March 20, 2025 • 9 mins
Some people make the best with what they are handed and become legends as a result. Others just have to muddle through it. Let's examine some of each today.
Order the official Cabinet of Curiosities book by clicking here today, and get ready to enjoy some curious reading!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of
the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all
of these amazing tales are right there on display, just
waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.
(00:36):
In seventeen sixty four, an unprecedented scandal rocked the French court.
Someone close to King Louis the fifteenth had become a whistleblower.
This former spy published a series of letters detailing correspondence
with the French king during and after the Seven Years War.
The spy in question was a member of a secret
circle of spies for King Louis, who interfaced with both
(00:59):
England and Russia on behalf of France. The individual who
had leaked these conversations was already a figure of great interest,
a dashing thirty six year old war hero named Charles
de Beaumont, or the Chevalier Dion. The child of relatively
poor French nobility, Dion was well liked among the courts,
a charming, strikingly handsome individual who was quite renowned as
(01:23):
offencer in fact, the title chevalier was the French equivalent
of knight and had been bestowed upon Dion the year
before for helping to draft a peace treaty that ended
the Seven Years War, and yet things seemed to have
soured between the young noble and the French monarch. After
a swashbuckling career that involved fighting the English, negotiating in Russia,
(01:44):
and successfully dressing as a woman to accomplish secret missions,
Dion was usurped by the subsequent ambassador to England and
demoted an absolute insult to someone with Dion's qualifications. Rather
than taking this line down, Dion had retaliated, which brings
us to that series of letters published in seventeen sixty four.
They were alarming to King Louis the fifteenth, but what
(02:06):
was even more alarming is that Dion held back. Louis
had corresponded with Dion for years about a potential French
invasion of England. These letters were not among the published documents.
It seemed that Dion was holding those back as insurance,
and ultimately King Louis granted Dion a generous pension, which
many theorized was a payout to ensure the Chevalier's silence.
(02:29):
No longer welcome in the French court, the Chevalier settled
in London for the time, being a stranger in a
strange land. Dion developed a curious reputation among the British.
Everyone knew that this was a French ex pat, but
something about the Chevaler drew their attention. Dion's facial appearance
was actually quite androgynous, leading many to speculate that Dion
(02:50):
was hiding a secret under a signature dragoon's uniform. A
betting pool started in the London Stock Exchange. Was this
former spy a man or a woman? The Chevalier, upon
hearing these rumors, declined to comment, offering only that submitting
to an examination would rightly so be beneath anyone's dignity.
The betting pool, as a result, fizzled out, and Dion
(03:13):
continued to make friends in British high society, but was
growing homesick along the way. Following the death of King
Louis the fifteenth the Chevalier was permitted to return to France. However,
there was some negotiation in this process. As part of
the arrangement to let Dion back into the country, they
had to turn in the correspondence withheld from publication and
(03:33):
conduct themselves properly as a woman. This is where historical
opinion about the Chevalier Dion sharply splits. What we know
is that from the mid seventeen seventies onward, the Chevalier
Dion wore dresses and was legally declared a woman by
the French government, who even paid for the aforementionable wardrobe change.
What we don't know is whether this was a social
(03:55):
role forced upon the Chevalier or one that Dion freely chose.
The story told about the Chevalier is that she was
born a female, forced into the role of a man
by a father who wanted a son. Whichever is the case,
though Dion did not accept that role of a quiet,
demure woman, Becoming a celebrity in France, much to the
chagrin of the French government. Now known as Charlotte de Beaumont,
(04:17):
Dion gained a reputation as a modern Amazon, a woman
who had fought for her country and now earned a
military pension. When the French supported the American War for Independence,
Charlotte volunteered to return to military service, but was refused
once again. Growing weary with France, Charlotte returned to England
and made a career as a fencer. Paintings of the
(04:38):
era depict the Chevalier crossing blades with famous duellists while
dressed in layers of petticoats. Writings of the era remarked
upon Dion's skill in swordsmanship, even while encumbered by a
heavy gown. The Chevalier died in eighteen ten at the
age of eighty one. Dion had lived forty eight years
as a man and thirty three as a woman. Naturally,
(05:00):
much of Dion's reputation became obscured by tall tales. Even today,
it's difficult to ascertain where the line sits between honest
truth and fanciful fiction. Whether as Charles or Charlotte, this
was a singular individual, one whose primary ambition was to
live a life of adventure. He lived a life of
excitement so that she could retire and fence in skirts.
(05:23):
What other historical figure can make such a curious claim.
Turn on the cable news or spend a few minutes
(05:44):
on social media, and you'll soon come to the conclusion
that humanity is in dire straits. Whether it's due to
natural disasters, the latest epidemic, international wars, global warming, or
dropping fertility rates. There is no shortage of problems that
we could worry about in times like please, it is
worth remembering that as bad as things may seem, they
can always get worse. Unless, that is, you were alive
(06:06):
in five point thirty six CE, the year pinpointed by
some experts as the worst year in human history. To
understand what made this particular year so bleak, put yourselves
in the uncomfortable shoes of an everyday peasant living in well,
let's just say western France. Your days are full of
backbreaking work, either on your own dismal plot of land,
(06:28):
or more likely, on your vassal's estate. At night, you
sleep side by side with the livestock and burn manure
chips for warmth. The smell is so bad it's all
you can do just to fall asleep. Then one day
you're out in the fields, toiling away like always, when
you look up and see dark clouds rolling across the sky.
It looks like a storm is about to break, but
(06:49):
the rain never comes. That night, the moon is eerily faint,
and the next morning the sky is still dark. You
can see the sun through the clouds if you really
look for it, but its rays are a week pale blue,
and it doesn't give off the usual heat. The sky
smells of sulfur, and every now and then, yellow flakes
of ash rain down from the sky like snow. It's
(07:11):
the same thing the next day and the next. After
a few weeks of darkness, the crops start to wither
and die. You hear that the harvests been postponed, which
means no work and no money to feed your family.
Even if you were working, there's nothing worth buying at
the market. Pretty soon, violent crime skyrockets as everyone fights
over the dwindling resources. When your neighbors start to drop
(07:33):
from starvation, their rotting corpses lead to pestilence outbreaks. The
next thing you know, you're being invaded by people who
are even hungrier than you. And in the face of
all this misery, you might wonder if you've been abandoned
by God or conclude that you're living through the end
of the world. Either way, you'll eventually realize this might
finally be as bad as it gets. While people living
(07:56):
in five point thirty six had no way of knowing
what had gone wrong. We now have a pretty good idea.
A volcanic eruption in the Northern Hemisphere spat ash and
toxic gas into the atmosphere, darkening the sky and triggering
volcanic winter. As a result, temperatures dropped around the globe,
wreaking havoc on the seasons. In parts of China, it
(08:16):
snowed during the late summer, while in the Middle East
and Europe, a thick, dry heat rolled across the land,
choking crops and livestock. The darkness didn't lift for roughly
eighteen months, and even when the sun finally returned, the
after effects continued. The widespread drought led to the collapse
of multiple civilizations, hastening the decline of the collapsing Roman Empire,
(08:38):
and may have even triggered the world's first pandemic. According
to Michael McCormick, a Harvard University archaeologist and historian, it
took over one hundred years for the global economy to recover.
That means at least five generations were impacted by the
volcanic winter, while millions of people spent their entire lives
under its shroud of darkness. So the next time you're
(08:59):
feeling down about the state of things, consider going outside
for a walk. As long as the sun is still
shining in the sky, it's safe to say that things
could be worse, at least by five point thirty six
CE standards, which means we've all got a lot to
still be thankful for until the next volcanic winter hits,
that is, and then all bets are off. I hope
(09:24):
you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities.
Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about
the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show
was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how
Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore,
which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and
(09:47):
you can learn all about it over at the Worldolore
dot com. And until next time, stay curious.
Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of
the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all
of these amazing tales are right there on display, just
waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.
(00:36):
In seventeen sixty four, an unprecedented scandal rocked the French court.
Someone close to King Louis the fifteenth had become a whistleblower.
This former spy published a series of letters detailing correspondence
with the French king during and after the Seven Years War.
The spy in question was a member of a secret
circle of spies for King Louis, who interfaced with both
(00:59):
England and Russia on behalf of France. The individual who
had leaked these conversations was already a figure of great interest,
a dashing thirty six year old war hero named Charles
de Beaumont, or the Chevalier Dion. The child of relatively
poor French nobility, Dion was well liked among the courts,
a charming, strikingly handsome individual who was quite renowned as
(01:23):
offencer in fact, the title chevalier was the French equivalent
of knight and had been bestowed upon Dion the year
before for helping to draft a peace treaty that ended
the Seven Years War, and yet things seemed to have
soured between the young noble and the French monarch. After
a swashbuckling career that involved fighting the English, negotiating in Russia,
(01:44):
and successfully dressing as a woman to accomplish secret missions,
Dion was usurped by the subsequent ambassador to England and
demoted an absolute insult to someone with Dion's qualifications. Rather
than taking this line down, Dion had retaliated, which brings
us to that series of letters published in seventeen sixty four.
They were alarming to King Louis the fifteenth, but what
(02:06):
was even more alarming is that Dion held back. Louis
had corresponded with Dion for years about a potential French
invasion of England. These letters were not among the published documents.
It seemed that Dion was holding those back as insurance,
and ultimately King Louis granted Dion a generous pension, which
many theorized was a payout to ensure the Chevalier's silence.
(02:29):
No longer welcome in the French court, the Chevalier settled
in London for the time, being a stranger in a
strange land. Dion developed a curious reputation among the British.
Everyone knew that this was a French ex pat, but
something about the Chevaler drew their attention. Dion's facial appearance
was actually quite androgynous, leading many to speculate that Dion
(02:50):
was hiding a secret under a signature dragoon's uniform. A
betting pool started in the London Stock Exchange. Was this
former spy a man or a woman? The Chevalier, upon
hearing these rumors, declined to comment, offering only that submitting
to an examination would rightly so be beneath anyone's dignity.
The betting pool, as a result, fizzled out, and Dion
(03:13):
continued to make friends in British high society, but was
growing homesick along the way. Following the death of King
Louis the fifteenth the Chevalier was permitted to return to France. However,
there was some negotiation in this process. As part of
the arrangement to let Dion back into the country, they
had to turn in the correspondence withheld from publication and
(03:33):
conduct themselves properly as a woman. This is where historical
opinion about the Chevalier Dion sharply splits. What we know
is that from the mid seventeen seventies onward, the Chevalier
Dion wore dresses and was legally declared a woman by
the French government, who even paid for the aforementionable wardrobe change.
What we don't know is whether this was a social
(03:55):
role forced upon the Chevalier or one that Dion freely chose.
The story told about the Chevalier is that she was
born a female, forced into the role of a man
by a father who wanted a son. Whichever is the case,
though Dion did not accept that role of a quiet,
demure woman, Becoming a celebrity in France, much to the
chagrin of the French government. Now known as Charlotte de Beaumont,
(04:17):
Dion gained a reputation as a modern Amazon, a woman
who had fought for her country and now earned a
military pension. When the French supported the American War for Independence,
Charlotte volunteered to return to military service, but was refused
once again. Growing weary with France, Charlotte returned to England
and made a career as a fencer. Paintings of the
(04:38):
era depict the Chevalier crossing blades with famous duellists while
dressed in layers of petticoats. Writings of the era remarked
upon Dion's skill in swordsmanship, even while encumbered by a
heavy gown. The Chevalier died in eighteen ten at the
age of eighty one. Dion had lived forty eight years
as a man and thirty three as a woman. Naturally,
(05:00):
much of Dion's reputation became obscured by tall tales. Even today,
it's difficult to ascertain where the line sits between honest
truth and fanciful fiction. Whether as Charles or Charlotte, this
was a singular individual, one whose primary ambition was to
live a life of adventure. He lived a life of
excitement so that she could retire and fence in skirts.
(05:23):
What other historical figure can make such a curious claim.
Turn on the cable news or spend a few minutes
(05:44):
on social media, and you'll soon come to the conclusion
that humanity is in dire straits. Whether it's due to
natural disasters, the latest epidemic, international wars, global warming, or
dropping fertility rates. There is no shortage of problems that
we could worry about in times like please, it is
worth remembering that as bad as things may seem, they
can always get worse. Unless, that is, you were alive
(06:06):
in five point thirty six CE, the year pinpointed by
some experts as the worst year in human history. To
understand what made this particular year so bleak, put yourselves
in the uncomfortable shoes of an everyday peasant living in well,
let's just say western France. Your days are full of
backbreaking work, either on your own dismal plot of land,
(06:28):
or more likely, on your vassal's estate. At night, you
sleep side by side with the livestock and burn manure
chips for warmth. The smell is so bad it's all
you can do just to fall asleep. Then one day
you're out in the fields, toiling away like always, when
you look up and see dark clouds rolling across the sky.
It looks like a storm is about to break, but
(06:49):
the rain never comes. That night, the moon is eerily faint,
and the next morning the sky is still dark. You
can see the sun through the clouds if you really
look for it, but its rays are a week pale blue,
and it doesn't give off the usual heat. The sky
smells of sulfur, and every now and then, yellow flakes
of ash rain down from the sky like snow. It's
(07:11):
the same thing the next day and the next. After
a few weeks of darkness, the crops start to wither
and die. You hear that the harvests been postponed, which
means no work and no money to feed your family.
Even if you were working, there's nothing worth buying at
the market. Pretty soon, violent crime skyrockets as everyone fights
over the dwindling resources. When your neighbors start to drop
(07:33):
from starvation, their rotting corpses lead to pestilence outbreaks. The
next thing you know, you're being invaded by people who
are even hungrier than you. And in the face of
all this misery, you might wonder if you've been abandoned
by God or conclude that you're living through the end
of the world. Either way, you'll eventually realize this might
finally be as bad as it gets. While people living
(07:56):
in five point thirty six had no way of knowing
what had gone wrong. We now have a pretty good idea.
A volcanic eruption in the Northern Hemisphere spat ash and
toxic gas into the atmosphere, darkening the sky and triggering
volcanic winter. As a result, temperatures dropped around the globe,
wreaking havoc on the seasons. In parts of China, it
(08:16):
snowed during the late summer, while in the Middle East
and Europe, a thick, dry heat rolled across the land,
choking crops and livestock. The darkness didn't lift for roughly
eighteen months, and even when the sun finally returned, the
after effects continued. The widespread drought led to the collapse
of multiple civilizations, hastening the decline of the collapsing Roman Empire,
(08:38):
and may have even triggered the world's first pandemic. According
to Michael McCormick, a Harvard University archaeologist and historian, it
took over one hundred years for the global economy to recover.
That means at least five generations were impacted by the
volcanic winter, while millions of people spent their entire lives
under its shroud of darkness. So the next time you're
(08:59):
feeling down about the state of things, consider going outside
for a walk. As long as the sun is still
shining in the sky, it's safe to say that things
could be worse, at least by five point thirty six
CE standards, which means we've all got a lot to
still be thankful for until the next volcanic winter hits,
that is, and then all bets are off. I hope
(09:24):
you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities.
Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about
the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show
was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how
Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore,
which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and
(09:47):
you can learn all about it over at the Worldolore
dot com. And until next time, stay curious.
Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities News
Host
Aaron Mahnke
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