How ‘Walk of Shame’ pushed a woman to kill a priest: Shocking details emerge in 700-year-old murder case

During a recent study, a nearly 700-year-old murder case was reopened. And, researchers found shocking details.

In 1337, a priest named John Forde was stabbed to death near a church by a group of men in London. Only one attacker was jailed. A powerful woman named Ela Fitzpayne, who may have planned the murder, was never punished.

Medieval England was violent. In Oxford, murder rates reached 60–75 deaths per 1 lakh, nearly 50 times today’s average. Records show students fighting with swords and slings while tavern brawls turned into street battles.

New research shows Forde was once her lover and possibly part of her gang that robbed a French priory. After Forde betrayed her, the Archbishop of Canterbury accused Fitzpayne of serial adultery "with knights and others, single and married, and even with clerics in holy orders", according to CNN.

Fitzpayne was punished with a “Walk of Shame” by the Church. She was asked to walk barefoot in Salisbury Cathedral carrying a heavy candle evey fall for seven years.

She was also asked to donate large sums of money to the poor. She was not allowed to wear gold or precious gems.

While she did not care much about other punishments, experts think her public shame may have pushed her toward revenge. Years later, she likely took revenge by having Forde killed.

New findings about John Forde’s murder in 14th-century London reveal how public killings were sometimes used to show power. The case is part of the Medieval Murder Maps project by Cambridge University.

This project, led by Professor Manuel Eisner, translates old Latin records written by coroners. The records list details of suspicious deaths after jury discussions.

In Forde’s case, records say Fitzpayne convinced four men, her brother, two servants and a chaplain, to murder Forde. As the chaplain distracted him on the street, the others attacked.

Forde’s throat was slit and he was stabbed. Only one attacker, servant Hugh Colne, was jailed.

They broke gates, damaged buildings and stole livestock including sheep, pigs, and oxen. Thereafter, they held those for ransom. Eisner was shocked to find Forde’s name in a case of cattle theft linked to rising tensions with France.