Comments on Edward II: John Trevisa And That Famous Red-Hot Poker

Thanks, Gemini! Glad you enjoy the blog, and hope...

2009-07-21T10:15:52.321+02:00

Thanks, Gemini! Glad you enjoy the blog, and hope you find it informative. I'm dedicated to setting right the many myths and lies that are endlessly repeated and recycled as 'fact' about Edward II and Isabella, especially online, that are anything but, and when the primary sources are examined prove to be inventions of 20c historians. To give just a few examples of hundreds: that Ed gave his wedding gifts and jewels to Piers in 1308; that he abandoned Isa while she was pregnant in 1312; that he imprisoned her and took her children from her in 1324; that he was murdered by red-hot poker. All of this is utter nonsense, but sadly it's repeated over and over again so that many people believe it's the truth.

I'll be looking at all these, and many more, in a Mythbusters section of the new website my friend and I are setting up. I hope the site, and this blog, go some way to correcting the many myths still perpetuated about Ed II, but as people keep writing crap about him as though it's fact, I'm afraid not...:(

Alianore - I've been a fan of your blog for some t...

2009-07-20T19:53:39.761+02:00

Alianore - I've been a fan of your blog for some time, primarily for reasons such as this post, and would be among the first in line to scoop up your biography of Edward I. Thanks for shedding some truth on one of history's most intriguing figures.

I am writing a biog of Edward, but sadly no-one wa...

2009-07-14T10:03:55.555+02:00

I am writing a biog of Edward, but sadly no-one wants to publish it at the moment! My main problem is trying to keep the word count down to less than about a million...;)

I must agree with Brian, Alianore. I think you m...

2009-07-13T18:52:02.566+02:00

I must agree with Brian, Alianore.

I think you must put your hard work and dedicated research into a book.

But Alianore, thinking is not half as much fun as ...

2009-07-13T16:52:38.905+02:00

But Alianore, thinking is not half as much fun as having prejudices. And that hot poker story is just too good to miss. :)

I think a lot of 'history' is nothing but repeated...

2009-07-12T16:55:39.081+02:00

I think a lot of 'history' is nothing but repeated lies. However to get to the truth one has to work on the micro elements that make history. This is exactly what you are doing! What you are building here would build into an amazing book. Trouble is I guess it would be 1500 pages or more...

Thanks, all! Anerje - this is a good way of see...

2009-07-12T14:04:16.667+02:00

Thanks, all!

Anerje - this is a good way of seeing which writers have just repeated what they've read in other secondary sources without checking very simple facts - which is quite amusing, really! :-)

Kate: we're going to have a Mythbusters section on our new website dedicated to stuff like this, supposed 'facts' about Ed II that are anything but. I think you'll enjoy it!
I also think that the endless repetition of the red-hot poker story is only proof that lots of people enjoy gruesome, sensationalist fiction, no matter how ludicrously implausible.

Lady D: yes, it's in Ian's Sermons of Sodomy article (in Reign of Edward II: New Perspectives), and reproduced on his website: http://www.ianmortimer.com/EdwardII/death.htm (about a quarter of the way down the page).

BRAVO *joining Kate P in standing and cheering lou...

2009-07-12T12:40:56.457+02:00

BRAVO *joining Kate P in standing and cheering loudly*

A sensationalist story sometimes blinds people so that they forget about doing their own research - even today a good tabloid headline will sell millions of copies! The other (and far more often repeated) stories of the means of Edward's death in other chronicles are bypassed because they are not so 'gory'.

I believe Ian Mortimer did an article looking at the different chronicles, the means of death recorded, and also their general reliability?

BRAVO! stands and cheers loudly Alianore...what...

2009-07-12T03:11:11.848+02:00

BRAVO! *stands and cheers loudly*

Alianore...what a wonderful blog post! There is an old saying often repeated that "history doesn't repeat itself....historians repeat each other". This blog post is proof of that regarding how the poker story started, and why it continued. Humans love a gruesome story that captures the imagination of people at large - and because Edward was a 'bad' king in their eyes people were happy to see him 'punished', and they probably thought the instrument of his (supposed) death appropriate also. Love your mythbusting - love it.

I guess John Trevisa has become such an oft repeat...

2009-07-11T20:30:26.745+02:00

I guess John Trevisa has become such an oft repeated part of the story of Edward II, very few writers actually bother to research his history and find out the flaws. Sloppy research on their part! Hopefully your blog will have saved them the effort:>