Latest / Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities / A Bit Flaky

Transcript

A Bit Flaky · Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: of these amazing tales right there on display, just waiting
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: I think we can all agree that college students can
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: be a bit rowdy. Long day studying can lead to
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: even longer nights partying. Now, this isn't limited to modern
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: daytailgates and frat parties. Even as far back as the
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: thirteen hundreds, college students at Oxford University were known to
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: get unruly when they blew off steam, and much like now,
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: back then, the citizens of Oxford Town didn't love putting
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: up with the scholar antics. By thirteen fifty five, Oxford
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: University had been an education center for over two hundred
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: and fifty years, and for nearly all of that time,
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: the citizens and the scholars town and gown had been
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: at odds. A few times already the tension had broken
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: out into violence. Students and the townspeople had been accused
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: of killing each other, and tavern brawls were common events.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: Perhaps the worst instance was back in twelve oh nine,
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: when a woman was murdered and two scholars were accused.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: A group of townspeople captured the two and they hanged them.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: A group of students then fled Oxford in response, ended
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: up in Cambridge and founded a whole new university there
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: to avoid the violence. So it's fair to say that
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: town and gown skirmishes had become a yearly occurrence by
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: thirteen fifty five, but all of them would pale in
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: comparison to what happened that year. On February tenth, otherwise
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: known as Saint Scholastica's Holy Day. That evening, a group
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: of university students arrived at the Swindlestock Tavern in the
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: center of town looking for a drink. The bartender, John Croydon,
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: quickly poured them wine and then moved on to his
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: next patrons. A few minutes later, one of the students
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: waved down Croydon. He complained that the bartender had given
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: them bad wine and that he should serve them something
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: else free of charge. Tensions between the townspeople and the
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: scholars were already high, so it wasn't long before Croydon
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: and the scholars were arguing with each other, and finally
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Croydon hurled an insult and the scholar hurled his drink.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: The fight was on, and students and townspeople alike began brawling.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: The mass of people quickly spilled out into the street,
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: and the fight became a riot that spread throughout the
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: town and the university. For the next three whole days,
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: violence raged in Oxford. Although both university officials and town
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: leaders tried to stop the fighting, they couldn't get their
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: sides to listen to them. When the university chancellor tried
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: to calm the fighters down, he was forced to flee
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: when someone fired arrows at him. On February eleventh, a
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: day after the riot broke out, a crowd of townspeople
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: swept through Oxford looking for scholars. The lucky ones fled
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: to the university and barricaded themselves in libraries and lecture halls.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: The unlucky ones were killed by the mob. Even King
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: Edward the Third, who was staying in the nearby village
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: of Woodstock, couldn't quell the fighting, although he issued a
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: royal proclamation. The mob raged on until finally on the
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: evening of February twelfth, it died out. When the dust cleared,
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: Oxford town had lost about thirty people, the university closer
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: to sixty. King Edward immediately put the town under his
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: direct control. The Oxford mayor and town bailiffs were sent
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: to prison, The university was given power to tax goods
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: on the town, and judges were appointed to oversee a
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: trial of the rioters. Finally, the local bishop assigned the
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: town of Oxford and annual pennants. Every year, on Saint
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: Scholastica's Day, the mayor and at least sixty townspeople had
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: to attend a mass for those slain in the riot,
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: and every year the town had to pay the university
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: one penny for each scholar killed. The pennance continued to
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: be paid for nearly five hundred years until the punishment
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: was dropped in eighteen twenty five, and in nineteen fifty five,
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: six hundred years after the riot, the mayor of Oxford
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: and the vice chancellor of the university exchanged honors to
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: finally put the conflict to bed. Normally, in college, a
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: bad bottle of wine might just cause a six hour hangover.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: In this case, it seems to have caused a six
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: hundred year feud, and I'd call that curious. Antonio Lopez
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: de Santa Anna, or Santa Anna for short, is a
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: rather villainous figure in most American history books. He is
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: best known for leading the Mexican assault on the Alamo
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: in Texas and killing several American folk heroes, such as
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: Davy Cross. It's a story that has spawned eight just
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: Okay movies and at least two pretty great songs, But
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: there's a real life sequel that not many people actually
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: know about. The story doesn't follow any of the Americans.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: It follows Santa Anna, who returned to Mexico after he
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: was defeated just a month after the Alamo at the
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: Battle of San Jacinto. His further exploits are just as violent,
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: but a bit more curious. You see, in eighteen twenty one,
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: Mexico gained independence from Spain, although that doesn't mean everything
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: went smoothly for the country after that. What followed were
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: a few decades of civil strife with no effective central government.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: What government there was ruled Mexico City and the surrounding
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: provinces fell under the jurisdiction of various territorial factions. Within
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: the first twenty years of Mexican independence, ten different presidents
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: were either killed or driven from power. Amidst all this strife,
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: a renowned French pastry chef who history now only knows
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: as Monsieur Remontel, was just doing his best to prepare
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: the finest he could for whatever president was in power.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: You can imagine how hard it would be if your
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: primary client kept dying or fleeing the country. But Rementel
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: did keep his shop open to other customers as well.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: There just weren't many, and one day in eighteen thirty eight,
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: he served his last declare to a group of drunken
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: Mexican military officers who trashed his business. Furious, Rementel sent
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: word to the French government demanding that they hold the
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: Mexicans accountable for their destruction of a French business. Remontel
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: was one of potentially hundreds of French citizens in Mexico
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: with similar complaints, and so the French responded, sending ships
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: to blockade and bombard the Mexico port of Vera Cruz,
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: and with that an episode in Mexican history known as
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: the Pastry War had begun. The Mexicans now had a
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: common enemy to unite against, and so they rallied their army.
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: But they needed a leader. As it so happened, Santa
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: Ana was extremely available for the job. He had lost
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: the respect of the military after the Battle of San
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: Jacinto and had since retired to his ranch, But his
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: ranch was just outside of Vera Cruz, and so he
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: was the nearest available military leader. He got on his
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: horse and rode as fast as he could to lead
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: the army. By the time he rallied his men, the
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: French had already occupied a fort in the region. He
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: led an assault on that fort, eventually overcoming the European invaders. Unfortunately,
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: things were never that easy for Santa Anna. During the
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: course of the battle, his horse was hit by a
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: cannon and Santa Anna's leg was mangled. He had to
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: have it amputated. To make matters worse, the French immediately
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: retook the fort and forced Mexico to pay six hundred
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: thousand pesos, putting an end to the Pastry war in
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: March of eighteen thirty nine, just a few months after
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: it started. However, all of Mexico now saw Santa Anna
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: as a hero. He had stood up for their nation
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: and even given a limb in the process. Heck, that
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: leg was paraded through Mexico City and given an honorable burial,
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: and Santa Anna was eventually made president in eighteen forty two.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: Talk about failing up, but he should have known better
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: than to take the job. By eighteen forty four, the
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: people had grown sick of him and they exhumed the leg.
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: They paraded it through the streets again, but this time,
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: instead of chanting Santa Anna's name, they screamed death to
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: the cripple. It was just impossible to keep his people happy. Nevertheless,
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: Santa Anna's story was destined to become a trilogy. He
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: was called into action to defend his country one more time.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: In eighteen forty seven, when the Mexican American War was
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: in full swing. Santa Anna prepared to defend Vera Cruz
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: for the second time, but victory was just not in
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: the cards. The Americans trounced his army and he famously
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: fled the battle, leaving his prosthetic leg behind for the
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: Americans to take as a trophy. That leg, by the way,
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: is on display in Indiana right now. Santa Anna was
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: forced to give up a huge amount of Mexican territory,
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: eventually the entire American Southwest, and once again went into exile.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: That wasn't the end of his story, but will leave
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: the rest for another day. If nothing else, Santana's career
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: and the Pastry War shows us that even the smallest,
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: most seemingly insignificant moments in history can be filled with
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: curious detail. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts,
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Mankey
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series,
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: and television show, and you can learn all about it
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: over at the Worldoflore dot com. And until next time,
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: stay curious.