Napoleon's Waterloo #1: The Rabbits That Took on Bonaparte

 

Napoleon Bonaparte faced an unexpected battle with rabbits. 

Image: Wikipedia. Public Domain.

The Mighty Napoleon Bonaparte

Most people think that the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 was the most crushing defeat that the Emperor of France Napoleon Bonaparte suffered, but there was another battle in 1807 that arguably ranks as his most humiliating. Napoleon, then considered to be the most powerful man in Europe, was defeated by a marauding army of rabbits during a rabbit hunt.

Napoleone di Buonaparte (1769-1821) left behind the modest life of an Italian nobleman’s son on the island of Corsica to attend military school in France, where he learned French for the first time, aged ten. He progressed through the ranks of the army, supported the French Revolution, and rose in prominence in the 1790s, achieving great military victories. He was elected the Emperor of the French in May 1804 with 99% of the vote.

Napoleon's Chief-of-Staff Plans a Rabbit Shoot

Summer 1807 brought the end of the War of the 4th Coalition when France defeated Russia at the Battle of Friedland on the 14th of June 1807. The signing of the two-part Treaty of Tilset by Napoleon and Tsar Alexander I of Russia (1777-1825) was completed on the 7th of July, and Prussia’s leader Friedrich Wilhelm III (1770-1840) added his signature on the 9th of July.

The French emperor decided that a celebration was necessary for himself, French dignitaries, and his key military officers. (The rank-and-file soldiers were unsurprisingly not on the guest list.) Napoleon asked his skilled Chief-of-Staff Louis-Alexandre Berthier (1753-1815) to arrange a day of rabbit hunting with a luncheon in the open air.

As with most stories, the exact number of rabbits that Berthier gathered on the hunting ground has been exaggerated with its retelling, but Berthier collected several hundred, perhaps thousands, of rabbits and placed them in cages at the edges of a field so that when his emperor took aim, he would find his prey plentiful and enjoy an excellent day’s sport. Napoleon could be difficult, and he wasn’t a renowned shot, so Berthier was meticulous in preparing the way for a jubilant emperor. Or so he believed.

Rabbits Rush Toward Nervous Napoleon

On the day of the shoot, the rabbits were released from the cages as the hunting party with gun bearers and beaters took their positions. The first of the released rabbits acted unexpectedly. Instead of bounding away from the party of gun-toting men, the rabbits bounced merrily towards them. At first, Napoleon and his guests were amused. Why weren’t the rabbits running? Did they want to be rabbit stew?

Their mirth turned to discomfort and then fear as all of the rabbits followed the first few and formed a formidable furry army that moved in a wave towards the world’s most eminent soldier. Many clustered around Napoleon’s feet, some began to clamber up his legs, and a few enterprising rabbits reached his jacket. He tried to swat them away with his riding crop, but the rabbits were undeterred.

Napoleon’s guests picked up sticks and attempted to liberate him. Again, the rabbits did not flee; they stuck close to their man. There was gunfire but no rabbit retreat. No one dared to laugh at the bizarre sight of their besieged emperor. The rabbits grew less friendly. They appeared to be hopping mad that they were being met with resistance.

Napoleon's Waterloo #1

A petrified Napoleon bolted, as quickly as the rabbits would allow him, to his carriage. He left his guests to fend off the bunny army. Cleverly, almost as though they had studied Napoleon’s military techniques, the rabbits divided into two regiments and made determinedly towards Napoleon’s carriage. The coachmen used their whips to scare them but to no avail.

Some adventurous rabbits managed to jump into the carriage with Napoleon, who had presumably seen far too many rabbits already that day. Only when the carriage was set in motion did the rabbits concede. The few invaders in the carriage were thrown out of the window by the emperor.

The Cause of the Emperor's Embarrassment

The explanation for the rabbit hunt debacle was simple, although Berthier did not readily accept blame. He was acclaimed for his organisational skills, but on this occasion, Berthier had made a monumental error. Instead of sourcing wild hares and rabbits in the field, he’d elected to take a less labour-intensive route.

Berthier and his men had approached the local farmers about securing a spectacular array of rabbits. What he hadn’t realised, even as they popped the rabbits in their cages for the shoot, was that the farmed rabbits were tame.

Berthier Dies in Mysterious Circumstances

The furry friends did not comprehend the risk to them when the hunt began. Whenever these rabbits saw a human approaching, it was with food, so when they looked at Napoleon and his party, they supposed that he was delivering food, so why would they not run towards him to secure the tastiest nibbles? Their subsequent pursuit of the man to his carriage where the food might have been was, as it transpired, wishful thinking.

The rabbits and Berthier lived to see another day, but he died in mysterious circumstances on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo. The question remains whether he fell, jumped or was pushed out of an upstairs window to meet his end. (Rabbit revenge?)

Napoleon passed away in exile in 1821. Presumably, he never kept a pet rabbit.

Sources

• The Time Napoleon Was Attacked by Rabbits | Mental Floss
  
• Napoleon's Battle Against Rabbits | All About History

Nell Gwyn: King Charles II's Mischievous Mistress

King Charles II's fun loving mistress Nell Gwyn. Image: Wikipedia. Public Domain.

Eleanor "Nell" Gwyn

Nell Gwyn was born Eleanor Gwyn around the 2nd of February 1650. Her mother Helena worked in a bawdy house in Covent Garden, London, an area full of brothels, prostitutes and unsavoury public houses. Nell's father either died in debtor's prison or disappeared. Nell had an elder sister named Rose.

As children, Nell and Rose served drinks to the customers at the Rose Tavern. It's widely accepted that all three Gwyns' were prostitutes, even as minors. They knew what it was to be poor with no shoes for the winter and to suffer a scarcity of food, and there was no welfare system to save them. Nell was illiterate and unschooled in the conventional sense, but she was certainly not anyone's fool.

Rose persuaded fourteen-year-old Nell to become an orange seller at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, which was the permanent home of the King's Company of Actors. The orange sellers had another role; they acted as a conduit between men in the audience and the actresses backstage to arrange assignations.

Nell's wit and mischievousness made an impression on the theatregoers and Charles Hart, the leading actor in the company. She became Hart's mistress and also had a dalliance with her dancing instructor, John Lacy. By the end of 1665, the spirited orange seller was on stage acting, singing and dancing in comedies.

Nell Gwyn Wins Admirers, Including King Charles II

The audiences loved her sharp retorts, rebellious nature and indiscretion. In that era, the stage and the most sought-after theatre boxes were on the same level so she happily went off script to enjoy some banter with the rich and titled inhabitants of the boxes.

She was less adept at tragedy so she played in fewer of these roles and became acclaimed for her comic characters and romantic heroines. She originated roles for John Dryden and "pretty, witty Nell" was subject to a lot of attention from her male audience, including Lord Buckhurst, to whom she became mistress in 1667. Her time with Lord Buckhurst led to a short break from the theatre, but she returned to the London stage full of vivacity.

She was watching a play at a theatre one night when King Charles II noticed her, and he subsequently ignored the play.

Charles regularly visited the Theatre Royal after that meeting, and she engaged in jokes and unguarded comments with him as she performed. He was no stranger to either having mistresses or actresses as mistresses.

Nell became Charles II's mistress. She had haughty Louise de Kerouaille and the dominating, passionate and fading Barbara, Lady Castlemaine, as her rivals. Nell was the only one of Charles' mistresses that the public liked.

Charles II and Nell Gwyn's Sons: The Beauclerk Line

Charles gave her the use of an opulent property at 79 Pall Mall near St. James's Palace, and she arranged for her mother to have a nice house in Chelsea. Tragically, under the influence of brandy, Nell's mother fell into a stream and drowned in July 1679.

King Charles sneaked from the gardens at St. James's to Nell's bed unseen. Nell remained faithful to the king, and she lived a life of extravagance, hosting parties and living a life that she could only have imagined as an impoverished child. She accumulated huge debts, but her position as the king's mistress protected her from debt collectors.

Her last stage performance was given in January 1670. On 8th May 1670, Nell gave birth to Charles' son Charles Beauclerk. Legend has it that when Nell called to her toddling son, "come here you little b*****d" and the king objected, she rebuked him by saying that she had no other title to call her son by. Shortly afterwards Charles Beauclerk received his titles Baron Hetherington, Earl of Burford, and later 1st Duke of St. Albans. A second son, James, Lord Beauclerk, was born in 1671. He died in 1680.

"Let not poor Nelly starve."

Nell was an exceptional mimic and would regularly impersonate her rivals. Louise de Kerouaille would thunder out of the room as Charles laughed broadly at Nell's impressions of her. Memorably, one day when Nell was mistaken for the unpopular Louise as she stepped out of her carriage, she answered the jeers with the words, "Pray good people, be civil. I am the protestant whore."

It's thanks to Nell that the iconic Royal Hospital in Chelsea was established in the 1680s. She was appalled that a soldier who had fought bravely for Charles was begging on the street, and she asked (nagged) him to do something for heroes.

When Charles II lay on his deathbed in February 1685, Nell was not permitted to see him, but he implored his brother James to "let not poor Nelly starve." He knew that with his death, protection from her creditors would end.

James obliged. He paid off the majority of her debts and he gave her an annual allowance of £1500. However, Nell was not allowed to wear mourning after Charles' death or to attend his funeral.

Nell suffered two strokes, possibly triggered by syphilis, in March and May 1687. She was left partially paralysed. She passed away after a third stroke on 14th November 1687 at the pitiably young age of 37 years old.

Descendant Charles Beauclerk: Nell's Spirit Lives On

Nell and Charles' bloodline continues to this day. The 14th Duke of St. Albans is named Murray Beauclerk, born in 1939. His son and heir is the author Charles Beauclerk, born 1965. He refuses to be called the Earl of Burford, and he was banned for life from the House of Lords in 1999, suggesting that the rebellious streak in Nell has travelled well in the DNA through the centuries. You can read more about him here:

• "A lord's last stand", published in The Guardian.

Sources

• Nell Gwyn, Mistress of King Charles II of England | Unofficial Royalty
  
• Nell Gwyn | English actress | Britannica
• Nell Gwyn: A Biography by Charles Beauclerk. (Recommended, an excellent book).

Elizabeth Bathory: The Most Prolific Female Murderer in History

 

Remorseless serial killer Elizabeth Bathory. Image: Wikipedia. Public Domain.

A Serial Killer With Royal Links

Serial killer Elizabeth Bathory has been accused of being a vampire, as notable as Vlad the Impaler, the inspiration for Count Dracula. She retains the record as the most prolific female murderer of all time in the Guinness Book of Records.

Elizabeth was born into a privileged and prominent family on 7th August 1560 at Bathory Castle, Nyirbator, in the east of Hungary. Her uncle, Stephen Bathory, was the King of Poland. Prince of Transylvania and Grand Duke of Lithuania. Elizabeth's father, Baron George VI Bathory's brother Andrew, controlled Transylvania as its voivode or governor. Her mother, Anne, was the daughter of a former voivode of Transylvania.

She was raised at Ecsed Castle, approximately 75km from Budapest. According to History Hit, she suffered from seizures as a child, perhaps epilepsy.

Intelligent and acclaimed as a beauty, Elizabeth was betrothed at eleven or twelve years old, and in 1575, at age fourteen, she was dynastically married to a fellow Hungarian, Count Ferencz Nadasdy. He was twenty years older than his bride and served in the Hungarian military.

Count Ferencz Nadasdy 

There was a persistent rumour that Elizabeth had borne a daughter allegedly fathered by a peasant lover before her marriage. Nadasdy was said to have castrated the lover and fed his body to a pack of wild dogs. The daughter was secreted away.

Elizabeth was of a higher status than her husband, so Nadasdy added her surname to his own. The Bathory and Nadasdy families gave the newlyweds Cachtice Castle in the Carpathian Mountains (today, the castle ruin lies in Slovakia) and seventeen surrounding villages.

Ferencz Nadasdy was wealthy, aristocratic and an ambitious soldier. He was rarely at home. He was eventually rewarded with an elevation to Earl of Pozsony Pressburg, Bratislava. He was notable throughout his career for his cruelty towards enemy Ottoman prisoners, even in those bloodthirsty times.

Between 1585 and 1595, Elizabeth bore Ferencz five children, Anna, Orsolya, Katalin, Andras (who died in infancy) and Pal. Governesses raised them as Elizabeth entertained a series of lovers at Cachtice Castle and sometimes at Sarvar Castle, which later fell under the ownership of the kings of Bavaria.

Elizabeth Bathory's Chilling Quest for Eternal Youth

After the death of the count on the battlefield in January 1604, horrifying suspicions of torture, serial murder and vampirism were voiced against Elizabeth. She was forty-three at the time of Ferencz's death and was known to be terrified of growing old and losing her beauty.

She studied the occult, and she was familiar with her husband's torture devices in the castle. He used them on invading Turks, and she utilised them on debtors. Then Elizabeth realised they could be used to aid her quest for perpetual youth.

Between 1590 and 1610, Elizabeth tortured and murdered in excess of six hundred virgin peasant girls and noble women, some of whom were just ten years old. She reputedly drank and possibly bathed in her victims' blood, and she tore or bit at their flesh as they hung upside down from chains, their throats slit.

"The Blood Countess"

Known to history as "the Blood Countess", Elizabeth believed that the stream of young girls' unspoiled blood must be replenished frequently to afford her eternal youth. With the total approval of her sorcerer and alchemist, she offered girls jobs at the castle from which they never returned home, and she ordered abductions. Her staff did not refuse her.

In 1609, Elizabeth had what she thought was an excellent idea. She established an all-female academy at the castle under the pretence of preparing twenty-five genteel girls at a time for a life in the nobility. This offered her a new source of young blood to ward off old age.

All too quickly, her pupils began to die or disappear in her care, and when four blood-drained bodies were thrown from an upstairs window and seen by suspicious villagers, they reported her to the authorities.

Bathory's Lack of Remorse for Her Crimes

King Matthias of Hungary instructed Elizabeth's cousin Gyorgy Thurzo, the Count Palatine of Hungary, to deal with the accusations. He led an investigation, took statements from approximately three hundred people in the local area, and implemented legal measures. Thurzo held no doubts about the depravity of the vile countess.

Elizabeth's servants were arrested as 1609 drew to a close. Her entire staff stood trial, and three servants were executed in 1611. Elizabeth Bathory was protected from arrest by her aristocratic position until the law was changed at Thurzo's request. In 1610, she was arrested and sat through a hearing that detailed her serial killing tendencies and estimated how many girls she had slain.

Her punishment for her unconscionable deeds was confinement in a small walled-up room in her castle. In Hungary, aristocrats could not be lawfully executed. During the four remaining years of her life, she offered not one word of remorse.

She died on 21st August 1614. Her descendants were banished from Hungary and emigrated to Poland. Some of them returned to Hungary in the mid-1600s, but the position of the Bathory-Nadasdy's was less significant but ever notorious.

Footnote:

The Bathory von Simolin line of Elizabeth's dynasty continues. The Ecsed branch expired several centuries ago. In 2013, Ferencz Nadasdy, the last male descendent of the Nadasdy dynasty, died without issue. The dynasty became extinct after over six hundred years.

Sources

• Most Prolific Female Murderer | Guinness World Records
  
• Death of Countess Elizabeth Bathory | History Today
  
• Elizabeth Báthory: The Blood Countess
  
• Elizabeth Bathory | Biography & Facts | Britannica

Henry V: Final Warrior King of England and Victor at the Battle of Agincourt

 

King Henry V led his triumphant army at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415.

 Image: Wikipedia. Public Domain.

Henry of Monmouth and King Richard II

The future King Henry V was born on or around the 16th of September 1386 at Monmouth Castle in Monmouthshire, Wales and into the House of Lancaster. He was the eldest son of Henry Bolingbroke, Earl of Derby, later King Henry IV, and his first wife, Mary de Bohun. Mary passed away during the birth of their daughter Philippa in June 1394. By this time, in her mid-twenties, she had borne six children.

The Earl of Derby was the Duke of Hereford by 1398. He received the challenge of a duel with the 1st Duke of Norfolk over potentially treasonous comments Norfolk had made about the king, Richard II. The duel was ordered and then cancelled by Richard. Both men were exiled, and in 1399, Henry was prevented from inheriting the lands of his father, John of Gaunt, by the king.

The young Henry of Monmouth was not sent into exile. Richard II commandeered him for a life at court, and reports showed that he treated Henry well, making a wary friend and ally instead of an enemy of him. Henry was intelligent, well educated and coped with the rigmarole of court life well, vital for survival. In 1399, Henry was knighted.

Henry, Prince of Wales

In 1399, when Henry’s father returned to England, deposed Richard II and claimed the throne as Henry IV, his eldest son and heir was created the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Lancaster, Duke of Aquitaine and Earl of Chester.

In 1400, Henry, Prince of Wales, was awarded management of Wales, and in 1403, he and the Welsh rebels led by Owain Glyndwr commenced a five-year-long fight for supremacy. Henry was left with a facial scar after an arrow careered into him during one of the battles.

Contrary to Shakespeare’s depiction of him as a drunken hedonist at this stage in his life, he was an enthusiastic soldier, given to occasional recklessness, prone to cruelty. He was not a man who compromised, but he was keen to secure his authority over the people in his father’s realms.

Henry IV/Henry V

As the first decade of the 1400s drew to a close, Henry sought greater powers in the ruling council, an elevation in status that was opposed by an ailing Henry IV. When he felt strong enough, Henry Senior had his son removed from the council because his policies were at odds with his own.

A primary source of disagreement was Henry Junior's keenness to claim the throne of France, as he believed this was the right of all English kings. Henry IV was not interested in causing an inevitable war.

Henry V acceded to the throne on the 21st of March, 1413. His coronation on the 9th of April 1413 was a cold event; there was a snowstorm going on outside.

His reign was not without domestic discontentment. In early 1414, the Lollards, looking for reforms to Christianity, rose up. The following year brought a conspiracy led by the Duke of York, Earl of Cambridge and Lord Scrope of Masham, who had their own candidate for ruler. Both rebellions were suppressed. Henry was alerted to the danger and dispensed with his foe brutally.

War in France

What made Henry V such a remarkable figure in English history was his determination to seize and rule large areas of France that were either once in English hands or in new territories that he found attractive. Remembered as a warrior king with an astute mind that strategised magnificently, his campaign began when he secured the compliance of John, Duke of Burgundy, against the mentally vulnerable Charles VI of France.

Henry entered into half-hearted diplomacy that swiftly descended into bloodshed on French soil, most famously at the 25th October 1415 Battle of Agincourt where the outnumbered English triumphed.

He cut the French naval capabilities, rallied the English to champion the war and as Henry and his soldiers enjoyed victories that delivered new lands and powers, the soldiers made way for administrators who effectively helped the war to pay for itself. John, Duke of Burgundy was murdered in 1419 but this brought Henry good fortune. Burgundy became his territory.

Henry V Marries Catherine de Valois

Henry did not have the desired hasty victory over France. It was seven long years into his reign when he secured the amount of land, power and wealth that he needed, and countless men died fulfilling his vision. Only with the Treaty of Troyes in May 1520 was Henry V recognised as the heir to the French throne.

Less than two weeks after this treaty was signed, Catherine de Valois, daughter of Charles VI, was married to Henry. After taking Catherine to England and at some point impregnating her, he returned to France and war.

Their son Henry was born on the 6th December 1421; Henry V never met him because he died of dysentery or camp fever in Vincennes on the 31st August 1422. His body was dismembered and boiled before it travelled to England for burial at Westminster Abbey.

Henry VI Loses Henry V's Acquisitions

Nine-month-old Henry VI and his council presented a far weaker proposition for England’s enemies, and during his fifty-year reign over England (with Wars of the Roses interruptions) and from 1429 in France, Henry lost his father’s acquisitions with alarming rapidity.

As the Lancastrian element of the Wars of the Roses, he alternated with Yorkist rival Edward, as Edward IV, as monarch in the 1460s into 1470–1471. Henry VI met with a convenient death when incarcerated on Edward’s orders. It was not what warrior king Henry V would have envisaged for his dynasty. His moment of glory for the House of Lancaster and England at the Battle of Agincourt took on a mythical status.

Sources

• The True Story of Henry V, England’s Warrior King – History | Smithsonian Magazine
  
• King Henry V of England | Unofficial Royalty
  
• Henry V | Biography, Facts, Wife, & Significance | Britannica

Ivan the Terrible: The Bloodthirsty 1st Tsar of Russia

 

Ivan the Terrible. Image: Wikipedia. Public Domain.

Ivan the Terrible of the Rurik Dynasty

Ivan the Terrible was also known as Ivan Grozny, Ivan IV and Ivan Vasilyevich. He was born on the 25th of August 1530 in Kolomenskoye, just outside Moscow, to Grand Prince Vasily III of Moscow and his 2nd wife Yelena, nee Glinskaya.

Ivan was the penultimate Rurik dynasty ruler, and as the Grand Prince of Moscow and the 1st Tsar of Russia, he became infamous for his barbarity. In the 16th century, Ivan “the Terrible” meant something like “Ivan the Formidable” or “Ivan the Awe-Inspiring”, and not the understanding of the word “terrible” that we have today.

Conversely, this mass murderer was also an accomplished composer and poet who developed Russia culturally.

Grand Prince of Moscow

Ivan became the Grand Prince of Moscow at age 3 when his father died of blood poisoning. Ivan's mother Yelena ruled in his name for 5 years until her suspicious death in 1538, said to have been a case of strategic poisoning. True or not, her absence compelled the nobility, known as boyars, to create factions and lobby for control of the Grand Prince of Moscow.

For the next 9 years, his minority, the court at Moscow was the scene of tumultuous power struggles that destabalised the region. The boyars’ machinations and their neglect of Ivan and his younger brother Yuri’s welfare left Ivan with a deep aversion to the Russian nobility.

As a teenager, Ivan was influenced considerably by the Metropolitan of Moscow Makary, who urged Ivan to focus on justice, reforms and promoting Christianity. Ivan tailored religion to suit his whims. He was openly anti-Semitic but was more tolerant of Muslims.

The Chosen Council

The "Chosen Council" of reformers was established by Ivan and led by Makary. It achieved many of its goals.

• The church was given greater powers and a generous number of saints were created.
• Ivan instigated reforms that enabled more efficiency and standardisation across Russia for the legal and administrative management of the country.
• He introduced government departments that had designated core tasks.
• He created the zemski sobor or national assembly comprised of clergymen, elected politicians and boyars. This body limited the power of the nobility as a ruling and decision-making class. Ivan strived to instill the realisation in the boyars that they should be grateful for and dependent upon his displays of mercy.

• The military was overhauled. For the 1st time in Russian history, a person's merit rather than their money and titles was used to evaluate and promote capable personnel up through the ranks.

• It was on the councillors initiative that Ivan was proclaimed the 1st ever "Tsar of All Rus" on the 16th January 1547. The crowning ceremony was held at the Cathedral of the Dormition in the Kremlin and it was officiated by Makary.

• On 3rd February 1547, Makary conducted the marriage ceremony of Ivan to Anastasia Romanova. She became the 1st tsarina in Russian history and was the great aunt of Tsar Mikhail Fyodorovich Romanov, the 1st Romanov dynasty tsar from 1613. Anastasia died in 1560, she was the first of Ivan's 6, perhaps 8 wives. Ivan's outgoing living wives were not always legally divorced from him or he didn't bother with a church wedding so the true number of wives he had remains unclear.

The Chosen Council lost its influence over Ivan as the years passed and with Makary's death in 1563 it ceased to exist.

The Oprichnina and the Oprichniki

Tsar Ivan enjoyed military successes in conflicts with Kazan and Astrakhan, but the lingering Livonian War that he triggered lost Russia territory. Ivan used the losses to assert greater control over his boyars.

He became the fearsome and autocratic ruler of legend as between 1565 and 1572, he coordinated the Oprichnina, oprich meant “apart ” or “special”, in which countless boyars and clergymen were tortured, repressed, impoverished and publicly and brutally slaughtered.
The tsar declared that he was the “Hand of God,” and his 6000 agents, named the Oprichniki, carried out his wishes enthusiastically and with no mercy. They viewed their deeds as fulfilling the wishes of God. Ivan kept a personal force of 300 oprichniki around him. These men were considered his “brotherhood.”

The Oprichniki were identifiable by their long-length black cloaks and the severed head of a dog or wolf that they bore on their horses’ saddles. The jaws of the attached heads would chillingly swing open and shut as the horses moved. A constant supply of fresh heads was required.

I swear to be true to the Lord, Grand Prince, and his realm, to the young Grand Princes, and to the Grand Princess, and not to maintain silence about any evil that I may know or have heard or may hear which is being contemplated against the Tsar, his realms, the young princes or the Tsaritsa. I swear also not to eat or drink with the zemshchina, and not to have anything in common with them. On this I kiss the cross.”

[The zemshchina were the boyars Ivan allowed to remain].

Ivan Was Terrible Until His Death

In November 1581 Ivan beat his pregnant daughter-in-law Yelena (married to Ivan’s son, another Ivan) when he decided that she was dressed immodestly, and his punishing blows led her to suffer a miscarriage. Ivan, the son and tsarevich (heir), challenged his father, and he was killed in the resulting fight. The widow Yelena found herself dispatched to a convent in the city.

On the 18th of March 1584, Ivan suffered a fatal stroke as he played chess with his statesman Bogdan Yakovlevich Belsky. As he’d killed his heir Ivan, the next son in line was the good-natured and easily manipulated Feodor. He died childless in 1698, and the Rurik dynasty’s rule of 700 years and 21 generations ended.

Russia entered its anarchic “Time of Troubles,” which ended in 1613 with the Romanovs seizing the tsardom.

Sources

• Ivan the Terrible | Biography, Accomplishments, & Facts | Britannica
  
• Oprichnina | Encyclopedia.com
  
• oprichnina | Russian history | Britannic

1066: Viking Harald Hardrada's Fight for England's Throne

Harald Hardrada depicted in battle.  From a 13th century chronicle. 

Image: Wikipedia. Public Domain.

Harald Hardrada: Harald Hard Ruler

Born in Ringerike, Norway, in 1015, Viking Harald Hardrada was a merciless warrior king who invaded countries, claimed thrones and riches and even attacked and pillaged his Norwegian chieftains. He was officially called Harald III Sigurdsson, and thanks to his ruthlessness, he earned the sobriquet Hardrada, meaning hard or stern ruler.

Harald was taught how to fight from an early age by his king-chieftain father, Sigurd Sow. His mother, Asta Gudbrandsdatter, had a son from her first marriage who, circa 1018, became Olaf II Haraldsson of Norway. He was later made a saint and the patron saint of Norway.

Aged fifteen, Harald fought his first battle in July 1030 at the legendary Battle of Stiklestad. This was Olaf II's unsuccessful attempt to reclaim Norway from Danish-born King Cnut (Canute), King of England, after two years spent in exile. A twice-injured Olaf II was fatally stabbed in the stomach with a spear, and Harald was lucky to survive.

The battle was memorable for being conducted during a solar eclipse. This was a bad omen for all participants. The Christians took the eclipse as a signal of God's displeasure, as with the loss of light at the crucifixion. The Norse pagans believed that the god Odin was looking down on them to choose who would enter Valhalla (the hall of the slain).

The Byzantine Empire's Vangarian Guard

Harald fled to Kievan Rus, where he served Yarolslav I, The Wise, Grand Prince of Kiev, as a mercenary. He was keen to marry Yaroslav's daughter Elizaveta, but his lack of fortune and land meant that he was not considered suitable.

Harald travelled to Constantinople in the Byzantine Empire ruled by Emperor Michael IV. He fought his way around Europe and into the Holy Land as a member of the renowned axe-wielding and hard-drinking Varangian Guard. Harald was soon their unofficial leader.

Emperor Michael IV's successor Michael V had his widow Empress Zoe arrested and banished to a nunnery. He disbanded the Vangarian Guard and formed his own guard. Zoe's incarceration led to a revolt, and the re-formed Vangarian Guard fought in her name. Michael V was overthrown within four months; legend has it that Harald pulled out Michael's eyes and that he subsequently died.

Harald Returns to Norway and Co-Rules With Magnus I Olafsson

Harald returned to Norway in 1045; during the previous fifteen years he had become an enviably rich man by collecting the spoils of war. He co-ruled with his nephew Magnus I Olafsson. Magnus negotiated a deal to enjoy Harald's wealth in return for a power share. Magnus was slain in battle against the Danes in 1047, and Harald became the undisputed king of Norway.

The following fifteen years were spent trying to oust Sweyn II of Denmark to extend his realm. In 1064 Sweyn and Harald were unable to break the stalemate of a two year long sea battle, so they agreed to recognise one another as the rulers of their respective countries and ended the conflict.

The peace did not extend beyond Denmark. Harald Hardrada set his sights on expansion across the North Sea and claimed the Orkney Islands to the north of Scotland.

He then mounted a bold campaign to claim the English throne. There were three other men in his way. Anglo-Saxon Harold Godwinson had proclaimed himself Harold II, but William of Normandy and Harold's relative Edgar Aetheling had good claims.

The Battle of Stamford Bridge

Harald Hardrada's ally was Anglo-Saxon king Harold II's vengeful brother Tostig. Eleven thousand Vikings disembarked from three hundred ships in September 1066 and overran northern England.

The Vikings made good progress, and they won the Battle of Fulford to seize the northern city of York. Harald and Tostig were probably feeling comfortably confident as dawn broke on 25th September 1066. They had no way of knowing that Harold II (Harold Godwinson) and his army of fifteen thousand men had travelled 175 miles from London to York in just four days to launch a brutal surprise attack on the Viking invaders.

The Battle of Stamford Bridge in Yorkshire was overwhelmingly won by Harold II. Many of the Vikings didn't have their full armour with them, so they were easy to slaughter. Only twenty four of the original invasion force of three hundred ships were required to transport the Viking survivors home.

Tostig and Harald Hardrada also died that day; Harald's neck was punctured by an arrow. Most historians consider Harald Hardrada's death as the conclusion of the Viking age in England.

The Norman Era Begins in England

Harald's sons by Tora Torbergsdatter, Magnus and Olaf ruled Norway together until Magnus II's 1069 death. Olaf III remained king until 1093.

In England Harold II faced his own fatal battle three weeks after Harald. The Battle of Hastings on 14th October 1066 was fought against William of Normandy. After his victory, recorded in the Bayeaux Tapestry, the Norman was proclaimed William I, better known to many as William the Conqueror. Although Edgar Aetheling was named king by the Anglo-Saxon Council that October day, he was never crowned.

The Norman age in England had begun.

Sources

• The Battle of Stamford Bridge, 1066
  
• Harald Harada | Varangian, King of Norway & Last Great Viking | HistoryExtra
  
• Harald III Sigurdsson | king of Norway | Britannica

Jennens vs. Jennens: The 117-Year Legal Battle That Inspired Charles Dickens

Image: Pixabay. Public Domain.

Wealthy Financier William Jennens Dies in June 1798

William Jennens, an unmarried and reclusive financier, passed away on 19th June 1798 aged ninety-seven. He was at his substantial property Acton Place in the village of Acton, Suffolk, in southeast England.

The "richest commoner in England" died with an accrued wealth that exceeded £1 million. His annual income was approximately £40000. In 21st-century terms, this gave him an annual income of over £4.8 million or $6 million.

He made his fortune trading in London and by loaning money to gamblers in casinos at eye-wateringly high rates of interest.

His prosperous father, Robert Jennens, purchased and remodelled Acton Place in 1708. When William inherited the property in 1725, he ceased renovations, and he lived in a few sparsely furnished basement rooms with his dogs and a couple of servants. William was awarded the sobriquets of the Miser, the Rich and the Miser of Acton.

William Jennens' will was found in a coat pocket, according to The Gentleman's Magazine. It was: "...sealed, but not signed; [owing to] leaving his spectacles at home when he went to his solicitor for the purpose of duly executing it." 

117 years of legal battles followed as numerous claims were made for his estate.

William Jennens' Unsigned Will

It was a pity that, as the story goes, William forgot his spectacles on the day that he was due to sign his will at his solicitor's office, and so it remained unsigned. For over a century, the great Jennens inheritance was claimed, counter-claimed and disputed by relations and descendants, people named Jennens, Jennings, Jennins and other logical variations of the spelling from the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand and the U.S.A.

There has long been a question about why William Jennens "forgot" his spectacles and why he made no further attempts to sign his will. Was he hoping to create chaos for his relations after his death? If so, he far exceeded any imaginings.

The intestate status of the late William's will meant that his case was referred to the Court of Chancery so that appointed judges could rule on who the true heir to his estate was.

1821: Lady Andover and the Earl of Beauchamp

The court declared that young relation George Augustus William Curzon was the heir to William Jennens' considerable fortune. His mother administered his inheritance for him, and when George died young, the fortune passed to his younger brother Richard William Penn Curzon. Accusations were made that Richard was illegitimate and that he was the son of a woman named Anne Oake.

In 1821 the inheritance passed to William's next of kin, Mary, Lady Andover, and William Lygon, 1st Earl of Beauchamp. Both parties were subsequently disputed as heirs because they were the descendants of another William Jennens in the family tree's expansive branches.

Their William died in 1803, not 1798. John Jennens, alive in the 17th century, married twice and two of his descendants were named Robert Jennens, and they died in 1725. Both Roberts had sons named William.

By 1849 Jennens Clubs were plentiful in the U.K. and Ireland. Many people named Jennens, Jennins or Jennings or with a potential link to the family met to discuss their claims to the fortune. Professional genealogists and lawyers were employed to help investigate and to prove the members' rights even though the date for legal action to be initiated (without proof of fraud) was far in the past.

The American Legal Claim: Jennens vs. Jennens

British army officer William Jennens, born in 1676, fought in the American Indian Wars, and he married American Mary Ann Pulliam. Their descendants and hopeful claimants mounted legal action in 1850, confident that they were entitled to a share of the Jennens fortune. The most prominent claimant was U.S. Secretary of State, Senator Henry Clay, William and Mary Ann's great-grandson.

Acton Place in Suffolk was largely demolished in 1825 by Lord Howe, a descendant of the original benefactor George Curzon's mother's family. All that remained of the property was one servant's wing.

In England in 1879, Messers Harrison and Willis compiled and published "The Great Jennens Case: Epitome of the History of the Jennens Family" on behalf of the Jennens family. This document was comprehensive at almost three hundred pages long.

Charles Dickens' Bleak House: Jarndyce Versus Jarndyce

Charles Dickens' serialised novel Bleak House was published in 1852 and 1853. The Jarndyce versus Jarndyce case in the story was very similar to the Jennens versus Jennens battle, at that time, over fifty years long.

In the first chapter, Dickens introduces the reader to the never-ending legal action:

The little plaintiff or defendant, who was promised a new rocking-horse when Jarndyce and Jarndyce should be settled, has grown up, possessed himself of a real horse, and trotted away into the other world. Fair wards of court have faded into mothers and grandmothers; a long procession of Chancellors has come in and gone out...

And so it was with the real case.

How Did the Jennens vs. Jennens Case End in 1915?

How did the case end? With a whimper.

The court case began when George III was the king, and it ended five monarchs later when George V was on the throne. The duration of the case and the large amounts of money that were siphoned from the estate to pay for legal action steadily drained the coffers.

By 1915 there was no inheritance left to quarrel about. William Jennens' estate was worthless, and the claimants went home empty-handed.

There were occasional claims after 1915, including one in New Zealand in 1929, but these met with no success for obvious reasons.

It was only the several generations of lawyers employed on the case that made a profit from Jennens versus Jennens.

Sources

• The Great Jennens Case: Being an Epitome of the History the Jennens Family
  
• Tangled Roots and Trees: The Great Jennens Case
  
• The Miser and the Murderer – A Talk By Martin Hedges | Little Waldingfield History Society
  

Scottish Hero Robert the Bruce: Victor of the Battle of Bannockburn

Robert the Bruce in battle at Bannockburn, June 1314.

Image: Wikipedia. Public Domain. 

Robert the Bruce, Brus or Bruis

Scottish national hero Robert the Bruce, Robert I, King of Scots, was a contemporary of "Braveheart" William Wallace. Robert led his armies to battle glory, and he won independence from the oppressive English.

Kings Edward I, II and III of England were unequal to Robert the Bruce's passion, military prowess and inspirational power over the Scottish people.

Robert the Bruce, sometimes spelled Brus or Bruis, was born on 11th July 1274 at Turnberry Castle, Ayrshire, Scotland. (The castle is a ruin today, surrounded by one of Donald Trump's golf clubs). He was the eldest son of the Norman French immigrant Robert de Bruis, 6th Earl of Annandale, and his wife Marjorie, Countess of Carrick. Robert had nine siblings.

His family was related to the Scottish royal family through King David I from the House of Dunkeld. King Henry I of England was a paternal ancestor.

In 1295 Robert married Isabella of Mar, and on 12th December 1296, their daughter Marjorie* was born; she was the mother of the first Stewart (Stuart) monarch of Scotland. Isabella died shortly after the birth, and Robert married his second wife, Irish noblewoman Elizabeth de Burgh in 1302.

*Marjorie Bruce married Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland in 1315 and she was the mother of Robert II of Scotland, the first Stewart (Stuart) ruler.

The First War of Scottish Independence

After the death of Scotland's new child queen Margaret, Maid of Norway, in September 1290 Scotland's throne became vacant. She was the last of William the Lion's descendants. During the next two years, thirteen claimants stepped forward to fill the position of monarch. Edward I of England settled the matter, or so he optimistically believed.

The English king nominated John Balliol as Scotland's ruler. Balliol was a descendant of William the Lion's brother. Balliol agreed to his subservience to Edward I, but the Bruces' and many of the Scottish people refused to accept being a vassal state of England.

When Balliol made an alliance with France, the Auld Alliance, he succeeded in alienating Edward I, and he found himself imprisoned in the Tower of London and then exiled to France.

During the early years of the ensuing unrest now known as the First War of Scottish Independence (1296–1328), Robert, as Earl of Carrick after his mother's death in November 1292, switched allegiance. He was initially on Edward I's side but from the middle of the 1290s, he supported the legendary knight William Wallace, a supporter of Balliol. Wallace was elected Guardian of Scotland after the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297.

In 1298 William Wallace resigned as Guardian of Scotland, and Robert the Bruce shared joint guardianship with John Balliol's nephew Sir John Comyn III of Badenoch. It was an uneasy partnership.

"No man holds his own flesh and blood in hatred and I am no exception. I must join my own people and the nation in which I was born. I ask that you please come with me and you will be my councillors and close comrades."

— Robert the Bruce addressing a crowd in Annandale (from English Chronicler Walter of Guisborough)

Robert the Bruce and the Spider

Robert, or one of his supporters, murdered Sir John Comyn III in Greyfriar's Church, Dumfries on 10th February 1306. For this, Robert was excommunicated by Pope Clement V, and he was declared an outlaw by England's King Edward I. Robert was proclaimed King of Scots on 25th March 1306, and two days later he and Elizabeth had their coronation at the ancient Scone Abbey.

Edward I sent his armies across the border, and early in his reign, Robert I suffered two heavy defeats to the English, and he narrowly avoided capture. He became a fugitive hiding on the remote Rathlin Island in the Irish Sea. Elizabeth, Robert's sisters, and his daughter Marjorie were taken to England and held prisoner. Robert's brothers Niall, Thomas and Alexander were executed by Edward I.

There is a legend that as Robert the Bruce sat in an island cave full of despair, he watched a spider weave its web. After six unsuccessful attempts to climb the wall without falling, the spider achieved its goal; Robert took this as a hopeful sign, and he urged himself to be patient.

Edward I died in 1307, and his son Edward II was not as formidable a foe. Robert the Bruce stole back onto the Scottish mainland, and with brutal tactics and countless fatalities, he managed to lead the Scots to victories. The English were slowly but confidently repelled.

Robert the Bruce was the 7th Earl of Carrick. Britain's royal family are Robert the Bruce's descendants. Each Prince of Wales (Duke of Rothesay in Scotland) is also given the title Earl of Carrick so this passed from Charles to William in 2022.

 

Victory at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314

Edward II held little territory in Scotland when his army met with Robert the Bruce's warriors at the Battle of Bannockburn on 23rd and 24th June 1314. Despite having fewer fighting men, Robert the Bruce led the Scots to triumph.

The English were unable to hold the Scots to a siege, and the English knight Sir Henry de Bohun was slain by Robert the Bruce. Robert reportedly lamented the damage caused to his axe, the weapon that he used to crack open de Bohun's skull. Sir Alexander Seton, a Scot fighting for the English, defected to Robert the Bruce's side overnight.

After the Battle of Bannockburn Edward II guaranteed his soldiers withdrawal and an acceptance of a Scottish king who was not answerable to English rulers.

Elizabeth, Robert's queen, his captive daughter and sisters were freed. Robert and Elizabeth went on to have five children. Margaret, Matilda, David (David II, King of Scots), David's twin John died in infancy and Elizabeth. Robert the Bruce may also have fathered between three and five illegitimate children.

The Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton: Scottish Independence

Robert I, King of the Scots, was recognised by Pope John XXII as the rightful ruler of Scotland in 1324.

In 1327 King Edward II was deposed and his son Edward III took the throne of England. This Edward brokered peace with Robert, and on 17th March 1328 Scotland finally won independence, in writing, when Edward and Robert signed the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton.

Queen Elizabeth died on 27th October 1327 after she fell from her horse. She was buried in Dunfermline Abbey. By this time, Robert was seriously ill, probably with leprosy; he died on 7th June 1329 at his manor in Cardross, Dunbartonshire.

According to his wish, his heart was finally laid to rest at Montrose Abbey in Roxburghe. The rest of the Scottish hero was buried beside Elizabeth in Dunfermline Abbey.

Today, many people in Scotland are again asserting their right to independence from English rule and the Westminster parliament. Fortunately, their campaign uses less bloodthirsty means than Robert's.

Sources

• Isabella of Mar, Countess of Carrick | Unofficial Royalty

• Robert I, King of Scots (Robert the Bruce) | Unofficial Royalty

• Robert the Bruce | Biography & Facts | Britannica