1 00:00:00,360 --> 00:00:06,320 Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Today's classic comes to us from previous hosts 2 00:00:06,360 --> 00:00:10,959 Speaker 1: Katie and Sarah. Coming up on January is the two 3 00:00:12,039 --> 00:00:15,480 Speaker 1: birthday of George Gordon Lord Byron, and Katie and Sarah 4 00:00:15,560 --> 00:00:18,600 Speaker 1: did a podcast on him back into thousand and nine. 5 00:00:19,400 --> 00:00:21,319 Speaker 1: So not long after we came onto the show, we 6 00:00:21,360 --> 00:00:24,200 Speaker 1: got a request from a listener named Alexandra to talk 7 00:00:24,239 --> 00:00:27,920 Speaker 1: about quote Lord Byron's terrible nous, and Katie and Sarah 8 00:00:28,000 --> 00:00:32,680 Speaker 1: definitely get into that here. Byron was described as mad, bad, 9 00:00:32,720 --> 00:00:35,800 Speaker 1: and dangerous, and a lot of disturbing stuff comes up 10 00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:39,000 Speaker 1: in this episode, from animal cruelty to rape and an 11 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:43,239 Speaker 1: incestuous relationship with his half sister. Folks should also know 12 00:00:43,479 --> 00:00:46,040 Speaker 1: that there is a podcast in the archive about Byron's 13 00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:49,479 Speaker 1: daughter Ada Lovelace as well, and at the end of 14 00:00:49,520 --> 00:00:52,240 Speaker 1: this episode today, if you're considering sending us a note 15 00:00:52,280 --> 00:01:01,000 Speaker 1: about how to say boson, we're already aware. Enjoy. Welcome 16 00:01:01,040 --> 00:01:04,120 Speaker 1: to stuff you missed in history class from how Stuff 17 00:01:04,120 --> 00:01:14,200 Speaker 1: Works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm 18 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:17,360 Speaker 1: Katie Lambert and I'm Sarah Dowdy, and Sarah and I 19 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:20,000 Speaker 1: are solving a bit of a war's waldo today. We 20 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:23,720 Speaker 1: keep doing podcast research and coming across the same personage 21 00:01:23,800 --> 00:01:26,960 Speaker 1: in places we never expected to find him. No, and 22 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:30,560 Speaker 1: that's George Gordon Lord Byron. And first he pops up 23 00:01:30,560 --> 00:01:34,640 Speaker 1: in Frankenstein, which you know, that's obvious enough, he was 24 00:01:34,680 --> 00:01:37,680 Speaker 1: there when Mary Shelley was writing it. But then he 25 00:01:37,760 --> 00:01:41,399 Speaker 1: popped up in Lucrezia, Borgia, of all places, which they 26 00:01:41,440 --> 00:01:44,920 Speaker 1: don't live in nearly the same century. So it's kind 27 00:01:44,959 --> 00:01:48,760 Speaker 1: of an odd match. But perhaps it's not so strange 28 00:01:48,800 --> 00:01:51,000 Speaker 1: that we find him in all of these unlikely places, 29 00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:55,080 Speaker 1: because he had a variety of interests, from travel to 30 00:01:55,560 --> 00:02:00,040 Speaker 1: his brilliant poetry to a menagerie of animals, and of 31 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:02,600 Speaker 1: course he was the most famous poet in Europe, as 32 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:07,280 Speaker 1: well as a fascinating public figure because of his utterly 33 00:02:07,480 --> 00:02:12,560 Speaker 1: bizarre social life and romantic life and yes, scandalous affairs 34 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:17,079 Speaker 1: and cruel behavior towards variety of people. He was very 35 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:19,840 Speaker 1: good looking, he was a nobleman, but on his worst 36 00:02:19,919 --> 00:02:23,720 Speaker 1: behavior for most of the time. And interestingly enough, while 37 00:02:23,800 --> 00:02:28,720 Speaker 1: Byron is this world famous poet and obviously um a 38 00:02:28,840 --> 00:02:33,400 Speaker 1: titan of poetry today, his literary contemporaries didn't really have 39 00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:37,840 Speaker 1: much respect for him. Keats had a particularly scathing quote. 40 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:41,400 Speaker 1: He called him a careless hectorer in proud bad verse. 41 00:02:41,480 --> 00:02:45,560 Speaker 1: That's pretty cold. But today he's appreciated for what he 42 00:02:45,600 --> 00:02:49,360 Speaker 1: did with his work. And um, according to I pulled 43 00:02:49,400 --> 00:02:53,679 Speaker 1: out my old romantic literature book. My professors would be 44 00:02:53,720 --> 00:02:55,839 Speaker 1: so proud. Katie was saying, it's nice when you get 45 00:02:55,880 --> 00:02:58,600 Speaker 1: to to use those the books that you couldn't sell back. 46 00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:02,320 Speaker 1: But according to Miller Matlick, his unique expression of the 47 00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:05,680 Speaker 1: consciousness and moods of early modernity is what we so 48 00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:08,640 Speaker 1: appreciate today. And on that note, let's go back to 49 00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:11,960 Speaker 1: his beginnings. He was the son of Captain John Byron, 50 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:14,160 Speaker 1: who was known as mad Jack, which I think is 51 00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:17,440 Speaker 1: pretty fabulous. Is a descendant of William the Conqueror too 52 00:03:17,760 --> 00:03:20,600 Speaker 1: and his second wife Katherine Gordon, who was a Scottish 53 00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:23,760 Speaker 1: heiress and a descendant of James the First I like 54 00:03:23,840 --> 00:03:27,240 Speaker 1: this family tree thing. It's very helpful. Mad Jack liked 55 00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:30,799 Speaker 1: to spend his money, so the Byron fortune was somewhat 56 00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:36,320 Speaker 1: diminished by the time little Byron came along January. He 57 00:03:36,400 --> 00:03:39,040 Speaker 1: was born in London in a rented room because Catherine 58 00:03:39,080 --> 00:03:42,040 Speaker 1: couldn't afford anything else and mad Jack had run off 59 00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:44,800 Speaker 1: to France. And interestingly, he was born with a call 60 00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:48,720 Speaker 1: over his head, which some people think that pretends second 61 00:03:48,800 --> 00:03:52,560 Speaker 1: site or good luck or distinction. And the call the 62 00:03:52,640 --> 00:03:55,640 Speaker 1: call is actually sold to a naval officer, which I 63 00:03:55,720 --> 00:03:59,720 Speaker 1: just thought was so disgusting. Did it work for him? No, 64 00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:03,680 Speaker 1: it's supposed to if you own a call, which if 65 00:04:03,680 --> 00:04:06,800 Speaker 1: you buy it from a baby birthday, Um, it's supposed 66 00:04:06,800 --> 00:04:09,280 Speaker 1: to prevent drowning. But the guy who bought it drowned 67 00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:12,480 Speaker 1: twelve years later, so Byron's call not good luck, not 68 00:04:12,720 --> 00:04:16,200 Speaker 1: very helpful. His mom took him to Aberdeen when he 69 00:04:16,240 --> 00:04:19,400 Speaker 1: was young because that's where her people were, And interestingly, 70 00:04:19,520 --> 00:04:22,200 Speaker 1: George had a club of foot and a withered leg 71 00:04:22,240 --> 00:04:23,760 Speaker 1: when he was born and for the rest of his 72 00:04:23,839 --> 00:04:25,840 Speaker 1: life he blamed his mother for this because she wore 73 00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:28,000 Speaker 1: a corset while she was pregnant. So we've got some 74 00:04:28,440 --> 00:04:31,320 Speaker 1: early mother hatred going on, which is always nice and 75 00:04:31,400 --> 00:04:34,920 Speaker 1: a grown man, and he's also he has a sort 76 00:04:34,960 --> 00:04:38,240 Speaker 1: of tough childhood. Um, he's actually abused and beaten by 77 00:04:38,279 --> 00:04:42,560 Speaker 1: his nanny who gives him these really strict Calvinist sermons 78 00:04:42,680 --> 00:04:46,440 Speaker 1: and then brings home men from the town. So it's 79 00:04:46,440 --> 00:04:50,960 Speaker 1: a very uncomfortable setting for Byron to grow up in 80 00:04:51,040 --> 00:04:53,880 Speaker 1: a bizarre mix with those very strict morals and then 81 00:04:53,880 --> 00:04:57,680 Speaker 1: the very lax behavior on the other hand, that he 82 00:04:57,720 --> 00:05:02,800 Speaker 1: inherits a title at hen and becomes Baron Byron of Rothdale. 83 00:05:03,240 --> 00:05:06,479 Speaker 1: And he inherits this, he's not in line for it. 84 00:05:06,520 --> 00:05:09,400 Speaker 1: He never thinks he's going to inherit this. He gets 85 00:05:09,400 --> 00:05:13,560 Speaker 1: it from a great uncle, the fifth Baron Byron, who's 86 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:18,479 Speaker 1: known as William the Wicked Lord Byron. Um. He was 87 00:05:18,600 --> 00:05:21,920 Speaker 1: expecting his son to inherit it, of course, and disliked 88 00:05:21,960 --> 00:05:25,080 Speaker 1: his son so much that he trashes his estate, basically 89 00:05:25,400 --> 00:05:29,600 Speaker 1: chops down lots of trees. Um. His son dies before him, though, 90 00:05:29,640 --> 00:05:32,880 Speaker 1: and his grandson, and so it goes to this obscure relative, 91 00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:36,960 Speaker 1: Lord Byron. And because of this title, Byron also gets 92 00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:40,279 Speaker 1: an estate called Newstead Abbey, which is used to be 93 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:42,880 Speaker 1: grand but at this point as practically in ruins, and 94 00:05:42,920 --> 00:05:44,880 Speaker 1: of course they don't have the fortune to repair it, 95 00:05:45,120 --> 00:05:48,440 Speaker 1: and nor does the other Byron's estate. It's near Sherwood Forest, 96 00:05:48,560 --> 00:05:52,680 Speaker 1: to which I thought was so perfectly romantic. Yes. Um, 97 00:05:52,839 --> 00:05:56,560 Speaker 1: So Byron sent to school in London in eighteen o 98 00:05:56,680 --> 00:05:59,600 Speaker 1: one and a little bit after that he has his 99 00:05:59,720 --> 00:06:02,880 Speaker 1: for love. Um. He falls in love with a cousin, 100 00:06:03,080 --> 00:06:08,279 Speaker 1: Mary Chaworth, who lives on an estate near near his 101 00:06:08,360 --> 00:06:11,200 Speaker 1: own and he's so in love with her that he 102 00:06:11,240 --> 00:06:14,440 Speaker 1: refuses to go back to school at first. Um. And 103 00:06:14,560 --> 00:06:17,599 Speaker 1: she's older than him, she's a few years older, she's 104 00:06:17,640 --> 00:06:23,360 Speaker 1: already engaged or about to be, and um, he just 105 00:06:23,960 --> 00:06:27,600 Speaker 1: he sets her up as his ideal of unattainable love. 106 00:06:28,120 --> 00:06:31,120 Speaker 1: This is where the romantic streak environ begins to show it. 107 00:06:31,480 --> 00:06:34,120 Speaker 1: But also kind of sad because he only gets over 108 00:06:34,160 --> 00:06:38,400 Speaker 1: her when he overhears her mocking his his lameness, of 109 00:06:38,520 --> 00:06:43,200 Speaker 1: his foot, cruelty for your children. It's also about the 110 00:06:43,279 --> 00:06:47,120 Speaker 1: time when he starts his homosexual love affairs, which for 111 00:06:47,160 --> 00:06:50,920 Speaker 1: a long time throughout history were somewhat suppressed. It's reported 112 00:06:50,920 --> 00:06:54,640 Speaker 1: he has sexual relationships with Newstead servants of both sexes. 113 00:06:54,680 --> 00:06:57,000 Speaker 1: At this time, he has a servant named William Fletcher 114 00:06:57,040 --> 00:06:59,599 Speaker 1: who's by his side from the age of sixteen until 115 00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:02,400 Speaker 1: almost death. And William is a very good looking man. 116 00:07:03,279 --> 00:07:06,839 Speaker 1: And he also strikes up a this is his quote 117 00:07:06,960 --> 00:07:10,320 Speaker 1: violent though pure love and passion for a guy named 118 00:07:10,400 --> 00:07:14,360 Speaker 1: John Eddleston who's a chorister, and Edelston gives him a 119 00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:17,840 Speaker 1: Cornelian as a present, and Byron wrote lots of poems 120 00:07:17,880 --> 00:07:19,960 Speaker 1: about him, And that's the person most people think of 121 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:22,920 Speaker 1: when they think of Byron's bisexual reputation. It started with 122 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:29,480 Speaker 1: John and also further fueling Byron's reputation. When he's a teenager, 123 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:33,440 Speaker 1: he meets his half sister, Augusta Byron, they didn't know 124 00:07:33,480 --> 00:07:36,400 Speaker 1: each other's children at all. Um. They meet when he's 125 00:07:36,440 --> 00:07:41,200 Speaker 1: about fifteen, and it suggested that they later have their 126 00:07:41,240 --> 00:07:45,680 Speaker 1: own sexual relationship. So, yes, Augusta will come back up. Yeah, 127 00:07:45,840 --> 00:07:47,960 Speaker 1: we'll hear about her some more. So you can see 128 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:52,120 Speaker 1: everything starting starting to come together to make Byron this 129 00:07:53,760 --> 00:07:57,160 Speaker 1: rascally character he ends up being. When some of it's confusing. 130 00:07:57,240 --> 00:07:59,720 Speaker 1: You had mentioned something about the guy who was leasing 131 00:07:59,760 --> 00:08:03,360 Speaker 1: new Stead. Yeah, Lord Gray, who was leasing new Stead 132 00:08:03,440 --> 00:08:08,240 Speaker 1: until Byron reached his majority. Um is thought to have 133 00:08:08,320 --> 00:08:11,160 Speaker 1: made some sort of sexual advance at the young Byron 134 00:08:11,600 --> 00:08:17,240 Speaker 1: that so shocked him that the two break and don't 135 00:08:17,480 --> 00:08:20,000 Speaker 1: don't talk to each other again. Even though Byron's mother 136 00:08:20,640 --> 00:08:23,000 Speaker 1: is very much a fan of Lord Gray and tries 137 00:08:23,040 --> 00:08:26,160 Speaker 1: to reconcile them, Byron wants nothing to do with him well, 138 00:08:26,200 --> 00:08:28,360 Speaker 1: and since Byron sort of hates his mother, that would 139 00:08:28,360 --> 00:08:30,160 Speaker 1: actually make more sons. So at this point he's got 140 00:08:30,160 --> 00:08:32,800 Speaker 1: a mother he doesn't like, a father who's abandoned him, 141 00:08:32,840 --> 00:08:36,840 Speaker 1: abusive relationships and who commits suicide right, and some other 142 00:08:37,040 --> 00:08:40,480 Speaker 1: confusing personal relationships. But in eighteen o five he's off 143 00:08:40,520 --> 00:08:44,560 Speaker 1: to Trinity College in Cambridge, where he seems to have 144 00:08:44,640 --> 00:08:48,720 Speaker 1: a pretty good time racking up lots of debt. He 145 00:08:48,800 --> 00:08:51,920 Speaker 1: had what twelve thousand pounds in debt before he even 146 00:08:51,960 --> 00:08:55,400 Speaker 1: reached I don't even know, which I think is twenty one, 147 00:08:55,640 --> 00:08:58,840 Speaker 1: so that's I mean, there aren't credit cards. I don't 148 00:08:58,840 --> 00:09:02,160 Speaker 1: know what Byron would have done on a modern college campus. 149 00:09:02,320 --> 00:09:04,199 Speaker 1: I have no idea. But this is actually where he 150 00:09:04,320 --> 00:09:06,760 Speaker 1: met John Edelston that I mentioned, that I mentioned before, 151 00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:10,600 Speaker 1: And this is also when he starts writing his poetry. Yeah, 152 00:09:10,720 --> 00:09:13,400 Speaker 1: he writes some early poems and prints them in a 153 00:09:13,480 --> 00:09:17,320 Speaker 1: volume called Fugitive Pieces. And um, he also makes his 154 00:09:17,400 --> 00:09:21,559 Speaker 1: best friend at Cambridge, John cam Hobhouse, who gets him 155 00:09:21,640 --> 00:09:28,120 Speaker 1: into politics, something that as a future lord um he'll 156 00:09:28,120 --> 00:09:30,560 Speaker 1: play a role in. And hob House is his best 157 00:09:30,600 --> 00:09:33,679 Speaker 1: friend for life, truly BFF. He's the best man at 158 00:09:33,720 --> 00:09:36,200 Speaker 1: his wedding. He travels with him all around the world 159 00:09:36,280 --> 00:09:37,760 Speaker 1: and they have a falling out for a while that 160 00:09:37,800 --> 00:09:39,600 Speaker 1: he ends up being loyal to the end, and his 161 00:09:39,720 --> 00:09:41,960 Speaker 1: diaries are part of the reason we know so much 162 00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:46,320 Speaker 1: about Byron. Yeah, and my favorite Byron at Cambridge story 163 00:09:46,400 --> 00:09:51,480 Speaker 1: that just shows how how bad he was, but in 164 00:09:51,559 --> 00:09:53,559 Speaker 1: kind of a funny way. At this point at least, 165 00:09:54,000 --> 00:09:59,200 Speaker 1: um Cambridge bar students from having dogs on on campus, 166 00:09:59,280 --> 00:10:02,880 Speaker 1: and so Byron chooses to have a tame bear as 167 00:10:02,960 --> 00:10:05,600 Speaker 1: his pet, and Cambridge can't do anything about it because 168 00:10:05,640 --> 00:10:08,520 Speaker 1: they don't have any rules about it. And um, he 169 00:10:08,559 --> 00:10:10,800 Speaker 1: even suggests in a letter to a friend that his 170 00:10:10,920 --> 00:10:15,040 Speaker 1: bear companion should sit for a fellowship. So Byron has 171 00:10:15,040 --> 00:10:18,520 Speaker 1: a has a long love for animals. He really likes dogs. 172 00:10:18,840 --> 00:10:20,640 Speaker 1: He keeps his bear with him when he moves back 173 00:10:20,640 --> 00:10:24,240 Speaker 1: to Newstead. Um, he actually has dogs as companions almost 174 00:10:24,320 --> 00:10:27,400 Speaker 1: until his death. I really want a bear now, but 175 00:10:27,440 --> 00:10:29,080 Speaker 1: I have a feeling our boss would not go for 176 00:10:29,160 --> 00:10:32,160 Speaker 1: that now to ask him a little bit later. This 177 00:10:32,240 --> 00:10:34,560 Speaker 1: is also around the time his first volume of poetry 178 00:10:34,600 --> 00:10:37,800 Speaker 1: gets published, House of Idleness in eighteen oh seven. Yeah, 179 00:10:37,840 --> 00:10:42,840 Speaker 1: and this is obviously deeper work than the fugitive pieces 180 00:10:42,880 --> 00:10:45,560 Speaker 1: that were published earlier. This is actually a complete volume. 181 00:10:46,080 --> 00:10:48,880 Speaker 1: And uh, we probably wouldn't know much about the House 182 00:10:48,920 --> 00:10:52,320 Speaker 1: of Idleness except that he's mocked for them in the 183 00:10:52,400 --> 00:10:56,559 Speaker 1: Edinburgh Review, and he writes a comeback couplet satire called 184 00:10:56,840 --> 00:11:01,840 Speaker 1: English Bards and Scotch Reviewers, which shim his first recognition. Oh, 185 00:11:01,920 --> 00:11:12,320 Speaker 1: the cutthroat world of poetry. Yeah. In eighteen o nine, 186 00:11:12,559 --> 00:11:14,920 Speaker 1: Byron reaches his majority and takes his seat in the 187 00:11:14,920 --> 00:11:17,520 Speaker 1: House of Lords. And then he and Hobhouse go on 188 00:11:17,520 --> 00:11:19,840 Speaker 1: their Grand tour. And again, I have been deprived of 189 00:11:19,880 --> 00:11:22,000 Speaker 1: my own grand tour, so if someone would like to 190 00:11:22,040 --> 00:11:24,439 Speaker 1: send me on one, please let me know. But they 191 00:11:24,480 --> 00:11:27,400 Speaker 1: go traveling all over the place. They start in Portugal 192 00:11:27,520 --> 00:11:31,000 Speaker 1: and moved to Spain, Greece and Albania. And on their 193 00:11:31,040 --> 00:11:34,600 Speaker 1: grand tour, Byron and Hobhouse get involved in a little 194 00:11:34,600 --> 00:11:38,440 Speaker 1: bit of political intrigue. The Ionian Islands had been restored 195 00:11:38,480 --> 00:11:41,319 Speaker 1: to the French, but the English wanted them, and so 196 00:11:41,440 --> 00:11:44,600 Speaker 1: did Ali Pasha, who was not known as the greatest 197 00:11:44,600 --> 00:11:49,040 Speaker 1: guy in Greek history. So Byron and Hobhouse get used 198 00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:52,480 Speaker 1: by a guy named Spiritian Forresty he entertains them and 199 00:11:52,520 --> 00:11:55,160 Speaker 1: then mentions, you know, why don't you go to Albania 200 00:11:55,240 --> 00:11:58,240 Speaker 1: and see Ali Pasha. That would be lovely because he 201 00:11:58,320 --> 00:12:01,199 Speaker 1: wants to sweeten his own deal. So as Byron and 202 00:12:01,320 --> 00:12:04,240 Speaker 1: Hobhouse go off towards Albania, the English come toward the 203 00:12:04,240 --> 00:12:07,440 Speaker 1: Ionian Islands, and they were really upset, I think when 204 00:12:07,480 --> 00:12:10,520 Speaker 1: they both realized that they were as they thought they 205 00:12:10,520 --> 00:12:13,679 Speaker 1: had done. You can just imagine them like finishing Cambridge 206 00:12:13,679 --> 00:12:17,520 Speaker 1: and thinking they're pretty pretty clever. Yeah, published their poetry 207 00:12:18,320 --> 00:12:21,040 Speaker 1: satire and then go and get used by some guy 208 00:12:21,080 --> 00:12:24,959 Speaker 1: named Spiridian. And around the same time Byron starts child 209 00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:28,839 Speaker 1: Harold's Pilgrimage, which is one of the works he's best 210 00:12:28,840 --> 00:12:34,679 Speaker 1: known for. His UM, his Oriental Odyssey. UM, that's very 211 00:12:34,760 --> 00:12:39,120 Speaker 1: much semi autobiographical. And I would like to interject, with 212 00:12:39,160 --> 00:12:41,880 Speaker 1: no segue whatsoever, that at this time he also shoots 213 00:12:41,880 --> 00:12:46,000 Speaker 1: an eagle, which is one of my favorite facts I found, 214 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:47,480 Speaker 1: And there are so many of these we could have 215 00:12:47,520 --> 00:12:50,680 Speaker 1: researched him for. That doesn't gell with my animal lover 216 00:12:50,920 --> 00:12:54,640 Speaker 1: point from earlier, Katie. He also decapitated a goose at 217 00:12:54,679 --> 00:12:57,360 Speaker 1: around this same time, so he loves them but sometimes 218 00:12:57,360 --> 00:12:59,400 Speaker 1: he kills them. Sometimes you do kill the things you love. 219 00:12:59,600 --> 00:13:02,640 Speaker 1: And during this trip Byron also has many, many more 220 00:13:02,640 --> 00:13:05,840 Speaker 1: affairs with both men and women, and he meets Niccolo Jerron, 221 00:13:06,040 --> 00:13:08,040 Speaker 1: who he will later mention in a will of his 222 00:13:08,280 --> 00:13:11,520 Speaker 1: leaving his money, but it ends up being revoked, and 223 00:13:11,600 --> 00:13:14,440 Speaker 1: while they're gone, their friends back home are writing both 224 00:13:14,440 --> 00:13:18,080 Speaker 1: of them letters in code about what's happening to gay 225 00:13:18,080 --> 00:13:20,240 Speaker 1: men in England. At the time, you could be hanged 226 00:13:20,920 --> 00:13:25,720 Speaker 1: for the quote unquote crime of homosexual behavior, so it's 227 00:13:25,800 --> 00:13:28,720 Speaker 1: possible that he and Hobhouse also had some sort of 228 00:13:28,720 --> 00:13:32,520 Speaker 1: intimate relationship, but whatever was going on, they were kept 229 00:13:32,520 --> 00:13:34,920 Speaker 1: abreast of the news in England. And this will become 230 00:13:34,960 --> 00:13:38,400 Speaker 1: important a little bit later with Byron's marriage, but for 231 00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:41,320 Speaker 1: now we'll head back to England. Yeah, So they go 232 00:13:41,400 --> 00:13:45,079 Speaker 1: back to London in July of eighteen eleven and Byron 233 00:13:45,200 --> 00:13:48,280 Speaker 1: just misses his mother's death um but quickly gets to 234 00:13:48,320 --> 00:13:50,720 Speaker 1: work in the House of Lords and gives his first 235 00:13:50,760 --> 00:13:55,720 Speaker 1: speech in eighteen twelve, which was urging tolerance against riotous 236 00:13:55,760 --> 00:13:59,000 Speaker 1: nodding him weavers you could get the death penalty at 237 00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:02,240 Speaker 1: the time for breaking or frames basically, and his second 238 00:14:02,280 --> 00:14:05,439 Speaker 1: speech is about Irish Catholic rights, so he's got these 239 00:14:05,559 --> 00:14:09,920 Speaker 1: very liberal sort of idea and social reform and um. 240 00:14:10,040 --> 00:14:14,280 Speaker 1: One month after this first speech, the first two cantos 241 00:14:14,320 --> 00:14:16,920 Speaker 1: of Child Harold's Pilgrimage, which he was working on on 242 00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:20,560 Speaker 1: the Grand Tour, are published, and Byron later writes that 243 00:14:20,880 --> 00:14:24,040 Speaker 1: I awoke one morning and found myself famous, and that 244 00:14:24,200 --> 00:14:26,520 Speaker 1: is one of his most famous quotes about how one 245 00:14:26,600 --> 00:14:30,920 Speaker 1: day everything can just change. And after this he begins 246 00:14:30,960 --> 00:14:34,440 Speaker 1: an affair with a married woman named Lady Caroline Lamb 247 00:14:34,480 --> 00:14:37,440 Speaker 1: who is read Child Harold and decides she has to 248 00:14:37,480 --> 00:14:40,600 Speaker 1: meet this guy, and she writes some of us ultimate Yes, 249 00:14:40,880 --> 00:14:42,680 Speaker 1: she adores him, and he meets her, and he's not 250 00:14:42,760 --> 00:14:45,840 Speaker 1: too impressed by what he sees. She's really not his type. 251 00:14:46,200 --> 00:14:50,240 Speaker 1: But they end up carrying on this scandalous, torrid, passionate 252 00:14:50,240 --> 00:14:53,800 Speaker 1: affair and she almost leaves her husband for him. Yeah. 253 00:14:54,280 --> 00:14:59,000 Speaker 1: Byron's friend John Hobhouse encourages him to not elope with 254 00:14:59,040 --> 00:15:03,560 Speaker 1: her and sort of narrowly prevents this enormous scandal, which 255 00:15:03,600 --> 00:15:06,040 Speaker 1: is probably a good idea because things were a little 256 00:15:06,080 --> 00:15:09,400 Speaker 1: too hot and heavy down to the insane side. Yeah. 257 00:15:08,760 --> 00:15:13,040 Speaker 1: When he breaks it off with her, Lady Caroline organizes 258 00:15:13,080 --> 00:15:17,080 Speaker 1: a bonfire where the village girls congregate and burn an 259 00:15:17,080 --> 00:15:21,400 Speaker 1: effigy of Byron, and then they dance around the fire 260 00:15:21,640 --> 00:15:24,840 Speaker 1: and toss in copies of his letters to her and 261 00:15:24,920 --> 00:15:29,160 Speaker 1: his gifts little gold trinkets. And she's so worried that 262 00:15:29,200 --> 00:15:31,520 Speaker 1: this is going to make people think she's crazy, and 263 00:15:31,720 --> 00:15:35,480 Speaker 1: even writes some stuff about it. But I mean it 264 00:15:35,600 --> 00:15:38,440 Speaker 1: kind of does. I don't know, if you wanted to 265 00:15:38,440 --> 00:15:40,960 Speaker 1: throw a bonfire, I would probably come. I would even 266 00:15:40,960 --> 00:15:43,600 Speaker 1: burn people in effigy of the necessary ends up not 267 00:15:43,680 --> 00:15:48,120 Speaker 1: looking very good, but they continue a correspondence interestingly enough 268 00:15:48,200 --> 00:15:54,280 Speaker 1: that turns increasingly literary, and she even publishes a book, 269 00:15:54,520 --> 00:15:58,160 Speaker 1: this real kiss and tell novel called Glenn arvon Um, 270 00:15:58,200 --> 00:16:03,120 Speaker 1: which just exposes the character of Byron too the world well, 271 00:16:03,120 --> 00:16:06,280 Speaker 1: and she's still keeping up her crazy antics. She completely 272 00:16:06,320 --> 00:16:10,280 Speaker 1: freaks out to use scientific terminology, and she creates these 273 00:16:10,280 --> 00:16:13,120 Speaker 1: really public scenes. She suddenly shows up at his house, 274 00:16:13,280 --> 00:16:16,720 Speaker 1: often in disguise, and creates scenes there. She writes some 275 00:16:16,800 --> 00:16:20,480 Speaker 1: crazy letters Hobhouse rights and his diaries that once she 276 00:16:20,600 --> 00:16:23,320 Speaker 1: came in disguise to the house and then tried to 277 00:16:23,360 --> 00:16:25,840 Speaker 1: grab a sword and stab herself and they managed to 278 00:16:25,880 --> 00:16:28,560 Speaker 1: stop her. And she also is said to have sent 279 00:16:28,640 --> 00:16:32,040 Speaker 1: her pubic hair to him in a letter, which remains 280 00:16:32,120 --> 00:16:34,280 Speaker 1: something I would want from an X in case any 281 00:16:34,280 --> 00:16:36,760 Speaker 1: of you were listening. She lost a bunch of weight, 282 00:16:37,080 --> 00:16:39,600 Speaker 1: and he had had a really mean quote about how 283 00:16:39,640 --> 00:16:42,520 Speaker 1: he was being haunted by a skeleton because she become 284 00:16:42,600 --> 00:16:45,400 Speaker 1: very emaciated by this time, and I kind of feel 285 00:16:45,440 --> 00:16:47,920 Speaker 1: bad for miss Lamb. And she's the one who had 286 00:16:48,040 --> 00:16:50,800 Speaker 1: labeled him mad, bad and dangerous to know, which is 287 00:16:50,960 --> 00:16:54,880 Speaker 1: probably the most famous description of him. So she really 288 00:16:54,960 --> 00:16:59,000 Speaker 1: kicks off this string of sort of unfortunate lovers he 289 00:16:59,040 --> 00:17:02,120 Speaker 1: has before his mayor though, he takes up with Lady Oxford, 290 00:17:02,520 --> 00:17:05,440 Speaker 1: and this made me so angry. She's the mother of six, 291 00:17:05,480 --> 00:17:07,240 Speaker 1: which is not the part that made me angry. But 292 00:17:07,400 --> 00:17:12,919 Speaker 1: Byron shares Caroline's letters with Lady Oxford, so yeah, reading 293 00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:15,359 Speaker 1: the excess letters and then even lets her respond to 294 00:17:15,400 --> 00:17:17,439 Speaker 1: some of them and sign her initials at the bottom, 295 00:17:17,520 --> 00:17:22,119 Speaker 1: which of course devastates or Caroline back home and he's 296 00:17:22,359 --> 00:17:26,200 Speaker 1: taking up with Lady Francis Webster, and around this time 297 00:17:26,440 --> 00:17:30,240 Speaker 1: probably also starting a love affair with his half sister Augusta, 298 00:17:30,600 --> 00:17:34,440 Speaker 1: who is married to Colonel George Lee, and some say 299 00:17:34,480 --> 00:17:39,520 Speaker 1: that her child, Elizabeth Maddoorali, is really Lord Byron's. So 300 00:17:39,760 --> 00:17:43,359 Speaker 1: during this he's writing all of these gloomy tales like 301 00:17:43,400 --> 00:17:47,560 Speaker 1: the Chris Sair and the jour Um, these sort of 302 00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:53,800 Speaker 1: oriental um I guess escapes for him for his reckless 303 00:17:53,880 --> 00:17:57,000 Speaker 1: love life and what to do when you're having too 304 00:17:57,000 --> 00:17:59,720 Speaker 1: many affairs and you don't know what to do. Get 305 00:17:59,840 --> 00:18:02,919 Speaker 1: me harry straight and narrow and go ahead and get married. 306 00:18:03,320 --> 00:18:06,080 Speaker 1: It's going to work out really well. Maybe you can 307 00:18:06,119 --> 00:18:09,000 Speaker 1: sense the sarcasm. The person he decides to marry is 308 00:18:09,480 --> 00:18:14,040 Speaker 1: Lady Caroline Land's cousin, Annabella Millbank, who is absolutely nothing 309 00:18:14,119 --> 00:18:16,120 Speaker 1: like him. He could not have picked someone more unsuited 310 00:18:16,119 --> 00:18:19,080 Speaker 1: to him if he tried. She loves math and she 311 00:18:19,400 --> 00:18:24,960 Speaker 1: fancies herself, yes I have. She likes math and morals 312 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:28,960 Speaker 1: and um, they get married and things aren't good from 313 00:18:28,960 --> 00:18:31,760 Speaker 1: the start. There's this sort of bad omen too, and 314 00:18:31,920 --> 00:18:35,080 Speaker 1: Byron is a superstitious man, so he really doesn't like this. 315 00:18:35,520 --> 00:18:38,199 Speaker 1: He gives her a wedding ring that was his mother's 316 00:18:38,240 --> 00:18:40,240 Speaker 1: and it's too big, so she ties it with a 317 00:18:40,320 --> 00:18:44,400 Speaker 1: black ribbon, and um, he's horrified by this and makes 318 00:18:44,400 --> 00:18:46,920 Speaker 1: her take it off, and he's also He also thinks 319 00:18:46,960 --> 00:18:51,040 Speaker 1: he's spotted the Black Friar of Newston, his ancestral home, 320 00:18:51,800 --> 00:18:54,600 Speaker 1: a month before the wedding, and the Black Friars is 321 00:18:54,720 --> 00:18:59,560 Speaker 1: to pretend bad luck for the house Byron, and things 322 00:18:59,600 --> 00:19:02,800 Speaker 1: just get even more bizarre. Lady Byron has their daughter, 323 00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:08,400 Speaker 1: his only legitimate child, Augusta Aida, and which I don't 324 00:19:08,400 --> 00:19:12,800 Speaker 1: know about that, and apparently he paced the hallways all 325 00:19:12,880 --> 00:19:15,159 Speaker 1: night with loaded guns when they were getting married, and 326 00:19:15,160 --> 00:19:17,280 Speaker 1: when they have the baby does something even weirder. He 327 00:19:17,440 --> 00:19:21,560 Speaker 1: smashes bottles with a poker while she's being born, which 328 00:19:22,480 --> 00:19:25,840 Speaker 1: I just saw that like alone. There was no exclamation 329 00:19:26,119 --> 00:19:29,200 Speaker 1: for it. Um So I don't know what was going 330 00:19:29,400 --> 00:19:33,080 Speaker 1: through Byron's mind during his marriage, but the two were 331 00:19:33,119 --> 00:19:36,640 Speaker 1: not a good match now. And Annabella leaves sixteen months 332 00:19:36,680 --> 00:19:39,399 Speaker 1: after they're married, and then accuses him not only of 333 00:19:39,480 --> 00:19:43,480 Speaker 1: incest with his half sister Augusta and mistreatment, but also 334 00:19:43,640 --> 00:19:46,240 Speaker 1: of annally raping her two days after she had the baby, 335 00:19:46,480 --> 00:19:50,760 Speaker 1: so his reputation is officially shot shot. That's too much 336 00:19:50,840 --> 00:19:54,920 Speaker 1: for for his British public to accept, so he goes 337 00:19:54,960 --> 00:19:59,600 Speaker 1: abroad in April eighteen sixteen, actually never to return to England. 338 00:20:00,200 --> 00:20:04,359 Speaker 1: Self imposed exile starts in Switzerland and Hobhouse comes with 339 00:20:04,480 --> 00:20:07,040 Speaker 1: him for the very beginning, and this is when if 340 00:20:07,040 --> 00:20:11,560 Speaker 1: you listen to our podcast. He ends up in a 341 00:20:11,640 --> 00:20:15,919 Speaker 1: ghostwriting competition which Mary Shelley gets Frankenstein out of, and 342 00:20:16,040 --> 00:20:19,560 Speaker 1: also takes up with Claire Claremont, who he had actually 343 00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:24,800 Speaker 1: started an affair with in England. She um, you want 344 00:20:24,800 --> 00:20:27,960 Speaker 1: to say she followed him, She actually goes ahead of him, 345 00:20:28,119 --> 00:20:31,480 Speaker 1: knowing he'll he'll be there soon enough. Um. He really 346 00:20:31,480 --> 00:20:34,399 Speaker 1: has a low opinion of Claire Claremont. He calls her 347 00:20:34,440 --> 00:20:37,119 Speaker 1: a foolish girl. In a letter to his sister. He 348 00:20:37,200 --> 00:20:40,560 Speaker 1: basically makes it sound like he couldn't avoid her. She 349 00:20:40,760 --> 00:20:43,119 Speaker 1: was so into him there was nothing he could do, 350 00:20:43,280 --> 00:20:46,320 Speaker 1: which is ridiculous because this didn't keep him from sleeping 351 00:20:46,320 --> 00:20:49,199 Speaker 1: with her and conceiving a child with her, who is 352 00:20:49,240 --> 00:20:54,200 Speaker 1: born when they leave in January eight seventeen. She's born Alba, 353 00:20:54,520 --> 00:20:56,920 Speaker 1: and later her name is changed to a Legra, which 354 00:20:56,960 --> 00:20:59,960 Speaker 1: is always kind of a strange thing to do by 355 00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:03,560 Speaker 1: I think so too, and her life is so sad. 356 00:21:03,760 --> 00:21:07,240 Speaker 1: Things don't go well for little Allegra. He says he 357 00:21:07,280 --> 00:21:11,320 Speaker 1: will not give Claire Claremont money to raise the child, 358 00:21:11,480 --> 00:21:13,359 Speaker 1: which he could easily have done he had the money 359 00:21:13,400 --> 00:21:15,040 Speaker 1: to do that. Then it probably has to do with 360 00:21:15,080 --> 00:21:17,439 Speaker 1: his low opinion of her. Yes, so he's just not 361 00:21:17,480 --> 00:21:19,440 Speaker 1: going to do that. He doesn't trust her, so instead 362 00:21:19,480 --> 00:21:23,240 Speaker 1: he takes custody and he won't tell Claire anything about 363 00:21:23,280 --> 00:21:26,480 Speaker 1: her and then he ends handing her off to a 364 00:21:26,520 --> 00:21:28,600 Speaker 1: bunch of other people, and she ends up any convent 365 00:21:28,720 --> 00:21:32,280 Speaker 1: school where she dies at age five, and no one 366 00:21:32,400 --> 00:21:38,160 Speaker 1: visited her, but not even her parents. So sad story there, 367 00:21:38,160 --> 00:21:41,640 Speaker 1: and another example of Byron's cruelty with women, which will 368 00:21:41,680 --> 00:21:50,680 Speaker 1: be a running theme for a little while. So at 369 00:21:50,680 --> 00:21:54,199 Speaker 1: the end of this Fateful Summer where Frankenstein is written 370 00:21:54,400 --> 00:22:00,080 Speaker 1: and um Claire is pregnant, the Shelleys leave for England 371 00:22:00,240 --> 00:22:03,840 Speaker 1: and Claire has her baby, and Byron and hop House 372 00:22:03,920 --> 00:22:06,960 Speaker 1: leave for Italy. And this is my favorite part of 373 00:22:06,960 --> 00:22:09,560 Speaker 1: my notes. They see a triple guillotining and they climb 374 00:22:09,560 --> 00:22:13,000 Speaker 1: onto the roof of St. Peter's fun sites. Again any 375 00:22:13,080 --> 00:22:15,840 Speaker 1: context there really, but they had a great time, and 376 00:22:16,080 --> 00:22:17,960 Speaker 1: cop Hoouse wrote all about it in his diary, and 377 00:22:18,160 --> 00:22:21,399 Speaker 1: Byron really trumps up his life during this period. M 378 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:24,480 Speaker 1: In his letters to his friends, he claims that he 379 00:22:24,680 --> 00:22:27,200 Speaker 1: has made love to a hundred or more women during 380 00:22:27,359 --> 00:22:30,679 Speaker 1: Carnival of eighteen seventeen. But if you think about the 381 00:22:30,720 --> 00:22:34,680 Speaker 1: context this, this is a bad time for byron Um 382 00:22:35,040 --> 00:22:39,199 Speaker 1: because of his familial estrangement and his bad reputation, his 383 00:22:39,560 --> 00:22:42,160 Speaker 1: growing debt. If he was in that much debt as 384 00:22:42,160 --> 00:22:46,680 Speaker 1: a minor, imagine how bad it's scotten Um. So he's 385 00:22:46,720 --> 00:22:49,240 Speaker 1: trying to make things seem better than they really are, 386 00:22:49,880 --> 00:22:52,920 Speaker 1: and he takes up with a woman named Marianna Sagotti, 387 00:22:52,960 --> 00:22:55,359 Speaker 1: who's his landlord's wife, and then later he moves on 388 00:22:55,440 --> 00:22:58,359 Speaker 1: to Margarita Kanye, a baker's wife, who he refers to 389 00:22:58,440 --> 00:23:03,480 Speaker 1: as the gentle tie Chris, A detail I really liked. 390 00:23:03,840 --> 00:23:05,960 Speaker 1: And those aren't the only affairs that are going on 391 00:23:06,119 --> 00:23:09,720 Speaker 1: as being byron there are plenty. But Newstead Abby is 392 00:23:09,760 --> 00:23:12,760 Speaker 1: sold in eighteen eighteen, and that looking for a backer 393 00:23:12,920 --> 00:23:16,080 Speaker 1: stats for several years. He initially didn't want to part 394 00:23:16,119 --> 00:23:19,440 Speaker 1: with it, but finally is convinced that it's the only 395 00:23:19,440 --> 00:23:23,440 Speaker 1: way he can he can make it, and he also 396 00:23:23,560 --> 00:23:27,040 Speaker 1: writes the fourth canto of Child Harold at about this time, 397 00:23:27,240 --> 00:23:30,679 Speaker 1: and Bepo, which is more of a it's less of 398 00:23:30,720 --> 00:23:35,480 Speaker 1: this gloomy sort of oriental epic style, and which marks 399 00:23:35,480 --> 00:23:37,879 Speaker 1: a change in his writing for a while, and it 400 00:23:37,960 --> 00:23:41,480 Speaker 1: sets him up for writing his most famous work, which 401 00:23:41,560 --> 00:23:44,520 Speaker 1: I keep thinking is don Juan, and Sarah keeps insisting 402 00:23:44,560 --> 00:23:47,280 Speaker 1: because of the rhyme scheme, was don Juan. That's what 403 00:23:47,440 --> 00:23:51,080 Speaker 1: I learned don Juan, because he sets up the rhymes 404 00:23:51,119 --> 00:23:54,960 Speaker 1: in the poem so that you're forced to mispronounce the 405 00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:57,600 Speaker 1: foreign words. So I may just have shown myself as 406 00:23:57,720 --> 00:24:00,600 Speaker 1: the worst English major ever. I apologie dives to my 407 00:24:00,680 --> 00:24:04,000 Speaker 1: college professors. But he has a lot more fun writing 408 00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:06,920 Speaker 1: this one than he does with his earlier work, and 409 00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:10,840 Speaker 1: like a lot of his earlier works, it has thinly 410 00:24:10,920 --> 00:24:14,719 Speaker 1: disguised people from his life. The mother in the poem, 411 00:24:15,080 --> 00:24:20,719 Speaker 1: Donna Anez, is a complete, a complete shadow for Annabella, 412 00:24:20,840 --> 00:24:24,000 Speaker 1: his wife. He even writes in short, she was a 413 00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:29,560 Speaker 1: walking calculation, Uh, somebody who's really smart and clever. But 414 00:24:30,040 --> 00:24:32,680 Speaker 1: that's kind of presented in a bad, a bad way. 415 00:24:33,160 --> 00:24:35,520 Speaker 1: And he also talks about a quarrel between a husband 416 00:24:35,520 --> 00:24:38,359 Speaker 1: and wife in the work, and all the nosy people 417 00:24:38,440 --> 00:24:41,560 Speaker 1: who think they understand what the problem was, but they 418 00:24:41,560 --> 00:24:43,640 Speaker 1: don't really know what they're talking about. I guess he's 419 00:24:43,640 --> 00:24:46,960 Speaker 1: conceived of himself by this time as being very misunderstood, 420 00:24:47,359 --> 00:24:51,200 Speaker 1: and he's really an editor's worst nightmare too. Since Sarah 421 00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:53,560 Speaker 1: and I are editors, we took a lot of we 422 00:24:53,640 --> 00:24:56,639 Speaker 1: empathize with this position. In a letter to John Murray, 423 00:24:56,680 --> 00:25:00,119 Speaker 1: who is the publisher of the first two cantos, he 424 00:25:00,200 --> 00:25:02,439 Speaker 1: writes that I will have none of your damned cutting 425 00:25:02,480 --> 00:25:06,400 Speaker 1: and slashing. So oh I would. I would really hate 426 00:25:06,400 --> 00:25:08,320 Speaker 1: to get I would really hate to get something like 427 00:25:08,359 --> 00:25:10,159 Speaker 1: that from one of my writers. That's when we go 428 00:25:10,200 --> 00:25:13,560 Speaker 1: downstairs and buy some peanut butter Eminem's. But around the 429 00:25:13,640 --> 00:25:17,080 Speaker 1: same time, also Byron's gained a lot of weight, which Sarah, 430 00:25:17,320 --> 00:25:20,639 Speaker 1: you said you remembered hearing. I had always learned in 431 00:25:21,080 --> 00:25:24,880 Speaker 1: English that he battled with his weight for his whole 432 00:25:24,920 --> 00:25:29,160 Speaker 1: life and would yo yo diet. And I didn't see 433 00:25:29,200 --> 00:25:31,840 Speaker 1: a lot on that except that kid gained a lot 434 00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:35,680 Speaker 1: during this time, and that he was a pretty pudgy 435 00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:38,239 Speaker 1: little kid. So if you know any more about that, 436 00:25:38,320 --> 00:25:41,120 Speaker 1: please email us at History Podcast at house staff Works 437 00:25:41,119 --> 00:25:43,080 Speaker 1: dot com. We'd love to hear more about it. He 438 00:25:43,200 --> 00:25:47,600 Speaker 1: also meets Countess Teresa Gamba Guchi only, who is either 439 00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:50,600 Speaker 1: seventeen or nineteen. We've come across a couple of different ages. 440 00:25:51,359 --> 00:25:55,119 Speaker 1: But she's married to an older count sixty year old, 441 00:25:55,400 --> 00:25:59,200 Speaker 1: and she's young and beautiful, and she loves Byron deeply 442 00:25:59,320 --> 00:26:01,800 Speaker 1: and knew him in timately, and she thinks she understands 443 00:26:01,880 --> 00:26:04,480 Speaker 1: him like no one else. She believes he's a good man, 444 00:26:04,680 --> 00:26:09,080 Speaker 1: and he's misunderstood and has somehow incurred this terrible reputation. 445 00:26:09,440 --> 00:26:11,480 Speaker 1: I don't think it occurred to her that maybe she 446 00:26:11,560 --> 00:26:13,320 Speaker 1: just saw one side of him and everyone else saw 447 00:26:13,359 --> 00:26:15,680 Speaker 1: the other sides. But she writes a book called Lord 448 00:26:15,680 --> 00:26:19,280 Speaker 1: Byron's Life in Italy to vindicate him, and he becomes 449 00:26:19,280 --> 00:26:22,240 Speaker 1: her cavalier servant, which is a gentleman in waiting, but 450 00:26:22,720 --> 00:26:27,080 Speaker 1: basically it's a socially accepted lover. Uh. He rents an 451 00:26:27,080 --> 00:26:31,600 Speaker 1: apartment from her and her husband, where Byron the animal lover. 452 00:26:31,640 --> 00:26:33,360 Speaker 1: I'm going to stick to that side, not to the 453 00:26:33,480 --> 00:26:37,480 Speaker 1: shooting and the eagle shooting um. He installs ten horses, 454 00:26:37,560 --> 00:26:42,520 Speaker 1: eight dogs, three monkeys, five cats, an eagle and unshocked one, 455 00:26:42,680 --> 00:26:46,080 Speaker 1: a crow and a falcon um, and eventually Trees and 456 00:26:46,119 --> 00:26:50,960 Speaker 1: her husband separate, but um it's Byron and Tres. This 457 00:26:51,040 --> 00:26:54,440 Speaker 1: relationship is not affected by that. He actually gets pretty 458 00:26:54,480 --> 00:26:57,840 Speaker 1: close to her family, her father and brother, who are 459 00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:02,439 Speaker 1: members of the secret society, the Carbonari, which has the 460 00:27:02,520 --> 00:27:07,160 Speaker 1: aim to free Italy from Austrian rule. And it's interesting 461 00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:11,159 Speaker 1: that this English lord gets this in through his Italian 462 00:27:11,200 --> 00:27:14,080 Speaker 1: lover in the secret society, but he gets really into 463 00:27:14,119 --> 00:27:16,680 Speaker 1: it in his I sort of feel like his early 464 00:27:16,760 --> 00:27:21,280 Speaker 1: interest in politics, which fall by the wayside, is rekindled 465 00:27:21,320 --> 00:27:24,040 Speaker 1: by this, right, it grows much stronger. At this point, 466 00:27:24,119 --> 00:27:26,520 Speaker 1: it seems like he's put not that he's not still 467 00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:29,080 Speaker 1: sleeping with other people, but a little bit of that. 468 00:27:29,200 --> 00:27:31,800 Speaker 1: The phrenetic pace has slowed and he's getting much more 469 00:27:31,840 --> 00:27:34,399 Speaker 1: interested in what else he can do. Yeah, and his 470 00:27:34,480 --> 00:27:38,400 Speaker 1: relationship with Teresa is more like a marriage than anything 471 00:27:39,040 --> 00:27:42,480 Speaker 1: else he's had. So at this time he's hanging out 472 00:27:42,520 --> 00:27:45,840 Speaker 1: a little bit more with Shelley and they go to 473 00:27:45,920 --> 00:27:48,000 Speaker 1: a villa by the sea with s a s lee 474 00:27:48,080 --> 00:27:50,760 Speaker 1: Hunt and they start working on this radical journal called 475 00:27:50,800 --> 00:27:54,440 Speaker 1: The Liberal. And this is really the only big thing 476 00:27:54,480 --> 00:27:56,960 Speaker 1: we found about during his life during this period. During 477 00:27:56,960 --> 00:28:01,000 Speaker 1: this period, maybe because he's actually got a relatively calm 478 00:28:01,080 --> 00:28:05,560 Speaker 1: life during this period. Um. But this is when Shelley 479 00:28:05,680 --> 00:28:10,520 Speaker 1: drowns and Um. Byron keeps on working with Lee Hunt 480 00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:12,840 Speaker 1: on the Liberal even though he becomes less and less 481 00:28:12,880 --> 00:28:15,600 Speaker 1: interested in it. But he moves from working on this 482 00:28:15,720 --> 00:28:18,639 Speaker 1: journal the Liberal to getting involved in the cause of 483 00:28:18,680 --> 00:28:21,960 Speaker 1: Greece in their war for independence. And some have said 484 00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:24,320 Speaker 1: that he would have been the King of Greece if 485 00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:28,040 Speaker 1: things had actually gone through. As a bold claim. It 486 00:28:28,200 --> 00:28:30,320 Speaker 1: is a very bold claim, but you know, I'm willing 487 00:28:30,320 --> 00:28:32,159 Speaker 1: to think that he could do it. And around the 488 00:28:32,200 --> 00:28:35,760 Speaker 1: same time he meets a guy named Lucas Calendard Sanos 489 00:28:35,840 --> 00:28:38,880 Speaker 1: I'm positive I'm not pronouncing that correctly, who was part 490 00:28:38,920 --> 00:28:41,800 Speaker 1: of his little rag tag army that Byron had gotten 491 00:28:41,800 --> 00:28:45,280 Speaker 1: together in this Greek liberation thing. And he adored him, 492 00:28:45,320 --> 00:28:48,040 Speaker 1: but his love was unrequited, and Lucas was with him 493 00:28:48,080 --> 00:28:50,960 Speaker 1: when he died, which was at age what thirty six, 494 00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:55,680 Speaker 1: thirty six or thirty seven. Byron was very very much 495 00:28:55,680 --> 00:28:59,840 Speaker 1: committed to the Greek cause against the Turks. He loaned 496 00:28:59,840 --> 00:29:05,200 Speaker 1: his money, he commanded a personal brigade of soldiers. Um. 497 00:29:05,240 --> 00:29:08,720 Speaker 1: He was. He was pretty brave and a Greek hero, 498 00:29:09,320 --> 00:29:12,400 Speaker 1: and Byron contracted his fatal illness when he was in 499 00:29:12,560 --> 00:29:16,640 Speaker 1: route to a Greek campaign. He gets rheumatic fever by 500 00:29:16,680 --> 00:29:20,720 Speaker 1: April and he dies on Easter Sunday in eighteen twenty four, 501 00:29:21,320 --> 00:29:25,280 Speaker 1: and his memoirs were burned by Thomas Moore. And I wish, 502 00:29:25,640 --> 00:29:28,000 Speaker 1: I wish, wish, wish they were still around because I 503 00:29:28,080 --> 00:29:30,640 Speaker 1: loved People always have to burn the memoirs. They don't 504 00:29:30,680 --> 00:29:34,360 Speaker 1: want you to know their secret. And Byron it wasn't 505 00:29:34,440 --> 00:29:37,880 Speaker 1: very clear if he wanted to be buried where he 506 00:29:37,960 --> 00:29:42,520 Speaker 1: died or go back to England. But regardless of his wishes, 507 00:29:42,880 --> 00:29:46,600 Speaker 1: he was sent back to England and buried at Newstead. 508 00:29:46,680 --> 00:29:48,520 Speaker 1: What you have to tell the dog story which you 509 00:29:48,640 --> 00:29:51,440 Speaker 1: told me earlier when he was a young man, he 510 00:29:51,520 --> 00:29:55,520 Speaker 1: initially set up a pact for his favorite dog, Boatswain 511 00:29:56,440 --> 00:30:01,320 Speaker 1: who had died of rabies, and an old man who 512 00:30:01,640 --> 00:30:05,400 Speaker 1: who worked worked the grounds, to all be buried together. 513 00:30:06,040 --> 00:30:08,440 Speaker 1: And later when the old man was asked about it, 514 00:30:08,480 --> 00:30:11,560 Speaker 1: he was like, well, if if Lord Byron is going 515 00:30:11,600 --> 00:30:14,480 Speaker 1: to be here, okay, but I'm not sure I want 516 00:30:14,480 --> 00:30:17,880 Speaker 1: to be buried alone with the dog. So none of 517 00:30:17,920 --> 00:30:21,160 Speaker 1: that happened. The dog is buried outside Lord Byron in 518 00:30:21,200 --> 00:30:23,560 Speaker 1: the crypt So now you know that you can make 519 00:30:23,600 --> 00:30:25,880 Speaker 1: pacts with people about where you'd like to be buried. 520 00:30:26,160 --> 00:30:29,280 Speaker 1: Random people in your life is interested in it, apparently. 521 00:30:35,120 --> 00:30:38,600 Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining us for this Saturday classic. 522 00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:41,080 Speaker 1: Since this is out of the archive, if you heard 523 00:30:41,120 --> 00:30:43,400 Speaker 1: an email address or a Facebook U r L or 524 00:30:43,480 --> 00:30:46,320 Speaker 1: something similar during the course of the show, that may 525 00:30:46,360 --> 00:30:49,640 Speaker 1: be obsolete now. So here is our current contact information. 526 00:30:50,040 --> 00:30:52,880 Speaker 1: We are at History Podcast at how stuff works dot com, 527 00:30:52,920 --> 00:30:55,760 Speaker 1: and then we're at Missed in the History. All over 528 00:30:55,800 --> 00:30:59,880 Speaker 1: social media that is our name on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, 529 00:31:00,160 --> 00:31:06,440 Speaker 1: and Instagram. Thanks again for listening. For more on this 530 00:31:06,560 --> 00:31:17,880 Speaker 1: and thousands of other topics, visit how stuff Works dot com. 531 00:31:17,440 --> 00:31:17,480 Speaker 1: M