The Last Knight

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Welcome to Aaron Menke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim and Mild.

Our world is full of the unexplainable.

And if history is an open book, All of these amazing tales are right there on display, just waiting for us to explore.

Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.

The ground shook as the column of tanks rumbled along the country road, making for the Czech border.

It was 1938 and Hitler had just signed a treaty claiming the Sudetenland, a region of Czechoslovakia, for himself.

Now German troops were advancing on the border.

Suddenly, the tanks screeched to a a halt.

The marching German soldiers stopped in their tracks.

Something was on the road.

The Germans couldn't believe it.

This was 1938, not the Middle Ages, and yet standing between them and the Sudetenland was an armor-clad, sword-wielding knight.

Not much is known about the early life of Joseph Menchik, the last knight of Czechoslovakia.

It's not clear where he was born or what his family was like.

A local newspaper described him as a town councillor with a taste for rum, anchovies, and adventure.

But the most definitive thing that we know about Josef is that he had a passion for the medieval.

The first reliable records about him come from property deeds when he bought a run-down 13th century Gothic castle in the Czech town of Dubric in 1911.

The castle had lived many lives acting as grain storage and a school before it was damaged by a fire.

but Joseph quickly set to bringing it back to its former glory.

He personally renovated the castle, fixing its issues and filling it with antiques from the High Middle Ages period.

The castle became a kind of museum, and Joseph delighted in giving tours to the curious locals.

He lived as someone in the Middle Ages would, rejecting electricity and cars in favor of torchlights and horses.

He also began appearing at fairs and festivals in his prized possession, a full suit of medieval armor from France.

Joseph's passion for the Middle Ages didn't just extend to appearances.

He truly wanted to live like a knight, following a chivalric code of generosity, bravery, courtesy, and respect for tradition.

He called himself the Last Knight and was known for his kindness and service to people in town.

He even got his wife and two children in on the act, dressing them in period clothing as well.

For years, Joseph was the town eccentric, giving tours to school groups and riding to town on his horse.

But in the late 1930s, he went from local kook to local champion.

In 1938, Nazi Germany started expanding into other countries.

It often used cultural ties to justify taking over territory.

For example, when annexing Austria in March of 1938, Germany claimed that it was a reunification of German-speaking peoples.

Wary of just having gone through the incredibly bloody World War I just 20 years earlier, many European countries felt that it was better to just give Hitler what he wanted to avoid another conflict.

And so, as we discussed at the beginning, in September of 1938, the Nazis turned their eyes toward the Sudetenland, which were regions on the German-Czech border that were home to many German-speaking people.

Like with Austria, Hitler argued that these people and their land belonged to Germany.

Czechoslovakia, on the other hand, wanted to maintain its independence.

They feared that once Germany took over the Sudetenland, they wouldn't stop until they occupied the whole country.

When England, France, and Italy signed an agreement giving the Sudetenland to Germany, the Czechs felt betrayed.

And as the tanks rolled over the Czech border, the people mostly decided to stay in their houses and just watch.

It was clear no other countries would come to their aid if they tried to fight.

Josef, however, didn't see things that way.

According to his chivalric code, he had to defend his people, even if it was a losing battle.

So that day in October of 1938, when the Germans marched on the border, he rode out in full armor to meet them.

The tanks and the soldiers did actually stop for a few moments, in shock at seeing what looked like something out of Don Quixote.

But soon enough, they continued forward, murmuring among themselves that this errant knight must be crazy.

Joseph was forced to step aside.

It's not clear what he did during the rest of the war and during his country's occupation.

It's likely he spent much of his time inside his castle, hoping for the day the Germans left.

And finally, in May of 1945, his wish was granted as the Allies declared victory.

Joseph's time in his free country was short-lived though, as he died just a few months later in November of 1945.

Joseph Menchik may have brought a sword to a gunfight, but when it came to protecting his people and his country, he had the heart of a true knight.

There's nothing like sinking into luxury.

At washablesofas.com, you'll find the Anibay sofa, which combines ultimate comfort comfort and design at an affordable price.

And get this, it's the only sofa that's fully machine washable from top to bottom, starting at only $699.

The stain-resistant performance fabric slip covers and cloud-like frame duvet can go straight into your wash.

Perfect for anyone with kids, pets, or anyone who loves an easy-to-clean, spotless sofa.

With a modular design and changeable slip covers, you can customize your sofa to fit any space and style.

Whether you need a single chair, love seat, or a luxuriously large sectional, Anibay has you covered.

Visit washablesofas.com to upgrade your home.

Right now, you can shop up to 60% off store-wide with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Shop now at washable sofas.com.

Add a little

to your life.

Offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply.

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Attics are inherently mysterious places.

They accumulate artifacts over a lifetime, sometimes several lifetimes.

Like a museum, every object there has a story, sometimes multiple stories.

In 2008, Jacques Bellinger, a retired French tax collector, found something unexpected in the attic of a house he bought in 1953, an ancient, mummified skull.

This find became international news soon after because it wasn't just any skull.

It was one that had been missing for generations, the lost skull of King Henry IV.

The French are somewhat infamous for not liking their kings, and the history of Paris is littered with headless nobility.

However, Henry IV of France was not beheaded in his lifetime.

Unlike the victims of the guillotine, Henry was beloved by the majority of his subjects, garnering the nickname Good King Henry, or Henry the Great.

During his reign, which lasted from 1589 to 1610, he championed reforms that would benefit the poorest peasants.

His greatest accomplishment was signing an edict that would grant equal citizenship rights to French Protestants who had been second-class citizens underneath the Catholics, who practiced the state religion.

Known as the Edict of Nantes, it would prevent senseless religious bloodshed and earn him his popularity as a progressive king.

Unfortunately, it would also prove to be his doom.

It's said that he weathered many assassination attempts from Catholic extremists in the decade that followed the Edict of Nantes.

None of these would prove successful until May 14th of 1610, that is.

On that day, good King Henry was traveling in his coach along a street in Paris going to visit an ailing friend.

The carriage came to a stop due to traffic and almost instantly a man leapt into the coach and stabbed Henry to death.

As his assassin was executed, Henry himself would be buried in the royal chapel at Saint-Denis, where his body lay peacefully for over 100 years.

But then, during the French Revolution, an angry mob stormed Saint-Denis.

In an anti-royal fervor, they disinterred the French kings and threw them into a mass grave.

At some point in the chaos, Henry's head was cut off and saved from burial.

It is at this point that the location of the royal skull becomes something of an urban legend of its own.

A photographer allegedly bought it at auction in 1919 for just three francs.

Not bad for one of the most sought-after relics in French history, if I do say so myself.

The man spent much of his later years attempting to gain recognition for this find, but no one believed him.

He even offered it to the Louvre in the 1940s, but the offer was declined.

By the time it wound up in Bellinger's attic, the head had been traveling from private owner to owner for over 200 years, and for such an ancient body part, it was in remarkable condition, wrapped in an old towel.

His nose was still intact, although visibly broken, and several mustache hairs were still preserved.

And these would allow scientists to test the head's DNA in an effort to determine its authenticity.

Unfortunately, due to the age of the samples, results were inconclusive, spurring a debate about whose head this actually was.

However, digital facial reconstruction and forensic analysis seems to point to this being the head of Henry the Great.

The head was returned to the Duke of Anjou, a descendant of the Bourbon line of French monarchs.

He expressed his desire to reinter the head at Saint-Denis, although it's unclear if this burial has been carried out.

Some will say that the head still rests within a bank vault in Paris, waiting for the day that it can rejoin its body.

At the end of the journey, which took the good King Henry from a mostly successful reign all the way to a scientific debate in the 21st century, what are we left to conclude?

That even being a good king is no guarantee that your remains will be untouched.

That body parts acquire a mystique not unlike Catholic saints.

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown, they say.

So it's perhaps worth noting that this saying is taken from a play by Shakespeare.

Which play, you might ask?

Henry IV, of course.

I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities.

Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts or learn more about the show by visiting CuriositiesPodcast.com.

The show was created by me, Aaron Mankey, in partnership with How Stuff Works.

I make another award-winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show.

And you can learn all about it over at theworldoflore.com.

And until next time, stay curious.

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