Who Was Medieval Europe's Most Evil Monarch?

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

🗓️ 27 November 2025

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Who was the very worst of all the Medieval monarchs? No spoilers but we've got monarchs driven psychopathic by love, terrible sadists, and egos that straddled a continent. They were the worst of the worst, but who was the worst of all?

Our guest today is Dr Eleanor Janega, co-host of Gone Medieval from History Hit - if you are a fan of the medieval world, you need to be listening!

This episode was edited by Tim Arstall and produced by Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Freddy Chick.

You can now watch After Dark on Youtube! www.youtube.com/@afterdarkhistoryhit

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All music from Epidemic Sounds.

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

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Transcript

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0:00.0	A medieval peasant is out in the field, ho in hand. They look up and see a cloud of dust
0:09.3	coming along the road towards them. What's this? The dust cloud turns into a line of horsemen
0:17.0	and soldiers, banners flying. Oh dear, they recognise the banner, a fiery red dragon with mouth gaping wide,
0:26.5	and a cross emblazoned on its back.
0:29.7	In the middle of the small army is a figure hard to ignore.
0:34.5	They gesture at the peasant.
0:37.1	Oh dear,
0:37.7	oh dear, this is
0:38.7	very bad news indeed for our
0:41.2	particular peasant. It is the
0:43.3	very worst monarch in medieval
0:45.2	history and they do not
0:47.3	look pleased.
0:53.9	The Who was the most evil, medieval monarch? These were some of the biggest scumbags in history,
1:06.3	total psychopaths and serial killers, scheming, lying, and ruling over massive kingdoms and wealth.
1:13.9	Vlad the Impaler, Pedro the Cruel, Isabella the Sheebel for France.
1:18.4	For centuries from the Atlantic to the Holy Land, European rulers broke every moral and social code.
1:25.9	But who was the worst of the lot?
1:28.0	Today, we are joined by historian and host of the Gone Medieval podcast, Eleanor Yonaga,
1:32.9	to answer that very question.
1:35.9	Welcome to After Dark.
1:37.5	Music Now history tells us that there are a lot of conniving scumbags who've worn crowns,
	...

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