Jeffrey Hudson: A court dwarf like no other

 

Welcome to my latest blog post. Last week I discussed how witchcraft relates to deformity. This week I will be shifting my focus to the realm of court dwarfs. Perhaps the most famous example of a court dwarf was Jeffrey Hudson. Before I begin to tell his tale, I should probably clarify a few things regarding terminology. While I understand that the term dwarf can be offensive, I am using it because that is what the history books use. You can find out more about that in my post on disability as entertainment in Ancient Rome. You can also find out more about my attitude towards offensive language here.

The Court Dwarf

Jeffrey Hudson was born in 1619, in the county of Rutland, England. Fittingly, Rutland is the smallest county in England. Hudson’s family were poor, and they feared that Jeffrey’s height restriction would result in him being stuck in poverty forever. As strange as it may sound to us today, they were more than happy to release Jeffrey into the care of the Duke and Duchess of Buckingham. George Villiers, the Duke, was keen to gain the favour of the royal family and served Jeffrey in a pie to the queen!

I should probably rephrase that and explain it better. A pie was made 2 feet tall and 2 feet wide and presented to Henrietta Maria, the wife of Charles I at a 1626 banquet. This next part reminds me of that scene from 'Alien' as 7-year-old Jeffrey poked his hand through the crust and startled the queen. She then realised that it was a small child in a full suit of armour and was greatly entertained by the spectacle. She was delighted to hear that he was hers to keep and took him home with her.

I know it’s strange that he pretty much was her pet, but he and Henrietta Maria became close as he was always in her presence. Jeffrey Hudson was not the only unusual person in the royal court. There was also a Welshman called William Evans who was reportedly 7ft 6in tall. He had an act involving Jeffrey that was a real crowd pleaser. He pulled a loaf of bread out of one of his jacket pockets and from the other produced Jeffrey. I’m sure it was a sight to behold!

The English Civil War

In 1642 the English Civil War broke out between those who supported the crown, the Royalists, and those who opposed it, the Parliamentarians. Unsurprisingly, Henrietta Maria, being the king’s wife, was in favour of the crown. This also meant that Jeffrey Hudson had to support the king. I assume he would have anyway, given that he helped him escape poverty. Hmmm…. how to skip over the dull war bits and get back to Hudson’s role? Basically, it all became very nasty and in 1649 Charles I lost his head, literally. So that’s what happened in the war. I mean, much more happened but that doesn’t really concern me right now. While the war was going on (before the beheading), Hudson was not just sitting idly by. It is possible that he actually fought against the Parliamentarians at one point and was given the title ‘Captain of the horse’. It is clear that he was more than just a court dwarf.

All Downhill from Here

The tide of the war turned against the Royalists forcing Henrietta Maria and her entourage, including Hudson, to flee to France. It was here that Hudson’s life began to fall apart. Has anyone in history ever had a happily ever after, or is that just in fairy tales? Anyway, Jeffrey was fed up with people mocking him because of his height. This came to a head in October 1644, when he challenged Charles Crofts to a duel. Crofts was the brother of the queen’s master of horse, so he was deemed important. Jeffrey mounted his horse, gun in hand and charged towards Crofts who continued to mock him. It probably came as a shock then when the bullet Jeffrey fired lodged in Crofts’ brain, killing him instantly. So, killing someone usually doesn’t go down well, but matters were made worse for Hudson because duelling was illegal in France. Henrietta Maria had no option other than removing him from her court entirely.

Things only got worse from there. During his journey back to England he was captured by Barbary pirates and made a slave in North Africa for 25 years. Not much is known about this period of his life, but it can be assumed that he was harshly treated. We do know that he was back in Rutland when Henrietta Maria died in 1669. Phew! He escaped slavery, at least all his hardships were over. No! Apparently, there was still more to come. Upon returning to London, Hudson discovered that there was strong anti-Catholic sentiment and was thrown in jail after being recognised as the Catholic queen’s dwarf. He was eventually released and died forgotten around 1682.

It is fair to say that Jeffrey Hudson was not a typical court dwarf and his life had many ups and downs.

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Next time I will look at disability and kingship, or something along those lines.

 

                                                                The Wheelchair Historian

 

Further Reading

Dvorsky,George, ‘The true story of Sir Jeffery Hudson, the real-life Tyrion Lannister’, 10/01/13 12:50PM https://io9.gizmodo.com/the-true-story-of-sir-jeffery-hudson-the-real-life-tyr-1434495288 Accessed: 27^th February 2021.

Harris, Marea, ‘Sir Jeffrey Hudson – Swashbuckling Court Dwarf Served in a Pie to a King’, Aug 22, 2018 https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/08/22/sir-jeffrey-hudson/  Accessed: 27^th February 2021.

National Portrait Gallery, ‘Jeffrey Hudson (1619-1682), Dwarf and favourite of Queen Henrietta Maria’ https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp02305/jeffrey-hudson Accessed: 27^th February 2021.

Woolf, John, ‘The amazing life of Jeffrey Hudson, the queen’s dwarf’, Published: January 3, 2020 at 11:21 am https://www.historyextra.com/period/stuart/amazing-life-jeffrey-hudson-queen-henrietta-maria-dwarf/ Accessed: 27^th February 2021.

 

Matthias Buchinger: The Crippled Entertainer

 

Welcome to my latest post in my series on disability as entertainment. This week I will be looking at the German performer, Matthias Buchinger.

 

Who was he?

Matthias Buchinger (1674-1740), was a man of many talents. He was a performer, artist, musician, and calligrapher. Born in Ansbach, Germany, his parents tried to keep him hidden. The reason for this was that he was born without arms, legs, or thighs and was only 29 inches tall. It is believed he had phocomelia, which causes arms and legs to malform. Buchinger decided to head out onto the streets to perform, starting in Germany, but he became popular right across Europe. He travelled to many countries including France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Britain, and Ireland. He even performed for various royal families. He was a very active man, marrying a Dane as the first of his four wives. He is also known to have produced fourteen children by numerous women. Several dozen women claimed to have carried his child, but none of these claims can be substantiated. Buchinger even had a poem published in an English broadside entitled “A Poem on Mathew Buckinger: The Greatest German Living” in 1726. The Greatest German Living is a rather impressive compliment!

In 1714, George, Elector of Hanover, became George I of Great Britain. As the new king was German, Buchinger felt that he would fit in rather nicely at court and would gain the favour of George I. However, this was not the case. Instead, the king simply paid Buchinger twenty guineas to leave him alone. Buchinger was therefore left with no option but to continue displaying himself in public and headed to Ireland. He performed in Dublin, Belfast, and Cork. He died in Cork in 1739, but insisted that his friend from Dublin, Francis Smith, acquire his body to prevent it from being put on display as a curiosity.

 

What were his Abilities?

Ok. So, he was a disabled performer who was popular in many European countries, but what did his acts entail? What could a man with no hands or feet possibly do to captivate an audience? Well, it turns out that he could do quite a few things. He was quite good at magic for instance. In Temple Bar, Dublin, in 1720, he performed cup and ball tricks. A Trinity College student commented that ‘From what was but a lifeless ball before, at his command, a living bird will soar.’ I must confess that I know very little about magic. I assume that slight of hand tricks are difficult to pull off, even more so when you don’t actually have hands! I wonder when they were referring to Buchinger, was it slight of stump.

It was not just his arms that he was quick at moving. Another onlooker stated that ‘He twists himself about the floor with considerable agility, raising one side a little & turning on the other as on a pivot.’ It is clear that Buchinger could do amazing things with his body. He could also perform a trick involving nine pin bowling. He would place a glass of liquid on top of a skittle and knock the skittle over without spilling any of the liquid. He also could play several different musical instruments. If you think that is impressive, wait until you hear this. He was able to load and fire a gun. That’s right! The man without any hands was able to load and fire a lethal weapon. I think it is fair to say that his impairments did not hinder his performances.

The Lord's Prayer engraved in Buchinger's wig

 

Calligraphy

I have decided to leave Matthias Buchinger best skill till last. You see, he was amazing at calligraphy, particularly micrography. Possibly the best example of this is a self-portrait of his (shown above). The drawing itself is pretty good, but it is only when you look closely at his wig that you realise how skillful he truly was. The curls of the wig are actually words and when they are strung together, they make up seven complete psalms and the Lord’s Prayer. He used the same micrography skills while working on a portrait of Queen Anne, as well as a family tree. Nobody has been able to work out how he achieved this feat. Not only because he had just a thumb-like nob on one arm to work with, but witnesses state that he never used a magnifying glass in the process. This boggles the mind, as the writing is so small, most people require a magnifying glass to read it.

Matthias Buchinger came back into the public’s imagination in 2016, when the New York Metropolitan Museum ran the exhibition ‘Wordplay: Matthias Buchinger's Drawings from the Collection of Ricky Jay’. Ricky Jay was an excellent slight of hand magician and actor. He had spent time studying Buchinger and published the book Matthias Buchinger - 'The Greatest German Living' in 2016.

Matthias Buchinger was an incredibly talented man, regardless of his disability. If you want to learn more about him, I highly recommend the BBC podcast episode listed in the Further Reading below.

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Next week, I will start to delve into the world of the freak show.

 

                                                                                                The Wheelchair Historian

 

Further Reading

BBC, Disability: A New History, Episode 3: Freaks and Entrepreneurs, https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b01smkq3 Accessed: 16 October 2020.

Bunbury, Turtle, ‘MATTHIAS BUCHINGER (1674-1739) – THE GREATEST GERMAN LIVING’ http://www.turtlebunbury.com/history/history_heroes/hist_hero_buchinger.html Accessed: 16 October 2020.

Jay, Ricky, ‘Desperately Seeking Susan’, June 1, 2009 https://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/02/opinion/02jay.html Accessed: 16 October 2020.

Johnson, Ken, "Astounding Feats in Pen, Ink and Magnifying Glass" The New York Times (January 14, 2016). https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/15/arts/design/astounding-feats-in-pen-ink-and-magnifying-glass.html Accessed: 16 October 2020.

Library Ireland, ‘Matthew Buckinger’, from the Dublin Penny Journal, Volume 1, Number 44, April 27, 1833, https://www.libraryireland.com/articles/BuchingerDPJ1-44/index.php Accessed: 16 October 2020.

Mittman, Asa Simon, ‘Wordplay: Matthias Buchinger's Drawings from the Collection of Ricky Jay’ (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 8 January-11 April 2016). Exhibition publication Ricky Jay, Matthias Buchinger: ‘The Greatest German Living’. Los Angeles: Siglio, 2016.

Sadlier, Thomas Ulick: ‘An eighteenth century dwarf’. Journal of the County Kildare Archaeological Society, v.X (1922-8), p.49-60, http://archive.irishnewsarchive.com/olive/apa/KCL.Edu/#panel=document Accessed: 16 October 2020.

Schjeldahl, Peter, ‘Seeing and Believing: the mysteries of Matthias Buchinger’, The New Yorker, January 18, 2016 https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/01/25/seeing-and-believing-the-art-world-peter-schjhl Accessed: 16 October 2020.