Unfortunate Ends: On Murder and Misadventure in Medieval England

by Soren Lily

Thomas, son of Henry Robekyn, died 1286 after cutting off his left foot and then his left hand in a frenzy.

Henry Debordesle, died 1343. Long sick with diseases, smote himself in the belly with a knife worth one penny.

On 11 August 1267, Henry Constentin is driving a horse-drawn cart of wheat through the field of Tweedscroft. His feet slip and he falls upon ‘a certain pole’ of his cart ‘so that it penetrate[s] into his fundament’. 

From the creator of Twitter's Medieval Death Bot comes Unfortunate Ends, an illuminating collection of in-depth looks at some of the most interesting cases from medieval coroners’ rolls.

From the bizarre to the mundane, each death tells a tale from a dangerous time to be alive, and even to die. Coroners’ rolls list every inquest held for a death by misadventure – or accident – as well as grisly murders, some witnessed by others, some only coming to light when the hidden body was found.

A handful of these deaths rise to the top, their tales too ridiculous or heartbreaking to not be spun again for the modern ear. Through death, Unfortunate Ends gives us a rare, first-hand look into everyday life for the common people of medieval England.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Medieval, British Literature

130 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 1, 2022

Reviews

[Kimmy C · Rating 4 out of 5]

For those of us who followed the Medieval Death Bot on Twitter, here’s an easily digested explanation of some of the account’s more popular tweets.
Life in the 13th and 14th centuries was difficult, without the constant threat of being murdered by clerks (or eaten by sows, drowned in cesspits, or divers other methods of untimely despatch.)
Each chapter gives a bit more insight into the ways of the era, along with the players (coroners) and the laws that applied when someone died, or murdered. Perfect for a quick historical dip, with more than a touch of gallows humour.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick, enjoyable read that I wish was longer! I was part of the crowdfunding for this book so I'm likely biased, but I find the glimpses into medieval life (and death) fascinating. Lily writes with a wry sense of humor about the happenings collected in medieval coroners' records, and the book is overall an easy read. Worth a look if you're interested in history at all, or just into strange and sometimes amusing deaths (comedy = tragedy + time, after all).

Those who've brought up accessibility concerns are correct - the physical book is tiny and so are the fonts. If this is an issue for you, best avoid it, as apparently the ebook is no better.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book so much! I expected the humor, but not to learn so much about fourteenth-century England. Wish I'd bought a bunch more to give as gifts.

[Emma Creasey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I contributed to crowdfunding this little book after enjoying its first appearance as the Medieval Death Bot on Twitter, which tweeted the various appalling ways in which medieval people met their ends, after Soren Lily found that the records of medieval coroners' courts offer a fascinating if often grisly insight into daily life.

This gives more detail of some of those deaths, but Lily tries to explain how they might have occurred by giving an account of the history of the times and the ways people lived, in a way that makes the people mentioned feel present and real. The final chapter simply reproduces one of the coroner's entries, and it helps you realise what a labour of love this was, as - even rendered into modern English - it is entirely incomprehensible. I only wish that it had been a little longer.

[Mike · Rating 1 out of 5]

An amusing read, expanding on the @murderingclerks twitter feed. Very short and a very quick read.

Would be four stars, but the publishers have zero consideration for accessibility. The subscriber edition of the book is pocket book sized with very small text so hard to read if you,don’t have perfect eye site. The ebook is a bunch of images rather than text, so you can’t use any of the usual accessibility aids. It’s disgusting that Unbound has so little regard for the less able reader.

[tara bomp · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just a bit short and not as much detail/knowledge as I'd like sometimes. There's 70 small pages of deaths, 11 chapters, and the last chapter is just a straight copy out of a full case from the rolls without any explication - it's kind of confusing as to what even happened. The author is pretty explicit about being an amateur and marks where they don't know pretty clearly and it's understandable that they'd be doing things like working from particular transcribed+translated coroner's rolls done in the 19th century but it's still a bit frustrating not having more expert knowledge attached I guess? It's a fun little adjunct to the classic Medieval Death Bot from twitter but idk, it's just a bit slight

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

(I actually read the print edition, but no one has added it to GR yet and I don't have my copy handy.)
This was a fun read. If you're not familiar with the Medieval Death Bot/ Murdered by Clerks twitter account, it posted a random tweet every day describing a death recorded by a medieval English coroner. This book takes some of the more popular cases and gives them a more detailed discussion -- a little snarky but soundly researched. My only complaint is that the book physically is tiny both in dimensions and font size, and I'd have preferred it to be bit longer. Still, it was well worth supporting the Unbound crowdfunding campaign to see this get published.

[Susannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertaining investigation of coroner’s rolls in Medieval England which illustrates the various ways people died at the time from being burnt to death while drunk from a badly placed candle as altercations which turned deadly to accidents while driving a cart. This is well written and engaging, also enjoyed the illustrations and Lily shows how much historians can learn about social history from these coroner’s rolls.

[Kevin Aston Hoey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly entertaining but frustratingly short. I imagine there was a certain level of constraint because it was a crowdfunded project, and it is possible that there’d be an amount of repetition if more examples were included. But perhaps the 12 short chapters could have been expanded even further than they were with a broader discussion about life in the Middle Ages. Nonetheless, overall, as a ‘crowdfunder’ I’m happy with the result.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very short (<100 pages) but interesting excerpts from medieval English coroner's rolls told with a dash of wry humour and enough background information to understand the context and little details of medieval life. For big cities like London, the author even pinpoints the modern-day locations of some incidents for those who are interested!
A fun, quick pop-history read.

[Spiranthes100 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was almost as interested in the story of the book as much as the stories in the book. The author’s macabre sense of humour led him to create a Medieval Death Bot on Twitter which developed into this crowdfunded little book. It’s a jolly good read, and is impressively supported by citations and interesting bibliography.

[Lorna Merrow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book, but slightly disappointed as I thought it would be a bit more substantial and the last chapter felt a bit lacking when Lily had analysed every other bit of text. Not enough murder or misadventure or widespread coverage of England, so doesn’t quite live up to the title.

[Nikki Norell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very entertaining. Only problem is that it was too short.

[Michaela Kraft · Rating 5 out of 5]

Medieval history for dummies ABOUT dummies! I haven’t enjoyed a book this much in a looong time. It was informative, well-researched, and hilarious. Will come back to this gem often.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely short read, interesting and amusing.

[David Walsh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was initially unfamiliar with the twitter account that this short non fiction compendium is based off of but you can see why it was so popular - witty and engaging it whips along at a pace and can be consumed rather quickly. Its a great idea to parse out the lives of a section of medieval society from coroners rolls, what do these deaths tell us about the people. And some of the stories are great and illuminating - didnt realise pigs were so deadly for instance , the racousness of clerks in oxford for another. However i feel this book is rather rushed in parts and overall leaves me feeling cold . You can tell that some stories are far more researched than others (a blog was one of the sources in the bibliography which was weird). And the last story is just dumped from the coronors roll without any explanation or context like the other stories. Nearly a 3rd of the book is bulked out with bibliography, thanks for support etc - for a tenner i was expecting a bit more. It would have been good to commit to a long book for instance. Just came away feeling disappointed in the end. Some of the stories were great - i wish there was more and that all the stories in the book got the same attention. I suppose its a nice wee distracting coffee table book.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very unfortunate.