6. The White Ship Disaster, Barfleur, Normandy 1120

the White Ship, sinking
The White Ship sinking, from a manuscript c. 1321, now held at the British Library (Cotton Claudius D. ii, fol. 45v)

The fact that some people think that Stephen of Blois — or maybe Ranulf Meschin — caused the sinking of la Blanche-Nef allows us to consider it a True Crime. It wasn’t. But it was the worst teenage drunken party in history, and that’s good enough for us.

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5. Beatrice Cenci, Rome, Italy 1599

The portrait that isn't Beatrice Cenci
Supposedly a portrait of Beatrice Cenci, supposedly by Guido Reni. But if it was painted by Reni, it couldn’t be Beatrice, since he didn’t paint in Rome until 1609. It’s probably meant to be one of the Sybils. That it’s even by Reni at all is unclear. It now hangs at the Palazzo Barberini with labels giving question marks for both the subject and the painter. It’s not Beatrice! It’s just part of her legend.

Oh, all right. Outside of our 1000 year mandate. Only just, though. And there is torture! A lurid trial! Ghost with severed head! Also a really bad play by Shelley, but that came lots later.

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4. The Princes in the Tower, Part 2, London, England 1483

Richard II portrait
The earliest painting of Richard III, a 1520 copy of an earlier portrait.

In this episode, we discuss the various theories of what happened to young Edward V and his little brother Richard, who went into the Tower of London in June of 1483 and never came out alive. As far as anybody really knows.

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3. The Princes in the Tower, Part 1, London, England 1483

The Princes in the Tower, Millais
Millais’s painting of the princes, from 1878. The young king Edward V is wearing the Order of the Garter below his knee. Well, no. Not a true thing.

Well, probably 1483. That’s the last time anybody saw them, anyway. In this first part, we discuss the Cousins’ War, and how the boys ended up in the Tower, in June of 1483.

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