Lord of Misrule
4
MENTIONS
3
EPISODES
3
PODCASTS
Search complete. 4 mentions across 3 episodes found for "Lord of Misrule".
Oct 15, 2026
speaker_0NARRATOR
These customs turned the normal order upside down, giving the powerless a brief taste of authority and allowing everyone to laugh at the pretensions of the Great.
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At the Crane, the custom has been to elect a Lady of Misrule each Christmas, who presides over the house's revels and has the right to order everyone about for a night.
speaker_0NARRATOR
Tonight, Mother Harrow has decided to hold one last election, out of season, to give the women something to laugh about.
speaker_0NARRATOR
The candidates are nominated with great ceremony.
speaker_0NARRATOR
Nobody knows whether they will keep the promise.
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But for one night, the most powerless people in the house are the most powerful, and the world has been turned upside down.
speaker_0NARRATOR
Late in the evening, as the candles burn down, the two ladies of Misrule issue one final decree.
speaker_0NARRATOR
Everyone in the house, they announce, must name one thing they will remember about the crane.
David GreaggGUEST
Sometimes you need to take the corks out and let the excess vapors out.
David GreaggGUEST
So, um, there was a great deal of tolerance for some very bizarre behavior, which included, um, the parishioners would elect a bishop, who in this case is the, uh, teenage sacristan, who, uh, would become the Lord of Misrule.
David GreaggGUEST
And Father William, who's the p- parish priest of East Wittering, I love East Wittering, it's an actual place in Sussex, and I went there recently.
David GreaggGUEST
It's changed a lot since the 15th century.
Bruce KatchuckNARRATOR
This recording is in the public domain.
Bruce KatchuckNARRATOR
The Abbot of Unreason by Elizabeth Stoddard, read for LibriVox.org.
Bruce KatchuckNARRATOR
I looked over the balustrade— The twilight had come— And saw the pretty waiting-maid Kiss Roland, the page.
Bruce KatchuckNARRATOR
My lady heard the wolf-dog's chain Clank on the floor; Sly Roland caught it up again, And whistled a song.