Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm
Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Manky listener Discretion advised. A report
Speaker 1: from early in the reign of King Edward. The first
Speaker 1: recounts a shocking crime that happened in England. Quote Licoricea,
Speaker 1: the Jewess, and Alice of Bicton, her servant, were found
Speaker 1: killed in the house of the same Licoricea, each having
Speaker 1: a blow to the chest made by a knife to
Speaker 1: the heart end Quote. Licoricea the Jewess, better known as
Speaker 1: Licorcia of Winchester, was one of the most powerful financial
Speaker 1: figures in England during her lifetime, having achieved great success
Speaker 1: as a money lender. History has seen a number of
Speaker 1: notable female lenders with great names, like Belast of Bristol
Speaker 1: and Cometisa of Cambridge, but none quite matched the prominence
Speaker 1: or success of Licoricea. Her clients ranged from King Henry
Speaker 1: the Third, who frequently received her at court, to blesser
Speaker 1: nobles to even local women. To call her business an
Speaker 1: empire for its time would not be an overstatement. Influence
Speaker 1: and power, however, came with a price. There were multiple
Speaker 1: stays in the Tower of London several legal battles, a
Speaker 1: dangerous rise in anti Semitism, and ultimately, finally a tragic,
Speaker 1: bloody end. To this day, Licoricia's death remains an unsolved mystery,
Speaker 1: but through the record we can still put together the
Speaker 1: pieces of her life of intrigue. I'm Dana Schwartz and
Speaker 1: this is noble blood. Before we can talk about Licurcia,
Speaker 1: let's talk a bit more generally about the history of
Speaker 1: Jews in England. Our earliest record of Jewish people arriving
Speaker 1: on English soil dates back to ten sixty six, when
Speaker 1: they were brought at the behest of William the First
Speaker 1: or William the Conqueror. Following his Norman conquest, William needed
Speaker 1: to borrow large sums of money in order to secure
Speaker 1: his position as king in England, and so he turned
Speaker 1: to Jewish merchants from Ruan in his homeland of Normandy. Thus,
Speaker 1: England's first Jewish community settled in London, which became the
Speaker 1: country's main financial center, to assist with William's kingdom building.
Speaker 1: Because of their usefulness, they maintained a unique legal status
Speaker 1: where they were both protected and quote unquote owned by
Speaker 1: the Crown. Fast forward a few centuries The twelve fifty
Speaker 1: three Statute of Jewelry affirmed that status that had been
Speaker 1: in place, explicitly stating quote, all Jews, wheresoever they may
Speaker 1: be in the realm, are of right under the tutelage
Speaker 1: and protection of the King. Nor is it lawful for
Speaker 1: any of them to subject themselves to any wealthy person
Speaker 1: without the King's license. Jews and all their effects are
Speaker 1: the King's property, and if anyone withhold their money from him,
Speaker 1: let the King recover it as his own. I think
Speaker 1: it's also worth taking a bigger step back to talk
Speaker 1: about the history of Jews in finance. In medieval and
Speaker 1: Renaissance Europe, the Christian Church had an increasingly harsh stance
Speaker 1: against usury, or loaning money at interest, so Jewish people
Speaker 1: filled that gap and became money lenders. Across European countries,
Speaker 1: including England, Jews were permitted to engage in financial transactions
Speaker 1: with Christians, but they were barred from many other types
Speaker 1: of business arrangements with them. On top of those restrictions,
Speaker 1: European Jews were typically not allowed to own farmland, work
Speaker 1: for the government, or join artisan guills, so money lending
Speaker 1: was often their best or only option, as usury was
Speaker 1: considered sinful by the Catholic Church, Jews gained the reputation
Speaker 1: of being greedy, dishonest, and all of the other adjectives
Speaker 1: that come to mind when you consider anti Semitic stereotypes
Speaker 1: that persist to this day. That archetype is most famously
Speaker 1: embodied by Shylock, the villainous Jewish money lender in Shakespeare's
Speaker 1: Merchant of Venice, who is ultimately forced into conversion by
Speaker 1: the play's protagonist as atonement for his crimes. For reference,
Speaker 1: Jews were actually a expelled from England back in twelve ninety,
Speaker 1: so there actually would have been no Jews living openly
Speaker 1: in England during Shakespeare's lifetime. In the thirteenth century, Licrosya's time,
Speaker 1: Jewish communities had expanded outside of London to other urban areas,
Speaker 1: including but not limited to Bristol, Canterbury, Oxford, and of
Speaker 1: course Winchester. To get an idea of the size of
Speaker 1: these communities, the Jewish population of England as a whole
Speaker 1: was estimated to be about five thousand at its peak
Speaker 1: in twelve hundred, and it generally declined for years until
Speaker 1: the expulsion I mentioned in twelve ninety, when it would
Speaker 1: have been about two thousand. Jewish people typically lived closely
Speaker 1: to one another in these communities, in quarters quite literally
Speaker 1: called the Jewury. Some of these cities, including Winchester, still
Speaker 1: feature a Jewry Street. Christians were legally prevented from living
Speaker 1: in Jewish homes as servants or as nurses, although the
Speaker 1: maid killed alongside Lcuricia Alice actually was a Christian woman.
Speaker 1: But even so, that law didn't mean there was no
Speaker 1: community between cultures. As you might imagine, there were periods
Speaker 1: of relative harmony and also periods of violent discord. When
Speaker 1: it comes to the latter types of periods, it's purported
Speaker 1: that in Winchester, a series of blood libel claims. Blood
Speaker 1: libel being the notably false accusation that Jewish people murder
Speaker 1: Christians and especially Christian children, to use their blood in
Speaker 1: religious rituals in the twelve thirties led to the lynching
Speaker 1: of the local synagogue head in that same decade.
Speaker 2: In that same place, Licoricea was likely already one of
Speaker 2: the wealthiest financiers in the city. With all of that context,
Speaker 2: let's now talk about the woman herself. Unfortunately, we know
Speaker 2: almost nothing about Licarsia's early life. In its place, we
Speaker 2: have the fun titbit about the likely origin of her name.
Speaker 2: It was fashionable in the twelve hundreds for both Jewish
Speaker 2: and Christian women to be given quote exotic names such
Speaker 2: as Floria, Sephrania or Comtisa. While the name Licoricia follows suit,
Speaker 2: it appears that it wasn't a very popular choice, which
Speaker 2: luckily contributes to her life and career showing up more
Speaker 2: clearly in records. Speaking of records, the first documentation of
Speaker 2: Licarsia's life places her in Winchester in twelve thirty four,
Speaker 2: where she is mentioned twice in the close roles the
Speaker 2: administrative records of the Royal Chancery. In one such record,
Speaker 2: we learn that the King has relieved a man of
Speaker 2: quote the interest of ten pounds, which Paytaiven and Licoriceia,
Speaker 2: Jews of Winchester, lent him. The second record is a
Speaker 2: letter addressed to the quote Jewish justices, this time ordering
Speaker 2: a man to repay the money he owes to two lenders.
Speaker 2: The latter half of this record reads quote of the
Speaker 2: ten marks he owes Licoriceia, who was the wife of
Speaker 2: Abraham of Kent, he must repay the said Licoriceia two
Speaker 2: marks per annum at the previously stated intervals instruct the
Speaker 2: justices and the assigned custodian of the Jews that this
Speaker 2: should be recorded in the roles and made to happen.
Speaker 2: There are a few things we can unpack from those
Speaker 2: very brief records. First, we see the original appearance of
Speaker 2: Licurcia's toponym of Winchester. For Christians, toponyms typically identified where
Speaker 2: they originated or where they were currently living, but for
Speaker 2: Jews they most likely indicated where their main place of
Speaker 2: business was. We also learned that Licorcia was already an
Speaker 2: established and successful businesswoman at this point, as ten pounds
Speaker 2: was not an insignificant sum. The second letter also notably
Speaker 2: tells us that Licursia was the wife of Abraham of Kent.
Speaker 2: Perhaps contrary to popular belief, divorces actually were possible at
Speaker 2: this time. A little bit more on that later, but
Speaker 2: the specific phrasing here denotes that Licoricia was a widow.
Speaker 2: We don't know when the couple married or when Abraham died.
Speaker 2: There are no official records of birth, death, or marriage
Speaker 2: in the thirteenth century here, but we know they had
Speaker 2: three sons and a daughter together named Benedict Cockerel, Lumbard
Speaker 2: and Billia. Records regarding Abraham are scarce, but we find
Speaker 2: him in Winchester in twelve twenty five, when he and
Speaker 2: five other men were accused of murdering a Christian child.
Speaker 2: It's unclear what the outcome of the trial was. The
Speaker 2: original record finds Abraham and another man guilty, but this
Speaker 2: is contradicted when that other man appears alive and well
Speaker 2: on record in later years. In the seventeenth century, the
Speaker 2: historian William Prynne states that it was not six Jews
Speaker 2: on trial, but four, and that they were all acquitted.
Speaker 2: Whether Abraham was found innocent, or he was found guilty
Speaker 2: and his sentence was reversed, or he was found guilty
Speaker 2: and died by the noos, the twelve twenty five trial
Speaker 2: is our last record of his activity, and we know,
Speaker 2: because they're framing Licoricia as a widow, that he must
Speaker 2: have died some time before twelve thirty four. Knowing more
Speaker 2: about Abraham could have helped us learn more about Licoricia,
Speaker 2: but were able to make inferences about her life through
Speaker 2: more generalized knowledge. Jewish women in money lending traditionally learnt
Speaker 2: the trade from their family or from their husband, and
Speaker 2: would often start out helping in the family business before
Speaker 2: potentially branching out on their own. A rabbinical writer from
Speaker 2: the eleventh century remarked that it was common for men
Speaker 2: to appoint their wives as quote masters over their possessions,
Speaker 2: but there are also records of unmarried daughters who went
Speaker 2: into business with their mothers. Within the jewury business was
Speaker 2: often conducted through a family consortia, typically headed by a matriarch.
Speaker 2: The local consortia would have presented an opportunity for individual
Speaker 2: women to get involved in money lending, as those consortia
Speaker 2: were known to have accepted extended family as well as
Speaker 2: outsiders as men. In her city, when Lecoricia was coming
Speaker 2: into her own the local matriarch was an older woman
Speaker 2: named Shara of Winchester. While not related, Licursia did begin
Speaker 2: to do business with Schera's family In twelve thirty six,
Speaker 2: record of her lending to local minor gentry shows her
Speaker 2: partnering with Shara's son, Elias and his widowed sister in law, Billia.
Speaker 2: After the death of Billia's husband, Billia quickly became a
Speaker 2: successful lender in her own right, and we know she
Speaker 2: had a close working and likely personal relationship with Licoricea,
Speaker 2: who appears to have named her daughter after her likely friend.
Speaker 2: Did Licoricea learn her trade from her parents, whoever they
Speaker 2: might have been, or did she take over her husband's
Speaker 2: dealings after his death like her friend Billia did. The
Speaker 2: former seems more likely, but were left to speculate either way.
Speaker 2: We can see a number of parallels in the lives
Speaker 2: and careers of Licoricea and Billia. Through the end of
Speaker 2: the decade, they both continued to successfully grow their businesses
Speaker 2: in Winchester, to the point that by twelve thirty nine,
Speaker 2: Billia was paying the same tallente or taxation as the
Speaker 2: prodigiously successful Liquoricea. But the beginning of the next decade
Speaker 2: would bring major changes for both of them. In early
Speaker 2: twelve forty, Billia remarried and moved with her new husband
Speaker 2: to Bedford, where a newly permitted jewelry was being established.
Speaker 2: Without Licoricea as her competition, Billia became the most prominent
Speaker 2: lender in her new city. We don't know how much
Speaker 2: the two women were able to keep in touch, but
Speaker 2: we know their respective sons often went into business together
Speaker 2: in later years, which I find adorable. As for liquor.
Speaker 2: She remained in Winchester, where she too remarried. You can
Speaker 2: imagine that as a wealthy widow, Licoricia must have had
Speaker 2: her fair share of admirers and suitors, and as you
Speaker 2: might expect, the man she ultimately chose to settle down
Speaker 2: with for the second time wasn't just any old schmuck.
Speaker 2: He was David of Oxford, one of the six wealthiest
Speaker 2: Jews in England. There is actually a surprising amount of
Speaker 2: documentation and research on David's life, but to sum it
Speaker 2: up for our purposes, he came from Lincoln, but moved
Speaker 2: to Oxford at the beginning of the reign of Henry
Speaker 2: the Third, likely to serve the growing university population there.
Speaker 2: He began to accumulate local property, but his businesses were
Speaker 2: so far reaching he paid taxes in several cities, and
Speaker 2: his clients typically belonged to the highest echelons of English society.
Speaker 2: To give an idea of his wealth, David personally contributed
Speaker 2: nearly half of Oxford's total talent that was collected to
Speaker 2: finance the marriage of the King's sister Joan to King
Speaker 2: Alexander of Scotland. We can't say for sure whether his
Speaker 2: marriage to Lecrecia was a love match or a business deal,
Speaker 2: but no matter the couple's motivation, there was an obstacle
Speaker 2: they had to overcome before they tied the knot David's wife.
Speaker 2: That's right, David was very much married when he courted Licrecia,
Speaker 2: and his wife, Muriel, appears to have been very against
Speaker 2: the dissolution of her marriage. Despite Muriel's wishes, David issued
Speaker 2: her a bill of divorce and things got marriage story
Speaker 2: levels of messy. The question of whether or not the
Speaker 2: divorce would be granted was decided by the beth Dean
Speaker 2: or rabbinical court. The generals ants from the religious authority
Speaker 2: at the time was that it was improper for a
Speaker 2: man to divorce his wife without her assent, and the
Speaker 2: Beth din followed this philosophy when they favored Muriel in
Speaker 2: their ruling. What was David to do but call in
Speaker 2: a favor to help? An ordinance from August twelve, forty
Speaker 2: two reads quote the King to Masters Moses of London,
Speaker 2: Aaron of Canterbury, and Jacob of Oxford, Jews greeting. We
Speaker 2: forbid you from henceforth holding any plea concerning David of
Speaker 2: Oxford and Muriel, who was the wife of the same.
Speaker 2: You are not to distrain him under any circumstances, either
Speaker 2: to take or retain her or any other woman as
Speaker 2: his wife. Know for a certainty that if you do otherwise,
Speaker 2: you will incur grave punishment. Muriel may have had the
Speaker 2: people on her side, but David had the actual King
Speaker 2: of England. The divorce went through that August, and we
Speaker 2: can assume Licuricica and David tied the knot as soon
Speaker 2: as the following month. After all that, the marriage was
Speaker 2: ultimately faded to be short. David died in early twelve
Speaker 2: forty four. His passing left Licurcia a widow, yet again,
Speaker 2: this time caring for the couple's infant son, Asher, born
Speaker 2: in twelve forty three. Lcoricia's most immediate problem after her
Speaker 2: husband's death imprisonment in the Tower of London. Historically, this
Speaker 2: would have been done as a safe guarding measure on
Speaker 2: occasions when the Crown was expecting to receive a large sum. Legally,
Speaker 2: all of a Jewish person's property was entitled to the
Speaker 2: king upon the person's death, though customarily the king only
Speaker 2: took one third very generous, so Lcuricia's imprisonment in this
Speaker 2: case would have been to prevent her from trying to
Speaker 2: run off with the money or possessions that the king
Speaker 2: technically was owed. Of course, not every wealthy widow was imprisoned,
Speaker 2: so there's reason to believe the Crown saw Licoricia as
Speaker 2: a particular threat, or maybe there was something of David's
Speaker 2: the Crown particularly wanted. Licoricia remained in the tower for
Speaker 2: months while Quote six of the richer and discreeter Jews
Speaker 2: of England Willing or Nilling and quote were officially ordered
Speaker 2: to oversee her business interests and inheritance. By September twelve,
Speaker 2: forty four, the estate was finally settled, and it was
Speaker 2: determined that the king was owed five thousand marks by
Speaker 2: some miracle, or more accurately, by her own negotiation skills.
Speaker 2: It appears Licoricea was able to maintain control over all
Speaker 2: of her husband's chattels and bonds, which normally would have
Speaker 2: been seized by the king as part of the deceased's estate.
Speaker 2: Released from the tower, Licursia was now the wealthiest Jewish
Speaker 2: woman in the country. She returned to Winchester to care
Speaker 2: for her infant Asher. Her elder sons and her daughter,
Speaker 2: David of Oxford, had been involved in the King's personal
Speaker 2: financial activities, and now Licoricea took on those responsibilities. Whenever
Speaker 2: Henry was in Winchester or London, Licoricea could be found
Speaker 2: at court. Among the courtiers she maintained business with were
Speaker 2: the King's brother in law and the King's cousin. Outside
Speaker 2: of court life, the Jewish community began to see Lecrosia
Speaker 2: as a representative, and they would bring her their concerns,
Speaker 2: sometimes asking for her to advocate to the King himself.
Speaker 2: On top of Licursia's originally successful businesses, she was now
Speaker 2: also in control of David's enterprises, so she managed the
Speaker 2: workload of two careers on her own, but eventually she
Speaker 2: brought her older son Cockerell into the fold as her
Speaker 2: main agent, starting in twelve forty eight. That same year,
Speaker 2: one of Licrasia's clients, Sir Thomas de Charlecote, died. He
Speaker 2: was found drowned in a lake on his own estate,
Speaker 2: and it was alleged that he had been murdered by
Speaker 2: a group of servants, but the case was never actually investigated.
Speaker 2: What matters here is that two years earlier, Sir Thomas
Speaker 2: had renegotiated the terms of a loan he had originally
Speaker 2: made with David of Oxford. The term of the loan
Speaker 2: was six years, and the total was to be paid
Speaker 2: by the estate in the event that he died before
Speaker 2: that time, which we know he did. In that situation,
Speaker 2: the creditor was legally entitled to take possession of the pledge,
Speaker 2: but a Jewish person in England was unable to permanently
Speaker 2: own the land. They could only possess it for a
Speaker 2: year and a half before selling it to a Christian
Speaker 2: or restoring it to the heir. That year and a
Speaker 2: half period passed after Sir Thomas's death, and Licoricia was
Speaker 2: still in possession of the land. The King himself had
Speaker 2: given her approval to do so, using her unique status
Speaker 2: as a Jew to bypass the feudal laws of his
Speaker 2: own country. In twelve fifty King Henry officially granted Licracia
Speaker 2: an extension, but by twelve fifty two Thomas's heir took
Speaker 2: Licorcia to court. She defended herself in trial aggressively advocating
Speaker 2: for her interests and attacking her accusers. The courts ultimately
Speaker 2: ruled in favor of the heir and ordered to pay
Speaker 2: rent for the time she had occupied the estate. This
Speaker 2: infuriated the King, who took the case to be retried
Speaker 2: in his own court on the ground that Jews were
Speaker 2: supposed to be answerable only to his personal jurisdiction. Licurasia
Speaker 2: was once again placed in the Tower of London for
Speaker 2: the duration of the retrial, while her son Cockrell continued
Speaker 2: to collect profits from the estate. King Henry Hands selected
Speaker 2: five judges to try the case, headed by his own brother,
Speaker 2: the Earl of Cornwall. In a shocking downright Cain and
Speaker 2: abel Esque twist, the judges once again ruled in favor
Speaker 2: of the heir, and the Earl prevented his brother from
Speaker 2: overturning their decision. Trying to save some face, Henry preempted
Speaker 2: the sentencing by ordering Licurcia to pay half a silver mark,
Speaker 2: a relatively sun The rest of the twelve fifties are
Speaker 2: a gap in our knowledge of Licrosia's life, as records
Speaker 2: from twelve fifty three to twelve sixty five were destroyed
Speaker 2: during a period of civil unrest, a period that included
Speaker 2: a revolt against Henry in twelve fifty eight that would
Speaker 2: lead to the Second Baron's War. Civil war was dangerous
Speaker 2: for the Jews, who were seen as collectively royalists due
Speaker 2: to their financial ties to the crown. The flames of
Speaker 2: anti Semitism were stoked by the leader of the Baron's forces,
Speaker 2: Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, who played into the
Speaker 2: public's fears of violence against Christians and their resentment about debts.
Speaker 2: Truly a tale as old as time. While this rise
Speaker 2: in anti Semitism did have a body count, Licrosia and
Speaker 2: her family seemed to have remained safe when they started
Speaker 2: appearing again in records in twelve sixty five. Her son
Speaker 2: Benedict had already made a name for himself as a
Speaker 2: successful and respected businessman, as would Lcrosia's youngest son, Asher,
Speaker 2: more commonly referred to by his nickname sweet Man. In
Speaker 2: the twelve seventies, Benedict, Cockrell, and Asher all officially conducted
Speaker 2: business as quote sons of Licoricea. Records about Licoricia herself
Speaker 2: during this time are scarce, but a twelve seventy six
Speaker 2: order calls for the Sheriffs of Wiltshire, Norfolk, Warwick, Hampshire, Surrey,
Speaker 2: Oxford and Bedford to quote produce the debts of Licoricia
Speaker 2: a fortnight after Saint John the Baptist, So she was
Speaker 2: still working and her business was far reaching. That brings
Speaker 2: us to where we started with Licoricea's tragic end. On
Speaker 2: a spring day in twelve seventy seven, Licursia's daughter Billia
Speaker 2: found her mother and the family's made Alice dead by
Speaker 2: stab wounds. The scene was found in disarray, with locks
Speaker 2: broken off, coffers and strong boxes, and a collection of
Speaker 2: goods missing. Quote. She was Jewish, she was rich, and
Speaker 2: she was a woman, licorsia biographer Rebecca Abrams told the
Speaker 2: Religion News Service all three might have led to her death.
Speaker 2: We know Licursia was litigious and made her fair share
Speaker 2: of enemies. Without evidence, however, we can only make assumptions.
Speaker 2: It's likely that her murder was vengeance, but it's just
Speaker 2: as likely that it was a robbery gone wrong. News
Speaker 2: of Licursia's murder spread across the country and beyond, even
Speaker 2: reaching Germany, where it was published in a Jewish crom
Speaker 2: Local speculation valued the goods in her home at the
Speaker 2: time of the break in at ten thousand pounds, but
Speaker 2: that was certainly an exaggeration. Three men were initially named
Speaker 2: as suspects, but they were soon acquitted and blame instead
Speaker 2: turned to a poor saddler who had conveniently fled prior
Speaker 2: to the accusation. The inquiry found the man guilty and
Speaker 2: outlawed him, which didn't really matter as he was already gone.
Speaker 2: Cockrell and Asher didn't accept that verdict and unsuccessfully attempted
Speaker 2: to reopen their mother's murder case a year later. Following
Speaker 2: Lcrasia's death, her sons continued to build their businesses, but
Speaker 2: tensions were rapidly building as the country ultimately headed towards
Speaker 2: the twelve ninety Edict of expulsion. When King Edward the
Speaker 2: First rose to power after his father's death in twelve
Speaker 2: seventy two, so Jewish people lost many of the protections,
Speaker 2: no matter how transactional they were, that had been in
Speaker 2: place under Henry's rule. Edward increasingly demanded more money from lenders,
Speaker 2: going so far as to build a prison for those
Speaker 2: he considered too slow in their payments. These increasing demands
Speaker 2: led to the rise of coin clipping, illegally shaving metal
Speaker 2: from gold and silver coins. An estimated six hundred and
Speaker 2: eighty Jews were imprisoned on coin clipping in London alone,
Speaker 2: and an estimated ten times more Christians were arrested. In general.
Speaker 2: The Tower of London could not keep up with the
Speaker 2: demand due to the ongoing renovations, ironically paid in part
Speaker 2: by Jewish taxation. Despite being named Keeper of the Queen's
Speaker 2: Gold only a few years prior Benedict of Winchester, Lcarsia's
Speaker 2: son was found guilty of coin clipping and hanged in
Speaker 2: London some time between twelve seventy eight and twelve seventy nine.
Speaker 2: He was one of an estimated two hundred and seventy
Speaker 2: nine Jews executed. Asher managed to avoid capital punishment, and
Speaker 2: he continued doing business under increasing restrictions. But of course
Speaker 2: he and the rest of Lcoricia's children and grandchildren were
Speaker 2: expelled from the country with his fellow Jews in twelve ninety.
Speaker 2: There is no record of what happened to them afterward.
Speaker 2: In August twenty eighteen, more than seven hundred years after
Speaker 2: the expulsion, permission was granted to erect a statue of
Speaker 2: Licoricea on jewelry Street in Winchester. The project was spearheaded
Speaker 2: by the Licurcia of Winchester Appeal, which fundraised for five
Speaker 2: years to build the monument, which they believed would inspire women,
Speaker 2: promote tolerance, and shine a light on an overlooked chapter
Speaker 2: in English history. King Charles, then the Prince of Wales,
Speaker 2: unveiled the statue in a ceremony in March of twenty
Speaker 2: twenty two. Sculpted by the artist Ian Rank Broadly, who's
Speaker 2: best known for his statue of Diana, Princess of Wales
Speaker 2: at Kensington Palace, the monument shows Licresia holding a young
Speaker 2: asher's hand, appearing to walk down the street where her
Speaker 2: house and the city's thirteenth century synagogue once stood. On
Speaker 2: the plinth of the statue are words from the Book
Speaker 2: of Leviticus, love thy neighbor as thyself, engraved in both
Speaker 2: English and Hebrew. That's the story of Licursia of Winch.
Speaker 2: She but keep listening after a brief sponsor break, to
Speaker 2: hear a little bit more about another cameo in the
Speaker 2: Tower of London during this time. If you thought two
Speaker 2: stays in the Tower of London was one too many,
Speaker 2: you'll be surprised to hear that Licoricea was actually imprisoned
Speaker 2: a third time. In twelve fifty nine, she was accused
Speaker 2: of stealing a ring from, of all people, her friend Bellia.
Speaker 2: Licoricia's neighbor Vetta, accused her of the theft, and she
Speaker 2: was arrested and taken to the Tower to await investigation.
Speaker 2: A few months later, it was uncovered that, surprise, surprise,
Speaker 2: the thief was none other than Vetta herself, and Licoricea
Speaker 2: was released. That's all the information we have about that inctant.
Speaker 2: But would you believe me if I told you there
Speaker 2: was actually a fourth stay for Licorica in the Tower
Speaker 2: of London in twelve sixty We know even less about
Speaker 2: this arrest, but it likely involved in overdue payment or
Speaker 2: an investigation into her business. It appears to have been
Speaker 2: another brief sojourn, and for Licoricia, business continued quite literally
Speaker 2: as usual. Noble Blood is a production of iHeartRadio and
Speaker 2: Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankey. Noble Blood is hosted
Speaker 2: by me Dana Schwartz, with additional writing and research by
Speaker 2: Hannah Johnston, Hannahswick, Courtney Sender, Amy Hit and Julia Milaney.
Speaker 2: The show is edited and produced by Jesse Funk, with
Speaker 2: supervising prima Il Kaali and executive producers Aaron Manke, Trevor Young,
Speaker 2: and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the
Speaker 2: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
Speaker 2: favorite shows.