King Charles' Little Secret

King Charles XIV of Sweden (1818-1844) began life in 1763 as Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte, the son of a French petty government functionary.  In 1780 the young man joined the army, and by the outbreak of the Revolution of 1789 had risen to sergeant.  Promotions thereafter came rather swiftly, as, by dint of battlefield performance and devotion to the Republic, he rose to general de division in 1794.  Bernadotte fought on many a field, served for a time as Minister of War, and later became one of the first Marshals created by Napoleon during the Empire. 

 As a marshal, Bernadotte saw action on numerous occasions, usually ably, but he would often clash with his Emperor.  By chance, in 1808, Bernadotte, charged with operations against Sweden on the Baltic coast of Germany and Denmark, showed great consideration for his prisoners.  So, when Crown Prince Charles August of Sweden died suddenly in 1810, leaving King Charles XIII heirless, Bernadotte was offered the honor of replacing him.  He agreed, and in August of that year was elected Crown Prince and Generalissimo of Sweden.

Within a short time, King Charles’ disability becoming apparent, the new crown prince, now named Charles John, was also directing the government.  Surprisingly, Charles John identified closely with the interests of his new nation, and opposed Napoleon’s imperialist efforts.  In 1813 he openly brought Sweden into the war against Napoleon, and was among the most steadfast of his erstwhile overlord’s enemies. 

After the death of Charles XIII, Bernadotte assumed the throne as Charles XIV.  As king Bernadotte, however, concealed a very great secret, which was not revealed until after his death. 

As the king lay gravely ill, his attending physician asked permission to bleed him.  The king refused.  The physician insisted, and after a time the king acceded.  But he added, “You must swear that you will never reveal to anyone what you have seen.” 

The physician agreed, and the operation was performed.  Nor did he break his promise until after the king’s death.

What was it Bernadotte was so anxious to keep secret?

Like many a young soldier, Bernadotte had acquired a tattoo, obviously during the French Revolution.  It was a red Phrygian cap, symbol of liberation, with the words “Death to All Kings.”

Paying the Royal Navy in the Fourteenth Century

England spent much of the Fourteenth Century at war. There was almost constant war with Scotland, and also a protracted war with France, the first phase of the Hundred Years’ War, which was fought, with occasional intermissions, from 1337 until 1389, and then resumed in 1414 to drag on until 1453. The English fleet, which consisted of a few Royal ships and many hired ones, was vital to these conflicts; indeed, King Edward III opened the war with a spectacular amphibious operation in Flanders in November of 1337. But if the fleet was important in sustaining the fight, the Crown did not always pay its seamen very well.

The first figure listed under "Today" gives the modern equivalent of the Fourteenth sum based on Britain’s version of the Consumer Price Index, while the second gives the modern sum in terms of average earnings. Either way, the modern figures suggest that by 1370 a seaman’s wages were not keeping up with prices, so that even with the one penny raise that year they were still not as well paid as they had been earlier in the century.