Yet Mozart – the same mind that penned some of the most exquisite compositions in history – had a partiality for the puerile. Around 1782, he wrote a bouncy little piece titled Leck mic him Arsch, which literally means ‘lick me in the arse’ and can be understood in English as ‘kiss my arse’.

His private correspondence reveals a surprisingly infantile sense of humour, especially when it came to all things scatological.

Across dozens of letters to friends and family, from his parents to his wife, Mozart filled pages with comments and jokes about poo, offering describing vivid scenes.

For his cousin, and possible love interest, Maria Anna Thekla Mozart, Mozart wrote the vulgar verse:

“Well, I wish you good night, but first,

Shit in your bed and make it burst.

Sleep soundly, my love,

Into your mouth your arse you’ll shove.”

In a letter to Maria Anna dated 5 November 1777, he gets things going with, “I shit on your nose, so it runs down your chin,” before seemingly getting distracted and saying, “Oh my ass burns like fire! What on earth is the meaning of this! – maybe muck wants to come out?”

The letter ends with Mozart relating something that happened while writing. Picking up a bad smell he believed to be coming from outside, he kept going to the window to see where it was coming from, but could not place it. “Finally My Mama says to me: I bet you let one go? – I don’t think so, Mama. Yes, yes, I’m quite certain,” he wrote. “I put it to the test, stick my finger in my ass, then put it to my nose, and – there is the proof! Mama was right!”

Far from offended, his cousin gleefully maintained her correspondence and even filled her own letters with scatological and sexual humour.

Why was Mozart obsessed with poo?

So, how could the composer of the Requiem, Jupiter Symphony and Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, get such a jolly out of poo?

Jokes about bums, farts and poo have a historical precedence – appearing in the likes of Geoffrey Chaucer and William Shakespeare – and were enjoying something of a resurgence in the 18th century, particularly in Germany. Perhaps the overt obscenity acted as an antidote to the rigidity and decorum of high society.

It is also worth noting that the quotes above should be placed in context: from start to finish, Mozart’s letters were rife with word play, made-up phrases, and provocative asides. The scatology was simply a part of that.

Over the years, psychological or medical disorders have been mooted, from Tourette’s to arrested development (as a wunderkind composing by the age of five, his childhood was spent on a tour Europe performing for royals). These have been widely dismissed, however.

The true reason for his fondness of scatology continues to puzzle today, but – in true Occam’s razor fashion – could it come down to something simple: he found poo funny? But that has proven to be hard to accept for some fans of his musical genius, given the attempts to hide or censor his filth-ridden letters.

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The organisations it refers to can be found across the Atlantic on the university campuses of North America – although the first of those has only been around for 250 years, rather than 2,500.

What is ‘Greek life’ at American universities?

‘Greek life’ is the collective term for US university fraternities and sororities, the social organisations that are a mainstay of hundreds of campuses and a staple of all college movies, from Animal House to Monsters University.

Fraternities (usually men only) and sororities (women) have exclusive memberships, their own rules and traditions, and a degree of secrecy to those who are not ‘brothers’ and ‘sisters’.

Ostensibly social groups, they give members – once they’ve got in, through the application process of being a ‘rush’ and then a ‘pledge’ – a sense of identity and community. They also provide excellent opportunities for networking that can be advantageous later in life. In 2007, around 85 per cent of Fortune 500 CEOs are Greek life alumni.

Despite a 2023 YouGov poll showing that only seven per cent of American men and six per cent of women have been part of the Greek life, the impact of fraternities and sororities on society has been huge. Countless notable figures in all fields – from politicians to actors – went through the system.

How are Greek societies named?

Adding to the allure of the fraternities and sororities is the sense of mystery and history created by their names, which are made up of letters from the Greek alphabet. This goes back to the very origins of Greek life.

What was the first Greek fraternity?

The first fraternity was Phi Beta Kappa, which was formed in 1776 (in the same year as the Declaration of Independence founded the United States itself) at the College of William & Mary in Virginia.

The inaugural president, John Heath, was proficient in ancient languages and came up with a Greek motto, translated as “love of learning is the guide of life”, the initials of which formed the club’s name.

Within a few years, Phi Beta Kappa had expanded to have chapters at Harvard and Yale. When other similar organisations were established, Greek was kept to associate them with the intellectual and cultural highs of that ancient civilisation. When knowledge of the language decreased, the letters came to give the impression that these fraternities were themselves ancient, mysterious and special.

To date, Phi Beta Kappa alumni includes 17 US presidents (like Teddy Roosevelt and Bill Clinton), dozens of Supreme Court justices and Nobel laureates, artists, activists and business moguls. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is a brother.

What was the first Greek sorority?

The question of which sorority has the honour of being the first is debated. The first to be called as such was Gamma Phi Beta, formed at Syracuse University, New York, in 1874, but there has been a women’s society at Wesleyan Female College, Georgia, since 1851, which became Alpha Delta Pi.

The term 'champagne socialist', often used pejoratively, refers to the perceived hypocrisy of liberal middle-class people who advocate for socialist ideals while continuing to enjoy their own affluent lifestyles.

Since its conception more than a century ago, champagne socialism has been an enduring, if unofficial, part of politics in Britain and around the world.

When was the term champagne socialist coined?

The pharse champagne socialist first appeared in the 1906 novel Blind Alleys by the American author George Cary Eggleston, in which one of the characters contrasts the so-called “beer socialist” – referencing the preferred beverage of the working class – to the “champagne socialist” in the middle class.

This, Eggleston elucidates, is someone who “wants everybody to be equal upon the higher plane that suits him, utterly ignoring the fact that there is not enough champagne, green turtle and truffles to go round”.

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The novel sought to emphasise the gulf between the comfort of bourgeois life and the everyday hardships faced by the working class.

The beer socialist is someone who “wants everybody to come down to his low standards of living”. Egglestone questioned the sincerity of those who, despite their privilege, champion economic and social equality.

How has the term champagne socialist been used in political history?

It could be expected that any accusations of hypocrisy when it comes to middle-class socialism would be coming chiefly from the political right. Yet some of the most vociferous attacks of champagne socialism have emanated from left-wing voices.

A notable example is Ramsay MacDonald, the first Labour prime minister of the United Kingdom. He would be called a traitor to his party’s egalitarian principles throughout his time in office, with critics lambasting his hobnobbing with the British elite.

In 1931, with the economy reeling from the aftershocks of the Wall Street Crash two years earlier and the subsequent Great Depression, MacDonald formed the National Government.

This was a coalition of the major political parties, but dominated by the Conservatives, so was immediately seen by many on the left as a betrayal of the organised labour movement. MacDonald was even expelled from his own party.

More recently, supporters of New Labour – led by Tony Blair in the 1990s and 2000s – faced similar accusations. Critics of Blair, Gordon Brown and their allies pointed to their middle-class backgrounds, their courting of the ‘Cool Britannia’ campaign (a pop-culture-heavy celebration of all things British), and their perceived compromises on traditional Labour values, as the embodiment of champagne socialism.

Has the term champagne socialist been used outside Britain?

Variations of champagne socialism have existed in many nations around the world. In the 1980s, the term gauche caviar (left caviar) became particularly popular in France as an attack on their president François Mitterrand, for what his political enemies saw as his duplicity.

In New Zealand and Australia, the preferred insult was for a time ‘chardonnay socialist’. But the implicit meaning of such insults has been expanded beyond socialism to expose hypocrisy among all progressive strains of thought. So in the United States, for example, one of the equivalent terms became ‘limousine liberal’.

Other caricatures have emerged, from experts in their ‘ivory towers’ to the ‘luvvies’ of the ‘metropolitan liberal elite’.

All have come to disparage a social caste regarded as being at the top of society who make vaguely egalitarian signals from their life of luxury inside gated communities, far removed from the experiences of ordinary people.

Is champagne socialism always used negatively?

Opponents of socialism have long relished pointing out that certain individuals on the left have enjoyed comfortable lives. Friedrich Engels – friend and sponsor of Karl Marx, and co-author of The Communist Manifesto – came from a wealthy family that owned factories, after all.

Nevertheless, the label has occasionally been embraced by those on the left who reject the notion that socialism should aspire to a minimalist and austere existence. Returning to Blind Alleys, why should they give up the green turtle and truffles? Rather, they point out that their egalitarian beliefs stem from a desire to ensure that everybody is able to enjoy the finer things in life.

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What was the Roman punishment decimation?

Coming from the Latin for ‘removal of a tenth’, decimation involved the selection and execution of every tenth man in a group of soldiers.

What’s more, the man chosen would be put to death by his own comrades. This punished, deterred and restored order within the ranks in one vicious swoop.

Speaking on the HistoryExtra podcast, historian Adrian Goldsworthy addressed the common misconception that decimation indicated a near-apocalyptic event where most people would die. Indeed, that is how the word is generally used today.

Rather, says Goldsworthy, “decimation meant executing one in ten, not executing 90 per cent and leaving 10 per cent alive… it [was] not crippling as a rule.”

How did decimation work in practice?

The punishment of decimation began by rallying the troops, whereupon the military tribune would present the accused before a general. Following a public reprimand detailing the offences, the names of all the solders were placed into a receptacle, such as a helmet.

A certain number of names were drawn, often every tenth soldier, and the unlucky selectees would be executed. This grim lottery underscored the randomness of the punishment, and so instilled fear into the surviving soldiers.

“Punishment in the Roman world is seen as something that’s designed to be public, symbolic, to deter others,” says Goldsworthy.

“That’s why you throw people to the lions in the arenas – so they die slowly and unpleasantly and very visibly. The army worked under the same principle.”

The Roman army’s reputation as one of history’s most rigorously organised and trained military forces can be attributed, in part, to its disciplinary measures.

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What offences could lead to decimation?

Decimation was an extreme punishment for the most serious transgressions, such as cowardice, insubordination, desertion and mutiny.

The mere threat of decimation was designed to ensure that soldiers adhered to military discipline. They would come to understand that any misconduct could lead to severe consequences, regardless of rank or even role in the transgression, for themselves and for their comrades.

What is the earliest Roman account of decimation?

One of the earliest-known cases of decimation dates back to 471 BC. According to the Roman historian Livy, an army under the command of the consul Appius Claudius Sabinus Inregillensis retreated from the battlefield.

Outraged, he had the first deserters flogged and decapitated, then decimated every tenth man to serve as a stark warning.

What is the most famous use of decimation?

Perhaps the most famous instance occurred during the slave uprising led by gladiator-turned-slave Spartacus, known as the Third Servile War (73 to 71 BC).

After failing to crush the rebellion, the Roman general, Marcus Licinius Crassus, had his legions decimated.

Decades later, Mark Antony is also known to have given orders for his legions to be decimated.

Was decimation a common punishment?

Despite its effectiveness in inspiring fear and maintaining discipline, the use of decimation was not common practice.

The psychological toll on soldiers, forced to kill their comrades, would have tested morale.

When did decimation fall out of favour?

The last time decimation was used by the Romans occurred under Diocletian, who ruled as emperor from AD 284 to 305.

Following the Roman empire’s conversion to Christianity, the seeds of which were sown with the edict of Milan in AD 313, the punishment gradually declined as more humane ideas came into vogue.

Has decimation been used since the Romans?

The principle of randomly selecting wayward soldiers for execution has a long history in Europe. It was notably used by the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years’ War (1618-48).

As recently as the 20th century, it was deployed by the French and Italian armies during the First World War. It has been said that the chief of staff of the Italian Army, General Luigi Cadorna, executed more than 750 men under his command for cowardice.

Another shocking example took place during the Finnish Civil War of 1918 when nationalist White Guards executed about 90 leftist Red Guard prisoners in Varkaus. This became commonly known as the ‘Lottery of Huruslahti’.

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In October 1936, the rebel Spanish general, Emilio Mola, hosted a press conference at his headquarters in Ávila. According to journalist Noel Monks of the Daily Express, Mola presented a series of maps showing the positions of four columns of troops advancing towards the capital, Madrid.

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What was the fifth column?

Asked which would reach the city first, Mola reportedly introduced a ‘fifth column’ already inside Madrid: “Men now in hiding who will rise and support us the moment we march”.

Madrid, which remained (and would not fall until the very last days of the Spanish Civil War in March 1939) within Republican hands, was on tenterhooks. Many who sympathised with the army’s uprising continued to dwell there. Now, Mola’s psychological warfare put them at great risk, and large numbers of civilians with right-wing views were rounded up and detained within weeks of the coup.

When Nationalist troops were just two hundred yards from one of Madrid’s largest prisons, the Cárcel Modelo – and thus in a position to potentially bolster their fighting capacity – Republicans saw Mola’s so-called ‘fifth column’ among the prisoners.

How did the Spanish Republic respond to Mola’s ‘fifth column’?

The paranoia of sabotage and treachery prompted prime minister Francisco Largo Caballero’s government to relocate the Spanish capital to Valencia on the Mediterranean coast.

Meanwhile, a decision was taken on 7 November 1936 to execute prisoners identified as “fascists and dangerous elements”, while less threatening supporters of the army’s coup were relocated 138 miles southeast to Albacete.

Approximately 2,500 prisoners were massacred by the beginning of December – the single worst atrocity to take place in the Republican zone during the Spanish Civil War.

What did the term ‘fifth column’ mean in the Second World War?

With the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, the notion of a fifth column as an insidious – and typically ‘foreign’ – uprising bent on destroying society from the inside out found universal currency.

Nazi Germany’s invasion of France in May 1940 compelled the US president, Franklin D Roosevelt, to conjure the prospect of a Nazi fifth column within America during one of his famous ‘fireside chats’ on 26 May.

“Today’s threat to our national security is not a matter of military weapons alone. We know of other methods, new methods of attack: The Trojan Horse. The Fifth Column that betrays a nation unprepared for treachery. Spies, saboteurs and traitors are the actors in this new strategy. With all of these we must and will deal vigorously”, he said.

This fear led to suspicion of foreigners, immigrants and minority groups in America, with concerns of infiltration into key policy-making positions.

What does the fifth column mean in modern usage?

During the Cold War, the term found a new iteration through the Red Scare instigated by Senator Joseph McCarthy’s anti-communist witch hunt in America.

In Britain, during the Miners’ Strike of 1984–5, Margaret Thatcher denounced the National Union of Miners (NUM) as “the enemy within”.

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In 2014, Thatcher’s handwritten notes for her speech at the Conservative Party’s 1984 conference in Brighton, were declassified.

They revealed that she had planned to extend this charge to HM Loyal Opposition at the time, the Labour Party. But this was abandoned after the IRA detonated a bomb inside the Grand Hotel, where Thatcher and many of her ministers were staying.

Following the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, the New York Post deployed the term ‘fifth column’ in an editorial that suggested Islamists hostile to the United States were “at work on American soil”.

Essentially a long excursion around the continent’s ancient locations, the Grand Tour would endure for over three centuries and become a rite of passage for (typically) young male aristocrats, capping off an education steeped in reverence for the Classical world.

Its zenith was during the 18th century, whereupon it gradually waned throughout the 19th century.

How did the Grand Tour get its name?

Richard Lassels, a Roman Catholic priest, coined the term ‘Grand Tour’ in his 1670 travelogue, The Voyage of Italy – although the tradition began decades earlier.

Who went on the Grand Tour?

The archetypal Grand Tourist was a young man of means and leisure, well-versed in Greek and Latin literature and possessing a keen interest in art.

Accompanied by a tutor, British Grand Tourists often travelled by horse-drawn coach for days, before arriving in Dover and waiting for favourable weather conditions in which to cross the English Channel.

Inigo Jones, the celebrated architect, embarked on one of the earliest recorded tours in 1613–14. His experiences in Italy influenced his aesthetic, evident in projects like the Queen’s House in Greenwich, and revolutionised the trajectory of British architecture.

Cities of the Grand Tour: what was the route?

Alighting at Le Havre in France, Grand Tourists usually converged with their peers from other countries in Paris.

The onward journey south would either entail traversing the alpine Mount Cenis Pass or going via the sea from Marseilles.

Italy, with its rich artistic and architectural heritage, was the ultimate destination. Cities like Venice, Florence, Rome and Naples captivated visitors with their famed histories, artistic treasures and ancient ruins.

Itineraries could vary, with destinations evolving over time to include places like Herculaneum, Pompeii, Sicily and Athens.

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What did Grand Tourists hope to gain from the experience?

As the odyssey unfolded, the impressionable travellers – in many cases, the future governing class of their respective homelands – were also expected to acquire a knowledge of Europe’s political, philosophical and economic trends.

But the Grand Tour was not only a scholarly undertaking: it was also an assertion of independence and status. Stopovers like Venice, with its gambling houses and revelry, dazzled pleasure seekers.

Guides, known as ‘cicerones’, accompanied many Grand Tourists, offering both cultural insights and chaperoning, while popular artworks by the likes of Canaletto and Piranesi were snapped up as desirable souvenirs of the Continent’s resonant vistas and landmarks.

For many young Europeans, the Grand Tour was more than an excursion; it was a mission undertaken in pursuit of national service, so as to enrich their country’s culture and standing.

Surviving letters and diaries provide invaluable glimpses into the experiences of Grand Tourists, revealing their impression of European culture – something that was often reflected in the lasting impact it had on the design of their estates back home.

When did the Grand Tour decline?

By the late 18th century, the tradition of the Grand Tour was interrupted by the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, only to resume following Napoleon’s downfall in 1815.

The advent of railways in the mid-19th century began to democratise travel as a leisure pursuit, making it more accessible and marketable to the burgeoning middle class, bringing the era of the Grand Tour to an end.

The Romans had found the tribal peoples of Britain divided and ripe for invasion; Vikings crossed the North Sea unimpeded to maraud the coast; and as the French increasingly entered the picture, the narrowness of the stretch of water today known as the English Channel posed an obvious danger.

It was to combat this danger that a federation was formed of coastal towns, predominantly in Kent and Sussex, to ensure there were always ships, and men to crew them, for the crown.

In return for their ‘ship service’, these so-called ‘Cinque Ports’ received privileges, freedoms and honours, enough to see them survive in a ceremonial capacity to this day.

What are the Cinque Ports?

There were five original ports, although more towns would be added over the years. They were:

• Sandwich
• Dover
• Hythe
• New Romney
• Hastings

While the idea of the Cinque Ports developed gradually, the first formal acknowledgement of the confederation came in the reign of Edward the Confessor (r1042–66). It turned out the Anglo-Saxon king had good reason to fear boats crossing the channel, with the Normans on the way.

The role and stature of the Cinque Ports truly bloomed after the Norman Conquest of 1066, and they remained a powerful entity throughout the Plantagenet dynasty, complete with their own coat of arms, and judicial and political influence.

Why are they called Cinque Ports?

Since the Cinque Ports were properly established under the Normans – earning a mention in William the Conqueror’s Domesday Book – the name that caught on was, unsurprisingly, the Old French version of ‘five harbours’.

It didn’t stay at ‘cinque’ for long, however. The Ports turned to their neighbours to help build the ships, so more than 30 towns ended up in the confederation.

These included the two so-called ‘ancient towns’ of Rye and Winchelsea and ‘limbs’ across Kent and Sussex, such as Faversham, Margate, Ramsgate, Deal, Folkestone, Lydd and Tenterden.

What were the Cinque Ports’ responsibilities, and what rights did they receive?

Ship service in the original five ports meant building and crewing a regular supply for the royal fleet. The commitment was for 57 ships – Dover and Hastings providing 21 each, and the other towns giving five each – for 15 days of service every year. Before the Royal Navy, this could prove critical in a naval conflict.

On dry land, the Cinque Ports had responsibilities in the lucrative industry of herring fishing, each appointing a bailiff to keep order at the days-long, often-rowdy annual herring fair at Yarmouth.

For assisting the crown, the portsmen (as residents of the Cinque Ports were known) enjoyed a degree of self-government. Their rights and privileges were entrenched in a series of royal charters over the centuries, including Magna Carta.

Among them were exemptions from several taxes, rights to claim ownership of property (especially cargo from wrecked ships), and honours at court – notably carrying the canopy over the king and queen during coronation ceremonies.

The ports even established their own courts of law and had political representation. From the 13th century, each Cinque Port, as well as Rye and Winchelsea, had two MPs.

What was the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports?

The highest office within the confederation was the Lord Warden who, beginning with Stephen de Pencester in 1268, simultaneously held the title of Constable of Dover Castle.

The Lord Warden, who was also the Admiral of the Cinque Ports, became one of the most powerful officials in the kingdom, and it was a highly sought-after title.

In the list of previous wardens are names such as the future Henry V and Henry VIII, the Duke of Wellington, and Winston Churchill. To date, the only woman to hold the role is Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, from 1978 to 2002.

What happened to the Cinque Ports?

A variety of causes contributed to the decline of the Cinque Ports: ships got bigger so needed larger ports; changing geography meant the original ports lost their strategic value (Sandwich, for example, is now around two miles inland); then, under the Tudors, the navy was established.

Still, the Cinque Ports survives to this day as a ceremonial organisation.

For others, however, his alternative nicknames evocatively capture the true reputation of the outlaw who wreaked havoc in the Rhineland around the turn of the 19th century: John the Scorcher, John the Flayer and the Robber of the Rhine.

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Bückler is thought to have been born in the late 18th century in Miehlen (the exact year is uncertain – sometimes it is given as 1778, sometimes 1783). His father was an impoverished army deserter and his mother a petty thief. He turned to crime himself at an early age; as a teenager he was caught stealing skins from the tanner to which he was apprenticed.

Why was Johannes Bückler called Schinderhannes?

From there, Bückler graduated to burglary and armed robbery. The fact that he picked up the nickname Schinderhannes – coming from the word ‘schinder’, meaning ‘flayer’ – did not refer to a particular proclivity for violence, though, but was a nod to his tanning days.

Despite not actually flaying his victims, the truth is that Schinderhannes was no Robin Hood figure. He was a self-serving crook motivated by greed. But he took on a folkloric hero status at a time when this part of Germany had fallen under French rule, undeservedly transforming him into a paragon of resistance against the invaders.

What were Schinderhannes’s crimes?

Schinderhannes’s crime spree across the Rhineland included cattle and horse thefts, extortion, robbery, and murder.

With a band of fellow outlaws, he knew he could target Jewish people since they could not expect much protection from the law at a time of rampant antisemitism. One accomplice, ‘Black Peter’, killed a Jewish cattle dealer just for exposing his affair with a married woman.

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In 1799, Schinderhannes’s reputation got a boost when he made a daring escape from prison. While locked up in a tower in Simmern, he used a kitchen knife smuggled in by a friendly guard to cut a hole in the wooden door – covering up his progress by ‘gluing’ the boards back into place using chewed up bread – and, once out of his cell, he leapt from the first floor into the moat.

Although hurting his leg badly, the jailbreak made Schinderhannes a hero to the people. From then on, he could trust that someone would hide him from authorities, or at least not turn him in. His criminal exploits became more audacious and prolific, and he had a long line of lovers drawn to his dangerous allure.

What happened to Schinderhannes?

Schinderhannes managed to evade capture for a couple of years, but it all ended in 1802. Far from the noble rogue, he immediately testified against his own gang members in the hope of a more lenient sentence. Instead, he was imprisoned in the Holztrum, an imposing tower in the city of Mainz, and interrogated multiple times over the next 16 months.

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At the resulting trial in October 1803, Schinderhannes stood in the dock with dozens of accomplices. Those not lucky enough to be acquitted were given jail terms (including Schinderhannes’s wife, Julchen, who had just given birth to his son) or sentenced to death. Schinderhannes was the first of 20 condemned to lose their heads on the guillotine on 21 November 1803, as tens of thousands of people watched on.

Yet his legend continued to grow, with highly romanticised accounts of his deeds appearing in novels, plays, films – including the 1958 film directed by Helmut Käutner – and even inspiring board games.

There was often a romance attached to stories of highwaymen, who travelled on horseback and were often portrayed as gentlemen, socially superior to ‘footpads’ (who were more akin to modern-day muggers).

Images of highwaymen in the popular imagination were stoked by picture stories by artists such as William Hogarth. Perhaps pre-eminent among these tales was the legend of Dick Turpin.

Were there highwaywomen in real life?

Yes, credible records of highwaywomen can be found in the records of county session court trials.

Highwaywomen also appear in The Newgate Calendar, an 18th and 19th-century volume of crime tales once as ubiquitous in English homes as the Bible.

There are likewise stories in broadside ballads. These were single sheets of cheap paper printed on just one side, whose name underlines the connection to popular story-songs.

At least two ballads from 1640 tell of Susan Higges, who is said to have enjoyed a 20-year career “in mens attire… upon a Gelding stout” before being recognised and executed.

That said, we need to be cautious about believing hearsay, as the story of Katherine Ferrers illustrates.

A Hertfordshire gentlewoman born in 1634, and the heiress to a substantial fortune, Ferrers lost her wealth on account of her teenage husband’s family pilfering her inheritance amidst the turmoil of the English Civil War and its aftermath.

As some stories have it, Ferrers turned to crime, and was suspected to be the ‘Wicked Lady’, a highwaywoman who terrorised Hertfordshire on horseback. Ferrers fit into the popular trope of a person of genteel background and dwindling fortune, who turned to highway robbery to make a living.

Ferrers was reputed to have died in 1660 from gunshot wounds received during a robbery. Rumours of her body being found by servants at the manor house of Markyate Cell, on the same night as a bloodied black horse was discovered wandering the grounds, have passed down the generations.

Despite the popular legend, the idea that Ferrers was a highwaywoman is hard to substantiate.

Did highwaywomen really dress as men?

Stories of so-called ‘cross-dressing’ recur in the ballads, and would have been shocking to contemporary readers. Renegade Nell costume designer Tom Pye, who also worked on Gentleman Jack, says that dress at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries was heavily gendered.

“I think it would have been just totally unexpected that a woman would pass as a man,” he tells HistoryExtra. “Nobody would have seen that coming.” As a result, he says, a figure such as Nell “would have passed quite easily” as a man.

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What did society think of women who dressed as men?

The ballads suggest both a fascination with cross-dressing and a sense it was a bad thing. Two ballads from 1690, The Female Frollick and The Female Highway Hector, tell of a highwaywoman being sexually assaulted by a male counterpart, a fate portrayed as being down to her transgressive behaviour.

How many highwaywomen were there?

It’s almost impossible to know. All criminals have good reason to be secretive. Add in the stigma that surrounds not conforming to cisgender norms, and it would be surprising if an exact figure will ever be known.

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As a ‘staller’ (a title introduced under the Danish king Cnut and reserved for the wealthiest thegns enjoying the king’s intimate favour), Eadnoth occupied a prominent role at the court of Edward the Confessor.

Royal steward and justice in the early 1060s, with estates scattered across five of the counties of Wessex, Eadnoth made his peace with William of Normandy after the battle of Hastings, and served as an agent of Norman rule in Somerset.

What happened to Eadnoth the Staller?

He died in 1068, in a skirmish fought near the Severn estuary, repelling an abortive attempt by the sons of the late King Harold to seize Bristol.

The vast majority of his estate, worth £100 or more, was used for the endowment of the future earldom of Chester. At least six manors, however, were acquired by his son, Harding son of Eadnoth, ancestor of the Fitz Harding family of Bristol, future lords of the great honour and castle of Berkeley.

The present Lord Berkeley is himself a very distant descendant and still sits in the House of Lords as a life peer, under the title Lord Gueterbock.

Nick Vincent is professor of history at the University of East Anglia