[YouTube Drop] The Funniest Tudor Beliefs

Renaissance English History Podcast: A Show About the Tudors

Heather Teysko

History

4.6 • 624 Ratings

🗓️ 19 September 2025

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Tudors weren’t just political power players, they were also deeply superstitious. In this video, we look at the strangest beliefs of the era: strange births seen as divine warnings, everyday superstitions like “bless you” and knocking on wood, ghost lore and sin-eaters, witchcraft paranoia, and medical cures involving beetles, fox fat, and even buttered frogs. Tudor life was fascinating, frightening, and sometimes very funny. 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	There are some things you'll never understand. Like, why did that person ghost me? When did
0:05.5	man-spreading become socially acceptable? And how come that dinosaur theme park keeps reopening,
0:10.8	given its safety record? But some things you can understand. Like your Experian credit score.
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0:30.7	The weather. Tomorrow, expect a biting cold front? Hmm, how naughty. I wonder what I'll be wearing or taking off.
0:39.3	The night will be wild and untamed.
0:41.4	Expect heavy, lashing rain that'll soak you to the skin.
0:45.2	By Monday, temperatures will rise slowly but surely reaching their peak in the afternoon.
0:51.3	Not in the mood for miserable weather?
0:53.5	Fly cheaply to Turkey with Sun Express.
0:56.5	Sun Express, nonstop sunshine. The tutors were ambitious, deeply religious, and obsessed with power and politics.
1:08.3	But alongside their royal pageantry and dramatic court intrigue,
1:13.7	they also lived in a world where superstition shaped everyday life. Many of their beliefs
1:20.0	strike us today as funny or bizarre or downright disgusting. They saw omens in animals, ghosts and crossroads, and witches behind
1:30.1	almost every problem. You've got a problem blame a witch. They stuffed cats into walls,
1:34.8	they buttered frogs for medicine, and they read storms as direct messages from God. Some of these
1:41.3	ideas carried down into sayings that we still use, while others, let's just say I'm very glad the Enlightenment happened in the scientific revolution.
1:52.5	Anyway, today let's take a tour through some of the strangest Tudor superstitions, portents, charms, witchcraft fears, and medical cures that make me really grateful for ibuprofen.
2:07.6	Hey friends, welcome back to the YouTube channel for the Renaissance English History podcast. Oh, I am your host, Heather. I've been podcasting on
2:18.7	Tudor England since 2009 with my show, and I am, as always, delighted that you are here with me today
2:25.9	to talk about funny tutor superstitions. This is one of those things where, you know, every once in a while
	...

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