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Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of

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Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of

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Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all

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Speaker 1: of these amazing tales are right there on display, just

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Speaker 1: waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.

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Speaker 1: The ground shook as the column of tanks rumbled along

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Speaker 1: the country road making for the Czech border. It was

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Speaker 1: nineteen thirty eight, and Hitler had just signed a treaty

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Speaker 1: claiming the Sudetan Land a region of Czechoslovakia for himself.

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Speaker 1: Now German troops were advancing on the border. Suddenly, the

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Speaker 1: tanks screeched to a halt. The marching German soldiers stopped

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Speaker 1: in their tracks. Something was on the road. The Germans

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Speaker 1: couldn't believe it. This was nineteen thirty eight, not the

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Speaker 1: Middle Ages, and yet standing between them and the sudetan

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Speaker 1: Land was an armor clad, sword wielding night. Not much

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Speaker 1: is known about the early life of Josef Minchik, the

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Speaker 1: Last Night of Czechoslovakia. It's not clear where he was

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Speaker 1: born or what his family was like. A local newspaper

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Speaker 1: described him as a town counselor with a taste for rum, anchovies,

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Speaker 1: and adventure. But the most definitive thing that we know

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Speaker 1: about Joseph is that he had a passion for the Medieval.

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Speaker 1: The first reliable records about him come from property deeds,

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Speaker 1: when he bought a run down thirteenth century Gothic castle

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Speaker 1: in the Czech town of Dubries in nineteen eleven. The

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Speaker 1: castle had lived many lives, acting as grain storage and

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Speaker 1: a school before it was damaged by a fire, but

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Speaker 1: Joseph quickly set to bringing it back to its former glory.

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Speaker 1: He personally renovated the castle, fixing its issues and filling

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Speaker 1: it with antiques from the High Middle Ages period. Became

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Speaker 1: a kind of museum, and Joseph delighted in giving tours

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Speaker 1: to the curious locals. He lived as someone in the

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Speaker 1: Middle Ages would, rejecting electricity and cars in favor of

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Speaker 1: torchlights and horses. He also began appearing affairs and festivals

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Speaker 1: in his prized possession, a full suit of medieval armor

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Speaker 1: from France. Joseph's passion for the Middle Ages didn't just

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Speaker 1: extend to appearances. He truly wanted to live like a knight,

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Speaker 1: following a chivalric code of generosity, bravery, courtesy, and respect

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Speaker 1: for tradition. He called himself the Last Night and was

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Speaker 1: known for his kindness and service to people in town.

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Speaker 1: He even got his wife and two children in on

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Speaker 1: the act, dressing them in period clothing as well. For years,

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Speaker 1: Joseph was the town eccentric, giving tours to school groups

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Speaker 1: and riding to town on his horse, but in the

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Speaker 1: late nineteen thirties he went from local kook to local champion.

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Speaker 1: In nineteen thirty eight, Nazi Germany started expanding into other countries.

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Speaker 1: It often used cultural ties to justify taking over territory.

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Speaker 1: For example, when annexing Austria in March of nineteen thirty eight,

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Speaker 1: Germany claimed that it was a reunification of German speaking peoples.

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Speaker 1: Wary of just having gone through the incredibly bloody World

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Speaker 1: War One just twenty years earlier, many European countries felt

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Speaker 1: that it was better to just give Hitler what he

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Speaker 1: wanted to avoid another conflict, and so, as we discussed

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Speaker 1: at the beginning in September of nineteen thirty eight, the

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Speaker 1: Nazis turned their eyes toward the Sudetan Land, which were

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Speaker 1: regions on the German Czech border that were home to

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Speaker 1: many German speaking people. Like with Austria, Hitler argued that

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Speaker 1: these people in their land belonged to Germany. Czechoslovakia, on

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Speaker 1: the other hand, wanted to maintain its independence. They feared

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Speaker 1: that once Germany took over the Sdeedtan Land, they wouldn't

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Speaker 1: stop until they occupied the whole country. When England, France,

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Speaker 1: and Italy signed an agreement giving the Sudetan Land to Germany,

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Speaker 1: the Czechs felt betrayed, and as the tanks rolled over

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Speaker 1: the Czech border, the people mostly decided to stay in

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Speaker 1: their houses and just watch. It was clear no other

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Speaker 1: countries would come to their aid if they tried to fight. Joseph, however,

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Speaker 1: didn't see things that way. According to his chivalric code,

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Speaker 1: he had to defend his people, even if it was

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Speaker 1: a losing battle. So that day in October of nineteen

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Speaker 1: thirty eight, when the Germans marched on the border, he

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Speaker 1: rode out in full armor to meet them. The tanks

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Speaker 1: and the soldiers did actually stop for a few moments

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Speaker 1: in shock at seeing what looked like something out of

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Speaker 1: Don Quixote, but soon enough they continued forward. Murmuring among

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Speaker 1: themselves that this errant knight must be crazy. Joseph was

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Speaker 1: forced to step aside. It's not clear what he did

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Speaker 1: during the rest of the war and during his country's occupation.

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Speaker 1: It's likely he spent much of his time inside his castle,

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Speaker 1: hoping for the day the Germans left, and finally, in

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Speaker 1: May of nineteen forty five, his wish was granted as

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Speaker 1: the Allies declared victory. Joseph's time and his free country

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Speaker 1: was short lived, though, as he died just a few

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Speaker 1: months later in November of nineteen forty five. Joseph Menschik

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Speaker 1: may have brought a sword to a gunfight, but when

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Speaker 1: it came to protecting his people and his country, he

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Speaker 1: had the heart of a true knight. Attics are inherently

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Speaker 1: mysterious places. They accumulate artifacts over a lifetime, sometimes several lifetimes.

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Speaker 1: Like a museum, every object there has a story, sometimes

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Speaker 1: multiple stories. In two thousand and eight, Jacques Bellinger, a

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Speaker 1: retired French tax collector, found something unexpected in the attic

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Speaker 1: of a house he bought in nineteen fifty three, an

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Speaker 1: ancient mummified skull. This find became international news soon after

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Speaker 1: because it wasn't just any skull, it was one that

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Speaker 1: had been missing for generations, the lost skull of King

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Speaker 1: Henry the Fourth. The French are somewhat infamis for not

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Speaker 1: liking their kings, and the history of Paris is littered

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Speaker 1: with headless nobility. However, Henry the Fourth of France was

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Speaker 1: not beheaded in his lifetime. Unlike the victims of the guillotine,

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Speaker 1: Henry was beloved by the majority of his subjects, garnering

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Speaker 1: the nickname Good King Henry or Henry the Great. During

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Speaker 1: his reign, which lasted from fifteen eighty nine to sixteen ten,

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Speaker 1: he championed reforms that would benefit the poorest peasants. His

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Speaker 1: greatest accomplishment was signing an edict that would grant equal

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Speaker 1: citizenship rights to French Protestants, who had been second class

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Speaker 1: citizens underneath the Catholics who practiced the state religion, known

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Speaker 1: as the Edict of Nant. It would prevent senseless religious

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Speaker 1: bloodshed and earn him his popularity as a progressive king. Unfortunately,

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Speaker 1: it would also prove to be his doom. It said

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Speaker 1: that he weathered many assassination attempts from Catholic extremists in

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Speaker 1: the decade that followed the Edict of Nunt. None of

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Speaker 1: these would prove successful until May fourteenth of sixteen ten.

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Speaker 1: That is, on that day, Good King Henry was traveling

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Speaker 1: in his coach along a street in Paris, going to

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Speaker 1: visit an ailing friend. The carriage came to a stop

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Speaker 1: due to traffic, and almost instantly a man leapt into

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Speaker 1: the coach and stabbed Henry to death. As his assassin

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Speaker 1: was executed, Henry himself would be buried in the Royal

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Speaker 1: chapel at Saint Denni, where his body lay peacefully for

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Speaker 1: over one hundred years. But then, during the French Revolution,

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Speaker 1: an angry mob stormed Saint Denni in an anti royal fervor.

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Speaker 1: They disintered the French kings and threw them into a

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Speaker 1: mass grave. At some point in the chaos, Henry's head

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Speaker 1: was cut off and saved from burial. It is at

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Speaker 1: this point that the location of the Royal skull becomes

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Speaker 1: something of an urban legend of its own. A photographer

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Speaker 1: allegedly bought it at auction in nineteen nineteen for just

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Speaker 1: three francs, not bad for one of the most sought

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Speaker 1: after relics in French history. If I do say so myself.

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Speaker 1: The man spent much of his later years attempting to

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Speaker 1: gain recognition for this fine, but no one believed him.

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Speaker 1: He even offered it to the Louver in the nineteen forties,

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Speaker 1: but the offer was declined. By the time it wound

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Speaker 1: up in Bellinger's attic, the head had been traveling from

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Speaker 1: private owner to owner for over two hundred years, and

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Speaker 1: for such an ancient body part, it was in remarkable condition.

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Speaker 1: Wrapped in an old towel. His nose was still intact,

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Speaker 1: although visibly broken, and several mustache hairs were still preserved,

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Speaker 1: and these would allow scientists to test the head's DNA

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Speaker 1: in an effort to determine its authenticity. Unfortunately, due to

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Speaker 1: the age of the samples, results were inconclusive, spurrying a

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Speaker 1: debate about whose head this actually was. However, digital facial

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Speaker 1: reconstruction and forensic analysis seems to point to this being

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Speaker 1: the head of Henry the Great. The head was returned

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Speaker 1: to the Duke of Anjou, a descendant of the Bourbon

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Speaker 1: line of French monarchs. He expressed his desire to re

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Speaker 1: enter the head at Saint Denny, although it's unclear if

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Speaker 1: this burial has been carried out. Some will say that

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Speaker 1: the head still rests within a bank vault in Paris,

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Speaker 1: waiting for the day that it can rejoin its body.

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Speaker 1: At the end of the journey which took the good

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Speaker 1: King Henry from a mostly successful reign all the way

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Speaker 1: to a scientific debate in the twenty first century, what

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Speaker 1: are we left to conclude that even being a good

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Speaker 1: king is no guarantee that your remains will be untouched,

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Speaker 1: that body parts acquire a mystique. Not unlike Catholic saints,

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Speaker 1: uneasy lies the head that wears a crown, they say.

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Speaker 1: So it's perhaps worth noting that this saying is taken

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Speaker 1: from a play by Shakespeare. Which play you might ask

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Speaker 1: Henry the fourth? Of course. I hope you've enjoyed today's

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Speaker 1: guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free

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Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by

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Speaker 1: visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by

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Speaker 1: me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how Stuff Works. I

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Speaker 1: make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast,

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Speaker 1: book series, and television show, and you can learn all

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Speaker 1: about over at Theworldoflore dot com. And until next time,

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Speaker 1: stay curious,