In 1200, King John was planning on making a trip to Nottingham, and planned to pass through the village of Gotham on the way. This would have made Gotham part of the king's highway, subjecting the villagers to new taxation. But the people of Gotham were not down.
"More taxes?!? Fuck you!"
Medieval peasants were far from ignorant of the law; in fact they were persecuted so often that they became minor legal experts in their own right. So when the king's messengers arrived in Gotham to assess its fitness for to the king's arrival, the entire village pretended to be crazy.
"Is anybody home? No? Okay, I'll try the landline."
Legend has it the villagers dressed like maniacs with pots on their heads and spoons in their belts, attempted to trap birds in roofless birdcages, tried to drown eels, painted green apples red, tried to fish the moon out of a pond with a rake, rolled cheeses downhill to make them round, etc etc. Madness at the time was believed to be contagious, so upon perceiving a town full of raving lunatics, the king's messengers swiftly found an alternate royal route to Nottingham.
Gothamites in full bonkers-swing.
Rotund ukulele playing crazy in a pink tunic with a cauldron on his head-- me in a past life (or me with hay stuffed in my shirt, having successfully travelled back in time!!!)
Can you imagine how much fun it must have been, essentially pranking the motherfucking king of England? And it worked!
"Rejoice, freaks!"
The lesson? I have no fucking idea. I only wish acting crazy still exempted you from paying taxes... One can dream.
-The Rad Historian
No comments:
Post a Comment