Women Leaders, part 3: Boudica (Literally) Burned London Down

Boudica was Queen of the Iceni, a Celtic tribe during the Roman conquest of Britain. She led a rebellion of united tribes against their Roman invaders, leaving a path of death and bloodshed in her wake. 

Referenced in this episode:

Boudica: Warrior Woman of the Roman Empire by Caitlin C. Gillespie

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Women Leaders, part 2: Ancient Rome’s Most Murderous Woman

Julia Agrippina Augusta, aka Agrippina Minor aka Agrippina the Younger, was a completely badass woman in ancient Rome. She leveraged her power as first the sister of the Emperor, then the wife of the Emperor, then the mother of the Emperor (three separate Emperors) to break new ground for Roman women. She also murdered a lot of people. Her placement on the Scandilicious Scale may SURPRISE YOU 

Referenced in this episode:

Agrippina: The Most Extraordinary Woman of the Roman World by Emma Southon

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Women Leaders, part 1: Cleopatra Was That Bitch

As the first part of our new series “Women Leaders And The Men Who Whined About Them,” we take it all the way back to the first century BCE and the legendary Egyptian Pharaoh Cleopatra VII. Growing up amid non-stop familial murder, she cannily usurped control of the kingdom from her relatives and teamed up with Rome. But where will she wind up on the Scandalicious Scale?? 

Reference:

Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff

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Women Behaving Badly, part 6: The Super Secret Spy

Lucy Percy Hay, Countess of Carlisle (1599-1660) was a British noblewoman known for her espionage work surrounding the English Civil War. But she was not just a spy… was a #LADYSPY, mentored by one of the most memorable heroines of a previous Vulgar History episode!! Will it all be enough for her to take the top spot in our Scandalicious Scale?? 

Mentioned in this episode: 

Sweet Valley Sagas by Francine Pascal 

Court Lady and Country Wife: Royal Privilege and Civil War: Two Noble Sisters in 17th-century England by Lita-Rose Betcherman

Invisible Agents: Women and Espionage in Seventeenth-Century Britain by Nadine Akkerman 

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Women Behaving Badly, part 5: Mary Toft Pulled (Several) Rabbits (Out Of Her Vagina)

Mary Toft (1701 – 1763) was an English peasant who became notorious for her involvement in her family’s scheme to pretend she’d given birth to seventeen rabbits. The story is profoundly, continuingly, and rage-inducingly bananas.

Content warnings: animal cruelty/killing, nonconsensual gynecological procedures, Nathanael St. Andre

References:

The Imposteress Rabbit Breeder: Mary Toft and Eighteenth-Century England by Karen Harvey

What Mary Toft Felt: Women’s Voices, Pain, Power and the Body by Karen Harvey (History Workshop Journal)

Why Historians Are Reexamining the Case of the Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits by Sabrina Imbler (Atlas Obscura)

Imagining Monsters: Miscreations of the Self in Eighteenth-Century England By Dennis Todd

Lore, episode 45: First Impressions (Lore Podcast)

Mary Toft and Her Extraordinary Delivery of Rabbits by Niki Russell (The Public Domain Review)

An Extraordinary Delivery of Rabbits by Edward White (The Paris Review)

The Curious Case of Mary Toft (University of Glasgow Special Collections)

The confessions of a rabbit woman and other recently digitized tales from the Osler Library by Mary Yearl (McGill University Library News)

Mary Toft or Tofts (Godalming Musem)

The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits by Lucas Reilly (Mental Floss)

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Women Behaving Badly, part 4: Elizabeth Báthory Bathed in Blood (Not Really)

Countess Elizabeth Báthory de Ecsed (7 August 1560 – 21 August 1614) was a Hungarian noblewoman who, for a time, oversaw more properties and estates than anyone else in Europe. Her undoing came about when the Palatine of Hungary accused her and four servants of mass murder, and she’s now remembered as more of a myth than a person. Did she really commit these gruesome crimes, and bathe in the blood of her victims?? And how will she score on the scandalicious scale??

Countess Dracula: The Life and Times of Elisabeth Bathory, the Blood Countess by Tony Thorne

The Unobscured podcast by Aaron Mahnke

Other stuff:

History writing: annfosterwriter.com

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Women Behaving Badly, part 3: She Stole Marie Antoinette’s Necklace

Jeanne de Valois-Saint-Rémy, Comtesse de la Motte (22 July 1756 – 23 August 1791) was an illegitimate descendant of the French royal family who became famous on her own as AN INCREDIBLY CLEVER CON ARTIST/HEROINE! But how will she score on the Scandalicious Scale??

Mentioned in this episode:

How to Ruin a Queen by Jonathan Beckman

Frock Flicks review of the hats and wigs in The Affair of the Necklace

Other stuff:

History writing: annfosterwriter.com

Recommended books: bookshop.org/lists/vulgar-history-recommends

Patreon: patreon.com/annfosterwriter

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Women Behaving Badly, part 2: She Poisoned Her Enemy In Jail

Frances Howard Carr, Duchess of Somerset (31 May 1590 – 23 August 1632) was a British noblewoman who, among other things, pled guilty to murder and also most likely faked her own virginity inspection. She also showed much more bosom in her portraiture than anyone in the history of breasts and lived her life both physically and psychologically Tits Out. But where does that place her on the Scandaliciousness Scale??? 

Mentioned in this episode: 

The Poison Bed by E.C. Fremantle 

The Overbury Affair: The Murder Trial That Rocked The Court of King James I by Miriam Allen DeFord 

Unnatural Murder: Poison in the Court of James I by Anne Somerset

Other stuff:

History writing: annfosterwriter.com

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Women Behaving Badly, part 1: Caroline of Brunswick, Rebel of the Regency

Caroline of Brunswick (17 May 1768 – 7 August 1821) was Queen consort of the United Kingdom for a year, but that’s basically the least interesting thing about her. Where does our inaugural story subject score on the Scandalicious Scale?? And was she really having an affair with Bartolomeo, her Italian servant???  

Mentioned in this episode: 

“What Eye Has Wept For George IV” from the Noble Blood podcast

Caroline & Charlotte: Regency Scandals by Alison Plowden

Other stuff:

History writing: annfosterwriter.com

Recommended books: bookshop.org/lists/vulgar-history-recommends

Patreon: patreon.com/annfosterwriter

Merch: teespring.com/stores/vulgarhistory

Vulgar History is an affiliate of Bookshop.org, which means that a small percentage of any books you click through and purchase will come back to Vulgar History as a commission.

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