Show Notes
The Middle Ages, with its crippling poverty and lack of law and order, was the perfect time for unscrupulous men to turn to a life of crime and roam around the countryside causing untold trouble. But not all gangsters were poor, some came from noble families, and they certainly weren’t all Robin Hoods – stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. Most were brutal, ruthless, and out for themselves. Let’s travel back in time now and take a look at some of the more notorious gangsters of the Middle Ages whose crimes ranged from rabbit robbing to rape and murder. Welcome to Medieval Madness. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
More from Medieval Madness
There are many famous mysteries from the Middle Ages that have kept us guessing. Such as the fate of King Edward II and the princes in the Tower, or the meaning of the Voynich Manuscript. Today we thought we would take you on a journey back to the Middle Ages to discover some more puzzles that have stumped the curious for centuries. Welcome to Medieval Madness.
Gertrude of Merania, Queen of Hungary, and Agnès Sorel, the first officially recognised mistress to a French king. One a ‘princess’, the other a minor aristocrat. What could these two young women born two centuries apart possibly have in common? Welcome to Medieval Madness! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Thought to have been built sometime between 800 and 1100 AD, around 2,000 Erdstall tunnels can be found across central Europe, particularly in Bavaria, where there are over 700. With only one way in and one way out some of these claustrophobic tunnels have crawl spaces that are just over one foot wide. Could they be graves for the souls of the dead or have some other religious purpose? Maybe they are hideaways from raiding parties or pillaging soldiers or as some have suggested the relics of aliens who left hundreds of years ago. Let’s join the archaeologists who are examining the Erdstall tunnels to try and determine their real purpose.
When many people think of the Medievals, they imagine castles and knights on white horses saving damsels in distress, or perhaps superstitious, backward-looking peasants, who’s only thought is to toil in the fields and
Today we thought we would travel outside of the Middle Ages and into the early modern period. But why? We hear you shout when you have 1,000 years of medieval history to go at. Well, the answer is easy. The Great Fire of London was one of the greatest catastrophes ever to befall the City and was a tale just too extraordinary not to be told. Over ffour days from Sunday 2nd to Wednesday 5th September 1666, London was over powered by the largest and fastest moving fire that it had ever faced.