanks to Thomas Stobierski, who wrote our music, “Calisia Carnival,” provided by Lynne Music, through NEO Sounds; and to Zencaster, for our ability to double record; and to Audacity, our sound editing software; and to Buzzsprout, for hosting the podcast, and to Bluehost, for hosting our website, and WordPress, for the website software.
76. Special Episode: Richard Walweyn Wears Padded Pants, London, England 1565
In 1565, Richard Walewyn was arrested because his pants were too big.
No, really.
He had run afoul of a 1562 law regulating how big your pants could be and what material they could be made of, among other things such as ruffs, spurs, and rapiers. And that your coat had to be long enough to cover your butt and junk.
[Study history, they said. It’s important to learn about the past, they said]
Richard Walewyn was not entitled to wear the ‘a very monsterous and outraygous greate payre of hose’ he had on. Off to jail.
Here at True Crime Medieval we dunk on the Elizabethan Police State fairly frequently, but sumptuary laws are not the exclusive product of that time period. Laws trying to keep people from wearing luxuries they weren’t ‘entitled’ to go back to the Romans. In this episode, we discuss how they show up in the Middle Ages, the difficulties of knowing whether/how much they were enforced, and how Thomas More envisioned a solution in his Utopia (1515).
SOURCES
https://elizabethan.org/sumptuary/ruffs-hose-swords.html
https://www.grunge.com/376318/the-most-bizarre-laws-in-elizabethan-england/
https://exhibits.law.harvard.edu/what-not-wear-fashion-and-law
https://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/mens-fashion#
Wilson, Laurel Ann. “Common Threads: A Reappraisal of Medieval European Sumptuary Law.” The Medieval Globe, vol. 2 no. 2, 2016, p. 141-165. Project MUSE muse.jhu.edu/article/758508.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco_Sacchetti
https://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/id/eprint/982129/1/Woodward_MA_S2017.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Hugh_Benson
https://archive.org/details/lordofworld00bens/page/n29/mode/2up?view=theater
https://archive.org/details/dawnofall00bensiala/page/26/mode/2up
Dress Codes: How the Laws of Fashion Made History. Richard Thompson Ford. Simon and Schuster, 2021.
Jurists and Jurisprudence in Medieval Italy: Texts and Contexts. By Osvaldo Cavallar, Julius Kirshner, University of Toronto Press, 2020.
The Right to Dress: Sumptuary Laws in a Global Perspective, c1200-1800. Ed Giorgio Riello and Ulinka Rublack. Cambridge University Press, 2019.
Credits
Many thanks to Thomas Stobierski, who wrote our music, “Calisia Carnival,” provided by Lynne Music, through NEO Sounds; and to Zencaster, for our ability to double record; and to Audacity, our sound editing software; and to Buzzsprout, for hosting the podcast, and to Bluehost, for hosting our website, and WordPress, for the website software.
75. Crime Rises in the Great Famine, Europe 1315-1322
From 1315 to 1322, Northern Europe endured truly miserable weather. Far too much rain—for the first five years, it rained almost constantly—and bitterly cold winters. Crops failed, driving prices up 170%. Animals sickened and died—herds of hundreds were reduced to dozens. By the time crop yields returned to normal in the mid-1320s, between 10 and 15% of the human population had died.
Unsurprisingly, in this terrible famine, crime rates went up. There were widespread accusations of theft, piracy, hoarding, price gouging, and cannibalism. In this episode, we consider the evidence for increased crime during the Great Famine. Which likely did increase? Which are more the product of panic and rumor? We also wonder why the heck such a major calamity has been lost to history.
SOURCES
Jordan, William Chester. The Great Famine: Northern Europe in the Early Fourteenth Century. Princeton UP, 1999.
Rosen, William Rosen. The Third Horseman: A Story of Weather, War, and the Famine History Forgot. Penguin Random House, 2014.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_of_1315%E2%80%931317
https://edwardthesecond.blogspot.com/2009/01/great-famine-1315-to-1317.html
https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/The-Great-Flood-Great-Famine-of-1314/
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/01/11/the-next-great-famine
https://www.history.com/news/evidence-of-cannibalism-found-at-jamestown
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352409X1630791X
Credits
Many thanks to Thomas Stobierski, who wrote our music, “Calisia Carnival,” provided by Lynne Music, through NEO Sounds; and to Zencaster, for our ability to double record; and to Audacity, our sound editing software; and to Buzzsprout, for hosting the podcast, and to Bluehost, for hosting our website, and WordPress, for the website software.
74. Dafydd Gam ap Llewelyn ap Hywel kills his kinsman Richard Fawr ap Dafydd, Brecon High Street, Wales late 14th Century
The story goes that Davy Gam was knighted while dying on the battlefield of Agincourt, having heroically sacrificed himself to save the King’s life.
Yeah. That probably didn’t happen. While it is true he died at Agincourt, the rest is most likely bunk.
What IS true is that years before, he killed a cousin in Wales. Probably not because the cousin insulted him—‘Gam’ is a nickname meaning something like lame and possibly referring to an eye problem. [But I personally kind of like the picture of someone calling him a rude name One Too Many Times]. More probably, it was a conflict over loyalties.
In this episode we discuss Daffyd Gam murdering his cousin and how the incident reveals tension in Wales after the English conquest, as individual families had to decide whether to continue to resist and attempt to regain Wales’ independence or collaborate with the English. It’s easy to say they all should have resisted. It’s more difficult when it’s you and yours who would be doing the fighting.
We consider Davy Gam’s mention in Shakespeare’s Henry V—of course we do—but spend more time on the thoroughly repulsive portrayal of Gam in John Cowper Powys’ 1941 Owen Glendower. Powys is described in a 2006 article in the Guardian as “so far outside the canon that he defies the concept of a canon,” so that was an adventure.
SOURCES
Daffyd Gam
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dafydd_Gam
Borrow, George. Wild Wales: The People, Language, and Scenery. John Murray, 1862.
https://biography.wales/article/s-THOM-HUG-1673
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03044181.2016.1236501?journalCode=rmed20
John Cowper Powys
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cowper_Powys
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/aug/12/featuresreviews.guardianreview14
https://www.powys-society.org/
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2000/08/an-irresistible-long-winded-bore/378329/
Credits
Many thanks to Thomas Stobierski, who wrote our music, “Calisia Carnival,” provided by Lynne Music, through NEO Sounds; and to Zencaster, for our ability to double record; and to Audacity, our sound editing software; and to Buzzsprout, for hosting the podcast, and to Bluehost, for hosting our website, and WordPress, for the website software.
72. The Jews of York are Massacred, York, England 1190
On March 16, 1190, an estimated 150 Jewish citizens of York, England took their own lives rather than submit to the mob. When a crowd gathered against them, they had come to the keep and locked themselves in, hoping for royal protection, but the warden of the tower either could do nothing or chose not to. Suspecting that surrender would not ensure survival—and indeed, those few who did leave the keep and surrender were murdered—those inside chose to end their lives themselves. This massacre is one of the most atrocious crimes against the Jews in the entire medieval period.
SOURCES
The Massacre
https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/articles/the-clifford-s-tower-massacre/
http://www.historyofyork.org.uk/themes/norman/the-1190-massacre
The Elegy
Roth, Cecil. “A Hebrew Elegy on the York Martyrs of 1190.” Transactions (Jewish Historical Society of England) Vol. 16 (1945-1951), pp. 213-220 (8 pages). https://www.jstor.org/stable/29777871?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents
Clifford’s Tower
https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/cliffords-tower-york/
https://www.heritage.arch.cam.ac.uk/publications/spotlight-on/spotlight-on-clifford-tower
Henry III’s High Tech Toilet
Credits
Many thanks to Thomas Stobierski, who wrote our music, “Calisia Carnival,” provided by Lynne Music, through NEO Sounds; and to Zencaster, for our ability to double record; and to Audacity, our sound editing software; and to Buzzsprout, for hosting the podcast, and to Bluehost, for hosting our website, and WordPress, for the website software.
71.Special Episode: Guy Fawkes Attempts to Blow Up King James and Parliament, London, England November 5, 1605
On November 5, 1605, Guy Fawkes was discovered in a storeroom beneath the House of Parliament—along with 36 barrels of gunpowder and materials to light them. What would have been a terrible act of domestic terrorism was prevented with only hours if not minutes to spare.
In this special episode of True Crime Medieval (1605 not being ‘medieval’ by any measure), we poke our noses over in the business of the early modern world (as we do sometimes) and look at the Gunpowder Plot. How did it come so close to succeeding? What ramifications did the plot have for its present? On later generations? Edgar Allan Poe makes a cameo with a snarktastic book review.
SOURCES
Sharpe, James. Remember, Remember: A Cultural History of Guy Fawkes Day. Harvard University Press, 2005.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpowder_Plot
https://www.britannica.com/event/Gunpowder-Plot
https://www.history.com/topics/british-history/gunpowder-plot
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/gunpowder-plot/
https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw00381/The-Gunpowder-Plot-Conspirators-1605
Mischief’s Mystery (‘ripped from the headlines’ 1606 poem about the Gunpowder Plot)
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32435010326619&view=1up&seq=36
William Harrison Ainsworth and his 1840 novel about Guy Fawkes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Harrison_Ainsworth
https://gutenberg.org/files/37750/37750-h/37750-h.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes_(novel)
Poe’s Review of Ainsworth’s novel
https://www.eapoe.org/works/criticsm/gm41aw01.htm
Guy Fawkes’ Lantern
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-lantern-of-guy-fawkes
https://www.ashmolean.org/guy-fawkes-lantern
https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/heywood-peter-1642https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/17710996/peter-heywood
Credits
Many thanks to Thomas Stobierski, who wrote our music, “Calisia Carnival,” provided by Lynne Music, through NEO Sounds; and to Zencaster, for our ability to double record; and to Audacity, our sound editing software; and to Buzzsprout, for hosting the podcast, and to Bluehost, for hosting our website, and WordPress, for the website software.
70.King Alboin is Murdered, Verona, Italy 572
One form of immortality, we are often told, is to be remembered after we die. Um. Does it still count if our story is retold with a scandalous and shocking bit added that almost certainly never happened, plus we become a side character in someone else’s story?
Poor ol’ King Alboin. That’s exactly what happened to him. He was murdered, probably with his wife’s collusion. Maybe by her, working with a servant of his. Or maybe his armsman. Anyway he ends up dead. Whatever he was like in real life, he quickly becomes the villain in Rosamund’s story.
Which is only to be expected when you make someone drink from a cup made from her father’s skull. (Real-Alboin almost certainly did not, but fiction-Alboin does in Every Single Retelling.)
So. Many. Retellings.
Come for the 6th century murder. Stay for the 1961 film with questionable costumes and a tenacious connection to history.
SOURCES
History
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alboin
Paul the Deacon: http://www.thule-italia.org/Nordica/Paul%20the%20Deacon%20-%20History%20of%20the%20Lombards%20(1907)%20[EN].pdf
Eduardo Fabbro. Society and Warfare in Lombard Italy, 568-652. Dissertation, University of Toronto, 2015. https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/71806/1/Fabbro_Eduardo_201510_PhD_thesis.pdf
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alboin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marius_Aventicensis
Retellings
Rodney, Robert Burton. Alboin and Rosamund. 1870. https://archive.org/details/alboinandrosamon00rodniala/page/30/mode/2up
Swinburne, Algernon Charles. Rosamund. 1899. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2137/2137-h/2137-h.htm
Old Tales Re-told: https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/bcoppola/2018/01/25/rosamund-captive-before-king-alboin-of-the-lombards/
Sword of the Conqueror, 1961. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vvlo3jkpRJo
Sword of the Conqueror, 1961. Full Film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rDm_JzhLZI
Credits
Many thanks to Thomas Stobierski, who wrote our music, “Calisia Carnival,” provided by Lynne Music, through NEO Sounds; and to Zencaster, for our ability to double record; and to Audacity, our sound editing software; and to Buzzsprout, for hosting the podcast, and to Bluehost, for hosting our website, and WordPress, for the website software.
69. King Olaf Kills Klerkon in the Market Place, Novgorod, Russia 10th Century
Olaf Tryggvason was king of Norway from 995 until his death on September 9th, 1000. But before that, as a young person, he killed a man in the marketplace at Novgorod.
In this episode, we consider what led up to Olaf’s fatal attack, the source for this story and the challenges of sifting saga for history, a bonus but unsuccessful blood feast in which Olaf attempts to rid himself a meddlesome sorcerer, a bonus attempted murder (this time with Olaf as the intended victim), Olaf’s role in bringing Christianity to Norway and his connection to Leif Ericson, and in general the wild adventures of Olaf as told by Snorri.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Olaf’s story was and continues to be retold. A lot. The version that caught my attention was Longfellow’s. So we talk about that too.
SOURCES
History
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olaf_Tryggvason
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Olaf-Tryggvason
http://www.csun.edu/~sk36711/WWW2/engl443/ASC991.html
Snorri’s Heimskringla: http://www.vsnrweb-publications.org.uk/Heimskringla%20I.pdf
Literature
Longfellow:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_of_a_Wayside_Inn
https://www.hwlongfellow.org/poems_poem.php?pid=2021
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44627/chaucer
Longfellow Chorus’ production of Edgar Elgar’s choral version of Longfellow’s poems: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CwlwBYc2YA
Production of Edvard Grieg’s unfinished opera: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMwsq6Tf2kk, from 2015 in Malmo, Sweden.
‘Viking metal’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMWoVVGPjjI
Faroese tale: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlIYiOt34PE
Storyteller: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z9hALqhdWk
Credits
Many thanks to Thomas Stobierski, who wrote our music, “Calisia Carnival,” provided by Lynne Music, through NEO Sounds; and to Zencaster, for our ability to double record; and to Audacity, our sound editing software; and to Buzzsprout, for hosting the podcast, and to Bluehost, for hosting our website, and WordPress, for the website software.
68.Llewelyn the Great Hangs William de Braose, Aber Garth Celyn , Wales May 2, 1230
In 1230, Llewellyn the Great of Wales had William de Braose hanged after catching him in his wife’s bedroom.
This event is often discussed as an understandable, hot-blooded reaction to an in flagrante discovery; Llewellyn, we are told, grabbed William and hung him from the castle walls right there and then.
But that is not what happened.
In this episode, we discuss what led to the death of William de Braose, who exactly committed a crime in this situation, and the response in fiction to the whole affair.
SOURCES
History
http://vlib.iue.it/carrie/documents/jjcrump/frontpg.html
https://oro.open.ac.uk/62651/2/WILLOUGHBY_A329_RVOR.pdf
http://steyningmuseum.org.uk/braose2.htm
Fiction
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siwan_(play)
https://archive.org/details/presentingsaunde00lewi/page/n7/mode/2up?q=siwan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saunders_Lewis
https://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/arts/sites/saunders-lewis/
http://www.carlanayland.org/reviews/green_branch.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Here_Be_Dragons
Credits
Many thanks to Thomas Stobierski, who wrote our music, “Calisia Carnival,” provided by Lynne Music, through NEO Sounds; and to Zencaster, for our ability to double record; and to Audacity, our sound editing software; and to Buzzsprout, for hosting the podcast, and to Bluehost, for hosting our website, and WordPress, for the website software.
67. Peter von Hagenbach is Convicted of War Crimes, Breisach, Germany 1474
In 1474, Peter von Hagenbach was tried in what is now generally recognized as the first international trial for war crimes. After his conviction, he was executed.
In this episode, we consider what deeds he was accused of, how the trial came about, and how this trial came to be seen as the first international war crimes court. We also contextualize this case in the history of war crimes in general and the theoretical and practical approach to war in the Middle Ages in particular.
As usual, we found a few rabbit holes. A heavy metal album, I would not have been surprised by. But a children’s book? Really?
SOURCES
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstrct_id=2006370
https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2022/03/14/war-crimes-peter-von-hagenbach/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_von_Hagenbach
https://academic.oup.com/book/26719
https://www.heritage-history.com/index.php?c=read&author=upton&book=swiss
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/61788/61788-0.txt
https://second.wiki/wiki/pseudokopf_des_landvogtes_peter_von_hagenbach
Credits
Many thanks to Thomas Stobierski, who wrote our music, “Calisia Carnival,” provided by Lynne Music, through NEO Sounds; and to Zencaster, for our ability to double record; and to Audacity, our sound editing software; and to Buzzsprout, for hosting the podcast, and to Bluehost, for hosting our website, and WordPress, for the website software.
66. Henry of Trastámara Massacres the Jews of Toledo, Toledo Spain, 1355
On May 26, 1355, Henry de Trastamara orchestrated the murder of 1,200 Jewish citizens of Toledo, Spain. Henry was one of eleven children of King Alfonso XI of Castile and his longtime mistress Eleanor de Guzman. After Alfonso’s unexpected death in 1350, the situation between the children of his queen and the children of his mistress became (unsurprisingly) fraught, eventually resulting in civil war and the death of Peter at his half-brother’s hands in 1369 (we covered the murder of Peter in an earlier episode). It was in this context that Henry decided it would be politically advantageous to stir up resentment against the Jews, who were legally under the king’s direct authority and protection.
In this episode, we discuss the massacre, Spain’s unique (or not) culture of religious coexistence, and recent scholarship working to rediscover what and how Jews living in medieval Spain cooked.
SOURCES
https://www.chabad.org/calendar/view/day_cdo/aid/281352/jewish/Toledo-Massacre.htm
https://zionism-israel.com/dic/Spanish_Pogroms.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_II_of_Castile
http://www.davidnirenberg.com/publications
Niremberg, David. Communities of Violence: Persecution of Minorities in the Middle Ages. Princeton University Press, 1996.
Piñer, Hélène Jawhara. Sephardi: Cooking the History. Recipes of the Jews of Spain and the Diaspora from the 13th Century to Today. Boston: Cherry Orchard Books, 2021.
Credits
Many thanks to Thomas Stobierski, who wrote our music, “Calisia Carnival,” provided by Lynne Music, through NEO Sounds; and to Zencaster, for our ability to double record; and to Audacity, our sound editing software; and to Buzzsprout, for hosting the podcast, and to Bluehost, for hosting our website, and WordPress, for the website software.
65. King Lambert is Assassinated (or not), Marengo, Italy 898
The state of nature may or may not be nasty, brutish, and short, as Hobbes argued, but the state of early medieval kingship definitely was. Look over the list of Lambert of Italy’s intrigues, accomplishments, battles, and general twisty mayhem—including the infamous Cadaver Synod—and one can be forgiven for surprise when one gets to the end, does the math, and realizes he was only eighteen when he died.
Which brings us to the crime. Sort of.
Lambert died in a fall from his horse during a boar hunt. Okey-dokey. Hunting accidents happened a lot in the Middle Ages, as we talked about in the William Rufus episode. Frankly, this seems a rather predictable outcome of mixing wild animals, horseback riding, weapons, and men who have often had too much to drink.
But Liutprand of Cremona, the chronicle source for this event, argues Lambert was murdered.
Or, rather, he coyly relates the rumors that ‘lots of people are saying’ of Lambert’s murder.
In this episode, we consider Lambert’s role in 9th c Italian politics, the hazards of early medieval kingship, and Liutprand as chronicler to weigh the question of whether Lambert died in a hunting accident or was murdered.
SOURCES
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambert_of_Italy
https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/lamberto-re-d-italia-imperatore_(Dizionario-Biografico)/
https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/mann-horace-kinder
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Liutprand-of-Cremona
The mysterious course page: https://people.bu.edu/bobl/liud.htm
Bell, Mary I.M. A Short History of the Papacy. New York: Dodd, Mead, and Company, 1921. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/A_short_history_of_the_papacy_%28IA_shorthistoryofp00bell%29.pdf
Squatriti, Paolo. The Complete Works of Liudprand of Cremona (Medieval Texts in Translation). Catholic University of America Press, 2007. Excepts: https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Complete_Works_of_Liudprand_of_Cremo/bbsCU8qWvUAC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=lambert
Wright, F.A. The Works of Liudprand of Cremona. English translation. George Routledge and Sons. 1930. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.168391/page/n69/mode/2up
Credits
Many thanks to Thomas Stobierski, who wrote our music, “Calisia Carnival,” provided by Lynne Music, through NEO Sounds; and to Zencaster, for our ability to double record; and to Audacity, our sound editing software; and to Buzzsprout, for hosting the podcast, and to Bluehost, for hosting our website, and WordPress, for the website software.
64. Jeanne de Clisson takes up piracy, Brittany 1343
When Margery Kempe told her husband John that she wanted to stop marital relations to live a more holy life, he objected, telling her she was ‘no good wife.’
I wonder, would John Kempe have considered Jeanne de Clisson a good wife?
There were no marital relations going on there either, but that was because Jeanne’s husband had been executed by the king of France. In response, Jeanne gathered a crew and began attacking French ships.
A very wife, I think.
One of the joys of the internet is the many retellings of Jeanne’s story, in blogs posts and YouTube videos. Yes, indeed, the story has grown, as all the best stories do, but this one is a darn sight more satisfying than many. Take that, Patient Griselda.
Surprisingly, Jeanne’s story has yet to be told in a full-length movie or meticulous historical novel. Hint, hint. Drop me a link when you write one. Or when the film releases.
SOURCES
https://www.rejectedprincesses.com/princesses/jeanne-de-clisson
http://www.thelandofdesire.com/2020/10/29/jeanne-de-clisson/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_de_Clisson
https://www.avclub.com/avast-this-french-noblewoman-turned-pirate-wasn-t-out-1840985649
https://www.rejectedprincesses.com/princesses/jeanne-de-clisson
https://www.songfacts.com/facts/bury-tomorrow/my-revenge
https://www.byarcadia.org/post/jeanne-de-clisson-the-lioness-of-brittany-and-her-black-fleet
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8779350/plotsummary
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8779350/?ref_=ttpl_ql
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/18197178-jeanne-de-clisson-lioness-of-brittany
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14484528.2022.2046211
Konstam, Angus. Pirates: The Complete History from 1300 BC to the Present Day. Lyons Press, 2008.
Credits
Many thanks to Thomas Stobierski, who wrote our music, “Calisia Carnival,” provided by Lynne Music, through NEO Sounds; and to Zencaster, for our ability to double record; and to Audacity, our sound editing software; and to Buzzsprout, for hosting the podcast, and to Bluehost, for hosting our website, and WordPress, for the website software.