61. King John Starves Maud and William de Braose to Death, Corfe Castle, Dorset, England 1210

Here we see St. Maelog’s Cross, which is the very stone that Maud de Braose threw across the River Wye, when she got annoyed at it because it fell out of her apron onto her toe, when she was carrying stones to build Hay Castle, which she did all by herself all in one night. This is especially impressive since the stone had been in the churchyard of St. Maelog for at least 100 years before Maud threw it over the river. (*St. Maelog’s Church, Llowes, Powys*)

In 1210, King John of England left Maud de Braose and her son William in Corfe Castle and let them starve to death, either because Maud had been shirty with one of his messengers, or because John owed William money and didn’t want to pay it back, or because, well, who knows. John was like that. Maud, on the other hand, had, before getting thrown into the dungeon at Corfe Castle, had impressed the Welsh by defending a castle against them, and, apparently, or at least the Welsh said so, magically building a castle in one night all by herself. In this episode, we discuss the horrible badness of King John, and why it’s not a good idea to learn history from Disney movies.

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