Thursday, March 13, 2014

Five little-known but history-changing medieval crime stories

Eric Jager is an award-winning professor at UCLA. His books include the widely acclaimed The Last Duel, The Book of the Heart, The Tempter's Voice, and the newly released Blood Royal: A True Tale of Crime and Detection in Medieval Paris by Eric Jager.

One of his five favorite little-known but history-changing medieval crime stories, as shared at The Daily Beast:
Chronicles
by Jean Froissart

Richard II recklessly seized the inheritance of his banished cousin Bolingbroke, instigating his cousin’s return and Richard’s loss of his throne. Froissart tells a lesser known tale of intrigue that had unfolded two years earlier: Richard’s uncle Thomas, Duke of Gloucester, had been arrested for treason, imprisoned at Calais, then murdered in his cell. Gloucester’s murder spread discontent among the English nobility and greased the way for Richard’s fall two years later.
Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue