123. Westminster Abbey Runs a Forgery Ring, Westminster, England 12th Century
It’s one thing to cheat on your own homework. It’s a whole another level when you help everyone in the class cheat on theirs too.
In this episode, we investigate the twelfth century forgery ring based out of Westminster Abbey. Forgery was not exactly unheard of in twelfth century England, or the rest of Europe for that matter. Indeed, the twelfth century has been called the high-water mark of medieval forgery.
Go team, I guess.
What set Westminster apart is that they forged documents not just for their own benefit but also for other monasteries. Or at least other Benedictine monasteries.
So, good news—there were some standards.
Oddly enough—no, for reals, historian and master forger Osbert of Clare would be an excellent main character for a novel—there wasn’t any historical fiction or movies, at least not that I could find, so in this episode, Anne does background as per usual while Michelle provides insight from research scholarship as per not unpresented.
SOURCES
https://dk.robinson.cam.ac.uk/node/67
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osbert_of_Clare#
https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/handle/10023/4597
https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/commemorations/gervase-de-blois
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gervase_of_Blois
https://medievalwritings.atillo.com.au/word/forged.htm
Clanchy, Michael. From Memory to Written Record: England 1066-1307. 3rd edition. Wiley, 2012.
England, J.M. “Osbert of Clare and the reforging of Westminster Abbey’s past.” Postmedieval 15, 437–459 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41280-024-00316-3
Roach, Levi. Forgery and Memory at the End of the First Millenium. Princeton UP, 2021
Historical Fiction, at least other people who want some also
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.
121. Special Episode: Steve Tibble Discusses Crusader Criminals, Holy Land, 12th – 13th Centuries
For several hundred years, the European view of the Crusades was that they were a religious military movement, an attempt to further the aims of Christianity. And that though it ultimately failed, since the Franks did not manage to hold Jerusalem and the Frankish Kingdom, it was nevertheless well-intentioned, and the Crusaders themselves, though obviously violent military men, were otherwise mostly Good Guys.
Well, now we know better. And Steve Tibble knows the details. In this podcast, he talks to us about his favorite stories, and what the Crusades were really all about, and what happens when you get large numbers of young men together, give them weapons, and set them loose.
If you want to know more about any of his excellent stories, so that you can write a gripping historical novel (the Crusader Mafia of Cairo would be good), or hire him as an historical consultant on an historical adventure movie (we’d go with the exploits of St. Godric The Pirate), you can reach Steve Tibble through his website:
Steve Tibble – Steve Tibble, Crusades, Templars, Steve Tibble
And we recommend his books – readable and engrossing.
His books on the Crusades:
Monarchy and Lordships in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem 1099-1291, Clarendon Press, 1990
The Crusader Armies – 1099–1187, Yale University Press, 2018
The Crusader Strategy: Defending the Holy Land, Yale University Press, 2020
Templars: The Knights Who Made Britain, Yale University Press, 2023
Crusader Criminals: The Knights Who Went Rogue in the Holy Land, Yale University Press, 2024
Assassins and Templars: A Battle in Myth and Blood, Yale University Press, 2025
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.
120. Vikings Besiege Paris, Paris, France 845 and 885-886
The Vikings’ usual M.O. was smash and grab. Sail up, jump out, seize whatever (or whoever ☹) of value was close, and be back in the boats before their target could muster a defense. [Interestingly, most home invasions now last less than fifteen minutes; I guess it’s a time-tested strategy]. But in 885, the Vikings switched it up and besieged Paris. Why? We can’t say for certain but it’s possible that after years—years—of raiding France, they might have said to themselves, what if we just take this place?
In this episode, we examine the 885 siege of Paris, what went before, what came after, and how close Paris came to falling to the Vikings. There’s an awesome eyewitness account, in which St Germain has a leading role, so that’s cool.
SOURCES
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Paris_(885%E2%80%93886)
https://www.britannica.com/event/Siege-of-Paris-885-886
Sheppard, Si. The Viking Siege of Paris: Longships raid the Seine, AD 885–86. Osprey, 2022.
Viking Attacks on Paris: The Bella Parisiacae Urbis of Abbo of Saint-Germain-des-Pres. Edited, translated, and introduced by Nirmal Dass. Dallas Medieval Texts and Translations. Peeters, 2007.
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.
119. A Werewolf Craze Leads to Torture and Executions, Western Europe 16th-17th centuries
Contemporaneous with the witch trials, but less common and lesser known, were the werewolf trials. Under torture, accused werewolves confessed to a wide range of horrific things. Pacts with the Devil, in which the Devil gave the person a device—a girdle, a belt, an ointment—that allowed the person to transform into a werewolf at will. Intriguingly, while the concept of werewolves occurred throughout Europe, the idea of what a werewolf was varied from place to place, nor did werewolf trials take place everywhere. Indeed, they were found largely in Germany and France.
In this episode, we consider the werewolf trials, when and where they happened or did not happen, and why. We also examine their presence in popular culture, both then and now.
SOURCES
Werewolf Histories. Ed. Willem de Blecourt. Palgrave, 2015.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werewolf_witch_trials
https://www.history.com/articles/werewolf-trials-europe-witches
https://cvltnation.com/howling-hour-inside-european-werewolf-trials
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/236490
https://archive.org/details/thebookofwerewolvesbarin/page/n15/mode/2up
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Weinsberg
https://www.amusingplanet.com/2023/09/peter-stumpp-werewolf-of-bedburg.html
https://archive.org/details/completeworksofs01rowl/page/n19/mode/2up
https://www.amazon.com/The-Wolf-Trial/dp/B07196LJ9S
https://www.penguin.com.au/books/winter-of-the-wolf-9781761346989
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.
118. Henry V Orders the French Prisoners Killed, Agincourt, France October 25 1415
The Battle of Agincourt did not go as the French expected, and probably not as the English had either. Outnumbered four, perhaps as many as five or six, to one, the English benefited from a mixture of luck (loads of rain turned the newly-plowed field into a mud pit); desperation (they would most likely all die if they lost), good leadership (Henry V was charismatic and determined), and a whole lot of bowmen.
But Henry ordered that all the French prisoners be killed. Why?
In this episode, we examine what led to Agincourt, and specifically to the decision to kill rather than hold for ransom the French prisoners. Did Henry’s contemporaries consider it a war crime? Do we?
SOURCES
Battle of Agincourt, History
Barker, Juliet. Agincourt: Henry V and the Battle That Made England. Back Bay Books, 2008.
Curry, Anne. 1415 Agincourt: A New History. The History Press, 2015.
Harkey, Nathan C. ( 2018) “Remembering Agincourt: An Analysis of King Henry V’s Impact on English National Identity,” Tenor of Our Times: Vol. 7, Article 14.
https://scholarworks.harding.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1075&context=tenor
Livingstone, Michael. Agincourt: Battle of the Scarred King. Bloomsbury, 2023.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Agincourt
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/26/agincourt-600th-anniversary-how-french-remember-it
Battle of Agincourt, Cultural History
Cooper, Stephen. Agincourt: Myth and Reality, 1415–2015. Pen and Sword, 2020.
Curry, Anne. Agincourt: Great Battles Series. Oxford UP, 2015.
https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/best-movie-inspirational-speeches
https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/staff/haywardp/hist424/seminars/Agincourt.htm
The Underground City of Naours
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/cite-souterraine-de-naours-underground-city-of-naours
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.
117. Columbus Captures Arawaks and Demands They Tell Him Where the Gold Is, Guanahani (in the Bahamas) October 12, 1492
In 1492—as we all learned in childhood via rhyming couplet—Columbus sailed west from Spain, convinced he could find a faster route to the East Indies by going around the world. But there was no follow-up couplet for Columbus being hauled back in chains in 1500 to face accusations of mismanagement, cruelty, slavery, and allowing rape.
This does not look good. After all, how bad do you have to be for the creators of the Inquisition to decide you’ve gone too far?
In this episode of True Crime Medieval, we investigate the charges laid against Columbus.
Relatedly, kind of, we look into when and why the heck people starting believing Columbus sailed west to prove the world was round.
SOURCES
Fernandez-Armesto, Felipe. Columbus. Oxford University Press, 1991.
Rusconi, Roberto, historical and textual editor, and Blair Sullivan, translator. The Book of Prophecies edited by Christopher Columbus.
Russell, Jeffrey Burton. Inventing the Flat Earth: Columbus and Modern Historians. Praeger, 1991.
Symcox, Geoffrey and Blair Sullivan. Christopher Columbus and the Enterprise of the Indies: A Brief History with Documents. Bedford/St Martins, 2005.
https://www.history.com/articles/columbus-day-controversy
https://www.history.com/articles/columbus-day-statues-italian-american-controversy
https://www.bunkhistory.org/resources/making-a-myth-backstory-archive
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.
116. The Great German Peasants’ War, Central Europe 1524-1525Credits:
In 1525, the largest popular uprising before the French Revolution broke out in Germany. The aristocracy had ratcheted up the demands on their peasants, increasing the amount of annual tithe and work requirements, and restricting access to forests and water sources. So when Martin Luther published “On the Freedom of a Christian,” the third of his pamphlets laying out Reformation ideas, that sounded pretty good to the peasants.
Apparently rising up and demanding freedom and better treatment wasn’t what Luther meant, as he clarified in a later publication called “No, not like that, you’re making me look bad.” [checks notes]. Apologies. It was actually called “Against the Murderous, Thieving Hordes of Peasants.” Unsurprisingly, Luther’s objections did not make the peasants back down.
Brutal crackdowns by well-armed forces did.
By the time the dust settled, soldiers had killed roughly 100,000 working class Germans. Which we’re considering a goddamn crime.
SOURCES
History of the German Peasants’ War
Baylor, Michael G. The German Reformation and the Peasants’ War. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2012.
Miller, Douglas. The German Peasants’ War, 1524-26. Helion and Company, 2023.
Roper, Lyndal. Summer of Fire and Blood. Basic Books, 2025.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Peasants%27_War
https://www.britannica.com/event/Peasants-War
https://www.warhistoryonline.com/medieval/german-peasants-war-1524-5.html
https://wunderkammertales.blogspot.com/2015/04/never-in-all-my-life-did-i-see-such-fun.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6tz_von_Berlichingen
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-349-19734-7_2
Pop Culture
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Muentzer_(film)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6tz_von_Berlic+hingen_(Goethe)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornberg_Castle_(Neckarzimmern)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goetz_von_Berlichingen_(film)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goetz_von_Berlichingen_of_the_Iron_Hand_(1979_film)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devil_and_the_Good_Lord
https://imslp.org/wiki/G%C3%B6tz_von_Berlichingen_(Goldmark,_Carl)
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7000084
https://iangriffinbooks.com/t-d-krupp
https://www.globalscreen.de/mm/en/content/60414
https://www.badassoftheweek.com/gotz
https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202411.1808/v1
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.
115. The Janissaries Briefly Break the Truce, December 24, 1522, Rhodes
In December of 1522, the Hospitaller city of Rhodes surrendered, after a brutal six-month long siege, to Suleyman the Magnificent, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. He offered unusually generous terms, which were (mostly) adhered to. Our crime is the Janissaries’ violations of the surrender agreement. But really what we’re doing is here is digging into the history of the Hospitallers, what they did after the fall of Acre in 1291—because, fortunately for them, Philip the fourth of France did not have them in his greedy sights, RIP the Knights Templar, see our episode about that travesty—and how the heck they ended up on Rhodes. We also examine the explosive (lol) development of gunpowder weapons between the first siege in 1480 and the second in 1522. William Davenant shows up.
History, Siege of Rhodes
Brockman, Eric. The Two Sieges of Rhodes: The Knights of St. John at War, 1480-1522. Laurence Pollinger, 1969.
Nossov, Konstantin. The Fortress of Rhodes, 1309-1522. Osprey Publishing, 2010.
Smith, Robert Douglas and Kelly DeVries. Rhodes Besieged: A New History. The History Press, 2011.
Zidaric, Zeljko. Siege and Fall of Rhodes in 1522. Academia, 2023.
https://www.britannica.com/event/Siege-of-Rhodes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Rhodes_(1522)
Star Forts
William Davenant
https://archive.org/details/playsofrestorati00macm/page/14/mode/2up
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclopedia/5405
https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Davenant
https://www.cherwell.org/2015/05/14/early-english-opera-the-failed-metamorphosis
https://archive.org/details/playsofrestorati00macm/page/14/mode/2up
https://archive.org/details/raresirwilliamda0000edmo/page/166/mode/2up
Other fun things
Band called The Siege of Rhodes: https://www.facebook.com/SiegeOfRhodes/
Henty, GA. 1895. A Knight of the White Cross.
Shiono, Nanami. 1985. The Siege of Rhodes. Written in Japanese, translated into English.
Tourism
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.
114. Beehive Stolen, Portugal 1435
Laws across Europe in the Middle Ages addressed crimes against bees, and occasionally, committed by bees, with greater scope and depth than one might have thought. For the entire medieval millennium, stealing from beehives, adulterating high-end honey with lesser quality, faking the provenance of honey, and other crimes against bees, were punished very seriously, and trouble caused by bees, both personal injury and property damage, was required to be compensated by their keeper.
In this episode, we explore the wide world of medieval bee crime. Oh my goodness. So. Much. We examine the myriad of laws pertaining to bee crime and the economics of bee product trading, which explains the seriousness of the laws. There’s even a couple museums, a handful of novels, and Suzy Eddie Izzard. A good time was had by all.
SOURCES
History
Chan, Hiu Ki. “Sicut Apis Operosa: Honey, Bees, and Chastity in the Early Medieval World.” Ex-position, Issue No. 45, June 2021 | National Taiwan University DOI: 10.6153/EXP.202106_(45).0004
Charles-Edwards, Thomas and Fergus Kelly, eds. Bechbretha. Early Irish Law Series Vol 1. Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1983. https://archive.org/details/bechbrethaoldiri01thom/page/n5/mode/2up?view=theater
Crane, Eva. The World History of Beekeeping and Honey Hunting. Routledge, 1999. https://archive.org/details/the-world-history-of-beekeeping-and-honey-hunting-by-crane-ethel-eva/page/n1/mode/2up
Crane, Eva and Penelope Walker. “Irish Beekeeping in the past.” Ulster Folklife, Vol. 44, 1998.
Gedde, John, and Charles C. Miller Memorial Apicultural Library. The English Apiary, Or, The Compleat Bee-master.: Unfolding the Whole Art And Mystery of the Management of Bees. Being a Collection And Improvement of What Has Been Written by All Authors, Relating to This Subject, As Well Antient As Modern. With A New Discovery of an Excellent Method for Making Bee-houses And Colonies, to Free the Owners From the Great Charge And Trouble That Attends the Swarming of Bees And Is Much More Advantageous Than Any Other Method Hitherto Practised.. London: Printed for E. Curll, W. Mears, and T. Corbet, 1721. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/005783122
Fraser, H. M. Fraser (1955). “Beekeeping in the British Isles Before 1500.” Bee World 36:10, 177-186. DOI: 10.1080/0005772X.1955.11094900
Jimenez, Javier Martínez. “Appiaria vel in civitate vel in villa: apiculture in the early medieval West.” In D. Wallace-Hare (ed.). New Approaches to the Archaeology of Beekeeping. Oxford: Archaeopress, 2022. 159-71.
Sales Fava, L., Sapoznik, A., & Whelan, M. (2021). “Beekeeping in late medieval Europe: A survey of its ecological settings and social impacts.” Anales de la Universidad de Alicante. Historia Medieval, 22, 275-296.
Sapoznik, A., Sales i Favà, L., & Whelan, M. (2023). Trade, taste and ecology: honey in late medieval Europe. Journal of Medieval History, 49(2), 252–274. https://doi.org/10.1080/03044181.2023.2188603
Sapoznik, Alexandra (2021). “Bees in the Medieval World.” The British Academy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpQB9kP4FWM
Sapoznik, A., Sales i Favà, L., & Whelan, M. (2023). “Trade, taste and ecology: honey in late medieval Europe.” Journal of Medieval History, 49(2), 252–274. https://doi.org/10.1080/03044181.2023.2188603
Sapoznik, Alexandra, et al. “Bees in the Medieval World: Economic, Environmental, and Cultural Perspectives.” An ongoing research project. https://beesinthemedieval.wordpress.com/
Whelan, Mark. “‘Mead from Riga’: The Trade and Consumption of a Hanse Cultural Good in the Late Medieval Baltic.” German History, Volume 40, Issue 4, December 2022, Pages 470–486, https://doi.org/10.1093/gerhis/ghab086
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_a_Swarm_of_Bees
Beekeeping Museums
https://www.radolca.si/en/attractions/museums-and-galleries/museum-of-apiculture-radovljica
https://museums.eu/museum/details/15801/museum-of-apiculture
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithuanian_Museum_of_Ancient_Beekeeping
Novels
Cheal, Jan. The Bee-Keepers. 2013.
Time travel. Modern bee scientist ends up in 12th c Fountains Abbey, interacts with the beekeeper there. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1481787772/ref=ox_sc_saved_image_2?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1
Serei, Shian. The Beekeeper’s Daughter. 2016.
Beekeeping also peripheral rather than central but set in medieval Russia. Possibly made into a short film.
https://www.forums.onlinebookclub.org/viewtopic.php?f=63&t=71014
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12303622/?ref_=ttfc_rvi_i_1
Tomlinson, Theresa. A Swarming of Bees. 2012
Beekeeping is more peripheral; murder mystery set in 7th c Whitby abbey
https://www.carlanayland.org/reviews/swarming_bees.htm
Gleeson, Kristin. In Praise of Bees. 2015. The Song of the Bees. 2024.
Gleeson springboards from the Irish St. Gobnait and her beekeeping.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gobnait
Bee-related hilarity
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.
113. Rogallach mac Uatach Is Assasinated By Máel Brigte mac Mothlachán , Connacht, Ireland 649
According to Geoffrey Keating’s 1634 History of Ireland, Rogallach, King of Connacht, was murdered in 649 by his own peasants. You see, he had been hunting, wounded a deer, and tracked it down, but by the time he did, a couple of his peasants had found the deer, dispatched it, and were butchering the carcass. When he demanded they give it to him, the peasants instead killed him and kept the meat. But surely this ignominious death was just because Rogallach killed his nephew and had an incestuous relationship with his daughter.
Whew. If that all were true, maybe Rogallach could be said to have deserved it. The thing is, Keating is writing a thousand years after Rogallach’s murder, and the sources closest in time to Rogallach’s death tell a different story.
In this episode, we consider the murder of Rogallach and what (little) information can be reliably known about it, who the heck Geoffrey Keating was and what (little) information can be reliably known about him, and if it’s possible to figure out how and when in the millennium between when Rogallach is killed and when Keating writes about it that Rogallach becomes a villain.
SOURCES
Byrne, F.J. Irish Kings and High-Kings. Four Courts Press, 1973.
Cunningham, Bernadette. The World of Geoffrey Keating: History, Myth, and Religion in Seventeenth-century Ireland. Four Courts Press, 2000.
Keating, Geoffrey. The History of Ireland, from the Earliest Period to the English Invasion. Translated John O’Mahony. Haverty, 1857. https://archive.org/details/historyofireland00keat/page/n5/mode/2up?view=theater
Walsh, Paul. “Christian Kings of Connacht. Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society , 1937, Vol. 17, No. 3/4 (1937), pp. 124-143.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Keating
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogallach_mac_Uatach
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.
112. Sverker the Elder is Murdered, Alebäck Bridge, Sweden, December 25, 1156
For True Crime Medieval’s first episode in Sweden, we are covering the murder of King Sverker in 1156. Sverker was not born into the aristocracy, but his family did have land and money, which is most likely one of the reasons he ends up becoming King of Sweden. He must have been good at the job too; in the rough and tumble that is early medieval politics, in which a country could easily see three kings in a decade, Sverker rules for more than twenty years.
But even when you’re good at your job, you can’t make everyone happy. Especially people who think they would be better at your job. Getting bumped off by another prince who wants your throne happens regularly throughout the Middle Ages (and in other times too, humans being as we are). What made Sverker’s murder shocking even to his contemporaries was that it was done a) on Christmas Day. [I know, right?] and b) by a trusted servant.
In this episode, we examine the murder of King Sverker, how we know about it, who likely paid off the servant, the frankly disturbing number of Christmas murders we’ve discussed so far, and the tourist sites associated with King Sverker.
SOURCES
History
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sverker_the_Elder
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Sverker
https://www.wikiwand.com/en/articles/Sverker_the_Elder
https://www.britannica.com/place/Sweden/The-Viking-Age#ref403686
Tourism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visings%C3%B6
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C3%A4s_Castle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tre_Kronor_(castle)
https://www.spottinghistory.com/view/1727/visingsborg-castle-ruins
Historical Fiction
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crusades_trilogy
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.
111. Massacre of the Latins, Constantinople, Byzantine Empire, April 1182
In an earlier episode, we covered the crime against humanity and culture that was the Sacking of Constantinople in 1204 by forces participating in the Fourth Crusade and supposedly on the same side as, you know, their fellow Christians in Constantinople. Our current episode provides useful background information for that disaster, as well as being a fascinating but underdiscussed topic in its own right.
In 1182, the citizens of Constantinople attacked and killed many of the inhabitants of the Latin Quarter. The violence did not come out of nowhere. Andronikos Komnenos, seeing an opportunity to make himself emperor, whipped up anger against the Latins (i.e., Venetians, Genoans, etc.) who had become rich and powerful traders. It worked, although not for very long time, since he was deposed and killed (horribly) in 1186.
In this episode, we discuss the Massacre of the Latins, what led up to it, and what followed; its relationship to the Sacking of Constantinople; contemporary sources for the massacre and lackof modern scholarly treatment; and the thoroughly terrible human being who was Andronikos Komnenos. Which, naturally, means there are several novels about him.
SOURCES
History of Byzantine Empire in General and Massacre of the Latins in particular
The Cambridge Illustrated History of The Middle Ages, 950-1250. Ed Robert Fossier. Cambridge UP, 1997.
The Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire, c. 500-1492.Ed. Jonathan Shepard. Cambridge UP, 2008.
A Chronology of the Byzantine Empire. Ed. Timothy Venning. Palgrave, 2006.
Gregory, Timothy E. A History of Byzantium. Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.
Harris, Jonathan. Byzantium and the Crusades. Bloomsbury Academic, 2022.
Madden, Thomas F. Enrico Dandolo and the Rise of Venice. Johns Hopkins UP, 2003.
Nicol, David. Byzantium and Venice: A Study in Diplomatic and Cultural Relations. Cambridge UP, 1988.
The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies. Ed Elizabeth Jeffries et al. Oxford UP, 2008.
William of Tyre
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_of_Tyre
https://archive.org/details/william-of-tyre-deeds-done-beyond-the-sea-volume-ii/page/460/mode/2up
Andronikos Komnenos
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andronikos_I_Komnenos
Novels about the Byzantine Empire in general
https://shepherd.com/best-books/to-explore-the-byzantine-world
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/74180.Byzantium_Empire_Fiction
http://www.historicalnovels.info/Constantinople.html
Novels about Andronikos Komnenos
https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Andronikos_I_Komnenos#In_popular_culture
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/629140.Against_the_Fall_of_Night
https://www.ebay.com/itm/156440362857
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Walking_Drum
https://www.1066.co.nz/Mosaic%20DVD/whoswho/text/Agnes_of_France[1].htmhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baudolino
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.
110. St. Mikhail of Chernihiv is Assassinated by the Golden Horde, Batu Khan’s Camp, Kyivan Rus, 1246
Michael of Chernigov was Prince of Chernigov and Grand Prince of Kiev, so unsurprisingly, he was not going to just accept Batu Khan’s invasion of Kievan Rus. He rallied his own people and tried to get other parts of Europe to join them in fighting the Golden Horde. Alas, that diplomatic effort made no headway, but he continued resistance on his own. When at last he was forced to submit to Batu Khan, things did not go well. Unless you were Batu Khan, in which case you were probably pretty happy with how it shook out. We’re told Batu Khan demanded that Michael perform pagan worship rituals but while Michael was willing to do homage to Batu as conqueror, he considered the rituals blasphemous and refused, and was executed in 1246.
In this episode, we discuss the killing of Michael of Chernigov, where the Golden Horde came from, why this execution might have been more about getting rid of a political rival and not so much a religious dispute, the sources for how we know any of this, and how Michael came to be recognized as a saint and martyr. Oh, and Russian Atlantis because you knew there was going to be a rabbit hole in here somewhere.
SOURCES
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_of_Chernigov
De Hartog, Leo. Russia and the Mongol Yoke: The History of the Russian Principalities and the Golden Horde, 1221-1502. New York: British Academic Press, 1996.
Dimnik, Martin. The Dynasty of Chernigov, 1146-1246. Cambridge University Press, 2003.
—. Mikhail, Prince of Chernigov and Grand Prince of Kiev, 1224-1246. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, 1981.
Fennel, John. The Crisis of Medieval Russia, 1200-1304. New York: Longman, 1983.
Halparin, Charles J. Russia and the Golden Horde. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1985.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitezh
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.
109.King Duncan Gets Killed, Pitgaveny, Scotland 14 August 1040
We’ve seen Shakespeare’s Macbath, so we know that Good King Duncan, a poor old man, was murdered in his sleep by the ambitious Macbeth, egged on by his equally ambitious wife and the prophecies of three witches that he would become king.
Ah, historical fiction. Like the little girl in the poem, when it was good, it was very very good, and when it was bad, it was horrid.
In this episode, we examine the history that was allegedly the source for Shakespeare’s play. We were a bit surprised—but you won’t be, given this intro—to discover how verrryyyy little the play has to with real events. And how difficult it is to nail down more than a handful of specifics about real-life Macbeth. But hey, there’s boatloads and boatloads of novels, plays, musicals, poems, artwork, and probably other genres of creative works I’ve forgotten so there’s that. Who are we to object that murky truth should get in the way of a good story?
SOURCES
Hudson, Benjamin. Macbeth Before Shakespeare. Benjamin Hudson. Oxford UP, 2023.
https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofScotland/Duncan-MacBeth
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macbeth,_King_of_Scotland
https://www.historytoday.com/archive/real-macbeth-king-scots-1040-1054
http://www.dorothydunnett.co.uk/articles-real-macbeth.php
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/21755.Macbeth
https://historicalnovelsociety.org/?s=macbeth
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_references_to_Macbeth
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scottish_Play#
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.
108. April Fool’s Episode: Pope Joan, Rome 855-857
Once upon a time, a girl fell in love. She followed her lover into the church, disguising herself as a man. As you do. Wouldn’t you know it, she turns out to be really good at monk stuff. So good she climbs the ranks of the church hierarchy and is eventually elected to the papacy itself. But then the whole actually-being-a-woman-thing is dramatically and catastrophically revealed when she gives birth right smack in the middle of a papal procession. Which is why, forever afterward, papal processions avoid that particular road and also prospective popes have to sit on a special split chair while some poor episcopal sod checks for testicles.
If this story sound sus to you, yeah. Good instincts.
Welcome to True Crime Medieval’s 2025 April Fool’s episode. This year, we’re examining the legend of Pope Joan, the woman who supposedly broke the laws of God and man by wearing men’s clothes and becoming a monk, was so brilliant she became pope, and yet somehow didn’t recognize labor enough to postpone a papal procession.
Uh-huh.
In this episode we discuss the legend of Pope Joan, where the story came from, how long people thought it might be true, and its long history as a source for fiction.
SOURCES
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Joan
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pope-Joan
https://www.history.com/news/who-was-pope-joan
https://www.historyextra.com/period/medieval/pope-joan
https://press.umich.edu/Books/T/The-Afterlife-of-Pope-Joan
https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2018/05/the-one-and-only-female-pope.html
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0458455
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069110
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Joan_(2009_film)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4819032/?ref_=tt_mv_close
https://composersedition.com/anne-lebaron-pope-joan
https://www.romeandart.eu/en/art-pope-chair.html
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.
107. Church Sanctuary in the Middle Ages
Historical fiction and movies set in the Middle Age love to use the plot device of having a character, unjustly accused of a crime, run into a church and beg for sanctuary.
Surely something that shows up about the Middle Ages so much must be true, right?
LOL.
In this episode, we examine the issue of sanctuary in the Middle Ages. Could you really murder someone and run into a church to get away from the hue and cry? Since this isn’t our April Fool’s Day episode, you can probably guess that in this case, it’s more or less true. We explain the history of sanctuary, how it was requested, the rules surrounding it, and how it appears in literature, both medieval and modern.
SOURCES
Allen, Elizabeth. Uncertain Refuge: Sanctuary in the Literature of Medieval England. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2021.
Shoemaker, Karl. Sanctuary and Crime in the Middle Ages:400-1500. Fordham University Press, 2011.
https://www.history.com/news/church-sanctuary-asylum-middle-ages
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.
106. Special Episode: Axlar-Björn Pétursson is Executed for Serial Murder, Snæfellsnes Peninsula, Iceland 1596
In 1596, the only known serial killer in Iceland was executed. Bjorn Petursson, also known as Axlar-Bjorn from the name of his farm, confessed to killing eight people but insisted the other ten bodies found on his land were, you know, there when he got there, which frankly seems sus to us.
(By the by, why would someone confess to eight murders but not all of them? Does that strike anyone else as weird? It’s not like you get a free pass on the first dozen but after that it’s a problem.)
In this episode, we consider what is known about Axlar-Bjorn and how his story has been retold in the years since. It was his misfortune to have conducted his murder spree after Danish law came to Iceland, as Anne explains. Unsurprisingly, he passes from history into folktale, and shows up in the first published collection of Icelandic folktale in the mid-nineteenth century. Michelle presents her case that we should all know the name of the editor of the collection, Jon Arnason. Bjorn shows up in modern Icelandic culture—because of course he does, who’s going to let this kind of material just sit there?—but it’s in Icelandic so there’s a limit to what we can tell you about it.
SOURCES
Axlar-Bjorn
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axlar-Bj%C3%B6rn
https://www.icelandicroots.com/post/j%C3%B3n-%C3%A1rnason-august-s-interesting-icelander
https://www.grunge.com/331629/the-true-story-of-icelands-only-serial-killer
Podcasts about Bjorn
https://podtail.com/podcast/eerie-iceland/episode-36-iceland-serial-killer-axlar-bjorn
https://www.pillowfort.social/posts/196880
Jon Arnason
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B3n_%C3%81rnason_(author)
https://www.icelandicfilmschool.is/news/axlar-bjorn-icelands-only-serial-killer-returns
https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_bJ_7jDsJPQUC/page/64/mode/2up
Axlar-Bjorn in Modern Pop Culture
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt20452466
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesturport
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23266212-rj-r-s-lir-svartar
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megas
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.
105. St. Adalbert of Prague is Martyred, Truso, Poland 997
One Christmas I gave my father a Demotivational poster showing a snow-topped mountain and the caption, “Every dead body on Mount Everest was once a highly ambitious person.” Dark, I know, but come on, hilarious.
For some reason, Adalbert of Prague called that poster to mind.
He was absolutely committed to bringing Christianity to the Hungary, Lithuania, and the various Baltic states. Since he was born in 956 and died in 997, while this part of Europe became part of the medieval church when it had begun the process of becoming the Renaissance church, it’s not really a spoiler to say that things did not go well for Adalbert.
In this episode, we consider Adalbert of Prague, his deep faith, and how it ended up that Prussian pagans decided they’d have enough of him. RIP Adalbert. We also look at how quickly his fame as a martyr and saint spread, and the biographies, churches, and artwork that told his story, and the continued presence of his memory today. Oh and there’s a bonus crime, involving a raid to steal his bones. This episode has it all.
It’s good to be back.
SOURCES
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adalbert_of_Prague
Baronus, Darius and S.C. Rowell. The Conversion of Lithuania from Pagan Barbarians to Late-Medieval Christians. The Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore, 2015.
https://medievalsourcesbibliography.org/sources.php?id=2146115838
https://www.google.com/books/edition/Vita_Adalberti/llUmAQAAIAAJ?hl=en
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gniezno_Doors
https://charlie.aachen-tourismus.de/en/poi/st-adalbert-priory-church
https://www.magersandquinn.com/product/ST-ADALBERT-OF-PRAGUE-(BISHOP/26688962
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruno_of_Querfurt
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Canaparius
BONUS: THE RECIPE ANNE FOUND
If you want to carry soft cheese around as a snack, you can fry it up with flour into little fat pancakes:
- 2 cups farmer cheese
- 1 large egg
- salt
- All-purpose flour, for coating
- 3 to 4 tablespoons oil for frying
- Mix the cheese and the egg. Add a bit of salt. Make into little balls and roll in flour, and then fry. They should fit nicely into your bag, along with any book you would like to use in order to annoy people you run across.
- 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.
104. Special Episode: Abd Allah ibn Ali invites the Umayyades to a Banquet and Slaughters Them, Palestine 750
In 750 CE, the story goes, the uncle of the first Abbasid Caliph, Al Saffah, who had just overthrown the ruling Umayyad dynasty of the Islamic empire, invited the surviving members of the Umayyad ruling class to a feast. There, after the first course, he called in his henchmen, who beat the Umayyads to death—all but one, who escaped, fled to Spain, and established the Andalusian dynasty—then had carpets thrown over the still-groaning bodies and continued the festivities.
In this episode, we consider this event. Did the crime happen? If it did, did it happen the way the story says it happened? How do we know? We dig deep, and it is not easy, we can tell you. French is involved.
SOURCES
Bennison, Amira K. The Great Caliphs: The Golden Age of the ‘Abbasid Empire. Yale UP, 2009.
El-Hibi, Tayeb. The Abbasid Caliphate: A History. Cambridge UP, 2021.
Hawting G.R. The First Dynasty of Islam: The Umayyad Caliphate, AD 661-750. Croom Helm, 1986.
Kennedy, Hugh, editor. Al-Tabari: A Medieval Muslim Historian and His Work. The Darwin Press, 2008.
—. Caliphate: The History of an Idea. Basic Books, 2016.
—. The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates. Longman, 1986.
Lassner, Jacob. The Shaping of ‘Abbasid Rule. Princeton UP, 1980.
Nicolle, David. The Great Islamic Conquests, AD 632-750. Essential Histories. Osprey Publishing, 2009.
Moscati, Sabatino. “Le massacre des Umayyades dans l’histoire et dans les fragments poétiques,” Archiv Orientální 18 (1950): 88–115.
Saunders, J.J. A History of Medieval Islam. J.J. Routledge, 1965.
The History of al-Tabari. Volume XXVII: The Abbasid Revolution. Translated and annotated by John Alden Williams. SUNY Press, 1985.
The Works of Ibn Wadih al-Ya‘qubi: An English Translation. Edited by Matthew S. Gordon, Chase F. Robinson, Everett K. Rowson, and Michael Fishbein. Brill, 2018.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbasid_Revolution
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.
103. Pino III Ordelaffi Poisons a Whole Lot of People, Forli, Northern Italy, 1463-1480
Pino III Ordelaffi (1436-80) is suspected of having poisoned his brother, his first wife, his second wife, and his mother. You’d think, wouldn’t you, that there would be some in-depth research about him? Lol. No, at least not in English or translated into English.
In this episode, we discuss this audacious poisoner and his equally aggressive family, vying for control of the city of Forli. We also consider the legal perspective on poisoning in Renaissance Italy.
SOURCES
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ordelaffi-family
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pino_III_Ordelaffi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Ordelaffi
https://castrocarotermeterradelsole.travel/en/cities-of-art-and-villages-of-interest
https://www.diogene.news/mentelocale/1602/la-misteriosa-morte-di-barbara-manfredi-.html
“Poison and Poisoning in Renaissance Italy” by Alessandro Pastore in Murder in Renaissance Italy ed Trevor Dean and KJP Lowe. Cambridge University Press, 2017.
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.
102. William de Burgh Starves his Cousin Walter to Death, Greencastle, Ulster 1332
Sometimes you try so hard and you get nowhere. But sometimes, you succeed beyond your wildest dreams.
It’s unlikely that Gylle de Burgh, when she plotted the murder of her cousin William in revenge for his throwing her brother Walter into Northburgh Castle and leaving him to die, intended for the murder to lead to the collapse of the mighty de Burgh family and indeed Anglo-Norman control of Ireland for three hundred years.
But it did.
In this episode, we discuss Walter’s imprisonment and death, the murder of William, and how the entire edifice of Anglo-Norman Ireland imploded. Maybe the lesson here is not to kill your relatives? Not colonize your neighbors? Also, why are there no movies about this?
SOURCES
Duffy, Sean. Ireland in the Middle Ages. St Martin’s Press, 1997.
Otway-Ruthven, A.J. A History of Medieval Ireland. St. Martin’s Press, 1968, 1980.
Simms, Katherine. “The Norman Invasion and the Gaelic Recovery.” In The Oxford Illustrated History of Ireland, ed Roy Foster. Oxford UP, 1989.
Underhill, Frances A. For Her Own Good Estate: The Life of Elizabeth de Burgh. The New Middle Age series. Ed. Bonnie Wheeler. St Martin’s Press, 1999.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Liath_de_Burgh#
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Donn_de_Burgh,_3rd_Earl_of_Ulster
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gylle_de_Burgh
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burke_Civil_War
https://www.coleslane.com/newpage2b88dcae
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_the_de_Burgos
https://www.britainirelandcastles.com/Ireland/County-Donegal/Northburgh-Castle.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northburgh_Castle
https://discovernorthernireland.com/things-to-do/carrickfergus-castle-p674971
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrickfergus_Castle
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5181284
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.
101. Defenestrations of Prague, Prague, Bohemia 1419, 1483, 1618
It’s the plural that gets me.
Three times—three times—crowds tossed politicians they were displeased with out of windows in Prague. Twice in the fifteenth century, one in the seventeenth. I’m all for community spirit, but hmm. It’s fascinating. Not just to me. The internet has a lot to say about the Defenestrations, ranging from fairly accurate YouTube videos to memes about having a specific word for tossing people out of windows.
In this episode, we discuss the Defenestrations of Prague. You might be wondering, as we were, what precise set of circumstances ends (THREE TIMES) in chucking people from windows. Anne explains this all, while Michelle attempts to find historical fiction but with limited success.
SOURCES
History
https://www.artpotmagazine.com/post/defenestration-the-art-of-chucking-folk-out-windows
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenestrations_of_Prague
https://www.britannica.com/event/Defenestration-of-Prague-1618
https://www.czechcenter.org/blog/2019/11/15/the-defenestrations-of-prague
https://joshwest63.medium.com/the-strange-and-disturbing-history-of-defenestration-f7dcd7497004
Literature
https://praguenoise.bandcamp.com/album/the-walls-were-made-from-fire
https://www.warhistoryonline.com/medieval/medieval-jan-zizka.html
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/06/10/defenestration-of-prague
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/susan-howe
Tourism
https://www.lucytours.com/the-defenestrations-of-prague
https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g274707-d283773-r465663936-Hradcany-Prague_Bohemia.html
https://www.seattletimes.com/life/travel/pragues-window-on-history
https://www.newstatesman.com/uncategorized/2017/10/bohemian-rhapsody-two-defenstrations-prague
https://magicbohemia.com/a-fateful-tale-of-false-measurements-at-new-town-hall
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.
99. Juliane de Fontevrault Tries to Kill Her Father (Henry I) With a Crossbow, Normandy 1110
In 1119, Juliane of Fontevrault tries to kill King Henry I of England with a crossbow. An attempt to assassinate a king would be interesting on its own, but this case is particularly intriguing, since Juliane was Henry’s natural daughter. It’s true that fighting amongst themselves is a family sport among the Normans, but a) Henry was known to have treated his natural children well, and b) the in-fighting tends to be more property disputes that sneaky murder plots. So what led up to Juliane agreeing to parley with Henry and instead taking a shot at him? In this episode, we find out. As often with the Normans, Orderic Vitalis is a crucial source, and this being the Normans, we get to talk about a castle. Fun was had by all, and we hope you do too.
SOURCES
Orderic Vitalis. The Ecclesiastical History of England and Normandy. Translated, with notes, and the introduction of Guizot by Thomas Forester. London: Bohn, 1853.
https://archive.org/details/ecclesiasticalhi03orde/page/466/mode/2up
Ellis, Gorman, Stuart. The Medieval Crossbow. Philadelphia: Pen and Sword Military, 2022.
Gravett, Christopher and David Nicolle. The Normans: Warrior Knights and their Castles. Osprey Publishing, 2006.
Thompson, Kathleen. “Affairs of State: The Illegitimate Children of Henry I.” Journal of Medieval History. Vol 29, 129-151.
https://plantagenesta.livejournal.com/56472.html
http://www.castles99.ukprint.com/Essays/France/Normandy/Ivry.html
https://historytheinterestingbits.com/tag/lovells
http://www.normanconnections.com/en/norman-sites/important-norman-buildings/chateau-of-ivry/
http://www.castles99.ukprint.com/Essays/France/Normandy/Ivry.html
https://en.normandie-tourisme.fr/museums-and-heritage-sites/relics-of-the-chateau-divry-la-bataille
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2teau_d%27Ivry-la-Bataille#cite_ref-Gravett_1-1
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.
98. April Fool’s Episode: Debunking the Chastity BeltCredits:Credits:
Everybody knows that in the Middle Ages, jealous husbands could and often did lock their wives into chastity belts when they had to be away from home for a long time.
In this April Fool’s episode, we examine chastity belts. Did medieval men actually lock up their wives’ private parts to keep them from committing the crime, or at least sin, of adultery?
From context clues, the astute reader (and listener) can probably work out that the answer is no. So how the heck did this myth come into being? We discuss, and also what people are doing with chastity belts nowadays. Yes, really.
SOURCES
Classen, Albrecht. The Medieval Chastity Belt: A Myth-Making Process. The New Middle Ages. Bonnie Wheeler, series editor. Palgrave, 2007.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chastity_belt.
https://www.livescience.com/55390-what-are-chastity-belts.html
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/everything-youve-heard-about-chastity-belts-is-a-lie
https://allthatsinteresting.com/chastity-belt
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/medieval-chastity-belts-are-myth-180956341
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chastity_belt_(BDSM)
https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/chastity-belt-cage-sex-toy
Book: The Medieval Chastity Belt: A Myth-Making Process. Albrecht Classen. Volume in Palgrave’s The New Middle Ages series ed by Bonnie Wheeler. 2007.
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.
97. Galeazzo Maria Sforza, the Duke of Milan, is Assassinated, Milan, Duchy of Milan 1476
We here at True Crime Medieval do not approve of murder as a way to solve your problems. That said, some victims are more difficult to pity than others. Case in point, the Duke of Milan who was assassinated in 1476.
Is it likely some of the deeds he’s accused of are exaggerated? Probably. It’s hard to imagine actually forcing a poacher to swallow the rabbit (whole, unskinned) he’d just been caught with. But when your wife writes to the Pope after your sudden death to confess on your behalf and ask for absolution—not to mention what she a) knew about, b) was willing to write down, c) in a letter to the Pope, well. The duke was a bad dude. Although he was also a lover of music, paid his musicians well, and was a patron of artists, including Leonardo di Vinci. People, man. Complicated.
In this episode, we discuss the Duke of Milan’s badness, how we know about it, and what led up to three men deciding to get together and murder him. Not Templars, btw, despite what the game Assassin’s Creed might say, in no small measure due to not existing for nearly two hundred years. Nice conspiracy theory, though. Oh, and the Sforza castle still exists as a museum and can be visited, so that’s cool.
SOURCES
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galeazzo_Maria_Sforza#
https://www.italyonthisday.com/2020/01/galeazzo-maria-sforza-duke-of-milan.html
https://www.boomplay.com/episode/6500034
https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.4159/harvard.9780674067912.c4/pdf
https://archive.org/stream/historyofmilanun017956mbp/historyofmilanun017956mbp_djvu.txt
https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/bernardino-corio_(Dizionario-Biografico)
https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/bernardino-corio_(altro)
https://deveresociety.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/NL-2005dec-magri-sisters.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castello_Sforzesco
https://www.emminlondon.com/2013/11/sforza-castle-castello-sforzesco-milan.html
http://www.churchesofflorence.com/santospirito.htm
https://assassinscreed.fandom.com/wiki/Assassination_of_Galeazzo_Maria_Sforza
96. Leszek the White, High Duke of Poland, is Assassinated, Morcinkowo, Poland 1227
Kings want to be remembered. They endow universities, build cathedrals, sponsor painters, and commission impressive tombs, all in an effort to make sure their memory lives on after them.
Leszeg the White is remembered, but possibly not the way he’d have liked to be.
In November of 1227, Leszeg attended a gathering of Polish dukes. Someone, it’s not certain who, saw an opportunity and sent killers. Henry the Bearded was saved by a faithful retainer but Leszeg was caught in the bath. Impressively, he managed to free himself and get to his horse, but the murderers caught up with him a couple of miles away.
It’s a little difficult to ride a horse effectively and fast while naked.
In this episode, we discuss the assassination of Leszeg the White, his attempted escape, and what led up to the killing. We also consider the ways in which pop culture has treated the subject because really, a nekkid duke on horseback, fleeing assassins, is a pretty compelling subject. There’s statues. There’s paintings. An opera. And Leszeg didn’t have to commission any of them. We also discuss Leszeg’s excuse to the Pope for skipping a crusade, for which he is also remembered.
SOURCES
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leszek_the_White
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B3zef_Elsner
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micha%C5%82_Dymitr_Krajewski
https://ruj.uj.edu.pl/xmlui/handle/item/295359
https://archive.org/details/leszekbialyxiaz00krajgoog/page/n6/mode/2up
https://www.ebay.com/itm/393785586500
https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witold_Korski
https://yadda.icm.edu.pl/baztech/element/bwmeta1.element.baztech-article-BSW1-0061-0007
http://www.wirtualnakatedra.pl/sw-jadwiga-2/altar/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Matejko
https://forkingaroundwithhistory.pl/index.php?title=Evading_Crusading
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.
95. Henry d’Almain is Murdered, Viterbo, Italy 1271
On March 13, 1271, Henry de Almain was murdered in the city of Vitero, Italy by his cousins (!) while attending mass (!!).
I know by this point I really shouldn’t be shocked. But I’m kinda shocked.
In my defense, so were thirteenth-century contemporaries, and the scandal remained current for years.
In this episode, we discuss what on earth led to Simon de Montfort’s sons killing their cousin far away from home in revenge for dreadful events that took place in a battle Henry wasn’t present at. Background is an absolute necessity to make any sense out of this case at all. We also consider how the murder reverberated through literature, starting with Dante. Oh, and there’s a nineteenth-century scholar/forger because why not.
SOURCES
Morris, Marc. A Great and Terrible King: Edward I and the Forging of Britain. Pegasus Books, 2009.
https://www.englishmonarchs.co.uk/plantagenet_53.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_of_Almain
https://battleoflewes.blogspot.com/2010/08/born-in-1244-guy-de-montfort-was.html
https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/commemorations/henry-of-almayne
https://thehistoryjar.com/tag/henry-of-almain
https://simon2014.com/the-murder-of-evesham-continues
http://dantelab.dartmouth.edu/reader?reader%5Bcantica%5D=1&reader%5Bcanto%5D=12
https://hensloweasablog.blogspot.com/2016/02/25-february-1592-harry-of-cornwall.html
https://lostplays.folger.edu/Harry_of_Cornwall
https://henslowe-alleyn.org.uk
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiesa_di_San_Silvestro_(Viterbo)
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https://www.beweb.chiesacattolica.it/edificidiculto/edificio/22613
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.
94. Maddelena, a Circassian, is Bought in Crimea and Sold in Italy, Venice, Italy c. 1428
In the early fifteenth century, a young Circassian woman who came to be known as Maddalena was enslaved in the household of Cosimo di Medici, having been purchased in Venice. She became the mother of Cosimo’s illegitimate son Carlo. Raised with Cosimo’s other children, Carlo did well in life, becoming a priest and cultured man. Little is known about his mother except that she was his mother, and that she came to the household via the Black Sea slave trade.
Maddalena’s experience is all too common. The Black Sea slave trade is striking in its scope and longevity, as we discover in this episode. Some were children sold into slavery by their parents; some were captured in raids; some ended up enslaved after being unable to repay debt; some were prisoners of war; some were paying passengers sold by unscrupulous sailors. There was a myriad of ways to end up in slavery around the Black Sea, but most people who did went through the city of Kaffa, where the main slave market was.
SOURCES
Barker, H. (2023). Slavery in the Black Sea Region. In: Pargas, D.A., Schiel, J. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Global Slavery throughout History. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13260-5_9.
Barker, Hannah. That Most Precious Merchandise: The Mediterranean Trade in Black Sea Slaves, 1260-1500. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019.
Eurasian Slavery, Ransom and Abolition in World History, 1200–1860. Ed. Christoph Witzenrath. Routledge, 2015.
Kizilov, Mikhail. “The Black Sea and the Slave Trade: The Role of Crimean Maritime Towns in the Trade in Slaves and Captives in the Fifteenth to Eighteenth Centuries.” International Journal of Maritime History, 17(1) (2005): 211–235.
Slavery in the Black Sea Region, c.900–1900: Forms of Unfreedom at the Intersection between Christianity and Islam. Ed. Felicia Roşu. Brill, 2022.
Medievalslavery.org
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sea_slave_trade
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimean%E2%80%93Nogai_slave_raids_in_Eastern_Europe
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.
93. Michael Servetus is Murdered, Geneva, Republic of Geneva 1553
On October 27, 1553, Michael Servetus was led to a pile of green wood—and copies of his book—and burned to death, with a representative copy of his book tied to him.
You might ask yourself, as I did, what he could possibly have done to merit such a sentence? What had he written in that book that not only the man but the book had to be removed from the face of the earth?
In this episode, we find out.
Along the way, we encounter theological disputes, personal animosity, theological disputes that become personal animosity, polymaths with poor social skills, questionable travel choices, rare books, and of course opera. Because this case is most definitely operatic.
SOURCES
Gladstone, Lawrence and Nancy. Out of the Flames: The Remarkable Story of a Fearless Scholar, A Fatal Heresy, and One of the Rarest Books in the World. Broadway Books, 2002.
Zagorin, Perez. How the Idea of Religious Toleration Came to the West. Princeton UP, 2003.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Servetus
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Michael-Servetus
https://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/ngier/servetus.htm
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/217637
2008 Play: https://archive.org/details/GalileoGalileivesaliusAndServetus/page/n105/mode/2up
2011 Opera: https://web.archive.org/web/20120319011752/http://www.genevox.net/le-procegraves-de-michel-servet.html
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.