Tudor England's Dumbest Murder

After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal

History Hit

Myths, Folklore, Mystery, History, Ghosts, Society & Culture, Murder, Ufos, True Crime, Paranormal, Supernatural, Serial Killers

4.6 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 10 April 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Alice Arden wanted her husband Thomas dead. So did the rest of the village of Faversham. What followed was a twisted dance of passion, poison, insane plots and dastardly assassins. A tale so macabre that it became a true crime sensation in its own day.

Returning to help tell the story is Dr Blessin Adams whose new book Thou Savage Woman: Female Killers in Early Modern Britain is out now.

Edited by Tomos Delargy. Produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.

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All music from Epidemic Sounds.

After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, we're your host's Anthony Delaney and Maddie Pelling.
0:03.7	And if you would like After Dark myths, misdeeds and the paranormal, ad free and get early access, sign up to History Hit.
0:11.1	With a History Hit subscription, you can also watch hundreds of hours of original documentaries with top history presenters and enjoy a new release every week.
0:20.7	Sign up now by visiting historyhit.com forward slash subscribe. top history presenters and enjoy a new release every week.
0:24.8	Sign up now by visiting historyhit.com forward slash subscribe.
0:28.8	Acast recommends.
0:32.7	Hi, my name's Paloma Faith and this is my new show.
0:34.2	One, two, three, four!
0:39.9	I've been called Mad and Bad and bad my whole life.
0:44.0	I've also had some real moments of sad, so I decided to make a podcast.
0:49.2	This series, I'll be speaking to my favourite actors, comedians, musicians and thinkers to find out what makes them mad, sad and bad.
0:53.7	Out now.
0:54.5	This is like free therapy for you, wouldn't it?
1:02.0	A-Cast is the home of podcasting, including such shows as...
1:05.7	The logbooks, the high-performance podcast, and the one you're listening to right now.
1:27.1	We're standing in the world at a London theatre in the late 1500s. The play is called Arden of
1:29.3	Faversham and it's by the one and only William Shakespeare, except that it's not. It's by
1:33.8	Christopher Marlowe. Or actually, is it by Thomas Kidd? It doesn't really matter. What we've seen so
1:39.6	far is a nasty-looking piece of work, Thomas Arden, accuse his young, beautiful wife Alice of cook-holding him,
1:47.2	saying she'd called out the name of her lover, Mosby, in her sleep.
1:51.9	Then Arden announced he's leaving on business for a few days and departed the stage.
1:56.9	Alone now, Alice steps towards us.
	...

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