Read The Good, the Bad and the Unready Online
Authors: Robert Easton
peasants, shot with blanks:
Otto the
MAD
pens, stabbed to death with:
John the
SCOT
perfume, liberal use of:
Henry the
GREAT
, Alfred the
LAST OF THE DANDIES
, Henry the
MAN-MILLINER
pet,
camels:
James the
WISEST FOOL IN CHRISTENDOM
cheetahs:
Haile Sellassie the
LION OF JUDAH
dogs:
Llewellyn the
GREAT
, Henry the
MAN-MILLINER
elephant:
Charles the
GREAT
, James the
WISEST FOOL IN CHRISTENDOM
lions:
Haile Sellassie the
LION OF JUDAH
monkeys:
Henry the
MAN-MILLINER
parrots:
Henry the
MAN-MILLINER
pilgrimage:
Erik
EVERGOOD
, Charles the
GREAT
, James the
THISTLE
pillaging:
Fulk the
BLACK
, Attila the
SCOURGE OF GOD
pineapples:
Kamehameha the
GREAT
plague:
Frederick
IRONTOOTH
, Philip the
LUCKY
playing card, nickname after:
Diana the
PEOPLE
’S
PRINCESS
poison,
death from:
Mehmed the
CONQUEROR
,
FAIR ROSAMUND
, Erik the
ROMANTIC
liberal use of:
Lady Wu the
POISONER
sucked out by wife:
Edward the
HAMMER OF THE SCOTS
pot belly:
Charles the
GREAT
, Ptolemy the
POT-BELLIED
, William
RUFUS
, Theobald the
TROUBADOUR
potions:
Albert the
GREAT
practical jokes, love of:
Edward the
CARESSER
, Peter the
GREAT
priests,
kicked in testicles:
Napoleon the
LITTLE CORPORAL
massacred:
Erik the
MEMORABLE
printmaking:
Rupert the
MAD CAVALIER
prostitution, charges of:
Mary the
MERMAID
psalmody:
Anne the
KING
’S
KING
psalms, translating:
James the
WISEST FOOL IN CHRISTENDOM
pulpit, defecation in:
BRANDY NAN
religion, creation of new:
Akbar the
GREAT
religious tolerance:
Akbar the
GREAT
, Cyrus the
GREAT
, Roger the
GREAT COUNT
right of sanctuary, prohibited:
Maria the
MOTHER OF HER COUNTRY
rose:
see
flowers
sausages:
DONA JUANA
self-deification:
Akbar the
GREAT
, Alexander the
GREAT
, Jamshid the
ILLUSTRIOUS
, Aurelian the
RESTORER OF THE WORLD
sermons,
inspirational:
Louis the
SAINT
lengthy:
John
LACKLAND
sexual appetite, immense:
GOOD DUKE HUMPHREY
, Catherine the
GREAT
, Charles the
GREAT
, Henry the
GREAT
, James the
ILL-BELOVED
, Mary the
MERMAID
, Charles the
MERRY MONARCH
, Edward the
ROBBER
, Augustus the
STRONG
sexual impotence, alleged:
Ivar the
BONELESS
Shakespeare, William:
Richard
CROOKBACK
, John of
GAUNT
, Duncan the
GRACIOUS
shed, portable:
Philip the
GOOD
Shibboleth:
Ladislaus the
ELBOW-HIGH
shirt,
hair:
Henry the
NAVIGATOR
poisoned:
Harald and the
HAIR SHIRT
skin, made into drum:
see
drum
slimming:
Sancho the
FAT
smell, appalling:
Henry the
GREAT
smoking, promotion of:
Peter the
GREAT
spice trade:
Manuel the
FORTUNATE
spider, inspirational:
Robert the
BRUCE
spitting:
William the
SAILOR KING
sporran, love of wearing:
Magnus
BARELEGS
stammer:
Charles the
LAST MAN
steamboat, nickname after:
Arthur the
IRON DUKE
strangulation:
Otto the
BLOODY
strength, Herculean:
Alfonso the
CONQUEROR
, Hywel of the
HORSESHOES
superstition:
Elizabeth the
INFAMOUS
, Louis
THE PIOUS
swimming, love of:
Charles the
MERRY MONARCH
teeth,
buck:
Anne the
GREAT WHORE
rotten:
GOOD QUEEN BESS
, Frederick the
GREAT
, Henry the
GREAT
sackful of:
Peter the
GREAT
temper, loss of:
Haakon the
BROAD-SHOULDERED
, Henry
CURTMANTLE
, Robert the
ENGLISH ACHILLES
, George the
GREAT PATRON OF MANKIND
, Edward the
MARTYR
, Louis the
QUARRELLER
, Erik the
RED
tennis,
love of:
Charles the
AFFABLE
, Philip the
GOOD
, Charles the
MERRY MONARCH
thistle, redemptive:
Alexander the
GLORIOUS
Timothy Wobble-Hat:
Leo the
BUTCHER
tobacco, taxed:
Peter the
GREAT
tongue, big:
James the
WISEST FOOL IN CHRISTENDOM
tonsure:
Clovis the
GREAT
, Louis the
PIOUS
tournaments,
love of:
Amadeus the
GREEN
treatise on:
Good King René
treasurer, boiled:
Ivan the
TERRIBLE
trousers,
threat to pull down:
James the
WISEST FOOL IN CHRISTENDOM
tight:
Alfred the
LAST OF THE DANDIES
turban, nailed to head:
Vlad the
IMPALER
uncle, imprisoned:
Ivan the
TERRIBLE
universities, founding of:
Peter the
CEREMONIOUS
virginity, alleged:
GOOD QUEEN BESS
violets:
see
flowers
Voltaire:
Catherine the
GREAT
, Frederick the
GREAT
, John the
SILLY DUKE
warts:
Anne the
GREAT WHORE, NOSE ALMIGHTY
weeding, cryptic message in:
Pepin the
HUNCHBACK
whiskers, bushy:
Basil the
SLAYER OF THE BULGARS
wife,
burned at stake:
Fulk the
BLACK
chaste:
Gorm the
OLD
contempt for:
Francis the
FATHER OF LETTERS
equine:
BLUFF KING HAL
, Thomas the
HAMMER OF THE MONKS
imposing:
Philip the
BOLD
, Good King René
imprisoned:
GOOD DUKE HUMPHREY
, Philip the
MAGNANIMOUS
large:
Kamehameha the
GREAT
mad:
Philip the
HANDSOME
made to serve at table naked:
Bejazet the
THUNDERBOLT
ostentatious:
Haroun the
JUST
physically strong:
Ernest the
IRON-HANDED
porcine:
Charles the
SILLY
repudiated:
Robert the
PIOUS
, Sitric the
SQUINT-EYED
small:
William the
CONQUEROR
, Kamehameha the
GREAT
wig,
abuse of:
George the
GREAT PATRON OF MANKIND
serviced by footmen:
QUEEN VENUS
wine, drowning in:
Lady Wu the
POISONER
, Edward the
ROBBER
wives,
five thousand:
Akbar the
GREAT
six:
BLUFF KING HAL
work ethic, fanatical:
Frederick the
GREAT
, Peter the
GREAT
1.
A note on the entries. Most names have been anglicized for ease of reading, and where the dates of an individual are open to question, I have plumped for those given in the
Encyclopaedia Britannica
. Where a person’s dates are truly vague, I have used the term
fl
., short for the Latin
floruit
denoting the high point of a person’s life or career.
2.
Thumbnail sketches of a further twenty-four appear in a separate entry entitled ‘Great… but not that Great’.