Latest / Who Did What Now With Katie Charlwood / 90. The Real Dick Whittington

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90. The Real Dick Whittington · Who Did What Now With Katie Charlwood

0:00
Speaker 1: You're listening to an Airwave media podcast. Hello delicious friends.
0:08
Speaker 2: The episode you were about to hear was supposed to
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Speaker 2: be released pre Christmas twenty twenty three, but as you
0:14
Speaker 2: are about to hear, there were circumstances beyond my control
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Speaker 2: which led to this not being released on time. So
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Speaker 2: I hope you'll enjoy this festive themed, pantoesque episode.
0:30
Speaker 1: And apologies if I'm wheezing. I still have you know,
0:34
Speaker 1: the pneumonia, and it's getting there. I'm on medication. Everything is,
0:41
Speaker 1: you know, going where it should be.
0:43
Speaker 3: But I hope you enjoy this episode, and I am
0:46
Speaker 3: so sorry for the delay.
1:04
Speaker 1: Hi everybody, and welcome to Who Did Want Now? The
1:07
Speaker 1: history podcast That's Not Your History Class with me your
1:10
Speaker 1: host Katie Charlwood, history harlot and reader of books. Now,
1:17
Speaker 1: gentle listeners, I love you so much. I really do.
1:22
Speaker 1: And I got some really, really cute reviews in so
1:25
Speaker 1: that's wonderful. Love that You're wonderful. You've really breakeened up
1:29
Speaker 1: on my weekend because, gentle listeners, I have been beset
1:34
Speaker 1: upon by a series of calamities. I thought the worst
1:38
Speaker 1: part of my week was going to be the fact
1:40
Speaker 1: that a wonderful follower of the podcast had sent me
1:44
Speaker 1: in a link to et Clarabelle the cow Bag, like
1:48
Speaker 1: it's a Disney Lunge Fly collaboration. It's gorgeous, it's perfect,
1:54
Speaker 1: it's amazing. But it's only available in the US and
1:58
Speaker 1: I can't buy it. So I was like, go, no,
2:01
Speaker 1: you know, I thought, you know, it's the one hundred
2:03
Speaker 1: year anniversary, it's let me got edition. It's like Ridge
2:06
Speaker 1: just now because it's coming to the end of the year.
2:08
Speaker 1: And I was like, oh, oh, no, I can't buy it.
2:12
Speaker 1: And I thought that's sad. You know, that'll be That'll
2:16
Speaker 1: be the worst part of my weekend, right right, No, no, no,
2:20
Speaker 1: no, no no. So I had a friend come in and
2:24
Speaker 1: I was seeing them before I was heading away for
2:26
Speaker 1: the weekend, and their glasses were all wonky, and I
2:28
Speaker 1: was like, let me fix that for you, because I'm
2:30
Speaker 1: always fixing my own frames, right and completely snap the
2:35
Speaker 1: leg off, just gone, schnip, schnip gone. Broke them. So
2:41
Speaker 1: now I'm going to try and get them soldered because
2:43
Speaker 1: I'm a fucking arse. Like, So that's happened, and I
2:47
Speaker 1: was getting ready to travel to Belfast to see my
2:50
Speaker 1: friend because we'd been arranging to go to the markets,
2:53
Speaker 1: like we'd plan this for young So we were supposed
2:56
Speaker 1: to go to the weekend after my birthday, but they
2:59
Speaker 1: were dealing with some stuff and I was dealing with
3:03
Speaker 1: some stuff and a bunch of things happened in between,
3:05
Speaker 1: so we couldn't do that. So like this was the
3:07
Speaker 1: only time kids I pick up the kids. Well, it
3:11
Speaker 1: turns out the kids actually ended up at my house anyway,
3:15
Speaker 1: but that's neither here nor there. So yeah, and I
3:18
Speaker 1: was scun bail fast. And it turns out the day
3:20
Speaker 1: I'm planning to travel, there's a strike. And I'm all
3:25
Speaker 1: for strikes. I'm here for it. So like Northern Ireland,
3:29
Speaker 1: all of the real and bus services are on strike.
3:33
Speaker 1: You know, fair enough, get your wages, get your you know,
3:38
Speaker 1: the stuff you need. And so I'm like okay, and
3:42
Speaker 1: I decide there's a coach from the south, from the
3:46
Speaker 1: Republic that goes from Donegal all the way over to
3:52
Speaker 1: beetle Fast. I was like, I'll get the coach. So
3:55
Speaker 1: I'd managed to come around this all goes well, everything
4:00
Speaker 1: in Belfast is fine. I'm planning to do like recording
4:03
Speaker 1: and stuff. I end up just like putting all notes
4:05
Speaker 1: and Mybbe travel laptop and I've got my cracking kiddy
4:09
Speaker 1: like headset because it's got a microphone in it, and
4:12
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, this would be so much easier. Plus
4:14
Speaker 1: if I managed to get any of my pals that
4:16
Speaker 1: we're looking to do some collapse. If I can get
4:19
Speaker 1: them and I can get the recording done, it'll all
4:21
Speaker 1: be fab Skip two. Me being in the bus station
4:27
Speaker 1: as I'm getting like the regular bus, the gold line
4:29
Speaker 1: from Belfast to Dairy and I'm waiting for my bus
4:35
Speaker 1: and two buses with the same number, both gold Lines,
4:38
Speaker 1: both two want to show up, and I'm like, oh,
4:39
Speaker 1: which bus is the right bus? And people are asking
4:42
Speaker 1: me which bus is the right bus? Anyway, I've got
4:45
Speaker 1: my bags and my hands and stuff. I've got my
4:47
Speaker 1: back pack and I've got my phone with my ticket
4:49
Speaker 1: on it, and you know, we find out which bus
4:52
Speaker 1: is the right bus when we get on the right bus.
4:56
Speaker 1: As we approach Drry, I realize I left fucking suitcase
5:02
Speaker 1: and Belfast at the bus station. I'm very proud of
5:12
Speaker 1: myself for not crying because it's got my laptop, it
5:16
Speaker 1: has my headphones, it has my ring light, it has
5:23
Speaker 1: my red dress, my beautiful red dress from the Podcast Awards,
5:28
Speaker 1: because I was going to film in it. I had
5:30
Speaker 1: great plans because I was going to film tonight tonight,
5:32
Speaker 1: but last night when I got back. So I get
5:36
Speaker 1: back and I'm trying to call the service. The lost
5:42
Speaker 1: property is closed on Sundays. So I managed to speak
5:46
Speaker 1: to somebody who goes, well, if the suitcase is there,
5:49
Speaker 1: it's going to be locked in somebody's office, so you
5:51
Speaker 1: could have phone is at quarter past eight in the
5:53
Speaker 1: morning to find out. So currently I've got strolling or suitcase?
5:56
Speaker 1: Is it there? Is it not? Have I lost a
5:59
Speaker 1: bunch of stuff? Lost the gifts I bought my kids
6:01
Speaker 1: at the Belfast Market, I guess so and Darry. Luckily enough,
6:07
Speaker 1: I've got sterlinks like British money because my dad always
6:12
Speaker 1: sends me. I send it for the kids and I
6:14
Speaker 1: give them the U equivalent and then I take it
6:16
Speaker 1: so that I can use it when I go to
6:18
Speaker 1: these places. I know what do I do. I go
6:21
Speaker 1: in to I go in to Pennies pre Mark if
6:26
Speaker 1: you want to call it, and I buy underwear and
6:29
Speaker 1: pajamas and a toothbrush and all the other essentials. Nuts
6:33
Speaker 1: that's great, it's great, great, it's great. And so then
6:37
Speaker 1: the next thing I do is I get the letter Kenny,
6:41
Speaker 1: and I get off the bus and I start walking
6:43
Speaker 1: and what have I done. I've left the pennies bag
6:48
Speaker 1: on the bus because at this point I'm just panicking.
6:54
Speaker 1: Clearly my brain is not working at this point, so
6:57
Speaker 1: I have to run back. Luckily, no one's touched, and
7:00
Speaker 1: I grab my bag and I take it with me.
7:02
Speaker 1: So again, solutions, it's fine. Then I get to the hotel.
7:09
Speaker 1: Everything's fine, and they're like, oh, you don't have a case,
7:12
Speaker 1: because they know me. At this hotel. I stay here
7:15
Speaker 1: all the time just because it's like so convenient for
7:17
Speaker 1: where I need to be. And I'm in my room
7:21
Speaker 1: last night and I'm like, oh, you know what, I
7:23
Speaker 1: can do some recording on my phone. Like that'll be fine,
7:26
Speaker 1: I'll record on my phone. But whatever way the walls
7:32
Speaker 1: in this particular hotel are, they're so thin. So I
7:37
Speaker 1: got to listen to an entire conversation by a couple,
7:41
Speaker 1: followed by the many many times that they were active.
7:47
Speaker 1: I'm not here to yung. Anybody's young, and I know,
7:49
Speaker 1: you know, love your best life, But hotels hotels. Now
7:55
Speaker 1: it is absolutely the hotel's fault for not having thicker walls,
7:58
Speaker 1: for not soundproofing. Like the hotel that I was staying
8:01
Speaker 1: in in Belfast had a club in it, right, a
8:04
Speaker 1: club downstairs. I barely heard anything. They did have ear plugs,
8:08
Speaker 1: which was nice, but I wasn't bothered by any of it.
8:12
Speaker 1: Like I couldn't hear anybody else's rooms. I couldn't hear
8:15
Speaker 1: anything else. It was like sturdy, right, hotels should have
8:19
Speaker 1: thicker walls. I should not be able to hear the
8:23
Speaker 1: conversation of the family next door or the couple in
8:27
Speaker 1: the other room, Like I shouldn't hear that, Like that
8:30
Speaker 1: is just per structural things. But yeah, so that's that's
8:36
Speaker 1: kind of stopped me from being able to do anything.
8:38
Speaker 1: So I ended up just putting my ear plugs and earplugs,
8:42
Speaker 1: earbuds in, listening to a podcast and playing a Mordul book.
8:49
Speaker 1: That that's what I ended up doing instead of recording
8:52
Speaker 1: because I was like, I can't, I just can't deal
8:55
Speaker 1: with this right now. This is not working. So yeah,
8:59
Speaker 1: that was fun. But I know what you're thinking. You're thinking,
9:02
Speaker 1: quit your gibber jabber. In fact, me in fact you
9:05
Speaker 1: Why well, but first we've got to get our source on.
9:09
Speaker 1: Our sources are History of Sir Richard Whittington by Henry B. Wheatley,
9:15
Speaker 1: Richard Whittington by C Rocliffe, Citizen of London, Richard Whittington,
9:21
Speaker 1: The Boy You would Be Mayor by Michael McCarthy, History
9:27
Speaker 1: of Parliament, House of Commons thirteen eighty six to fourteen
9:30
Speaker 1: twenty one, and of course our favorites History dot com
9:34
Speaker 1: and Biography dot com. Also every single panto that I
9:40
Speaker 1: have ever seen regarding Dick Whittington. I'll sitting comfortably good.
9:49
Speaker 1: Then let's begin. I know you may be thinking to yourself, Katie,
9:54
Speaker 1: why are you talking about men from history two weeks
9:58
Speaker 1: in a row. You don't do this right, I don't.
10:01
Speaker 1: But I was thinking of trying to do something a
10:04
Speaker 1: bit more festive because when I was week and I
10:08
Speaker 1: was living in Scotland, we would go to pantomimes like
10:11
Speaker 1: my aunt and stuff, like she was very involved in
10:14
Speaker 1: sort of drama and like when I went back to college,
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Speaker 1: I actually used to write and direct pantos like I
10:20
Speaker 1: keep forgetting I do it? Do you forget? Like a
10:22
Speaker 1: part of your life you just forget happen and then
10:24
Speaker 1: you reminded at it and you're like, oh, yeah, I
10:26
Speaker 1: did that, so yeah, I used to write in direct
10:28
Speaker 1: pantos and pantomime culture is like a very big, a
10:32
Speaker 1: very big thing. It used to be all over Europe
10:35
Speaker 1: and pantomime shows originally back in the day were like
10:39
Speaker 1: hours long. They would have acrobats and you know, vaudeville
10:43
Speaker 1: and like all these different parts to it, and then
10:46
Speaker 1: it becomes shortened down to this sort of two act
10:51
Speaker 1: play and it's a sort of comedy play, like a
10:55
Speaker 1: parody but for family, like a family friendly parody generally
11:01
Speaker 1: of old sort of fairy tales, folk or things like that,
11:04
Speaker 1: you know, or folk tales even And there is one
11:09
Speaker 1: panto it's behind you what, it's a whole thing there.
11:15
Speaker 1: There's a column respond situation and it's fun. It's just
11:18
Speaker 1: fun for all of my American listeners who have asked
11:22
Speaker 1: me about pantos, that that's a pantomime. Right. So there's
11:25
Speaker 1: a very popular pantomime which comes from a Tale of
11:31
Speaker 1: the Boy, a rag To Riches story. It's like really good.
11:35
Speaker 1: It is Dick Whittington who shows up in London broke
11:39
Speaker 1: a shit. He's got his way stick with a cloth
11:42
Speaker 1: in the back like a bindle. I think it's called
11:45
Speaker 1: a bundle. It's him and his cat. And he goes
11:49
Speaker 1: to London because he is told the streets are paved
11:51
Speaker 1: with gold, and he goes there to make his fortune,
11:55
Speaker 1: and he becomes the thrice gem Mayor of London. And
12:01
Speaker 1: it's this sort of folk tale ish situation, and you know,
12:07
Speaker 1: there's a pantomime name, and there's a principal boy, and
12:10
Speaker 1: a bunch of other stuff kind of happens. You know,
12:13
Speaker 1: it can vary, but effectively, he becomes mayor three times,
12:19
Speaker 1: which is kind of a big deal. And it's also
12:22
Speaker 1: kind of wrong because he was mayor four times because
12:24
Speaker 1: Dick Whittington was Mayor of London. Dick Whittington did arrive
12:29
Speaker 1: in London as a boy. But this story is a
12:33
Speaker 1: wee bit different to you know, the fun, family friendly
12:38
Speaker 1: comedy that we tell children. It's actually still not a
12:40
Speaker 1: bad story, Like there's not inherently dodgy about it. But
12:45
Speaker 1: I think the real life of Dick Whittington is just
12:49
Speaker 1: as interesting as the panto that is based on. So
12:54
Speaker 1: let's get into it. Let us start at the beginning,
12:56
Speaker 1: shall we, So Dick Whittington, which is what I'm gonna
12:59
Speaker 1: call because that's what I know him as, and Dick
13:03
Speaker 1: is short for Richard, so any excuse really to be honest.
13:08
Speaker 1: So Dick Whittington is born around about thirteen fifty eight
13:14
Speaker 1: in Gloucestershire, and yeah, I heard about this. He's not
13:20
Speaker 1: a poor man like in the panto, he's a poor
13:23
Speaker 1: boy nobody loves him, when in fact he is from
13:30
Speaker 1: the gentry. He's from a relatively a relatively all right family. Yeah,
13:36
Speaker 1: he's effectively Gloucester nobility ish or not nobility, he's getting there.
13:41
Speaker 1: So he is born to Sir William Whittington of Pontley
13:48
Speaker 1: and Joan Monsel. So his mother is the daughter of
13:54
Speaker 1: an MP, which is a Member of Parliament, which is
13:57
Speaker 1: the politician, and his father was a member of parliament.
14:04
Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah, he came from a family of politicians
14:08
Speaker 1: and his dad had an estate. And he had two
14:11
Speaker 1: older brothers, Robert Whittington and William Whittington. Now Robert ends
14:20
Speaker 1: up being an MP for Gloucester, like, he becomes an
14:24
Speaker 1: MP and his other brother, William, also becomes an MP.
14:28
Speaker 1: So they all go into politics, which is like funny.
14:32
Speaker 1: So I mean, it's not that funny because around about
14:36
Speaker 1: the time that he is born, his father dies that
14:43
Speaker 1: same year. So his mother, Joan, is widowed. But Joan
14:49
Speaker 1: is not a fool, like she is a smart one
14:52
Speaker 1: because what she does is she keeps her connections like
14:58
Speaker 1: she's smart enough to do it, because she's very lucky
15:01
Speaker 1: that she has, you know, this gentry you know, surrounding
15:06
Speaker 1: her and that she inherits like part of it in
15:09
Speaker 1: a state as a widow. Now Richard being the youngest,
15:14
Speaker 1: the youngest of three sons, especially now being the youngest
15:18
Speaker 1: of three sons or three sons, especially Richard here we dick,
15:24
Speaker 1: he was not going to benefit from primo genitio, which
15:27
Speaker 1: is effectively inheritance. Like so it's about heritage and inheritance. Yeah,
15:34
Speaker 1: it's it's kind of a big deal. So his oldest
15:38
Speaker 1: brother is clearly going to inherit and then the second
15:41
Speaker 1: brother will get something. But being the third, there's like
15:46
Speaker 1: nothing for him unless his brother wants to like keep
15:50
Speaker 1: him effectively. And so as someone who is not going
15:56
Speaker 1: to inherit his father's estate unless he you know, manages
16:01
Speaker 1: to outlive both of his siblings, who also don't have
16:05
Speaker 1: any children like yet both of his brothers would have
16:08
Speaker 1: to die and not have any legitimate heirs in order
16:12
Speaker 1: for Dick to inherit anything. So yeah, aff he pops
16:17
Speaker 1: to London. His mother sends him to London in order
16:24
Speaker 1: for him to learn a.
16:26
Speaker 4: Trade, because round about the age ten or twelve is
16:31
Speaker 4: typically the age that a boy in this eral would
16:35
Speaker 4: go and start apprenticing.
16:38
Speaker 1: And Dick here gets a mercer apprenticeship under Ivo Fitzwarren, Sorry, sir,
16:45
Speaker 1: I will Fitzwarren, who is a knight obviously because he
16:48
Speaker 1: is a sir and he is a mercer. What the
16:52
Speaker 1: fuck is a merser merchant? Effectively, but he traded in
16:58
Speaker 1: fine goods, so luxury items, so he would trade luxury goods,
17:04
Speaker 1: so he would be trading silks and velvets. These he
17:10
Speaker 1: would sell to the nobility in England. And he would
17:14
Speaker 1: also sell British wile, especially like broadcloth which would be
17:18
Speaker 1: like finished and then sent off to like Florence and stuff.
17:23
Speaker 1: So he would trade in luxury goods and he was
17:28
Speaker 1: doing quite well, luckily for him because as a young
17:32
Speaker 1: boy coming into London at this time period in sort
17:36
Speaker 1: of the mid to late thirteen hundreds, like This is
17:42
Speaker 1: run about the end of the Hundred Years War, which
17:45
Speaker 1: you know helped people gain and maintain titles, but also
17:51
Speaker 1: brought them in a chunk a change, so people were
17:55
Speaker 1: well off, Like they were doing well from this. And
17:58
Speaker 1: because he is right, this is London, which is still
18:03
Speaker 1: recovering from the Black Death, so they lost so many
18:07
Speaker 1: people from that that when you've got youth coming in
18:12
Speaker 1: and that youth has trade, like that's really gonna benefit.
18:15
Speaker 1: Like he arrives in London at just the right time
18:20
Speaker 1: to say, the boy is lucky. Like I mean, losing
18:23
Speaker 1: your father is not like the best of situations, but
18:27
Speaker 1: like from an employment standpoint, you know, he's doing really well.
18:33
Speaker 1: Like he has London in London very much, right person,
18:38
Speaker 1: right place, right time. And on top of that, he
18:42
Speaker 1: has these family connections which I don't even think he
18:45
Speaker 1: was too sure of at the time, but he had
18:48
Speaker 1: all of these connections to sort of gentry and the military,
18:54
Speaker 1: which again after the one hundred Years War, pretty good
18:57
Speaker 1: to know these people who've earned money from this. So yeah,
19:01
Speaker 1: he has these really good connections and he is doing
19:06
Speaker 1: very very well. And by the time he's twenty six,
19:10
Speaker 1: he becomes a councilman of the City of London. It
19:14
Speaker 1: seems to me that he wasn't too interested in getting
19:18
Speaker 1: involved in politics. It just kind of happened because of
19:21
Speaker 1: the circles he was in. Now, Dick, as it turns out,
19:25
Speaker 1: is smart enough to know that one does not put
19:29
Speaker 1: all of their eggs in one basket. So as he's
19:33
Speaker 1: making you know, a fuck ton of money, he's doing really,
19:35
Speaker 1: really well for himself. What he starts doing is he
19:39
Speaker 1: you know, starts looking into other business opportunities and he
19:43
Speaker 1: ends up becoming a money lender. So like a lot
19:46
Speaker 1: of people would buy property and do things like that
19:48
Speaker 1: and would have an outward show of wealth, Like he
19:51
Speaker 1: wasn't big on like showing people he had money. Like
19:55
Speaker 1: he was like pretty religious, he was a very pious dude,
19:58
Speaker 1: and so he wasn't really he wasn't really into shown
20:01
Speaker 1: in a flashing the cash. So he ends up going
20:04
Speaker 1: into money lending instead. By the time Dick Winnington is
20:09
Speaker 1: twenty eight, he has infiltrated the Royal court and he
20:14
Speaker 1: is selling his luxury goods. He is mercering or whatever
20:19
Speaker 1: to King Richard the second, like he is selling shit
20:25
Speaker 1: to the king, and like four years after that, he's
20:30
Speaker 1: actually loaning the king money. Now how well they do?
20:38
Speaker 1: You have to be that the king is borrowing coins
20:41
Speaker 1: from you like that is that is some good trading,
20:45
Speaker 1: It's all I'm saying. So in thirteen ninety two, you know,
20:51
Speaker 1: the King isn't quite pleased because he believes the City
20:56
Speaker 1: of London. And I think we discussed this before that
20:58
Speaker 1: there are two London's. There's like London and then the
21:02
Speaker 1: City of London. So the City of London. Hm, things
21:07
Speaker 1: are not going well because the King is convinced that
21:10
Speaker 1: the government is mismanaging shit and he is, for lack
21:15
Speaker 1: of a better term, generally unhappy. So he literally seizes
21:21
Speaker 1: the City of London's lands, and Dick Whittington here is
21:28
Speaker 1: appointed Sheriff of the City of London by the Mayor, WILLIAMS. Staundon.
21:37
Speaker 1: So this as well, he also becomes a member of
21:42
Speaker 1: the Worshipful Company of Mescl's. So like it's all going on.
21:46
Speaker 1: He's joining this, he's joining that, and he's doing this.
21:52
Speaker 1: Things are things are sort of him ending up pushing
21:56
Speaker 1: more into politics. I just as well heard about this
22:02
Speaker 1: just again lucky, I guess I think the difference between
22:08
Speaker 1: sort of choosing to enter politics sometimes and ending up
22:13
Speaker 1: in politics just I don't know. I don't know what
22:16
Speaker 1: it says about a person. Because some politicians go into
22:20
Speaker 1: politics to do good, and they should because you work
22:25
Speaker 1: for the fucking people. I'm a firm believer that if
22:28
Speaker 1: a representative does not do their job that we fire
22:32
Speaker 1: them and they lose money and they have to pay fines.
22:35
Speaker 1: And I have many many opinions on that. But anyway,
22:40
Speaker 1: back to Dick. So, when he's thirty nine years old,
22:46
Speaker 1: the current Mayor of London, Adam Baum, dies and two
22:52
Speaker 1: days later the King is like, you know what, You're
22:54
Speaker 1: a mayor now. And that is how Tick Wedrington becomes
23:01
Speaker 1: Mayor of London for the first time. Now I've seen
23:04
Speaker 1: notes say that it's Lord Mayor of London, but at
23:07
Speaker 1: this time there was no Lord Mayor of London. You
23:09
Speaker 1: were just mayor, not Lord Mayor, just mayor. So he
23:13
Speaker 1: was Mayor of London. So a couple of days into
23:17
Speaker 1: being Mayor of London, Dick Whittington broke as a deal
23:21
Speaker 1: with the fucking king. And what does he do well,
23:25
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what he does. He manages to negotiate
23:29
Speaker 1: sort of getting the lands back the liberties, you know,
23:34
Speaker 1: the stuff that the king had seized from the City
23:36
Speaker 1: of London. Like, he gets that back quite you know,
23:41
Speaker 1: as things go pretty good, pretty good deal. So he
23:46
Speaker 1: manages to get back everything for what was it ten pounds,
23:55
Speaker 1: which in today's money is about eight pounds, and they're
24:02
Speaker 1: basically the city of London is well happy about this.
24:05
Speaker 1: They're very thankful. Everyone knows that he's a generally good dude.
24:10
Speaker 1: Which is when the reelection happens later that year, like
24:14
Speaker 1: a four months later or whatever, he is voted back
24:19
Speaker 1: in as Mayor of London, so he's sort of becomes
24:24
Speaker 1: it first, and then he's voted in a second time.
24:30
Speaker 1: Now two years after this. King Richard the second is ah,
24:37
Speaker 1: well there's there's a there's a coup, bibol and broke,
24:42
Speaker 1: and you know this leads to Richard the second, you know,
24:47
Speaker 1: losing losing the crown, losing his status and being deposed effectively.
24:53
Speaker 1: And you'd think that with everything going on, in the
24:56
Speaker 1: fact that he had initially put Dick Weddingdon in there,
25:00
Speaker 1: and that he'd been the one to loan a bunch
25:01
Speaker 1: of money to the king, well you would think that,
25:07
Speaker 1: you know, he would also you know, I'm not going
25:10
Speaker 1: to say beyond the chopping block, but like he would
25:12
Speaker 1: also be on the way out. No, because he had
25:19
Speaker 1: also been trading with the future King Henry the Fourth,
25:24
Speaker 1: So he had been trading with him for a long time,
25:27
Speaker 1: and he'd been a money lender to him. So when
25:32
Speaker 1: King Henry comes on the scene again, Dick just so
25:36
Speaker 1: happens to be the sharpest tool in the cutlery drawer
25:39
Speaker 1: and he is loaning Henry the Fourth money because of
25:42
Speaker 1: course he is. He's like, you need some cash, buddy,
25:45
Speaker 1: I got you. And so he is helping him out
25:49
Speaker 1: and also securing his place. And I think as well,
25:53
Speaker 1: because Dick Warrington was so well liked in sort of
25:57
Speaker 1: sort of the court and the outward gentry and like
26:01
Speaker 1: the general population of the city of London, doing something
26:06
Speaker 1: to him probably wouldn't have been good for your reputation.
26:10
Speaker 1: So in his forties Dick gets elected as mayor again,
26:15
Speaker 1: so forty oh six he's mayor again, and then takes
26:19
Speaker 1: away break from being mayor because you know, life's a
26:22
Speaker 1: bit of variety and whatnot, and he ends up getting married.
26:26
Speaker 1: So he's forty eight, I think, and he ends up
26:30
Speaker 1: marrying Alice Fitzwarren, the daughter of the dude the night
26:35
Speaker 1: that he was apprenticing from. So they get married. You know,
26:41
Speaker 1: at this point in life, he would have been expected
26:44
Speaker 1: to get married, but he didn't seem to show any
26:47
Speaker 1: interest to like most people like one way or the other.
26:53
Speaker 1: Like there's no rumors of anything. And him and his wife,
26:57
Speaker 1: they don't have any kids, so he never remarried. Seen
27:01
Speaker 1: if it does anything else, because she actually passes away
27:03
Speaker 1: in fourteen eleven, so they're married for a very short
27:06
Speaker 1: period of ten and they are Yeah, I mean, I
27:10
Speaker 1: don't know, maybe he was asexual. I mean, these are
27:13
Speaker 1: things that we can't really guess about him. And maybe
27:16
Speaker 1: he got married because she needed to be married at
27:18
Speaker 1: that point. We don't know the sort of intricacies or
27:21
Speaker 1: the reasonings why their marriage a card. It's a very
27:25
Speaker 1: advantageous match. It's a decent match, and he seems like
27:28
Speaker 1: a decent guy. So I mean, good for them, Glad
27:31
Speaker 1: they got married. But it does mean for the record
27:36
Speaker 1: that Dick Whittington is the last of his particular line,
27:40
Speaker 1: Like he doesn't produce any errors like his brothers do.
27:43
Speaker 1: But he doesn't. And this is going to come into
27:46
Speaker 1: play later on. So a year after being elected mayor
27:51
Speaker 1: of London fourteen oh six, So the year after that,
27:54
Speaker 1: fourteen oh seven, he becomes the mayor at the Staple
27:58
Speaker 1: of Kalais. Now the Staple is basically a port with
28:02
Speaker 1: sort of to do with importation and taxation and all
28:05
Speaker 1: that kind of like trade stuff, and so he represents
28:08
Speaker 1: you know, town because Kelly at this point was still
28:11
Speaker 1: part of Britain effectively of England. It was owned by
28:16
Speaker 1: that because because of all the Henry's anyway, you remember
28:21
Speaker 1: the episode of Eleanor of Aquatine, don't you. I'm sure
28:23
Speaker 1: you do. Anyway, So he is basically dealing with taxation,
28:26
Speaker 1: importing goods, exporting goods, YadA YadA, yaha. And so he's
28:31
Speaker 1: doing stuff. He's doing trading, he's doing money lending, and
28:34
Speaker 1: he's also getting involved in public projects. Now along with this,
28:39
Speaker 1: he manages to get on the good side of another king,
28:42
Speaker 1: Henry the Fifth, who is Henry the fourth son. So
28:45
Speaker 1: he manages to get in good with three kings in
28:47
Speaker 1: a row. And he's still trading, he's still doing well,
28:51
Speaker 1: he's still working his circles. But he's not being a
28:54
Speaker 1: dick about it, which is the funniest thing considering you know.
28:58
Speaker 1: And yes he is serving on the Royal Commissions of
29:03
Speaker 1: all your and terminer, and so he's like supervising the
29:07
Speaker 1: way they're spending money on Westminster Abbey. And even though
29:12
Speaker 1: he is a money lender himself, even though Dick Whittington
29:15
Speaker 1: is you know, I don't want to say a loan shark,
29:18
Speaker 1: because like sometimes he wouldn't make people pay him back
29:22
Speaker 1: like the whole amount, Like he would just kind of
29:23
Speaker 1: let it slide because he knew where to build those
29:27
Speaker 1: bridges and you know, not to burn them as one does.
29:31
Speaker 1: So he's doing this and he and he ends up
29:34
Speaker 1: being brought in to like deal with disputes and negotiations
29:37
Speaker 1: and broker this and sort out that. So like there's
29:40
Speaker 1: this like big massive issue with the worship Worshipful Company
29:44
Speaker 1: of Brules, right, so like there's no standardized pricing for
29:49
Speaker 1: booze so Ale made and like the measures of it,
29:53
Speaker 1: like there's no standardized pricing, and so people were getting
29:56
Speaker 1: ripped off here and done there. And Dick Whittington manages
30:00
Speaker 1: to sort all this out right, which I think is
30:02
Speaker 1: just He's sorted out booze that's nice. But yeah, so
30:07
Speaker 1: he's doing this thing. And by fourteen nineteen, so this
30:11
Speaker 1: is a good you know, thirteen years after he's been
30:16
Speaker 1: elected mayor, Like as a good chunk of time has passed,
30:20
Speaker 1: he gets elected as mayor again. Like he just keeps
30:25
Speaker 1: he just keeps falling into roses, like the dude just
30:29
Speaker 1: keeps falling up. So yeah, yet again the City of London,
30:34
Speaker 1: the citizens of the City of London, they elect him
30:38
Speaker 1: mayor again. And yeah, I guess he's doing well, you know.
30:44
Speaker 1: And he's a widower at this point as well, and
30:47
Speaker 1: he is just working, working, working, But while he's working,
30:50
Speaker 1: he's always putting together his will. Because at the age
30:54
Speaker 1: of sixty five, which a fair age, by the way,
30:58
Speaker 1: Dick Winnington rich Wehtington, former mayor of London four times,
31:03
Speaker 1: by the way, not thrice, passes away. And he was
31:09
Speaker 1: buried in the Church of Saint Michael Paternoster Royal and
31:13
Speaker 1: there's supposed to be like a tomb there, and yeah,
31:18
Speaker 1: they can't find it. They don't know where he is anymore.
31:20
Speaker 1: It has been six hundred years, so it's been a while.
31:25
Speaker 1: But yeah, he manages to put together this well and
31:30
Speaker 1: and he has all of this. I mean he's a
31:32
Speaker 1: millionaire effectively, like think of this as the equivalent of
31:34
Speaker 1: a millionaire. And he bequeaths this money and he leaves
31:38
Speaker 1: it to the mercers, like the Guild of Mercers, and
31:43
Speaker 1: it basically says to rebuild like Newgate Prison and the
31:47
Speaker 1: old Bailey, to build the first library in the guild Hall,
31:53
Speaker 1: to create almhouses, so basically places for the protogo where
31:58
Speaker 1: they can get help. Because again deeply Pious did like
32:01
Speaker 1: and actually Pious did not the people who say they
32:03
Speaker 1: like religion and then end up being cunts. So he
32:06
Speaker 1: gets drinking fountains installed, and he gets basically almhouses for
32:14
Speaker 1: women like not just you know women who have been
32:20
Speaker 1: you know, left by men, sort of fallen women as
32:23
Speaker 1: you will, but you've got sort of There are wars
32:27
Speaker 1: going on, people are married to knights and soldiers and
32:29
Speaker 1: everything else, and there's disease, so people die from disease,
32:33
Speaker 1: people die from war, and so this was set up
32:36
Speaker 1: to help them. But what he also does is he
32:39
Speaker 1: puts a stipulation in his will that you know, you
32:42
Speaker 1: don't have to hold this to like the letter, because
32:46
Speaker 1: I am fully aware that other things will come up
32:49
Speaker 1: and other things will happen that I won't have assumed
32:51
Speaker 1: or prepared for, and as such put the money towards
32:54
Speaker 1: good deeds like that, and then sort of the good
33:00
Speaker 1: deeds of Dick Whittington are sort of filtered down through generations,
33:05
Speaker 1: and it's what leads to the folk tale of Dick
33:07
Speaker 1: Whittington and his cat. And so he stops becoming a
33:10
Speaker 1: member of the gentry and starts becoming like just another
33:15
Speaker 1: like per Rags to Rich's tail, which is a better
33:19
Speaker 1: sell obviously, but it is. And we can't actually guarantee
33:25
Speaker 1: whether or not he had a cat. We're not sure
33:27
Speaker 1: if Dick Whittington had a cat. I know the tale
33:29
Speaker 1: is Dick Whinington and his cat, but we're not entirely
33:31
Speaker 1: sure of that. That being said, it's a tale of
33:37
Speaker 1: a good man, I know, actually a good man in history.
33:40
Speaker 1: You're shocked. I'm shocked. And this is the story of
33:44
Speaker 1: Richard Dick Whittington, Mayor of London. If you liked my
33:50
Speaker 1: way telling of this story, please go to written review
33:53
Speaker 1: of five stars. You can catch me on threads now
33:56
Speaker 1: whatever Twitter was and the kind of their Instagram, Facebook,
34:01
Speaker 1: tech talk. I'm all the places, so check me out there.
34:05
Speaker 1: And recommendations. I am going to recommend a murder is
34:10
Speaker 1: announced by Agatha Christie for reading. For listening, I'm going
34:14
Speaker 1: to suggest the entire Taylor Swift discography because I'm in
34:18
Speaker 1: that mood. Or listen to Christmas songs if that's your jam.
34:21
Speaker 1: I'm not going to push it this week. And for
34:23
Speaker 1: watching anything with the Muppets. Actually I'm back on the Muppets.
34:28
Speaker 1: Go watch it, have a good time. And so I
34:30
Speaker 1: shall bid you farewell. Adios au revoir what is em?
34:34
Speaker 1: My friends? Bye bye,