Ancient & Medieval Traitors Read online

  Ancient and Medieval Traitors

  Back-stabbers, turncoats and conspirators

  GORDON KERR

  To check out more titles by Canary Press visit www.canarypress.co.uk

  Contents

  PART ONE: ANCIENT TREACHERY

  Lucifer

  Delilah

  Judas Iscariot

  Marcus Junius Brutus Caepio

  Salome

  Judith

  Alcibiade

  Ephialtes of Trachis

  Socrates

  PART TWO: MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE TRAITORS

  Sir Roger Mortimer

  Wat Tyler and Jack Cade

  Perkin Warbeck

  Edward Plantagenet

  Mary Queen of Scots

  Sir Thomas More

  Sir Francis Walsingham

  Sir Anthony Babington and Gilbert Gifford

  Earl of Essex

  Guy Fawkes and Associates

  Charles I

  PART ONE: ANCIENT TREACHERY

  Lucifer

  From the beginning of time Christian mythology describes the continual fight between good and evil. Nothing depicts this better than Lucifer’s foolish attempt to overcome the power of God by leading a revolution against him. He can be seen as the first traitor of all time as his desire for power dramatically led him to turn against his own creator. However, he was not created evil and the meaning of the name Lucifer actually holds positive connotations and can be directly translated as ‘Star of the morning’ and ‘Light bearer’. For many years this meaning was misunderstood and was wrongly translated by the fourth century scholar St. Jerome as ‘Day star, star of the dawn’. No one is really able to make assumptions about what actually happened when Lucifer rebelled against God in heaven, but we can only conclude that a betrayal so great would have been a real blow to his own creator. Some Christians think that by virtue of the evil displayed, Lucifer and Satan are one and the same being. They believe that if Lucifer functions as Satan then he is still able to influence people to behave wrongly, even today. Obviously there is no way of verifying any of these beliefs and they could be dismissed simply as made up stories with Satan a mere concept of evil, but not that he is necessarily a living being. Whether Lucifer was, or indeed still is, a true being can never really be proven, but if we are to believe the ideas of the Bible then he was the world’s first traitor and sought to betray God in an incredible way.

  THE APPOINTMENT OF JESUS

  As with many biblical topics there is wide discussion about the status of Lucifer; was he one of the highest archangels or even as some claim, Christ’s own brother? Lucifer, or Satan as many people will refer to him, was certainly held in great esteem by his creator. If he really was an archangel then he would have been one of only a select few whom God would trust and share confidences with. Lucifer’s plans for rebellion are shrouded in much mystery and speculation but many believe that it was God’s plan to appoint Jesus Christ as his equal which was really the starting point of his animosity and resentment towards his own creator. Jesus was effectively appointed as God’s right hand man and he was also there to play the part of co-creator of the Earth and all that roamed it.

  Naturally Lucifer was not happy with this transition. He had considered himself to be a creature of great intelligence and the appointment of Jesus felt like a kick in the backside for him. He did not immediately approach God but, instead, harboured increasingly bad feeling towards him and he let his resentment of Jesus grow until it became a parasite within him. The simple principle that Lucifer had failed to understand was humility.

  As God was enquiring who would be willing to act as a saviour and redeemer for the world that he was about to create, he was faced with two strong candidates. Believing himself to be the strongest contender, Lucifer came to plead his case first. Instead of stressing any sort of respect and devotion towards his father and creator, he emphasised his own desire for power. As if this wasn’t making God aware enough of Lucifer’s greed and aspirations, he then went on to say that he would claim all the glory for his acts as redeemer as his own. The Bible tells how he wished to place his power and recognition above God’s and brazenly asked to have a throne raised for him above the stars of God’s creation. This ultimately shows the negative traits of greed, lust for power and covetousness which shaped his character to conspire towards an uprising against God.

  Unlike Lucifer, Jesus had no intention of claiming God’s glory as his own and humbly bowed down to him, offering himself as the saviour and redeemer of the Earth. Jesus was then bestowed the honour of the sovereign of heaven and was given equal standing to God. Lucifer gradually began to raise an army of other dissenting angels to fight against those loyal to Jesus, and proposed a radical reformation of the government of heaven.

  THE WAR IN HEAVEN

  Unwilling to accept the limitations set against him, Lucifer decided to fight. This decision was only the first form of betrayal as he also persisted in rallying a large number of disloyal angels to fight with him for his cause. The archangel exploited their feelings of dissatisfaction and manipulated them into rebelling against God. The angels, who had remained consistent in their devotion to their creator, begged and pleaded with Lucifer’s growing army that they might reconsider their battle plans and return to the harmony which had once prevailed throughout God’s kingdom. Some of these dissenting beings admitted their own poor judgement and were again admitted into God’s close circle. The fate of the other angels was not so bright. After fixing their minds to side with Lucifer, God saw no other option than to bring his foes into battle.

  As a continually just God, he made every effort to match the good and evil participants fairly. All that was ordered was that each angel mark himself clearly as to which side he was standing for; his own or Lucifer’s. The rebellious angel stood firm to the last, ridiculing God’s promise to throw all of the apostate beings out of heaven. Up to this point Lucifer had probably felt that he would rise triumphant from the battle, but he had not reckoned with the true extent of God’s power. He was easily suppressed and the consequences were harsh both for himself and his followers. They were faced with expulsion from the kingdom. Lucifer, who was responsible for so much of the disorder in heaven was finally gone. His treacherous acts were so serious that the finely balanced harmony in heaven was disrupted and the remaining angels wept at the loss of their friends.

  LUCIFER’S NEW ROLE

  If the stories are to be believed, then Lucifer is still present within our society today, sent to tempt people and lead them away from God. He is just as disloyal as he has always been. If Lucifer really is Satan, then he has been planning the destruction of the human race ever since his expulsion from heaven. Satan’s first and possibly most notable intervention with humans came at the creation of Adam and Eve.

  Satan was sent to tempt the pair to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. In order to deceive them further he disguised himself as a snake and appealed to them to eat the delicious fruit. He gradually managed to persuade Eve to eat of the fruit and when he saw what she had done Adam chose to do the same. In effect, he encouraged them to commit the same crime as he had, betraying the will of God. This proved them to be traitors in the sense that they had failed to adhere to his commandments. Their punishment was fierce. When God found out what they had done he unclothed them and made them ashamed of their bodies, he made them endure hard labour and sent weeds and ferocious animals to stand in their way. Never again would they know perfection.

  By tempting Adam and Eve, Lucifer again broke down the perfect harmony of their society through encouraging the betrayal of God.

  Delilah

  The story of Samson and Delilah ref
lects one of many common themes in the Bible. Although he was a remarkably strong man, Samson proved to have the same weaknesses as the rest of the judges before him, one of which was lust.

  The reign of the seven judges in Israel took place around 1380–1050 BC. Each of these followed a common cycle; the Israelites would sin by worshipping idols and false gods, God would place them under the auspices of a neighbouring nation, then they would repent of their sins and live in peace until each of the respective judges died. After the sixth judge had died Israel fell again and was this time entrusted to the hands of the Philistines for the next forty years.

  As a Nazarite, Samson had never maintained a good relationship with these people, but after one failed marriage with a Philistine woman he found himself attracted to another named Delilah and continually sought ways to win her trust.

  SAMSON’S EARLY LIFE

  Samson was born as something of a miracle because his parents had been unable to have children for years. As God-fearing people they pleaded with their maker that they could have a child and were prophesied not only that they would have a son, but he would also in some measure be responsible for delivering morality back to Israel. All that God asked for in return was for their son to be a Nazarite, a position normally reserved for those later in life. This was quite a rigorous calling for one so young, and there were three strict rules that Samson would be made to live by. Firstly he was not allowed to come in contact with a dead body of any kind, he could not partake of wine or any form of strong drink, and finally he must grow his hair long and never cut it. So long as these three rules were observed, Samson would be blessed with great strength and he would always rise victorious in battle.

  Samson was given immense power in his body but his mind was not averse to temptation. From his youth he became interested in young women and one day returned home and demanded that his parents set up a wedding for himself and a beautiful Philistine girl that he had caught sight of that same day. His parents did all they could to discourage their son from making such an unwise match. Aside from the impulsiveness of the decision, their main concern was that Samson would be breaking the law by inter- marrying. The Israelites had been discouraged against doing so because of fears that a match would leave the couple unequally yoked. Samson was determined and insisted on marrying the girl that he desired.

  ANGER WITH THE PHILISTINES

  It was not long before Samson discovered that he had made the wrong decision. At his own wedding feast he was deceived by his new wife into eating some meat from a dead lion. This was no accident as she cunningly disguised the meat in honey and fed it to all the members of the Nazarite’s family. Samson was disgusted by her betrayal and left her in a rage that same night. Still reeling from this disloyalty he returned to his home and sought to speak to his spouse. What he discovered was to set his mind on becoming an enemy of the Philistines for good.

  His wife had been given to his own best man and was no longer obligated to him. Samson was now incensed that a woman who could not only deceive him into breaking one of his own covenants, would also take off with his own best man. He then used his enormous strength to bring a campaign of destruction against the Philistines, burning down all their grain and destroying their orchards. His campaign of hatred lasted many years and brought mass destruction upon their lands. Eventually it all became too much for them and the leaders tried to concoct a plan to bring an end to the destruction.

  Knowing that Samson was in possession of super human strength but not always able to master his own infatuations, the Philistines were keen to exploit his more carnal desires in order to find the secret behind his strength, and so Delilah was introduced to Samson.

  DELILAH MEETS SAMSON

  Just as he had fallen so deeply for his ex-wife, Samson then fell into the same trap with beautiful Delilah. Unbeknown to him she had been offered a large sum of money in return for the secret of Samson’s strength. Since Delilah had no reason to hold any loyalties to the man, the 1,000 pieces of silver would have been a rather compelling incentive. Naturally, although Samson had very strong feelings for Delilah, he had reservations about putting his trust in her completely. For months the pair would spend many hours of the day and night together, where Delilah would constantly question Samson about the secrets behind his strength. He refused to tell the truth and came up with three good lies to put her off her questioning.

  In the first he told Delilah that his awesome strength could only be overcome by being bound with fresh bowstrings. When he went to sleep Delilah took advantage of this information, bound him with the bowstrings and summoned the guards to seize Samson. Unsurprisingly his strength was not broken and he easily overcame them. A disappointed Delilah then tried to manipulate him further. She used her womanly wiles to manipulate Samson by saying that he must not love her if he would never divulge his secret to her. He evaded her persuasion two more times, once where she bound him with new ropes and finally when he told her to weave seven locks of his hair into a web. After these two methods failed she was getting very frustrated. She insisted that he must show that he trusted her or she would leave him.

  In desperation he eventually revealed his secret. Cutting the long hair that he had been commanded to keep from birth was the only thing that could break down his strength. This act could not take place in just any way, but his hair had to be cut with a razor. Again Delilah waited till nightfall to pounce on the enemy of the Philistines. As Samson was sleeping peacefully she cut his hair away from him and this time when he was seized by the guards he was not able to overcome them with his strength. Again the great man had been betrayed by a woman whom he trusted and this time he was not able to have his revenge on the treacherous Philistines.

  Delilah’s betrayal condemned a powerless Samson to a life of torture. The Philistines reaped their revenge upon the Nazarite for the many years of destruction that he had brought to their country. Once he had been captured by the guards his fate was cruel. His eyes were brutally gouged out and he was bound with bronze fetters whilst being made to push a millstone for the rest of his life.

  Throughout his years Samson had been spurred into action by his great passions. It was his desire for women which ultimately led to his downfall and his uncontrollable rage that ravaged a whole nation. In terms of strength Delilah was no match for the powerful man, but to bring him down was easy. Just as Samson was easily motivated by his lust, Delilah fell prey to her own greed.

  Judas Iscariot

  Judas was perhaps one of the greatest traitors in history. You would be hard pressed to find anyone who had not heard the story of him trading in the life of his friend and teacher in exchange for thirty pieces of silver. His name is synonymous with evil and many people believe his fate to double-cross Jesus was mapped out from birth.

  If tales are to be believed, then Judas’ early life was something of a parallel to the Oedipus myth. His mother Cyborea was extremely distressed by a dream she had shortly after the birth of her son. In the dream it prophesied that he would murder his father, commit incest with his mother and ultimately sell his own God. They were living in a highly superstitious society, and as a result his mother became increasingly worried about the dream. His parents decided that the best course of action was to get rid of their son. It was with great sadness that they wrapped him in a blanket, put the baby into a chest and left him floating in the middle of the sea. That was the last time that Judas’ parents saw their son, but it certainly wasn’t the end of his life.

  The chest was eventually picked up on a distant shore and Judas began his life far away from his birthplace, destined to live out his fate. Perhaps it was inevitable that he would betray the son of God by virtue of the fact that he was essentially abandoned at birth and left to fend for himself soon afterwards. We do not know if other parts of the dream turned out to be true as not much is actually recorded about the disciple’s early life, but it was certainly not filled with the love of his parents or even a basic teaching in morality,
which is possibly why he committed the acts he did. Before Judas came into contact with Jesus he had led a life of thieving and had even committed murder. When he finally met Jesus, people were referring to him as ‘the saviour of mankind’, and Judas decided that it was time for a change.

  JESUS APPOINTS JUDAS AS A DISCIPLE

  Whether or not Judas genuinely tried to amend his ways is debatable but even if this wasn’t his main aim, he certainly made a personal sacrifice to follow Jesus. He gave up all of his worldly possessions and to do this he must have truly believed that Jesus was the Messiah. Clearly Jesus saw something he liked about Judas, or perhaps he knew that he was the only one weak enough to bring God’s plan into fruition and hand him over to the Romans with the lure of money. Either way, he was appointed as a disciple and was at first even numbered among the twelve apostles.

  Judas increasingly began to stand out from the other disciples, firstly, and most obviously, by the way in which he addressed Jesus. Whereas the others would speak to him respectfully as their Lord and master, Judas referred to him simply as his ‘teacher’. It is questionable though how much he really learned from the humble man, as Jesus certainly would not have encouraged betrayal in any of his teachings. Despite proving to be a somewhat dubious character, Jesus gave Judas the responsibility for the treasury. Only he and Judas knew what should have been coming in and going out of the coffers, and a discrepancy started to emerge when the treacherous man took over the job. Judas fell into his old habits and began regularly stealing from the funds. Jesus was aware of these thefts but turned a blind eye, perhaps in the hope that Judas would mend his ways. Needless to say he did not, and was constantly motivated by his thirst for money to commit bad deeds.