Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm
Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Manky. Listener Discretion advised the King
Speaker 1: of Poland had been dead for eight months and six days.
Speaker 1: The death itself had been sudden. The King, Stephen Bathory,
Speaker 1: had hidden his ill health from even his closest advisers
Speaker 1: for several years before finally succumbing to his illness on
Speaker 1: December twelfth, fifteen eighty six. The country's nobles had spent
Speaker 1: the following eight months and six days doing one thing,
Speaker 1: trying to figure out who would be king next Poland.
Speaker 1: In fact, the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth, as it had been
Speaker 1: known since fifteen seventy two, was not a hereditary monarchy,
Speaker 1: but an elected one. Whenever a king died, the the
Speaker 1: entire nobility of Poland and Lithuania would come together for
Speaker 1: an elaborate process to select the next monarch. As you
Speaker 1: might expect, this led to several long protracted into regna,
Speaker 1: in which various factions fought, sometimes with weapons and armies,
Speaker 1: to have their families or interests represented on the throne.
Speaker 1: This time, after eight months and six days, there was
Speaker 1: a complete stalemate. The nobles had all exhausted every avenue
Speaker 1: they had to exert their influence, and still there was
Speaker 1: no front runner in sight. In situations like this, the
Speaker 1: law called for the selection of a rex pro tempore,
Speaker 1: a temporary king, an outsider who would then use his
Speaker 1: powerful but unbiased position to select his successor. To put
Speaker 1: it simply, they needed a tiebreaker, but no one could
Speaker 1: agree on who should fill that role. Every contender put
Speaker 1: forth was rejected by one side or the other, said
Speaker 1: to be too close to either side to choose a
Speaker 1: new king fairly, or to power hungry to give up
Speaker 1: the throne. When the time came, they bickered and shouted,
Speaker 1: each jockeying over the other to be heard. But then
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, one nobleman rose to his feet.
Speaker 1: He had an idea. Years ago, this nobleman, Nicholas Radswell,
Speaker 1: the Grand Marshal of Lithuania, had found himself stranded in Padua.
Speaker 1: He had been en route to Jerusalem for a religious
Speaker 1: pilgrimage when his entourage was robbed, leaving him with no possessions,
Speaker 1: no money, and no way home. He had begged and
Speaker 1: begged on the streets for help, spending days trying to
Speaker 1: convince passers by that yes he really was a prince,
Speaker 1: and yes he really could pay them back handsomely if
Speaker 1: they only helped him home. Finally, desperate, he appealed to
Speaker 1: the Rabbi of Padua, Samuel Judah Katznellenbogen, the leader of
Speaker 1: the Jewish people in the area. The Rabbi believed Radswell
Speaker 1: and agreed to help him get home on one condition
Speaker 1: that he find his son, Saul, whom he had sent
Speaker 1: to Poland to be educated at a yeshiva, but whom
Speaker 1: he hadn't heard from since. Now Standing before the Polish nobility,
Speaker 1: Radswell told the story of how he had scoured every
Speaker 1: yeshiva in Poland before finally finding Saul. Like he promised,
Speaker 1: he was impressed with the young man's intellect and good character,
Speaker 1: and Radswell had invited him to continue his education at
Speaker 1: his palace. In the years since Saul had become a
Speaker 1: central character at court and had garnered a reputation for
Speaker 1: his intelligence and trustworthiness, this was an obvious choice. Radswell insisted,
Speaker 1: here was a candidate everyone already knew and trusted, and who,
Speaker 1: due to his Jewish heritage, was not beholden to the
Speaker 1: politics of the powerful Polish and Lithuanian families. Saul Catznellenbogen
Speaker 1: was the perfect temporary king, and so it was decided
Speaker 1: on August eighteenth, fifteen eighty seven, for one day only
Speaker 1: a Jewish king would rule Poland, or would he. If
Speaker 1: any part of this story sounds a little fishy or
Speaker 1: too good to be true, that's because well it is.
Speaker 1: There is no historic evidence that Saul Katzenellenbogen was actually
Speaker 1: elected a temporary king, but the story of the King
Speaker 1: for a Day, as he would come to be known,
Speaker 1: has endured in Jewish folklore and family history. How did
Speaker 1: this fictional tale become so entrenched that some people still
Speaker 1: believe it actually happened. Well, As with most good legends,
Speaker 1: it begins with an actual kernel of truth. I'm Danas Schwartz,
Speaker 1: and this is noble blood, although he was not born
Speaker 1: noble and alas never even temporarily would be. Saul katzen
Speaker 1: Ellenbogen came from an illustrious lineage. His grandfather, Mayor ben
Speaker 1: Isaac katzen Ellenbogen, generally known by his Hebrew acronym Maharam
Speaker 1: of Padua, was the chief rabbi of Padua in the
Speaker 1: early to mid SIXTIETHH tenth century. He had migrated to Padua,
Speaker 1: a city in the mainland territories of the Venetian Republic,
Speaker 1: from Germany for his education, and married the daughter of
Speaker 1: the then Rabbi of Padua, before then taking up his
Speaker 1: father in law's position upon his death. The chief rabbinet
Speaker 1: of Padua was a powerful position in and of itself,
Speaker 1: not least because it also made him a rabbinic authority
Speaker 1: in nearby Venice. But the Maharam's influence was also compounded
Speaker 1: by his deep scholarly knowledge. Other rabbis regularly sought him
Speaker 1: out to weigh in on talmudic and rabbinical debates, and
Speaker 1: he wrote over ninety responsa in doing so, which continue
Speaker 1: to be influential among rabbinical scholars and historians alike. The
Speaker 1: Maharam's son, Samuel Judah or Mahashiks, followed in his father's
Speaker 1: footsteps as the chief Rabbi of Padua in fifteen sixty five.
Speaker 1: His own father's reputation had played a large role in
Speaker 1: his election, but he was also considered a distinguished scholar
Speaker 1: and leader in his community. He also gained esteem among
Speaker 1: non Jews, and this is where we see the beginnings
Speaker 1: of the story that would morph into that of the
Speaker 1: Jewish King of Poland. Unfortunately, there is little to no
Speaker 1: evidence that Mahasikh's ever actually crossed paths with the Lithuanian
Speaker 1: noble Nicholas Radswell. What is true is that Radswell undertook
Speaker 1: a rather eventful pilgrimage to the Holy Land to Syria
Speaker 1: and Egypt between fifteen eighty two and fifteen eighty four,
Speaker 1: and along the way he got himself into several situations
Speaker 1: where he ran low on funds and needed to ask
Speaker 1: for assistance from locals. We know about Radswell's travels from
Speaker 1: a sixteen oh one travelog he published in Latin, in
Speaker 1: which he described his journey and the many people he
Speaker 1: met along the way. The closest thing we have to
Speaker 1: a story resembling that of the legendary encounter with the
Speaker 1: Rabbi in Radswell's account is that he was truly robbed
Speaker 1: by bandits on his way to Venice, but in Ancona,
Speaker 1: not Padua. He was then aided by a merchant who
Speaker 1: lent him money to continue his journey, but only after
Speaker 1: proving his identity to the papal authorities nearby. The similarities
Speaker 1: in the accounts are striking the doubt about his identity
Speaker 1: alone that helped him on his way, But so are
Speaker 1: the differences. So how did we get one story from
Speaker 1: the other. The nineteenth century literary historian Gustav Karpalis asserted
Speaker 1: that the merchant in the acount was Jewish, seemingly without evidence,
Speaker 1: as Radswell never mentions the merchant's faith, and in fact
Speaker 1: recalls his name as Quintilio, a distinctly Italian Christian name.
Speaker 1: It's possible that Carpels, or one of the many people
Speaker 1: before him to tell this story both orally and in writing,
Speaker 1: conflated the merchant with one of several Jewish people whom
Speaker 1: Radswell did encounter and discussed in his account, including an
Speaker 1: interpreter who accompanied him in Jerusalem and the famed twelfth
Speaker 1: century Jewish traveler Benjamin of Tudela. There were also certainly
Speaker 1: many Jewish merchants in this period, especially in and around Venice,
Speaker 1: where the general acceptance of Jews presence and the economic
Speaker 1: role they served was tempered by strict segregation, most famously
Speaker 1: the ghetto from which the modern English word is derived.
Speaker 1: It's possible that later historians like Carpellas assumed that the
Speaker 1: merchant was Jewish because of that, or more specifically, because
Speaker 1: the merchant in the story loaned money to Radswell. Jewish
Speaker 1: people frequently worked as money lenders in medieval and early
Speaker 1: modern Europe because the Catholic Church forbade Christians from usury,
Speaker 1: that is, charging interest on alone, while Jewish law only
Speaker 1: prevented the charging of interest to other Jews. While Radswell's
Speaker 1: account made no mention of interest, one can see how
Speaker 1: the kernel of truth there A simple loan from a
Speaker 1: merchant might have morphed and taken on a new shape
Speaker 1: over time in service of a popular story or preconceived notions.
Speaker 1: So what about Saul himself, the rabbi's son. For many
Speaker 1: centuries we had very little to go on beyond folklore
Speaker 1: and rumor. Between nineteen twenty four and nineteen twenty five, however,
Speaker 1: the historian Mayor Balaban discovered a series of documents in
Speaker 1: the archives of breast listofsk that finally began to shed
Speaker 1: light on the real story of the would be Jewish king.
Speaker 1: Saul Katznelenbogen was born around fifteen forty one and traveled
Speaker 1: to Lithuania from his native Padua as a young man
Speaker 1: to study. He settled in Brest Litovsk, a city now
Speaker 1: known as Breast in modern day Belarus, and took up
Speaker 1: work as a merchant. Sometime in the mid sixteenth century.
Speaker 1: At some point he married a woman named Deborah Rievka Druker.
Speaker 1: They would go on to have thirteen children. Like his
Speaker 1: father before him, Saul seems to have enjoyed a respected
Speaker 1: reputation among Jews and non Jews alike. In fifteen seventy eight,
Speaker 1: King Stephen Bathory leased him the salt flats and the
Speaker 1: Grand Duchy of Lithuania, allowing him exclusive rights to sell salt,
Speaker 1: a highly valuable product at the time in the Duchy.
Speaker 1: Two years later, he was similarly granted a lease to
Speaker 1: the salt mine at Vielichka near Krakow in Poland. Six
Speaker 1: years later, Stephen Bathory died. We might be tempted to
Speaker 1: imagine a wealthy Jewish merchant so well liked by the
Speaker 1: king himself that the nobles couldn't have picked a better
Speaker 1: temporary king. Saul's already unlikely reign is perhaps most thoroughly debunked, however,
Speaker 1: by the fact that we already know who served as
Speaker 1: temporary king after the death of Stephen Bathory. In fact,
Speaker 1: there was a very clear system in place in the
Speaker 1: Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth for making sure the throne didn't remain
Speaker 1: empty during what were often very long into regna. Again,
Speaker 1: the legend gets some things right. The nobility of Poland
Speaker 1: and Lithuania needed to vote to elect a new king
Speaker 1: when a king died, and the interregna typically dragged on
Speaker 1: for months as opposing factions sought to position their favorite
Speaker 1: candidates on the throne. That's all true, and this disagreement
Speaker 1: could vary in intensity, but it was very much an
Speaker 1: expected part of the process as such. Ever since the
Speaker 1: Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania had
Speaker 1: merged into the Commonwealth in fifteen seventy two, it had
Speaker 1: been custom that the Archbishop of Genesno would serve as
Speaker 1: the interrex or between king In fifteen eighty six, that
Speaker 1: custom was followed, and we know for a fact that
Speaker 1: Stanislav Karnkovsky of Eunosia, the very Catholic Archbishop of Gnyezno,
Speaker 1: among other titles, served as interrects until the end of
Speaker 1: the interregnum in fifteen eighty seven. The interregnum of fifteen
Speaker 1: eighty six and eighty seven was extraordinary, but unfortunately not
Speaker 1: for electing a surprise Jewish king. It ended in the
Speaker 1: election of Sigismund the third Vasa, who succeeded to the
Speaker 1: throne with the support of the former Queen and the
Speaker 1: Interrex on August eighteenth, fifteen eighty seven. However, three days later,
Speaker 1: Sigismund's opponents contested the election and propped up Maximilian the
Speaker 1: Third of Austria as their choice. The shocking move resulted
Speaker 1: in a year long war which came to be known
Speaker 1: as the War of the Polish Succession or the Habsburg
Speaker 1: Polish War. Eventually, Sigismund won out and became the uncontested
Speaker 1: ruler of the Commonwealth. For Saul's part, it does not
Speaker 1: seem as though he played any major role in the
Speaker 1: election or the subsequent war, but he managed to remain
Speaker 1: in the very good graces of the Polish nobility, including
Speaker 1: King Sigismund. He would go on to serve as tax
Speaker 1: collector for the king. For his service, in fifteen eighty nine,
Speaker 1: he was bestowed with the title of Royal Servant which
Speaker 1: guaranteed royal protection of his possessions and landholdings. During his lifetime,
Speaker 1: Saul also unsurprisingly held a good deal of influence in
Speaker 1: the Jewish community of Lithuania. Beginning in the fifteen eighties,
Speaker 1: he served as a parnas, or lay leader in the
Speaker 1: Council of the Lands, a newly formed central institution of
Speaker 1: Jewish self government in Poland and Lithuania. Jewish communities across
Speaker 1: Europe tended to be semi autonomous, developing their own politico
Speaker 1: religious institutions that governed the community in tandem and occasionally
Speaker 1: in conflict with Christian authorities. This was as much a
Speaker 1: product of Judaism's rich legal culture as it was a
Speaker 1: product of the frequent forced segregation and restriction of Jewish
Speaker 1: communities in Europe. The Council of the Lands would govern
Speaker 1: Polish and Lithuanian Jewish life until seventeen sixty four. Saul
Speaker 1: played an important role in the Council's management of this
Speaker 1: oft intense relationship with Christian authorities. In fifteen ninety three,
Speaker 1: fight resistance from the Brest Litovs City Council, he helped
Speaker 1: to broker an agreement that granted the Council of the
Speaker 1: Lands the right to adjudicate lawsuits between Jews, a major
Speaker 1: win for community autonomy. Saul also seems to have engaged
Speaker 1: in some patronage, a testament to the success of his
Speaker 1: business ventures and his high esteem in the Commonwealth. When
Speaker 1: his wife, Deborah died, he chose to honor her by
Speaker 1: commissioning the construction of a women's gallery in the breast
Speaker 1: Litov's Synagogue, a balcony space in the synagogue where women
Speaker 1: could attend services while remaining separate from the men. In
Speaker 1: the early seventeenth century, he founded a synagogue in Lublin,
Speaker 1: a Polish city some one hundred miles southwest of Brest,
Speaker 1: where the Council of the Lands held its sessions. Both
Speaker 1: synagogues would stand until the nineteen forties, when they, like
Speaker 1: many others across Europe, were destroyed in the Holocaust. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: we know very little about the end of Saul's life.
Speaker 1: It is generally believed that he died in Brest Litovs
Speaker 1: in sixteen seventeen at the age of about seventy five,
Speaker 1: although some scholars have argued that he died later around
Speaker 1: sixteen twenty two. His children carried on his respected legacy,
Speaker 1: in particular his son mir who became the chief Rabbi
Speaker 1: of Brest Litovs and helped found the Council of the
Speaker 1: Land of Lithuania in sixteen twenty three, which broke off
Speaker 1: from the Council of the Land Saul had helped found.
Speaker 1: At some point, whether during his lifetime or not, is unclear,
Speaker 1: Saul began to be known by the alternative name Saul Vahl,
Speaker 1: which in Juri means choice. The name would go on
Speaker 1: to be passed down to several generations of his descendants,
Speaker 1: to the point that as recently as the nineteenth century,
Speaker 1: Valls who purported to be descendant from Saul were still
Speaker 1: living in Lublin. By then, the story they told of
Speaker 1: their ancestor was not one of a wealthy merchant and
Speaker 1: leader of his community, but a king, albeit a temporary one.
Speaker 1: Dennis de Samuel wanted nothing more than to have a
Speaker 1: noble title. He had the trappings of nobility, wealth status,
Speaker 1: but unfortunately not the lineage, and this was nineteenth century London.
Speaker 1: Lineage was everything Dennis dreamed of. What true nobility could
Speaker 1: afford him, not just social privilege, but true political power,
Speaker 1: a seat in the House of lords. For most other
Speaker 1: Jewish Men in Britain, this might have seemed like a
Speaker 1: pipe drain, but he had seen it happen before. In
Speaker 1: eighteen forty seven, Anthony Nathan A Rothschild, whose family had
Speaker 1: already been named as barons in Austria, was granted a
Speaker 1: baronetcy in the United Kingdom by Queen Victoria. Dennis had
Speaker 1: worked for Anthony's father, Nathan Meyer Rothschild, some twenty years earlier,
Speaker 1: as a corresponding agent overseeing his business interests in Brazil.
Speaker 1: Upon Dennis's return to London in eighteen twenty five, he
Speaker 1: had become involved in securing large loans for the recently
Speaker 1: independent Brazilian government. In eighteen forty four, the Emperor of Brazil,
Speaker 1: dom Pedro the Second, had appointed him to the Order
Speaker 1: of the Rose for his work. As nice as a
Speaker 1: chivalric order was, however, it didn't offer Dennis the aristocratic
Speaker 1: privileges he yearned for. In the early eighteen fifties, Dennis
Speaker 1: decided to find out once and for all if he
Speaker 1: really didn't have any yikis or high born lineage that
Speaker 1: could help him get a leg up in British society.
Speaker 1: He began by commissioning Hirsh Edelman, a Russian Jewish scholar
Speaker 1: who had been researching and publishing documents of Jewish history
Speaker 1: from the Bodleian Library in Oxford, to explore his own
Speaker 1: family history. He knew his family originally hailed from Poland,
Speaker 1: and so he also contacted the Rabbi of Krotoshkind to
Speaker 1: do the same locally. The rabbi collected as much information
Speaker 1: as he could and reported back to Dennis that he
Speaker 1: had traced his lineage back to several generations of prominent
Speaker 1: Jews in Poland and Padua, Mayorkatnellenbogen, Samuel Judah Katznellenbogen, and
Speaker 1: Saul thal Katznellenbogen. Denny's spirits were surely somewhat raised by
Speaker 1: this esteemed rabbinic lineage, but it was Edelman who offered
Speaker 1: him the promise of what he had really been seeking.
Speaker 1: He had come upon an incredible document dating back to
Speaker 1: the seventeen thirties and written by Pinras katzen Ellenbogen, another
Speaker 1: descendant of sauls. In this document, Pinras related the story
Speaker 1: he said was passed on to him by his father
Speaker 1: of how their illustrious ancestor Saul Vaal had once very
Speaker 1: briefly ruled Poland and Lithuania. He had used his one
Speaker 1: day reign, Pinhas proudly reported to pass laws protecting Polish
Speaker 1: and Lithuanian Jews from discrimination and violence. Dennis was delay light.
Speaker 1: He commissioned Edelman to publish Hintras's story, along with, of course,
Speaker 1: a family history that connected Saul directly to Dennis himself.
Speaker 1: In eighteen fifty three, gadou La Chahoul or The Greatness
Speaker 1: of Saul, was published in Hebrew. Jewish community newspapers at
Speaker 1: the time indicated plans to translate the work into English,
Speaker 1: but a translation never materialized. A year later, Dennis was
Speaker 1: finally finally named a baron by the King of Portugal.
Speaker 1: It wasn't a British noble title, and he couldn't get
Speaker 1: a seat in the House of Lords, but Denis felt
Speaker 1: he had raised the profile of Jews in Britain and
Speaker 1: that was good enough for him. He did, however, apply
Speaker 1: for a royal sanction in Britain to add Deval to
Speaker 1: his name, just to make sure his yikhs was a
Speaker 1: matter of public record. Pinras's eighteenth century account of Saul
Speaker 1: king for a day val Katznellenbogen, as he had come
Speaker 1: to be known, was the first written record of Saul's
Speaker 1: extraordinary legend. The story had likely been circulating for some time.
Speaker 1: Pinhras wrote that his father had framed the story already
Speaker 1: as long standing family lore, suggesting that the legend might
Speaker 1: have been formed not long after Saul's death a little
Speaker 1: over a century earlier. It was the Gedu la Chaul, though,
Speaker 1: that really brought Saul's erroneous royal reputation into the mainstream. Newspapers,
Speaker 1: particularly Jewish newspapers in both English and Yiddish, ran with
Speaker 1: the story, which featured details that were simultaneously specific and unlikely.
Speaker 1: Saul was said to have founded a bath house in
Speaker 1: breasst Litovsk could be true, but later historians have found
Speaker 1: no evidence of that he was in fact an elector
Speaker 1: of Poland, that is, a noble eligible to vote in
Speaker 1: the royal election. No, he was not. And Saul was
Speaker 1: said to have established a banking fund that promised every
Speaker 1: male descendant fifty guilders and every female descendant one hundred
Speaker 1: guilders upon marriage. This again, historians have not found any
Speaker 1: evidence for gadou Latcho will became the definitive version of
Speaker 1: Saul's legend, but as with all legends, it continued to
Speaker 1: take on many forms even after it was put to print.
Speaker 1: One version of the legend went further, with the story,
Speaker 1: taking the story of a Jewish king to perhaps its
Speaker 1: logical conclusion, a royal marriage. That's how all fairy tales end,
Speaker 1: don't they. In this version of the story, Saul seems
Speaker 1: to have continued to enjoy elevated status as a kind
Speaker 1: of former king even after the end of his short reign.
Speaker 1: According to the story, Saul's power had irritated some members
Speaker 1: of the Jewish community, and so they reported to the nobles,
Speaker 1: who were at this time looking for a new wife
Speaker 1: for their newly widowed king, Sigismund the Third, that Saul's
Speaker 1: beautiful daughter, Hannah, who was technically a princess, was unwed.
Speaker 1: The nobles of the Commonwealth reportedly considered her an advantageous
Speaker 1: match and conspired to kidnap her in the middle of
Speaker 1: the night to marry her off to the Catholic king
Speaker 1: of Poland. One sympathetic noble, perhaps Radswell, warned Saul ahead
Speaker 1: of the planned abduction, and so in order to prevent
Speaker 1: the plot, Saul quickly married Hannah off to the sixty
Speaker 1: year old Rabbi of Brest Litovsk Zalman Shore. Seeing that
Speaker 1: their plan to take Saul down a peg had failed,
Speaker 1: those jealous members of the Jewish community continued to attempt
Speaker 1: to slander Saul to no avail. Of course, that did
Speaker 1: not happen, or if poor Hannah was indeed married off
Speaker 1: to the aging rabbi, that wasn't how it happened. But
Speaker 1: it speaks to the depth and persistence of the myth
Speaker 1: making surrounding Saul's story. Despite the lack of historical evidence
Speaker 1: for many of its claims and the bounty of historical
Speaker 1: evidence contradicting many others, the legend of Saul Vall's one
Speaker 1: day reign has endured in Jewish folklore even as modern
Speaker 1: historians and genealogists have disproven it. Even Dennis de Samuel's
Speaker 1: claim to his lineage has been debunked. What then, has
Speaker 1: made read this story so persistent. It's possible that, as
Speaker 1: it did for Dennis, the story of Saul the One
Speaker 1: Day King offered Jewish communities political leverage, a means to
Speaker 1: claim that they had ancestors as important and influential as
Speaker 1: their Christian counterparts. Some scholars have argued specifically that the
Speaker 1: legend of saul Vaal may have taken root as a
Speaker 1: response to the increased intolerance towards Polish Jews, in particular
Speaker 1: the kamel Nitsky uprisings of sixteen forty eight through fifty
Speaker 1: seven Kosak Rebellion, which saw mass atrocities committed against Jewish
Speaker 1: communities across Poland. In a time of destruction and death,
Speaker 1: it must have been deeply meaningful to not only remember
Speaker 1: a member of your community who was so devoted to
Speaker 1: building Jewish spaces and supporting Jewish life, but also perhaps
Speaker 1: to imagine that such a devoted person could become so
Speaker 1: protected and influential even as a Jew, that he got
Speaker 1: to be king, if only for one day. That's the
Speaker 1: story of the supposed king for a day, saul Vaal Katznellenbogen.
Speaker 1: But keep listening after a brief sponsor break, to hear
Speaker 1: about what he has in common with noble blood. As
Speaker 1: saul VAL's unlikely story wove its way into legend, becoming
Speaker 1: a valued part of Jewish folklore, it became a point
Speaker 1: of pride among generations of Jewish people to trace their
Speaker 1: ancestry back to the supposed Jewish king of Poland. Over time,
Speaker 1: and especially with increased access to documents on the Internet,
Speaker 1: Emily Tree did become more accurate, although of course apocryphal
Speaker 1: family connections lingered. Vall himself had thirteen children, so you
Speaker 1: can imagine how quickly his lineage expanded, even without the
Speaker 1: help of people like Dennis de Samuel. Now, hundreds of
Speaker 1: years and many generations later, Vall's list of so called
Speaker 1: heirs to the throne has grown vast. His descendants are
Speaker 1: said to include a variety of notable people, including Karl Marx,
Speaker 1: Sigmund freud In, the composer Felix Mendelssohn. But there's also
Speaker 1: a Noble Blood connection. Our esteemed research coordinator Hannat Johnston
Speaker 1: is also a direct descendant of Saul Vahl. She promises
Speaker 1: not to let her royal lineage go to her head,
Speaker 1: or maybe she will so she can end up the
Speaker 1: subject of a Noble Blood episode herself. Only time will tell.
Speaker 1: Noble Blood is a production of iHeart Radio and Grimm
Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Mankey. Noble Blood is hosted by
Speaker 1: me Dana Schwartz, writers for Noble Blood are Hannah Johnston,
Speaker 1: Hannah 'swick, Paul Jaffey, Natasha Laski, and me Dana Swartz.
Speaker 1: The show is edited and produced by Jesse Funk and
Speaker 1: Nomes Griffin, with supervising producer rima Il Kaali and executive
Speaker 1: producers Aaron Manke, Trevor Young, and Matt Frederick. For more
Speaker 1: podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.