Noblewoman may have ordered brazen murder of priest outside St Paul’s in 1337

<p>Historian mapping medieval murders has evidence John Ford’s stabbing was revenge hit by impenitent ex-lover</p><p>Almost 700 years ago, in a busy London street in the shadow of St Paul’s Cathedral, a priest called John Ford was <a href="https://medievalmurdermap.co.uk/maps/london/priest-murdered-after-long-standing-dispute/">brazenly stabbed to death</a> in a crime notable both for its public nature and its ferocity.</p><p>It was early evening, just after vespers on 4 May 1337, and the street in Westcheap would have been bustling with passersby. In full view of them all, one man sliced Ford’s throat with an anelace, a foot-long dagger, while two others used long knives to stab him in the belly. Was someone trying to make a very public example of the victim?</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/jun/06/noblewoman-ela-fitzpayne-brazen-priest-murder-st-pauls-1337">Continue reading...</a>