BACKGROUND
The following is an extract from a memoire of King John 1 of England. He has a bad reputation, especially as someone who left at least 10 bastards as a result of seducing the Barons' wives and the wives of commoners.
This sexual element was a major reason for the revolt of the Barons and the subsequent enforced signing of Magna Carta.
King John died in the course of a civil war with the Barons.
This extract is when John is a prince and (with 3 older brothers) was not expected to become King. For this reason he was, unkindly, called "John Lackland". Prince John (as he was at the time of this extract) was 22 and still single. He was nearing his 23rd birthday and still Richard 1 had no bride in mind for his youngest brother. It was more likely that John would be sent into the Church, maybe even as a monk.
JOHN'S SEXUAL KINK
Ever since he was 18 John had shown an interest in the wives of Barons, all of whom are older than John was, and some were considerably older. He had not acted on this until he reached the age of 20 and had "taken into his bed chamber the aged wife of the noble Baron of Shrewsbury".
Historians still argue whether this meant he had sex with her or merely liked seeing the 40 year old lady naked. In my considered opinion I don't think John had sex with her. I think it was an ego trip, proving he could cuckold a Baron if he chose to. But I agree it shows that he was attracted to a woman twice his age, though her being "of enormous cleavage" might have been a considerable attraction to the Prince.
It is clear that, when he was 21, he had sex with the 35 year old wife of the Baron of Penzance and that the Baron later discovered her adultery. It is implied that a month later he made the 30 year old wife of the Baron of Lostwithel "with child".
FIRST AUTHENTICATED PREGNANCY
It is historically certain that he made the 29 year old wife of Baron of Bristol pregnant. There is considerable evidence that the Baron of Bristol, was aware of, and hoped to gain financial and political advantage by, allowing John to be with his wife alone. That the Baron wanted John to make his wife pregnant is, I think, a fanciful notion. I think the baron wanted them to have a close relationship and expected his wife to praise the Prince as often as possible.
John in his memoire leaves us in no doubt of his attraction for the Baron's wife and also her (even older) lady in waiting.
Even in those slow moving times, word of John's liking for older women got around.
THE CRUSADES AND WARS WITH FRANCE
Under King Richard 1, England was involved in intermittent battles with Scotland. Wales, France and with major campaigns to protect Christendom in the Holy Lands. These Holy Land campaigns were called "Holy Crusades" or mostly just "Crusades".
All battles involved costly contributions from the Barons and Earls because they derived their authority from the King. The Barons must (on demand from the King) provide money and trained equipped men and horses.
For that reason all Barons had to train men to be ready to go to battle. This involved training the peasant farmers who owed their livelihood to the Baron or Earl. This meant that sending men to war meant fewer men to till the land and bring in the harvest. It also meant Barons and Earls selling portable items or even lands to get the money that the King needed.
RECOUPING THE COSTS OF WAR
If a battle was won some of the cost of waging a war could be recouped. Some of this was by taking the lands of the unsuccessful enemies. But another major source of income was by ransoming the nobility taken in battle.
One example was the capture of King Richard 1 (aka as Richard the Lionheart). As Moneyweek,com notes "In June 1193, Richard 1's ransom was set at 150,000 silver marks, which was up to 3 times the annual income for the English Crown.
Richard's dutiful mother began to scrape together the money. The clergy and laymen were taxed to the value of a quarter of their properties; church gold and silver was seized, and additional taxes were raised on knights (scutage) and land (carucage). The money raised, Richard was released from captivity on 4 February 1194"
But the biggest drains were those that involved having campaigns overseas. The biggest expense was for the Crusades to the far off Holy Lands. There was little financial return on the Crusades themselves, just more money being demanded for defending the lands gained from attack by non Christians.
SIDE EFFECTS OF THE CRUSADES
But the higher taxes and taking away of most of the nobility and expensively equipped farming peasants had several side effects. The major one was that the shortage of men to till the land and bring in the harvest meant that the men who were available could command higher wages. This was a small scale example of what would later happen to agricultural production in the industrial revolution. Except that the Barons didn't have the use of industrial revolution type aids to agriculture.
Through lack of available manpower agricultural production fell by 20%. The price of produce rose but not by enough to make the harvest profitable. But the higher price made the produce unaffordable for the peasantry. Starvation stalked the richest land in the world through the Crusade.
One of the price rises was for eligible Noblemen in the form of a dowry requirement. The dowry requirements went up by over 100%
ROYAL VISITS
Each Baron and Earl was expected to host a Royal on demand. This meant providing a heated room, lavish food and entertainment, including Stag hunting, for the Prince or King. In addition the Prince or King had a retinue of up to 20 servants and advisers whose accommodation, sustenance and entertainment had to be provided free of charge.
Prince John was on his way back from Bristol and it was the Earl of Southampton's turn to entertain John and his retinue.
THE EARL OF SOUTHAMPTON'S FINANCES
As previously noted "One of the price rises was for eligible Noblemen in the form of a dowry requirement. The dowry requirements went up by over 100%".
Luckily the Earl had been able to provide a dowry for his eldest daughter before King Richard started his demands for money and men and equipment and horses and feed for his upcoming Crusade.
But he couldn't afford the dowry required to marry off his other 2 daughters. Before the Crusades they would both have been married. But they were now unlikely to have a suitable husband unless somehow the Crusades stopped and they somehow got some income back.
But having to pay for peasantry to produce a harvest (instead of them providing much labour free of charge) and the taxes had put their finances in crisis. Now the ransom for Richard 1 had put them into technical insolvency. They relied on the goodwill of creditors to maintain their estates.
Luckily the daughters didn't seem to mind not having husbands, though they are now 24 and 22 respectively. What the Earl didn't know was that both his unmarried daughters were lesbians who gained sexual satisfaction from each other. The 24 and 22 year old lesbians never dared to reveal their attraction to women for fear of recriminations. In the privacy of the Earl's estate it was easy to hide their sexuality from everyone.
THE EXTRACT BEGINS
I arrived at the Earl's estate and he and his wife and 2 of his 3 daughters were there to greet me. The Earl's wife is aged over half a century but is reasonably breasted. She has her hair tied up in braids and hidden beneath a head covering. This indicates that she is married and therefore not available for sex other than with her husband. I wonder what she looks like naked with her hair fully in all places uncovered and wet.
I hoped that she might available for sex with me, or at least that I should see her naked. The older fleshy busty women are so much sexier than women of my age.
I know that some women do not make themselves available for her husband's pleasure. In my experience this situation arises when she is married to bolster the family's landholding and prestige. It is less common when people marry for love. I hoped that the Earl's wife married for duty. But of course, it will not be easy to get her into my bed chamber now that my reputation for older women is widely known among the nobility.
The Earl is even older than his wife and that gives me hope that I can bed her more easily. Perhaps the Earl has no interest in sex and perhaps he takes his pleasures outside of marriage. Either makes it easier for me to bed his wife.
THE INTRODUCTIONS
Then came the tiresome introductions to their daughters. The elder daughter is called Cherry and has quite large breasts and is passably attractive. If I can't have her mother I wouldn't mind her warming my bed. I later learned that she is 24 and the circumstance why she is unmarried.
(Editorial note - see above for details of the dowry)
Jenny at 22 is 2 years younger than her sister and petite. She was educated in a France territory taken into English possession. She is petite and speaks with a slight foreign accent. When the territory was likely to be taken back by the French, Jenny was brought back to England. Meanwhile her sister had been educated in a nunnery in England. The sisters had been united only 18 months ago.
JOHN'S MARRIAGE PREFERENCES
Cherry and Jenny allow their hair to fall freely over their bodies. This supposedly signals that they are available for marriage. Of course it is my brother, King Richard 1, who will arrange my marriage. The slightly younger French educated Jenny would be the type that Richard might allocate to me. Ideally I would like to wed their mother, should she be widowed. But that would be scandalous since clearly she is beyond the age to bear me a son.
Marrying the busty 24 year old Cherry would be preferable to spending nights with her petite sister.
THE SISTERS
I only found out (by a happy accident) that the sisters were lesbians. They told me of their first tentative steps of revealing their need for female sexual company. The sisters were discussing Ophie, their older sister.
Ophie's husband was away on a Crusade to the Holy Land led by my older brother. She missed her husband but had not given in to the temptation to have sex with another man (or woman).
Jenny told Cherry that she didn't want to have to sleep with a man like Ophie did. Cherry said she dreaded being a slave to a man's need for sex and to have to carry and care for a child or many children.
