Jeffrey Hudson the Court Dwarf of the English Queen Henrietta Maria of France | Hacker News Reader

Jeffrey Hudson the Court Dwarf of the English Queen Henrietta Maria of France

en.wikipedia.org

49 pointsdaverol18 comments

> Hudson had no interest in resuming his role of pet or clown and let it be known he would suffer no more jokes or insults. There is no record of the precise offence offered, but in October 1644, Hudson challenged the brother of William Crofts to a duel. Crofts arrived at the duel brandishing a large water squirt, but his flippancy would lead to his death, as Hudson fatally shot him in the forehead.

Savage!

Rules are rules, I guess.

At 18” tall I wondered what type of pistol he would have used. AFAIK 17th c pistols were still sizable and unwieldy.

I love the movie "Time Bandits", they did a great job casting the dwarves there.

I'm still thrilled Sean Connery joined the cast and that George Harrison wrote part of the score (Dream away).

RIP, Randall, Fidgit, Strutter, Wally and Vermin!

Many happy returns, Og!

One of my favourite films of all time.

Robin Hood: And you're a robber too. How long have you been a robber?

Strutter: Four foot one.

Robin Hood: Good lord! Jolly good. Four foot one? Well that-that-that is-is- a long time, isn't it?

That is really long indeed. But John Cleese as Centurion teaching Brian how to graffiti "Romans go home" on the wall must remain my all time favorite.

CENTURION: What's this, then? 'Romanes Eunt Domus'? 'People called Romanes they go the house'?

BRIAN: It-- it says, 'Romans, go home'.

CENTURION: No, it doesn't. What's Latin for 'Roman'? Come on!

BRIAN: Aah!

CENTURION: Come on!

BRIAN: 'R-- Romanus'?

CENTURION: Goes like...?

BRIAN: 'Annus'?

CENTURION: Vocative plural of 'annus' is...?

BRIAN: Eh. 'Anni'?

CENTURION: 'Romani'. 'Eunt'? What is 'eunt'?

BRIAN: 'Go'. Let--

CENTURION: Conjugate the verb 'to go'.

BRIAN: Uh. 'Ire'. Uh, 'eo'. 'Is'. 'It'. 'Imus'. 'Itis'. 'Eunt'.

CENTURION: So 'eunt' is...?

BRIAN: Ah, huh, third person plural, uh, present indicative. Uh, 'they go'.

CENTURION: But 'Romans, go home' is an order, so you must use the...?

BRIAN: The... imperative!

CENTURION: Which is...?

BRIAN: Umm! Oh. Oh. Um, 'i'. 'I'!

CENTURION: How many Romans?

BRIAN: Ah! 'I'-- Plural. Plural. 'Ite'. 'Ite'.

CENTURION: 'Ite'.

BRIAN: Ah. Eh.

CENTURION: 'Domus'?

BRIAN: Eh.

CENTURION: Nominative?

BRIAN: Oh.

CENTURION: 'Go home'? This is motion towards. Isn't it, boy?

BRIAN: Ah. Ah, dative, sir! Ahh! No, not dative! Not the dative, sir! No! Ah! Oh, the... accusative! Accusative! Ah! 'Domum', sir! 'Ad domum'! Ah! Oooh! Ah!

CENTURION: Except that 'domus' takes the...?

BRIAN: The locative, sir!

CENTURION: Which is...?!

BRIAN: 'Domum'.

CENTURION: 'Domum'.

BRIAN: Aaah! Ah.

CENTURION: 'Um'. Understand?

BRIAN: Yes, sir.

CENTURION: Now, write it out a hundred times.

BRIAN: Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. Hail Caesar, sir.

CENTURION: Hail Caesar. If it's not done by sunrise, I'll cut your balls off.

Yikes, he was the son of a bull baiter.

How have I not heard of bull baiting until now, ugly though it is.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bull-baiting

Guess what bulldogs were bred for 8(

I know, that and the Birmingham Bullring, I thought that was a cattle market.

For some reason, humans stopped pitting dogs against bulls but are still to this day doing it ourselves in stadiums filled with people cheering while a bull is slowly bled to death. Very crazy it's still legal today in parts of the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullfighting

Happily, Mexico finally made it illegal!

Kind of, right? It seems it was banned in some states, "but resumed on 29 January 2024 after a series of legal challenges" according to Wikipedia. Unless I'm getting the order of events incorrect.

TIL about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear-baiting as well

Apparently still practiced (although illegal) in Pakistan and was occurring in the United States as recently as last decade

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion-baiting too

> Various theories existed for his size, including that his mother choked on a gherkin while pregnant, but he probably had a growth hormone deficiency caused by a pituitary gland disorder.

> No details of his captivity were recorded except that he claimed to have grown to 45 inches (110 centimetres) during this time, doubling his height after 30 years of age,[9] which he attributed to the hardships he had suffered.

Hormones are amazing, I wonder if there's any literature on what triggered his later growth

I mean, 25 years and 27 inches later, and only reappearing after the queen Hudson served had died, with no tale of exactly where he’d been or how he got back… the cynical explanation would be that he was simply a different man claiming to be Hudson in the hope of a handout from the restored monarchy.

That too. This sort of stuff happened a lot; Perkin Warbeck and Lambert Simnel etc.

While it's possible it was something like finally getting proper nutrition or that something delayed puberty, or some random circumstance that caused his pituitary to start working again, like one too many hilaaaaarious slaps on the head, it's probably more likely the historical record was simply inaccurate/falsified/mythologised, and he reached his full height more or less at adulthood. After all, there were likely no really unimpeachable records of his earlier height.

The Oakham brewery has a rather fine beer named after him:

https://www.oakhamales.com/product/jhb/

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