10.
The Corpse Queen of Portugal In the middle of the 14th century, King Pedro
I of Portugal was so heartbroken over his recently deceased wife that he exhumed her
corpse to have her crowned queen.
She sat next to him on the throne for all to honor.
It was one of the most bizarre romantic scandals in royal history.
Her name was Ines de Castro, and the tragic romance between Pedro and Ines caused such
a huge rift it led to civil war.
Ines de Castro was born in 1325 to a noble family with blood going back to the ancient
Kingdom of Galicia.
In 1340 when she was only 15, she was sent to be a lady-in-waiting at the court of Crown
Prince Pedro.
At the time, Peter was married to Constanza of Castile and wasn’t yet the king.
But he fell in love with the teenage girl who also happened to be his wife’s cousin.
His wife realized an affair had started but died five years later after giving birth to
their son.
Pedro, still just a prince, asked his father King Alfonso if he could finally marry Ines
de Castro.
It didn't go the way Pedro had hoped.
His father denied the request and banished the woman from court.
The pair married in secret which would make de Castro the future Queen.
They had four children but the King refused to acknowledge the family and saw Ines as
a threat to the kingdom.
IInes and her brothers from Castille in Spain had great influence over his son and heir
Pedro so the plot began to get rid of her.
According to one historical account, she was beheaded in front of her children.
Pedro came home and saw his beloved wife dead and in a rage he declared war on his father.
With the help from Ines’ brothers they got an army together and marched into the city
to take over.
However they eventually called a truce and in 1357 Pedro inherited the throne.
He managed to track down the murderers of his beloved Ines, and then he watched as their
hearts were ripped out of their chests.
He declared his dead wife the rightful queen of Portugal and had her corpse dug out of
the ground.
Then she was crowned in full view of everyone and all the nobles had to kiss the hand of
the corpse bride.
9.
The Case of John/Eleanor Rykener John Rykener, also known as Eleanor Rykener,
was what you might call a streetwalker from the 14th century.
John was arrested in December of 1394 for performing a lewd act with a man while he
was dressed as a woman.
These days, this isn’t quite as frowned upon as it once was.
But in the 1300s, two men getting frisky in a dark alley on a cold London night was considered
an offense against life itself.
John didn't get in trouble for the fact that he was selling his unique talents, but for
the fact he was selling them to a man while wearing a dress.
It became such a big fiasco in London that the case went to court.
It was during the court case that the secret life of John Rykener was revealed.
According to his testimony, he was introduced to being a paid adult entertainer by a woman
named Elizabeth Brouderer.
Elizabeth was an embroideress in London whom John alleged acted as his procurer.
In other words, she got him clients!
She was the one who made the dresses for him, and she was the one who found his clients
– apparently both men and women, even priests and nuns!
It's really the first historical case in London of a man preferring to dress like a woman.
And all the while being managed by a greedy female pimp named Elizabeth.
8.
Pope John XII Pope John XII is considered to be the worst
pope in pope history.
He was a robber, a murderer, a gambler, an alcoholic, and had a thing for getting nude
with family members.
He's been called an abominable priest who soiled the great chair of St. Peter for nine
long years.
French historian Louis Marie DeCormenin described him as the most wicked of popes.
That's saying a lot!
In the 10th century, the Roman Church was handled mainly by powerful Italian families
who fought one another to gain the most power.
On December 16, 955, Pope John XII became the Supreme Pontiff and ruler of the Papal
States.
He was 18, and essentially nothing but a rich and very privileged teenager.
John helped Rome slide quickly into chaos.
He used funds from the church to gamble and live a lavish lifestyle.
He turned the Lateran Palace into a brothel and bedded married women.
He made his mistress governor, gave church treasures to his favorite concubines, and
even kidnapped female pilgrims who had journeyed to Rome in the name of God.
It went on like this until Rome was in such shambles that on May 14, 964, the pope – according
to one historian – died from internal bleeding after being beaten by a woman’s husband
who found them in bed together.
7.
The Holes of Truth In Florence during the 1400s, there were boxes
placed around the city known as tamburo.
They were receptacles for snitches.
You could leave an anonymous note inside one of these receptacles, nicknamed the holes
of truth, and then something would or would not be done.
Special Florentine officers would go through the notes and investigate when necessary.
It was a way for the citizens to rat one another out.
A very strange note was discovered in April of 1476 inside one of these receptacles.
It was a testimony stating that a man named Jacopo Saltarelli, a young man of about 17
years old, was participating in immoral activities.
The testimony went on to name several of the most prestigious men in Florence.
One of these men was Leonardo da Vinci himself, one of the greatest minds in history.
It's generally agreed by historians these days that Leonardo did indeed prefer the company
of men.
But it wasn't known back then.
The truly strange part about this whole ordeal is that whether the men were guilty or not
of paying Jacopo for his time, they were busted because of the public boxes where people could
tell on one another.
In the end, nobody was persecuted and all the accusations were swept under the rug.
It was primarily because the names of those listed were far too important to get caught
up in a scandal.
Do you think modern neighborhoods should have snitch boxes so that people can tell on their
neighbors to the police about stuff they don't like them doing?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments and don't forget to subscribe before the end
of the video!
:) 6.
A Medieval Wife Swap Scientists have discovered an ancient wife
swap in an old medieval manuscript.
Staff at Cambridge’s Fitzwilliam Museum noticed something off about a picture in an
illustrated prayer book called The Hours of Isabella Stuart, which was commissioned by
a wealthy woman in the 15th century.
The scientists used infrared technology to see that the woman in the painting was drawn
over an earlier woman, one who had been erased and replaced.
This discovery led them to the bizarre story of the Duke Francois I of Brittany.
The duke’s first wife was the Duchess of Anjou, Yolande of Aragon.
In 1431, Yolande’s mother commissioned the manuscript.
But after she died in 1440 and the Duke remarried in 1442, he altered the manuscript.
He had his first wife painted over and his new wife, Isabel, painted in her place.
It’s the first known instance of photoshopping your ex out of a picture!
5.
A Stolen Identity In the small French town of Artigat, a man
by the name of Arnaud du Tilh was put to death on September 16, 1560.
He was sentenced to die by hanging for a crime that hadn't really taken off yet.
It was alleged that for three long years, he had assumed the identity of another man
and was living under the name Martin Guerre.
He was guilty of identity theft!
Martin had been missing for eight years when Arnaud showed up.
It had been so long, and it wasn't exactly like they had pictures on their phone that
they could compare him to, that Arnaud was able to skate by as Martin.
He walked straight into his life and was welcomed by Martin's wife and both their families.
They all believed it was Martin who returned to them after eight long years away.
Arnaud even ended up having two children with Martin’s wife!
While all this may sound unbelievable, it's true.
Court records from Toulouse contain evidence of the trial.
We even know how he was able to trick everyone.
Keep in mind the brain is a funny thing, and after eight years without seeing the face
of your significant other, it is possible to be misled by someone who looks remotely
similar.
When Arnaud showed up, he proved himself to be Martin by reciting the very words which
they had spoken to one another on the night of their marriage.
He had enough information to clearly pass as Martin, and so everyone lived together
happily ever after for three years.
It was in 1559 that Martin’s wife realized she had been duped.
It was all because Arnaud demanded a share of the family business from his uncle and
threatened to sue him.
Then his uncle tried to kill him, he was brutally beaten, and the whole charade fell apart.
It turned out Arnaud had been mistaken for Martin while on the road near the town by
some of Martin’s old friends.
He was able to obtain enough information from them to take on the guise of Martin and move
into his life.
But he got greedy, and it ended with him being hanged.
4.
The Nun Who Faked Her Death Historian Sarah Rees Jones is the one who
stumbled upon the real tale of a medieval nun who faked her death to escape a convent.
Sarah was investigating the Registers of the Archbishops of York, looking at the records
from 1304 to 1405, when she came across a letter.
The letter dates to 1318, written by Archbishop William Melton.
He describes in the letter a scandalous rumor involving a nun named Joan.
The archbishop was looking for help from the Dean of Beverly to find Joan and return her
to the convent.
She had allegedly created a fake body to be buried by her sister nuns after faking her
death, then ran away to chase her carnal lust.
Seeing as this was the 1300s, carnal lust could have meant anything from enjoying some
tasty wine to setting herself up in a brothel.
We don't know what became of this woman.
All we know is that Joan was one of the first people in recorded history to elaborately
fake her death, creating a false body and everything, then fleeing the church to chase
her dreams.
3.
Animal Trials Animal trials were a very real thing in medieval
Europe between the 14th and 16th centuries.
They were treated as serious official proceedings that sometimes lasted for months on end.
Lawyers represented the animals and lawyers represented the court.
It was the belief of medieval authorities that animals could be conned into committing
evil acts by the devil.
In the year 1494, a child was mutilated when attacked by a young pig.
That pig was brought to court and charged with trying to commit murder.
The pig lost the case and was hanged on a gibbet of wood!
In the 16th century, a lawyer named Barthelemy de Chasseneuz defended a group of rats that
were caught ruining some local farmers' barley crops.
One of his defenses for the rats was that they were too old and too sickly to attend
the court proceedings.
Then there was the issue that he couldn't actually get the rats together to take them
to court, which he blamed on the townsfolk’s cat.
He actually managed to get a cat curfew put in place while the trial was ongoing, but
the case was eventually dismissed.
Finally, in 1474 in Switzerland, a rooster was burned at the stake for allegedly laying
an egg!
The court purported that the rooster was going against nature after three eggs were discovered
in its nest.
Basically, they said the rooster was a witch, and so they burned it just like they would
a human witch.
2.
Sigurd the Mighty Sigurd Eysteinsson, also known as Sigurd the
Mighty, was a powerful Viking warrior and the Second Earl of Orkney.
He reigned between 875 and 892, taking power after his brother helped King Harald to root
out a group of rogue Vikings who were causing trouble.
After the fighting, Sigurd’s brother was given Orkney and the Shetland Islands and
the title of earl.
He passed the island and the rulership over to Sigurd, who began to expand his territory
throughout northern Scotland.
By expanding territory, I mean bloodshed and battle.
Sigurd’s conquests were going extremely well until he betrayed the local ruler of
the Kingdom of Mory, Mael Brigte the Bucktoothed.
The two men had agreed to spare as many lives as possible by bringing only 40 men to the
battle, winner take all.
But Sigurd cheated and brought 80 men, and decimated their opponents.
After the battle, Sigurd ordered his men to decapitate the fallen soldiers and then strap
their heads to their horses in celebration.
Sigurd decapitated the Bucktoothed and strapped his head to his horse.
But as he rode back home on the bumpy road, Mael Brigte’s huge teeth scratched against
his leg.
The teeth created an open wound, it became infected, and Sigurd the Mighty died from
blood poisoning.
He was killed by being bitten by a dead man!
1.
The Children’s Crusade We've all heard of the Crusades, knights and
soldiers sent by the churches of Europe to fight against the Muslims and retake the Holy
Land of Jerusalem.
But what you probably haven't heard of is the time a group of children started their
own crusade!
These kids were led by a 12-year-old boy named Stephen of Cloyes.
They marched into Paris in the year 1212 and demanded a meeting with the king of France.
These literal children were looking for permission to conduct a crusade.
It was their belief that God wanted them to remove the Muslims from Jerusalem and reclaim
the Holy Land for the European Catholics.
It's not clear exactly what went down, as most of the historical records have been either
lost or intentionally destroyed.
What we do know is that Stephen was a very real historical figure, and he and his ragtag
group of kids really did want to march to Jerusalem.
They didn't have weapons, instead sporting crosses and banners.
These kids believed that they would convert the Muslims through divine intervention and
persuade them to leave.
There were actually two flocks of them, one in France and another in Germany.
Stephen alone managed to rally about 30,000 kids to his cause.
But these children didn't really have the knowhow necessary to commit an invasion.
They traveled from France to Italy but faced major issues going through the frozen Alps.
Then when they reached Italy, there was the issue that they couldn't speak to anyone because
of the language barrier.
Things disintegrated, the kids dispersed, and a large number of them were sold into
slavery by the Italians.
Thanks for watching!
Which of these bizarre stories from the Medieval days did you find the most unbelievable?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below and before you go, remember to hit that
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I'll see you again soon for another amazing video, bye! :)