Records suggest vengeful noblewoman had priest assassinated in 688-year-old cold case
- John Forde, a priest, was fatally stabbed by a group on a busy London street near St Paul's Cathedral on 4 May 1337.
- The killing followed years of public penance imposed on noblewoman Ela FitzPayne, who had adulterous ties with Forde and likely ordered the attack as revenge.
- Forde's throat was cut with a foot-long dagger by Hugh Lovell, FitzPayne's brother, while two former servants stabbed him in the belly before an evening crowd.
- Professor Eisner called the crime a 'planned and cold-blooded' act reflecting tensions between church discipline and noble power, supported by a 33-man jury despite no full justice.
- The investigation highlights medieval power struggles and public humiliation dynamics, suggesting the murder served as a brutal message about elite authority nearly 700 years ago.
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As it turned out, his former lover and accomplice had a priest executed in broad daylight on the streets of London in 1337.
Mystery solved after seven centuries. The Guardian reports that a British historian has lifted the veil on a seven-century-old mystery, thanks to the exploration of valuable private archives.... The article "A gang of medieval hired killers": a British historian solves a murder 700 years later appeared first on Current Values.
A study by Cambridge University sheds light on the motive for the spectacular assassination of a priest in London in 1337.
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Leaning Left3Leaning Right2Center7Last UpdatedBias Distribution58% Center
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58% Center
L 25%
C 58%
R 17%
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