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Renaissance English History Podcast: A Show About the Tudors

[YouTube Drop} She Ordered a Priest’s Assassination

Renaissance English History Podcast: A Show About the Tudors

Heather Teysko

History

4.6624 Ratings

🗓️ 20 October 2025

⏱️ 21 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In 1337, priest John Forde was murdered on London’s Cheapside in full view of witnesses. Modern research links the killing to Lady Ela Fitzpayne — a noblewoman, excommunicated rebel, and Forde’s alleged former lover. Witnesses named her own brother as the attacker… yet no one was punished. This is medieval true crime with all the politics, scandal, and power plays intact. Read the full article and get sources... https://www.englandcast.com/a-medieval-murder-mystery-sex-scandal-and-a-throat-slit-on-a-london-street/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hello, I'm Charlie Higson and I've written a book about our glorious monarchy, a tale packed with battles, scandals and the occasional beheading.

0:09.3

From Harold getting an arrow in the eye to Henry V, giving the French a good whacking, and of course Henry VIII, who made marriage a full-time occupation, all the way up to Charles III, who frankly seems rather well behaved compared

0:22.5

to the rest of them. It's called Willy Willy Harry Stee with brilliant illustrations by

0:27.8

Vic Reeves and it's out now. Superdrug offers more than just beauty trends. It can be the first

0:34.0

stop for your health too. Superdrug's Pharmacies offer the NHS Pharmacy First Service.

0:39.6

Get fast help for things like UTIs, sore throats and sinusitis with no appointment.

0:44.8

And if suitable, prescription-only medication on the same day.

0:48.2

Learn more at superdrug.com slash pharmacy first.

0:51.4

Subject to consultation with a superdr drug pharmacist available in England only.

0:54.9

Aid restrictions may apply. This service is NHS funded. Prescription charges may apply if treatment is

0:59.6

supplied. It's early evening, May 3rd, 1337. London's cheap side is winding down after a bustling market day. The bells of Vespers are fading

1:13.9

when a priest named John Ford begins to walk towards St. Paul's Cathedral. He isn't alone for long.

1:21.2

A fellow clergyman, Hascoff Neville, approaches him and the two begin what witnesses later call a pleasant conversation.

1:31.0

But just as they near the cathedral precinct, four men step out from the crowd.

1:37.1

In full view of Londoner still in the street, one of the attackers draws a dagger and

1:43.1

flashes forward across the throat.

1:45.9

Two others stab him in the stomach.

1:48.7

The priest collapses onto the stones and bleeds out at the foot of the cathedral.

1:54.4

This was not a chaotic street killing or an opportunistic robbery gone wrong.

2:00.0

According to researchers at Cambridge University,

2:02.5

who recently published archival findings on this cold case,

2:06.4

it was a calculated hit,

...

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