Speaker 1: Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership
Speaker 1: with iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: The legendary representations of highwaymen are often told through word
Speaker 2: of mouth or a lore ballads, and sometimes novels and plays,
Speaker 2: and there's probably been a movie or two or three
Speaker 2: based on the more famous robbers. Some highwaymen had originally
Speaker 2: been soldiers who had fallen on hard times. Some were
Speaker 2: straight up criminals, and some, like Claude Duval, were highwaymen
Speaker 2: who were polite, chivalrous, and sometimes portrayed as a version
Speaker 2: of robin Hood, although none of them gave their loot
Speaker 2: to those less fortunate. Opinions differ among biographers and historians
Speaker 2: when it comes to Claude's life, So let's talk about
Speaker 2: how his acts of highway robbery created what became known
Speaker 2: as the gentleman robber. Welcome to Criminalia. I'm Maria Tremarky.
Speaker 1: And I'm Holly Frye. Claude was born in sixteen forty
Speaker 1: three in Normandy. His father was a miller that's a
Speaker 1: person who operates a mill to grind grain, and his
Speaker 1: mother was a tailor. There are some versions of his
Speaker 1: story that suggests that they had at one point been
Speaker 1: a noble family and then were stripped of title and land.
Speaker 1: But that's not something that we can corroborate. He did
Speaker 1: grow up in dont, France, where it was said that
Speaker 1: quote common honesty was a most uncommon ingredient in the
Speaker 1: moral economy of the place. So maybe he didn't stand
Speaker 1: a chance at living a legit life if that statement
Speaker 1: painted a correct narrative. He was educated, but only to
Speaker 1: the level his parents thought he needed. They believed that
Speaker 1: he would become a footman, which was one of the
Speaker 1: higher ranking domestic worker roles in an upper class household.
Speaker 2: At age thirteen, Claude took a job as a stable boy,
Speaker 2: where he was given the opportunity to travel to Paris
Speaker 2: with some of the English royalists who'd followed Charles the
Speaker 2: Second to France. He went, and his work there as
Speaker 2: a footman paid off. By age fourteen. He was working
Speaker 2: for the English exiles who were waiting for the restoration
Speaker 2: of the monarchy. The restoration was, at its very simple basics,
Speaker 2: the re establishment of Charles the Second as King of England.
Speaker 2: If you listened to the first episode of the season
Speaker 2: about the Wicked Lady, this follows right on the heels
Speaker 2: of Charles the First being executed and the parliamentarians taking over.
Speaker 2: Mostly Claude spent his time running errands, but he also
Speaker 2: had a job at Sannasprie, described as the cross between
Speaker 2: an ale house and a brothel. It was here that
Speaker 2: his storians believe he mostly just flirted with women, but
Speaker 2: also practiced his charm and charisma.
Speaker 1: When Claude moved to England in sixteen sixty with the
Speaker 1: formerly exiled royalists and nobility, this coincided with when Charles
Speaker 1: the Second was restored to the throne, he went to
Speaker 1: work as a footman for a quote person of quality.
Speaker 1: That person of quality is thought to have been Charles Lennox,
Speaker 1: Duke of Richmond. It's at this time in his life
Speaker 1: where he learned the manners of a gentleman, which he
Speaker 1: later used to enhance his gentleman robber reputation. But the
Speaker 1: footman gig did not last very long for Claude. Rumors
Speaker 1: suggest that he spent too much money on drinking, gambling
Speaker 1: and women, and with his finances dwindling, and probably that
Speaker 1: behavior wasn't looked upon with delight by his employer, he
Speaker 1: decided to take a turn as a highwayman and began
Speaker 1: dabbling in robbery as a side gig, and in no
Speaker 1: time his new lifestyle brought fame and fortune.
Speaker 2: Claude had arrived in England from France at age seventeen,
Speaker 2: which was right in the middle of what the Newgate
Speaker 2: Calendar called quote universal joy upon the return of the
Speaker 2: royal family, which made the whole nation almost mad. Everyone
Speaker 2: ran into extravagances, and Duval, whose inclinations were as vicious
Speaker 2: as any man's, soon became an extraordinary proficient in gaming, purring,
Speaker 2: drunkenness and all manner of debauchery. Of note that use
Speaker 2: of vicious here refers to his proclivity toward his vices,
Speaker 2: not violence. But when he started to run out of funds,
Speaker 2: he'd rob a few English locals. He got himself his
Speaker 2: gentlemanly reputation because he didn't participate in the rough behavior
Speaker 2: and murderers undertakings of many of his fellow highwaymen. He
Speaker 2: wanted it known that he was appalled by those who
Speaker 2: used violence, and he himself would never engage in such
Speaker 2: a thing. Claude became known for his politeness and his chivalry,
Speaker 2: as well as the quote romantic darling of the ladies,
Speaker 2: violent or not, though a highway robber, gentleman, robber or
Speaker 2: thug would be hanged just the same.
Speaker 1: Claude was a celebrated French born robber of Restoration, England,
Speaker 1: a period that ran from sixteen sixty to sixteen eighty eight,
Speaker 1: and his career choice popularized him as a dashing highwayman,
Speaker 1: a word that first appeared in an Anglo Saxon document
Speaker 1: from ten seventeen. The golden age of highway robbery is
Speaker 1: considered to have been between seventeen hundred to eighteen thirty,
Speaker 1: but it's Claude who is one of the earliest name
Speaker 1: brigands recorded by the London Gazette of sixteen sixty six.
Speaker 1: His reputation and his press coverage was built on his
Speaker 1: fashionable appearance and gallant treatment toward those he robbed. He
Speaker 1: never did resort to physical violence, at least as far
Speaker 1: as we can tell. He mostly operated on the roads
Speaker 1: to London. A stage coach, for instance, could only average
Speaker 1: about seven miles per hour, give or take, and that
Speaker 1: made it really easy to ambush on a horse, usually
Speaker 1: a stolen horse and with a flint locked pistol, which
Speaker 1: was a fairly new style of firearm that was known
Speaker 1: to be light, accurate and cheap compared to its predecessors.
Speaker 2: We're going to take a break for a word from
Speaker 2: our sponsors. When we return, we'll tell the most famous
Speaker 2: tale there is about Claude, the gentleman robber.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Criminalia. With a quote flamboyant sweep of
Speaker 1: his feathered hat, Claude became the most wanted highwayman in England.
Speaker 1: Claude found the richest marks and therefore many of his
Speaker 1: raids took place at Maidenhead Thicket, a dense land at
Speaker 1: the time, as well as on the Bath Road. He
Speaker 1: found Blackheath and Hampstead to also be quite lucrative.
Speaker 2: His image as a debonair and courteous highwayman was important
Speaker 2: to him. So we're going to tell a story that
Speaker 2: maybe truth or close to the truth, but even if
Speaker 2: it's not the truth, it's a perfect way to describe
Speaker 2: his style. The crime he may be most famous for,
Speaker 2: and which has likely been exaggerated over the centuries, was
Speaker 2: his attempt to rob a couple at Hampstead Heath. As
Speaker 2: he approached the carriage, he yelled out the call of
Speaker 2: the highway robber, stand and deliver. According to English critic,
Speaker 2: essayist and poet Lee Hunt, this robbery was quote an
Speaker 2: eternal feather in the cap of highway gentility.
Speaker 1: Here's what allegedly went down. The carriage was carrying a nobleman,
Speaker 1: his wife, and their domestic worker when Claude stopped them unexpectedly.
Speaker 1: The wife challenged Claude to a contest described as a
Speaker 1: quote musical interlude involving a flute and a coronto. That's
Speaker 1: a type of dance. You might not expect a highwayman
Speaker 1: to carry a flute along with his pistols and sword
Speaker 1: and other tools of the trade, but according to this legend,
Speaker 1: he had one, and in response to her challenge, started
Speaker 1: to play along with her. He asked whether she could
Speaker 1: dance as well as she played. That was an invitation
Speaker 1: she accepted. Her husband was against it. He probably thought
Speaker 1: this was the weirdest flirting his wife had ever done.
Speaker 1: And so these two people, according to lore, danced to
Speaker 1: karanto under the moonlight. Though we can't figure out who
Speaker 1: would have been playing the flute exactly. Maybe he could
Speaker 1: play and dance at the same time, but this very request,
Speaker 1: it said, amused Claude, and because he was so delighted
Speaker 1: by the interaction, he reduced their payment to him from
Speaker 1: four hundred pounds to a mere one hundred, and he
Speaker 1: did make them promise to never bother him. This sounds
Speaker 1: like a slow, lightly hilarious, and very romanticized version of
Speaker 1: the story, doesn't it. There is another version with a
Speaker 1: different ending. In that one, the nobleman had neglected to pay,
Speaker 1: but under Claude's demands he did, and he paid the
Speaker 1: full four hundred exaggerated or not, This story became an
Speaker 1: important scene, immortalized in a painting by William Powell Frith
Speaker 1: in eighteen sixty. It also showed up in other artworks.
Speaker 2: Dancing with his target is a great example that set
Speaker 2: Claude apart from other highwaymen, and it's a distinctive behavior.
Speaker 2: Yet he often rode with men who were criminals and
Speaker 2: who probably did not ascribe to the same code of
Speaker 2: conduct as he did. The myth of his life later
Speaker 2: became even more embellished, with some people claiming that he
Speaker 2: once saved Charles the Second's life and that he was
Speaker 2: a bit more than just a friend to Nell Gwynn
Speaker 2: pretty witty Nell, as she was called, was an actress,
Speaker 2: but is probably best remembered in history as a mistress
Speaker 2: of King Charles the Second.
Speaker 1: On November nineteenth, sixteen sixty nine, a proclamation listing notorious
Speaker 1: offenders was issued. Claude was number one on that list. Additionally,
Speaker 1: a reward of twenty pounds was placed on his head,
Speaker 1: and the London Gazette described him as quote the most
Speaker 1: wanted highwayman in England. Many accounts suggest that Claude left
Speaker 1: England for France at this time, hoping that authorities in
Speaker 1: his own reputation would cool down a little bit. But
Speaker 1: he found that the practice of highway robbery was a
Speaker 1: lot less lucrative in France, mainly because carriages and the
Speaker 1: people who traveled in them typically traveled with less money
Speaker 1: and more guns than those outside of London. So caution
Speaker 1: to the wind, Claude returned to England with quote a
Speaker 1: flamboyant sweep of his feathered hat.
Speaker 2: We're going to take a break for a word from
Speaker 2: our sponsors. When we're back, we'll talk about Claude's arrest.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Criminalium. The road ended for Claude in
Speaker 1: sixteen seventy, so let's talk about his arrest, trial and execution.
Speaker 2: It was in a tavern called the Hole in the
Speaker 2: Wall in Covent Garden where Claude was arrested in December
Speaker 2: of sixteen sixty nine after having a bit too much ale,
Speaker 2: and it didn't help his cause that he was carrying
Speaker 2: three pistols and a sword. According to his biographer William Pope,
Speaker 2: it's generally considered that if he had been sober, he
Speaker 2: wouldn't have been apprehended so easily. Too much ale, At
Speaker 2: least what we uncovered in our early research seems to
Speaker 2: be a pattern for arrest among high waymen.
Speaker 1: His exploits had deepened his polite reputation, especially his chivalry
Speaker 1: with women. In fact, Claude had fans. Some women actually
Speaker 1: wanted to be robbed by him, and this arrest was
Speaker 1: just not the affair they were looking for. Alexander Smith's
Speaker 1: A History of the Lives and Robberies of the most
Speaker 1: Notorious Highwaymen, Footpads, Shoplifts and Cheats, which was published after
Speaker 1: Claude's death, turned people on to the lives and motivations
Speaker 1: of these popular criminals. Although Smith was trying to persuade
Speaker 1: people against a life of crime. Writing during the golden
Speaker 1: age of highwaymen, quote stirred the public appetite for tales
Speaker 1: of rascality. Smith's book was heavily edited, but the authenticity
Speaker 1: that's got big Air quotes on it of his narrative,
Speaker 1: he claimed, was at its heart to keep the criminal's
Speaker 1: voice in the expression of the accounts. When every publisher
Speaker 1: wanted a good story, even if factual information was kind
Speaker 1: of overlooked. In fact, publishers began to visit Newgate Prison
Speaker 1: looking for criminals who were willing to sell their stories.
Speaker 2: Claude had a short stay at Newgate Prison while waiting
Speaker 2: for his trial. It was once the most notorious prison
Speaker 2: in London. While there, it's reported that he had many guests.
Speaker 2: Most of his admirers were women, and women were the
Speaker 2: ones lining up to visit the Gentleman robber. Claude was
Speaker 2: arraigned and convicted at the Old Bailey on six counts
Speaker 2: of highway robbery. Though he had certainly committed additional highway crimes,
Speaker 2: there was no evidence to prove he did. There were
Speaker 2: many attempts, mainly from women, to grant reprieve those who
Speaker 2: didn't want to see him imprisoned, argued about his good
Speaker 2: character and that he had never engaged in any violence.
Speaker 2: In fact, Claude was convinced he would be pardoned by
Speaker 2: Charles the Second, he was not. During his trial, Judge
Speaker 2: Sir William Morton ignored the protests and because of quote
Speaker 2: the spectacle of ladies of fashion and beauty masked with
Speaker 2: tear stained faces, he cleared the courtroom at one point
Speaker 2: during proceeding.
Speaker 1: Taught at last after a ten year successful career in
Speaker 1: highway robbery, Claude was sentenced to death by hanging at Tiburn.
Speaker 1: He who quote brought class and dignity to the profession
Speaker 1: of highwaymen, died in London on January twenty first, sixteen seventy.
Speaker 1: He may have been French by birth, but as an
Speaker 1: English highwayman under English law, he was hanged. He was
Speaker 1: twenty seven years old. Claude was buried at Saint Paul's Church,
Speaker 1: possibly under the pseudonym Peter Duval. The Newgate Calendar described
Speaker 1: his funeral as a quote large affair. He was laid
Speaker 1: in state, a distinguished burial that allowed people to view
Speaker 1: him and paid their respects. Many people attended the funeral
Speaker 1: and its said his tomb had quote a white marble
Speaker 1: stone laid over him. So this, i'll suggests he was
Speaker 1: not treated like a common criminal in death. He was
Speaker 1: perhaps more a celebrity criminal who helped create the cultural
Speaker 1: identity of the gentleman robber.
Speaker 2: His memoirs were written by William Pope while Claude was
Speaker 2: at Newgate Prison and are considered the main source of
Speaker 2: many events in his life, including the first account of
Speaker 2: his time as a highwayman. It was and is considered
Speaker 2: the exaggerated biographical account that turned Claude into a folk legend.
Speaker 2: Some truth, some truthsh but in the end it's believed
Speaker 2: Claude was the gentleman robber who paved the way for
Speaker 2: future depictions and adventures of the chivalrous highwayman.
Speaker 1: Would you like a swig from the hip flask?
Speaker 2: Time? Maybe two? Oh Claude?
Speaker 1: Okay? So in doing this one, I wanted to incorporate
Speaker 1: the fact that Claude was French but operated largely in England,
Speaker 1: so ingredients are coming from both countries. And I wanted
Speaker 1: to include Ale because that features in his arrest, as
Speaker 1: well as the place that he worked when he was younger.
Speaker 1: So it's actually named after that place, the Santa Spree,
Speaker 1: because a spree, of course in French means spirit, which
Speaker 1: references alcohol on a secondary way. And also because Claude
Speaker 1: just had a lot of spirit.
Speaker 2: So you could say that now that's.
Speaker 1: His drink, the Santa Spree. So this one is easy
Speaker 1: to put together, but there is some floater on top.
Speaker 1: So get ready. You are going to combine in your
Speaker 1: shaking tin an ounce and a half of gin, three
Speaker 1: quarters of an ounce of lime juice, so that gin
Speaker 1: is referencing England, three quarters of an ounce of benedictine,
Speaker 1: which is French, it's a French herbal liquor, and then
Speaker 1: three quarters of an ounce of simple syrup. And you're
Speaker 1: gonna give that a good shake with ice, and you're
Speaker 1: gonna strain it into a glass that can hold at
Speaker 1: least six ounces of liquid, because then you are going
Speaker 1: to float on top of it three ounces of ale.
Speaker 1: So this is another good time where you get out
Speaker 1: your bar spoon with the flat end that sits perpendicular
Speaker 1: to the actual shaft of the spoon and pour it
Speaker 1: down it very carefully, and the ale is darker than
Speaker 1: the rest of the drinks, so you get kind of
Speaker 1: a rich top to it. How you drink this is
Speaker 1: a drinker's choice because it tells the story two ways.
Speaker 1: You can just drink it as it's presented at that point,
Speaker 1: and you start with ale, and then it gets richer
Speaker 1: and becomes a little more interesting and sweeter as you
Speaker 1: go as the two mix together in the tipping of
Speaker 1: the glass. Or you can stir it together, which does
Speaker 1: something very interesting because it still has the mouthfeel of
Speaker 1: an ale like that, you know, kind of frothy, slightly
Speaker 1: bubbly thing, but it doesn't taste like one at all,
Speaker 1: and it's super weird but very delicious. I was pleasantly
Speaker 1: surprised by how this one turned out. So those are
Speaker 1: your options in drinking it. Listen. I don't usually drink
Speaker 1: a lot of beers, ales, et cetera.
Speaker 2: I didn't think, so I'm a little surprised by this one.
Speaker 1: So there was a special trip to the grocery store
Speaker 1: to make the mocktail on this one. We're combining some
Speaker 1: things because you're gonna make a syrup. So before you
Speaker 1: make anything drink wise, you have to make a syrup.
Speaker 1: We're making an allspice syrup. In lieu of a simple syrup.
Speaker 1: So you're just gonna do a cup of water, a
Speaker 1: cup of sugar, and a tablespoon or a little more
Speaker 1: if you really like allspice. I like it to be
Speaker 1: very flavored. And this is kind of making up for
Speaker 1: the benedictine, so you can be pretty heavy with it. Also,
Speaker 1: if you want to add other spices to it, you
Speaker 1: can do that, throw in a little base, throw in
Speaker 1: a little you know, whatever you wish. We don't know
Speaker 1: what all's in benedictine, So the floor is yours, and
Speaker 1: you're just gonna let that simmer until it all combines,
Speaker 1: and then let it cool and strain it off, and
Speaker 1: then you have your all spice syrups. So you will
Speaker 1: use an ounce of that syrup, three quarters of an
Speaker 1: ounce of lime, and then an ounce and a half
Speaker 1: of flat tonic. You'll do the same thing. You'll shake
Speaker 1: it until it's really cold, pour it into a pre
Speaker 1: chilled glass. And then you have options here because we're
Speaker 1: obviously not going to do ale, so you can either
Speaker 1: if you want to stay very true to the original
Speaker 1: flavor of the drink, you can float a non alcoholic
Speaker 1: beer on top. I feel like that is a category
Speaker 1: that has really gotten a lot better in the last
Speaker 1: few years as more people have embraced sober lifestyles or
Speaker 1: just not into drinking alcohol, which is totally cool. So
Speaker 1: you have a lot more options. I would reck commend
Speaker 1: that as the ideal. If you don't want to do that, though,
Speaker 1: you could use ginger ale here. The problem is that
Speaker 1: ginger ale you're gonna have to go with a very
Speaker 1: low sugar one because if you go with a full
Speaker 1: sugar it's not gonna float at all because it will
Speaker 1: compete with the all spice syrup. As we all remember
Speaker 1: if we've done this before, you want your heaviest thing
Speaker 1: on the bottom. So ginger ales, depending on the brand,
Speaker 1: can sometimes have a lot of sugar and be quite thick.
Speaker 1: If you get one like that, it's gonna sink. It
Speaker 1: won't quite work the way is intended. So ideal outcome
Speaker 1: would be a non alcoholic beer. Second option is a
Speaker 1: very low sugar ginger ale, or even a ginger beer
Speaker 1: if you want a little bite, and that is the
Speaker 1: Santa Sprie to give you the spirit of Claude Duval.
Speaker 1: You can wear your feather hat o bananas. We hope
Speaker 1: you have enjoyed this very very fun story of this
Speaker 1: very spirited and sometimes hilarious gentlemen, Robert. We will be
Speaker 1: right back here again next week with another highwayman and
Speaker 1: more drinks to go with that story. We hope to
Speaker 1: see a here. Criminalia is a production of Shondaland Audio
Speaker 1: in partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from Shondaland Audio,
Speaker 1: please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.