Inspiring Events: The Chamberpot Affair

Medieval history is full of all kinds of colorful people, places, and events–some amusing, some mysterious, others chaotic and still others, sad. Covering over a thousand years of history and a good chunk of the world, there are lots of places one can find something which interests them. 

This new series of mine is going to focus on some events, places, and people who have inspired plots, scenes, and mysteries in my own writing. This first event isn’t known by any name in particular–it’s actually a prank which started a rebellion. I am calling it The Chamberpot Affair for my purposes today.

The Chamberpot Affair

The young men below threw dice with their friends, chatting and laughing. Unbeknownst to them, two brothers–one in his teens, the other only nine–snuck along the balcony above, carrying a full chamberpot. Positioning themselves immediately above their target, they must have exchanged impish grins before whooping and hollering as they emptied the chamberpot over their target–their oldest brother, Robert.

Robert, being a hotheaded young man and urged on by his friends to repay this insult with fists, started a brawl with his younger brothers. The fighting grew so fierce, the king himself stepped in, using his royal–and fatherly–authority to stop his sons’s quarrels and reimpose peace.

The peace lasted a whole twenty-four hours.

Robert, who was already on uneasy terms with his father in 1077, was offended he refused to punish his younger brothers for their prank. In a typical spoiled-brat way, he threw a temper-tantrum–which, in his case, was attempting to seize one of his father’s castles. Robert failed, but he fomented several more rebellions over the years, causing such mayhem that his father, the formidable William the Conqueror, had to join forces with the king of France just to control him.

Eventually, thanks to the efforts of William’s wife and Robert’s mother, the two reached a truce. However, it is perhaps telling that when he died, William the Conqueror left the kingdom of England to the young teenager who dumped the chamberpot over his brother’s head–William Rufus–rather than to Robert (who received the duchy of Normandy instead).

But why did this happen? Was Robert a spoiled brat who overreacted in emotion, and were his two brothers just playing an innocent prank upon their brother?

We’ll probably never know for certain, but there is evidence pointing towards Robert already being dissatisfied with his role in his father’s kingdom and desiring more power, which William the Conqueror refused to give him. There is also a hint towards William Rufus and his nine-year-old brother, Henry, dumping the chamberpot over their brother’s head not only as a prank, but also to show how they supported their father’s refusal to grant Robert more power.

Whatever the cause, I’m sure William the Conqueror would probably agree that this ridiculous prank caused more trouble than it was worth–even if the dysfunctional family theatrics are amusing for us to look back upon.

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One of my favorite parts about this event, outside of the amusing realization that a simple prank started a rebellion, is that it helps us see that medieval people weren’t all that different from us. Even if most young people today don’t try to seize their daddy’s castle to show their displeasure.

What is an amusing historical anecdote you know about? What about dramatic family events? Is there a medieval historical event you’d like to see featured on the blog? Let me know in the comments below! ~ Kay Adelin