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Authors: Robert Easton
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CHARLES THE HARLEQUIN
Heneage the Dismal
Heneage Finch, first earl of Nottingham, 1621–82
Heneage was a lawyer who took no part in the troubles of the English Civil War, concentrating instead on building up a lucrative private practice. In 1660 he was elected Member of Parliament for Canterbury and was made Solicitor General and later Lord Chancellor. Lawyers remember him for his just and systematic administration. Almost everyone else remembers him for looking like death warmed up.
Divine Sovereign see Lady Wu the POISONER
Clovis the Do-Nothing King
Clovis II, Merovingian king, c.634–57
Clovis was the first of ten rois fainéants (do-nothing monarchs) who passed the time in idle luxury in secluded villas while the real power lay with the mayors of the royal palaces. Occasionally these kings made public appearances in oxen-drawn chariots, but it was only with the arrival of Pepin the SHORT in the early eighth century that royal authority meant anything again in France.
Dollheart see John LACKLAND
Dona Juana
Maria Louisa, queen of Spain, 1751–1819
Don Juan was a legendary heartless Spanish philanderer; ‘Dona Juana’ was a very real heartless philanderer who regularly andoften cheated on her husband, Charles IV. One of her favourite sexual playmates was a former guardsman dubbed ‘the Sausage Man’. Some say this was because his home province of Extremad-ura was famous for its sausages. Others propose a more earthy reason.
Domesday Characters
The Domesday Book mentions a multitude of minor personages in eleventh-century England. We learn about Nigel, a priest who was William the Conqueror’s physician. We find men styled ‘the Crossbowman’ or ‘the Engineer’, who must have held responsible posts in the royal army. Others, also named for their professions, include ‘the Fisherman’, ‘the Cook’ and ‘the Interpreter’.
Some people are referred to by a nickname. Richard ‘Poignant’, meaning ‘biter’, suggests that the tenant of Trow Farm in Wiltshire was not the most mellow of characters. One can only hazard a guess, meanwhile, as to what earned Roger the epithet ‘God Save the Ladies’. Below is a sample list of other epithets and nicknames gleaned from the census:
Eadric the Blind
Alwin the Devil
John the Doorkeeper
Robert the Fair
William Hosed
Berdic the Jester
Geoffrey the Little
Leofgifu the Nun
Richard the Reckless
Godfrey the Scullion
Alwin Stickhare
Magnus the Swarthy
Walter the Vinedresser
Dracula see Vlad the IMPALER
Michael the Drunkard
Michael III, Byzantine emperor, 838–67
‘Basil the Macedonian’ was an upstart, a former groom who jockeyed his way into the good graces of those in power and finally persuaded ‘Michael the Drunkard’ to crown him co-emperor, whereupon he had Michael murdered in his bed. Byzantine sources, writing to justify Basil’s dastardly deed, portray Michael as a dissolute sot who partook in drinking bouts, horse races and religious burlesques while completely ignoring affairs of state. Yet modern scholars suggest that he was far from completely irresponsible, especially when it came to military matters. In 861, for instance, Michael and his uncle Bardas invaded Bulgaria and secured the conversion of the king to Christianity. A few years after their return, however, both fell prey to Basil’s henchmen.
Wenceslas the Drunkard see Wenceslas the WORTHLESS
Hugh the Dull
Hugh, lord of Douglas, 1294–1342
‘Dismal’ or ‘Worthless’, particularly if undeserved, must be hard nicknames to accept, but being known to history as ‘the Dull’ must surely be the most painful slap in the face. Annals of the great Douglas family of Scotland do not dwell on Hugh’s tenure as the head of the clan. ‘Of this man,’ wrote the early seventeenth-century historian David Hume of Godscroft, ‘whether it was by reason of the dullness of his mind… we have no mention at all in history of his actions.’ It appears that he was
Heneage the Dismal
Heneage Finch, first earl of Nottingham, 1621–82
Heneage was a lawyer who took no part in the troubles of the English Civil War, concentrating instead on building up a lucrative private practice. In 1660 he was elected Member of Parliament for Canterbury and was made Solicitor General and later Lord Chancellor. Lawyers remember him for his just and systematic administration. Almost everyone else remembers him for looking like death warmed up.
Divine Sovereign see Lady Wu the POISONER
Clovis the Do-Nothing King
Clovis II, Merovingian king, c.634–57
Clovis was the first of ten rois fainéants (do-nothing monarchs) who passed the time in idle luxury in secluded villas while the real power lay with the mayors of the royal palaces. Occasionally these kings made public appearances in oxen-drawn chariots, but it was only with the arrival of Pepin the SHORT in the early eighth century that royal authority meant anything again in France.
Dollheart see John LACKLAND
Dona Juana
Maria Louisa, queen of Spain, 1751–1819
Don Juan was a legendary heartless Spanish philanderer; ‘Dona Juana’ was a very real heartless philanderer who regularly andoften cheated on her husband, Charles IV. One of her favourite sexual playmates was a former guardsman dubbed ‘the Sausage Man’. Some say this was because his home province of Extremad-ura was famous for its sausages. Others propose a more earthy reason.
Domesday Characters
The Domesday Book mentions a multitude of minor personages in eleventh-century England. We learn about Nigel, a priest who was William the Conqueror’s physician. We find men styled ‘the Crossbowman’ or ‘the Engineer’, who must have held responsible posts in the royal army. Others, also named for their professions, include ‘the Fisherman’, ‘the Cook’ and ‘the Interpreter’.
Some people are referred to by a nickname. Richard ‘Poignant’, meaning ‘biter’, suggests that the tenant of Trow Farm in Wiltshire was not the most mellow of characters. One can only hazard a guess, meanwhile, as to what earned Roger the epithet ‘God Save the Ladies’. Below is a sample list of other epithets and nicknames gleaned from the census:
Eadric the Blind
Alwin the Devil
John the Doorkeeper
Robert the Fair
William Hosed
Berdic the Jester
Geoffrey the Little
Leofgifu the Nun
Richard the Reckless
Godfrey the Scullion
Alwin Stickhare
Magnus the Swarthy
Walter the Vinedresser
Dracula see Vlad the IMPALER
Michael the Drunkard
Michael III, Byzantine emperor, 838–67
‘Basil the Macedonian’ was an upstart, a former groom who jockeyed his way into the good graces of those in power and finally persuaded ‘Michael the Drunkard’ to crown him co-emperor, whereupon he had Michael murdered in his bed. Byzantine sources, writing to justify Basil’s dastardly deed, portray Michael as a dissolute sot who partook in drinking bouts, horse races and religious burlesques while completely ignoring affairs of state. Yet modern scholars suggest that he was far from completely irresponsible, especially when it came to military matters. In 861, for instance, Michael and his uncle Bardas invaded Bulgaria and secured the conversion of the king to Christianity. A few years after their return, however, both fell prey to Basil’s henchmen.
Wenceslas the Drunkard see Wenceslas the WORTHLESS
Hugh the Dull
Hugh, lord of Douglas, 1294–1342
‘Dismal’ or ‘Worthless’, particularly if undeserved, must be hard nicknames to accept, but being known to history as ‘the Dull’ must surely be the most painful slap in the face. Annals of the great Douglas family of Scotland do not dwell on Hugh’s tenure as the head of the clan. ‘Of this man,’ wrote the early seventeenth-century historian David Hume of Godscroft, ‘whether it was by reason of the dullness of his mind… we have no mention at all in history of his actions.’ It appears that he was
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