History Tea Time

Witch! The word struck terror in the hearts of many a medieval man. It whispers of people, mostly women, using dark magic and even selling their souls to Satan to get what they want. Forcing men to fall in love with them and cursing their enemies. Sorceresses have been feared since ancient times. And while their certainly have been purveyors of magical arts throughout history, it was often healers, midwives, girls dabbling in divination games and innocent people who were accused of the most heinous of enchanted crimes. Between 1300 and 1850, nearly 40,000 people in Europe were victims of witch trials. And 14,000 met their end on the gallows or the pyre. Some of them came from the highest ranks of society, even the royal family. In fact witchcraft was a convenient accusation to level against inconvenient royal women. As courts operated on a notion of guilty until proven innocent, and it was infuriatingly difficult to prove that you hadn’t danced in the moonlight, uttered a curse or poisoned the king, the stigma of sorcery was strong. Let’s meet 7 women from history who were accused of being Royal Witches.
Valentina Visconti, Duchess of Orléans, 1371 – 1408
Veronika Desinićka, Countess of Celje, ? – 1425
Joan of Navarre, Queen of England, 1368 – 1437
Jacquetta of Luxembourg, Duchess of Bedford, 1415 – 1472
Eleanor Cobham, Duchess of Gloucester, 1400 – 1452
Elizabeth Woodville, Queen of England, 1437 – 1492
Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, 1501? – 1536

Sources: Hollman, G. (2020). Royal witches: witchcraft and the nobility in fifteenth- century England. First Pegasus Books hardcover edition. New York, Pegasus Books.

Music: Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saëns, Public Domain, Performed by Kevin MacLeod

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Intro Music: Baroque Coffee House by Doug Maxwell

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The Romanov Imperial House ruled Russia with an iron fist for 300 years. In that time they made plenty of enemies. From a grief-stricken mother who foretold the demise of the dynasty, to a scorned Tsaritsa who cursed St. Petersburg to calamity. From a hermit monk who claimed to know the hour of Catherine the Great’s death, to another monk, Rasputin, who cursed Tsar Nikolai’s family for causing his death. All culminating in the tragic slaying of the Imperial family, which fulfilled not one but two famous curses. Let’s take a spooky stroll through 3 centuries of Russia’s dark history and explore 4 curses and ominous prophecies laid on the Romanov dynasty.
1. “You began with the death of a Tsarevich, you will end with the death of a Tsarevich!” Ivan the Terrible, False Dmitry, Marina Mniszech, Michael Romanov
2. “St. Petersburg shall be empty!”
Peter the Great, Eudoxia Lopukhina, Empress Catherine I
3. “Empress Catherine will die in 10 months and 10 days!”
Catherine the Great, Monk Abel, Emperor Peter III, Emperor Paul I
4. Rasputin’s Curse "The Russian people will kill them!"
Emperor Nicholas II, Alexandra Feodrovna, Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, Alexei

Music: From Russia With Love by Huma-Huma

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Intro Music: Baroque Coffee House by Doug Maxwell

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For millennia, royals have claimed that their right to rule over the unwashed masses was granted to them by God. But a few have been associated with powers originating far south of heaven. Tonight I’ll share with you the spooky and salacious tales of the demon countess who spawned the bloodthirsty Plantagenet dynasty, an unholy canine who ferociously defended his master on the battlefield; A holy roman Emperor who was not very holy and performed black masses on his Empress’s naked body; and a Spanish king who underwent exorcisms in an attempt to rid himself of his terrible afflictions.
The Demon Countess of Anjou
The Prince’s Poodle
From Hell
The UnHoly Roman Emperor’s Black Masses
The Exorcisms of The King of Spain

Join me every Tuesday when I'm Spilling the Tea on History!

Check out my Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/lindsayholiday

Please consider supporting me at https://www.patreon.com/LindsayHoliday and help me make more fascinating episodes!

Intro Music: Baroque Coffee House by Doug Maxwell

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From sex-crazed libertines, to noble courtesans, to innocent Empresses; syphilis was a devastating disease which ravaged many, and sometimes changed the course of history. Let’s meet 10 royal and noble victims of this sexually transmitted infection.
Lorenzo de’Medici, Duke of Urbino 1492 – 1519
Maria Salviati de’ Medici 1499 – 1543
Abbas II of Persia, Shah of Iran 1632 – 1666
John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester 1647 – 1680
Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor 1678 – 1711
Sally Salisbury 1692 – 1724
Lola Montez, Countess of Landsfeld 1821 – 1861
Luís I, King of Portugal 1838 – 1889
Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria 1858 – 1889
Archduke Otto Franz Joseph of Austria 1865 – 1906

Music: Butterflies in Love by Sir Cubworth
Join me every Tuesday when I'm Spilling the Tea on History!

Check out my Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/lindsayholiday

Please consider supporting me at https://www.patreon.com/LindsayHoliday and help me make more fascinating episodes!

Intro Music: Baroque Coffee House by Doug Maxwell

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In 1700 the Stuart Dynasty was out of heirs, save one, Princess Anne. Parliament studied the royal family tree to determine who was next in line. The problem was they were all catholic. The succession skipped over 41 closer relations until they got to the nearest living Protestant, Sophia, Electress of Hanover. The Act of Settlement of 1701 declared that all future British monarchs must be her descendant. She ended up dying before Anne and the throne went to her son, George I. But who were the 41 royals skipped over? French Princes, Italian Kings, A Queen of Spain and a couple of Holy Roman Empresses, let’s meet the fascinating potential British Monarchs that never where.
This succession uses the rules of male-preference primogeneture, the law of the land at the time. And only looks at dynasts who were alive in the year 1701.

Brandenburg Concerto No4-1 BWV1049 - Classical Whimsical by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100303
Artist: http://incompetech.com/

Join me every Tuesday when I'm Spilling the Tea on History!

Check out my Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/lindsayholiday

Please consider supporting me at https://www.patreon.com/LindsayHoliday and help me make more fascinating episodes!

Intro Music: Baroque Coffee House by Doug Maxwell

#HistoryTeaTime #LindsayHoliday

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