September 6, 2023 • 12 mins
On this day in 1651, after fleeing for his life following his defeat at the Battle of Worcester, Charles II, the King of Scotland and rightful King of England, took refuge in a tall oak tree.
On this day in 1877, jazz pioneer Buddy Bolden was born in New Orleans. Learn more about Buddy on the December 19th, 2018 episode of Stuff You Missed in History Class.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey there, history fans. We're off this week so that
I can move across country. But don't worry, We've got
plenty of classic shows to tide you over. Please enjoy
these flashback episodes from the TDI HC Vault.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a
show that uncovers the past one day at a time.
My name is Gabe Lucier and one of my goals
with the show is to remind people that the world
of the past had just as many bizarre and unexpected
moments as the one we live in today. And here's
a story that shows exactly what I mean. It's the
(00:47):
time when the King of Scotland and future King of
England spent all day hiding in an oak tree. The
day was September sixth, sixteen fifty one. After fleeing for
his life following his defeat at the Battle of Worcester,
(01:10):
Charles the Second, the King of Scotland and rightful King
of England, took refuge in a tall oak tree, where
he remained until the coast was clear. A few days earlier,
on September third, Oliver Cromwell and his Parliamentarian forces had
won the final battle of the English Civil War. When
(01:30):
it was clear the Royalists had lost, the twenty one
year old Charles the Second escaped the battlefield on horseback
with some of his most trusted men. They rode forty
miles through the countryside until at last reaching the ruins
of the White Ladies Nunnery on the northern border of Shropshire.
When they arrived, charles troops set about disguising him. They
(01:52):
dressed him in old clothes, cut his hair, and smeared
his face with soot. It was a necessary measure because
Cromwell had already despatched soldiers to hunt down the rogue
King wanted. Posters quickly appeared far and wide, and a
one thousand pound reward was issued for his capture. With
(02:13):
the King's safe for the time being, most of his
friends departed to avoid drawing attention to the group. Only
Richard Penderel remained with Charles to help lead him through
the woods. On September fifth, the pair fled towards the
River Severne, where they hoped to cross into Wales, and
from their sail to the relative safety of France. Unfortunately,
(02:35):
they found that the severn was heavily guarded by Cromwell's patrols.
Left with no way forward, Charles and Richard were forced
to turn back the way they came. This time they
headed for Boscobel House, a remote hunting lodge about a
mile away from the nunnery where they'd hidden the night before.
When they arrived at around three a m. On the
(02:57):
morning of September sixth, they were in worn by Richard's
brothers that the White Lady's Nunnery had already been raided
by Cromwell's soldiers. Another Royalist fugitive named Major William Carlis
was also hiding out at Boscobel. He suggested that it
would be safer if Charles didn't stay in the house. Instead,
(03:19):
he recommended that the two of them climb a bushy
oak tree on the house grounds. That way, they could
see in all directions and keep tabs on the enemy
soldiers who would surely come looking for them. Charles agreed,
and at daybreak he and Carlis climbed into a great
oak tree about one hundred and fifty yards from the house.
(03:40):
The two men pass the remainder of the day huddled
close in the oak's thick branches. They dined on beer
and cheese, but for the most part they stayed silent
and kept watch on the woods below. Some thirty years later,
Charles recounted his experience, saying, quote, while we were in
the tree tree, we see soldiers going up and down
(04:03):
in the thickest of the wood, searching for persons escaped.
We seeing them now and then peeping out of the woods.
Despite the stress of their situation, the exhausted Charles couldn't
keep his eyes open. He reportedly spent part of the
day asleep in the arms of Major Carlis, who made
(04:23):
sure the sleeping King didn't give away their position by
falling out of the tree. That evening, under cover of darkness,
the two men climbed down and returned to the house,
where they enjoyed a chicken dinner together. Charles spent the
night in a small heidi hole under the floor of
a room in the attic. It was a tight fit
for the lanky king, but probably still more comfortable than
(04:46):
a tree branch. The next morning, Charles is said to
have helped fry some sliced mutton for breakfast. We know
this because years later, Charles recalled his skill with the
frying pan with a great deal of pride, and to
be fair, he had been through a lot by that point,
so we'll just let him have it. After this brief
(05:06):
respite at Boscobel House, Charles continued his life on the
Lamb for an additional six weeks, being ushered from one
safe house to another by those who remained loyal to him. Then,
at last, on the morning of October fifteenth, Charles boarded
a boat and made his escape to France. Once there,
he engaged in a very long waiting game. It would
(05:30):
be nearly ten years until Cromwell died and it was
finally safe for him to return to England and reclaim
his rightful throne. After Charles the Second's return, the Penderell
brothers were rewarded for their loyalty, and the tree where
the king hid became a popular tourist destination known as
the Royal Oak. Sadly, souvenir hunters were a bit too
(05:54):
eager in their bid to own a piece of history.
By seventeen twenty, so many pieces the tree had been
hacked off and turned into snuffboxes and other trinkets that
almost none of it remained. The oak tree that stands
at Boscobel today is believed to be a descendant of
the original, which likely grew from one of its acorns.
(06:15):
But the tree's offspring isn't the only reminder of this
pivotal event in British history. Today, you'll also find plenty
of pubs named the Royal Oak in its honor. In fact,
there are well over five hundred Royal Oak pubs and counting.
I'm Gabeluesier and hopefully you now know a little more
(06:36):
about history today than you did yesterday. If you'd like,
please follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at TDIHC Podcasts,
and if you have any comments or suggestions, you can
send them my way at this Day at iHeartMedia dot com.
Thanks to Chandler Mays for producing the show, and thank
(06:57):
you for listening. I'll see you back here again tomorrow
for another Day in History Class.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. This Day
in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Hi, I'm Eves. Welcome to This Day in History Class,
a show that reveals a little bit more about history,
day by day. The day was September sixth, eighteen seventy seven.
(07:41):
Charles Joseph Bolden was born in New Orleans to Alice
and Westmore Bolden. Buddy Bolden, as he was known, was
a cornetist who was instrumental in the development of jazz.
There is a considerable amount of mystery and discrepancy surrounding
the details of his life, but the recollections of his
friends and peers have helped preserve his story. Buddy's older
(08:06):
sister died in eighteen eighty one of encephalitis. Two years later,
his father died of pneumonia. When Buddy was ten years old,
He his mother, and his younger sister moved into a
house on First Street in New Orleans. Buddy was not
formerly trained in playing the cornet, but in the mid
eighteen nineties, Buddy began taking lessons from a neighbor who
(08:29):
was a cook and a family friend. Around the same time,
Buddy joined a small dance band led by Charlie Galloway.
As he performed around the city, he gained a lot
of fans and attention. He met a woman named Hattie
Oliver with whom he had a child in eighteen ninety seven.
He also had a daughter named Bernadine years later with
(08:52):
a woman named Nora Bass, but their relationships did not
last long, and he lived with his mother and sister
throughout much of his twenties. By the turn of the century,
Buddy was the band leader of a steady group of people.
There were two clarinet players, one trombonist, one guitarist, one
bass player, and a drummer. Buddy and his band were
(09:16):
known for improvising and making traditional and popular songs their own.
They often played at the Union Suns Hall, a popular
entertainment venue in Black Storyville, a part of the Red
Light district called Storyville that was for black people. Buddy
would play late into the night, and some days he
would make appearances at more than one venue. Buddy gained
(09:39):
a lot of fame relatively quickly, and that took a
toll on him. He began drinking heavily and had headaches.
Around nineteen oh six, he started showing signs of mental illness.
He missed shows, clashed with his bandmates, and became paranoid.
In March of nineteen oh six, he was arrested and
(10:01):
jailed after hitting Nora's mother with a water pitcher. The
press covered this incident, though they offered different accounts on
whether he had hit Nora's mother or his own. By
the end of that year, Buddy's bandmates left his band,
and musicians began to rotate in and out of his group.
(10:21):
He continued to struggle with mental illness. He shorted band
members on their pay and left the Labor Day parade
route that he was marching for unknown reasons. After he
was arrested for what the police called insanity on September
eighth and then released. He never played his cornet again.
(10:41):
In April of nineteen o seven, he was committed to
the Jackson Insane Asylum. Two months later, he was transferred
to the mental Institution in Jackson, Louisiana. He was diagnosed
with dementia praecox paranoid type, which later morphed into a
parallel diagnosis of schizophrenia. His mother and sister visited him
(11:03):
at the asylum and wrote letters to him. After they
stopped visiting, Buddy stayed there until he died in November
of nineteen thirty one in Parker General Hospital, which was
part of the asylum. He died of cerebral arterial sclerosis.
Buddy had been considered one of the founding fathers of jazz,
(11:24):
but there are no records of Buddy's performances. Though Buddy
did innovate in his style and sound, there is debate
over exactly what Buddy may have pioneered. After he stopped
playing his cornett, A style of jazz called Dixieland developed
in New Orleans. I'm Eves Jefcote and hopefully you know
a little more about history today than you did yesterday.
(11:48):
Thanks for joining me on this trip through time. See
you here in the exact same spot tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Hey there, history fans. We're off this week so that
I can move across country. But don't worry, We've got
plenty of classic shows to tide you over. Please enjoy
these flashback episodes from the TDI HC Vault.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a
show that uncovers the past one day at a time.
My name is Gabe Lucier and one of my goals
with the show is to remind people that the world
of the past had just as many bizarre and unexpected
moments as the one we live in today. And here's
a story that shows exactly what I mean. It's the
(00:47):
time when the King of Scotland and future King of
England spent all day hiding in an oak tree. The
day was September sixth, sixteen fifty one. After fleeing for
his life following his defeat at the Battle of Worcester,
(01:10):
Charles the Second, the King of Scotland and rightful King
of England, took refuge in a tall oak tree, where
he remained until the coast was clear. A few days earlier,
on September third, Oliver Cromwell and his Parliamentarian forces had
won the final battle of the English Civil War. When
(01:30):
it was clear the Royalists had lost, the twenty one
year old Charles the Second escaped the battlefield on horseback
with some of his most trusted men. They rode forty
miles through the countryside until at last reaching the ruins
of the White Ladies Nunnery on the northern border of Shropshire.
When they arrived, charles troops set about disguising him. They
(01:52):
dressed him in old clothes, cut his hair, and smeared
his face with soot. It was a necessary measure because
Cromwell had already despatched soldiers to hunt down the rogue
King wanted. Posters quickly appeared far and wide, and a
one thousand pound reward was issued for his capture. With
(02:13):
the King's safe for the time being, most of his
friends departed to avoid drawing attention to the group. Only
Richard Penderel remained with Charles to help lead him through
the woods. On September fifth, the pair fled towards the
River Severne, where they hoped to cross into Wales, and
from their sail to the relative safety of France. Unfortunately,
(02:35):
they found that the severn was heavily guarded by Cromwell's patrols.
Left with no way forward, Charles and Richard were forced
to turn back the way they came. This time they
headed for Boscobel House, a remote hunting lodge about a
mile away from the nunnery where they'd hidden the night before.
When they arrived at around three a m. On the
(02:57):
morning of September sixth, they were in worn by Richard's
brothers that the White Lady's Nunnery had already been raided
by Cromwell's soldiers. Another Royalist fugitive named Major William Carlis
was also hiding out at Boscobel. He suggested that it
would be safer if Charles didn't stay in the house. Instead,
(03:19):
he recommended that the two of them climb a bushy
oak tree on the house grounds. That way, they could
see in all directions and keep tabs on the enemy
soldiers who would surely come looking for them. Charles agreed,
and at daybreak he and Carlis climbed into a great
oak tree about one hundred and fifty yards from the house.
(03:40):
The two men pass the remainder of the day huddled
close in the oak's thick branches. They dined on beer
and cheese, but for the most part they stayed silent
and kept watch on the woods below. Some thirty years later,
Charles recounted his experience, saying, quote, while we were in
the tree tree, we see soldiers going up and down
(04:03):
in the thickest of the wood, searching for persons escaped.
We seeing them now and then peeping out of the woods.
Despite the stress of their situation, the exhausted Charles couldn't
keep his eyes open. He reportedly spent part of the
day asleep in the arms of Major Carlis, who made
(04:23):
sure the sleeping King didn't give away their position by
falling out of the tree. That evening, under cover of darkness,
the two men climbed down and returned to the house,
where they enjoyed a chicken dinner together. Charles spent the
night in a small heidi hole under the floor of
a room in the attic. It was a tight fit
for the lanky king, but probably still more comfortable than
(04:46):
a tree branch. The next morning, Charles is said to
have helped fry some sliced mutton for breakfast. We know
this because years later, Charles recalled his skill with the
frying pan with a great deal of pride, and to
be fair, he had been through a lot by that point,
so we'll just let him have it. After this brief
(05:06):
respite at Boscobel House, Charles continued his life on the
Lamb for an additional six weeks, being ushered from one
safe house to another by those who remained loyal to him. Then,
at last, on the morning of October fifteenth, Charles boarded
a boat and made his escape to France. Once there,
he engaged in a very long waiting game. It would
(05:30):
be nearly ten years until Cromwell died and it was
finally safe for him to return to England and reclaim
his rightful throne. After Charles the Second's return, the Penderell
brothers were rewarded for their loyalty, and the tree where
the king hid became a popular tourist destination known as
the Royal Oak. Sadly, souvenir hunters were a bit too
(05:54):
eager in their bid to own a piece of history.
By seventeen twenty, so many pieces the tree had been
hacked off and turned into snuffboxes and other trinkets that
almost none of it remained. The oak tree that stands
at Boscobel today is believed to be a descendant of
the original, which likely grew from one of its acorns.
(06:15):
But the tree's offspring isn't the only reminder of this
pivotal event in British history. Today, you'll also find plenty
of pubs named the Royal Oak in its honor. In fact,
there are well over five hundred Royal Oak pubs and counting.
I'm Gabeluesier and hopefully you now know a little more
(06:36):
about history today than you did yesterday. If you'd like,
please follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at TDIHC Podcasts,
and if you have any comments or suggestions, you can
send them my way at this Day at iHeartMedia dot com.
Thanks to Chandler Mays for producing the show, and thank
(06:57):
you for listening. I'll see you back here again tomorrow
for another Day in History Class.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. This Day
in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Hi, I'm Eves. Welcome to This Day in History Class,
a show that reveals a little bit more about history,
day by day. The day was September sixth, eighteen seventy seven.
(07:41):
Charles Joseph Bolden was born in New Orleans to Alice
and Westmore Bolden. Buddy Bolden, as he was known, was
a cornetist who was instrumental in the development of jazz.
There is a considerable amount of mystery and discrepancy surrounding
the details of his life, but the recollections of his
friends and peers have helped preserve his story. Buddy's older
(08:06):
sister died in eighteen eighty one of encephalitis. Two years later,
his father died of pneumonia. When Buddy was ten years old,
He his mother, and his younger sister moved into a
house on First Street in New Orleans. Buddy was not
formerly trained in playing the cornet, but in the mid
eighteen nineties, Buddy began taking lessons from a neighbor who
(08:29):
was a cook and a family friend. Around the same time,
Buddy joined a small dance band led by Charlie Galloway.
As he performed around the city, he gained a lot
of fans and attention. He met a woman named Hattie
Oliver with whom he had a child in eighteen ninety seven.
He also had a daughter named Bernadine years later with
(08:52):
a woman named Nora Bass, but their relationships did not
last long, and he lived with his mother and sister
throughout much of his twenties. By the turn of the century,
Buddy was the band leader of a steady group of people.
There were two clarinet players, one trombonist, one guitarist, one
bass player, and a drummer. Buddy and his band were
(09:16):
known for improvising and making traditional and popular songs their own.
They often played at the Union Suns Hall, a popular
entertainment venue in Black Storyville, a part of the Red
Light district called Storyville that was for black people. Buddy
would play late into the night, and some days he
would make appearances at more than one venue. Buddy gained
(09:39):
a lot of fame relatively quickly, and that took a
toll on him. He began drinking heavily and had headaches.
Around nineteen oh six, he started showing signs of mental illness.
He missed shows, clashed with his bandmates, and became paranoid.
In March of nineteen oh six, he was arrested and
(10:01):
jailed after hitting Nora's mother with a water pitcher. The
press covered this incident, though they offered different accounts on
whether he had hit Nora's mother or his own. By
the end of that year, Buddy's bandmates left his band,
and musicians began to rotate in and out of his group.
(10:21):
He continued to struggle with mental illness. He shorted band
members on their pay and left the Labor Day parade
route that he was marching for unknown reasons. After he
was arrested for what the police called insanity on September
eighth and then released. He never played his cornet again.
(10:41):
In April of nineteen o seven, he was committed to
the Jackson Insane Asylum. Two months later, he was transferred
to the mental Institution in Jackson, Louisiana. He was diagnosed
with dementia praecox paranoid type, which later morphed into a
parallel diagnosis of schizophrenia. His mother and sister visited him
(11:03):
at the asylum and wrote letters to him. After they
stopped visiting, Buddy stayed there until he died in November
of nineteen thirty one in Parker General Hospital, which was
part of the asylum. He died of cerebral arterial sclerosis.
Buddy had been considered one of the founding fathers of jazz,
(11:24):
but there are no records of Buddy's performances. Though Buddy
did innovate in his style and sound, there is debate
over exactly what Buddy may have pioneered. After he stopped
playing his cornett, A style of jazz called Dixieland developed
in New Orleans. I'm Eves Jefcote and hopefully you know
a little more about history today than you did yesterday.
(11:48):
Thanks for joining me on this trip through time. See
you here in the exact same spot tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
This Day in History Class News
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