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The Fart That Killed 10,000 People, and Other Weird Moments From History

Khalid Elhassan July 18, 2020 34 min

Wheel - Panjandrum — The Great Panjandrum. War History Online

36. A Courtier’s Embarrassing Fart-Pas

Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford. National Portrait Gallery, London

The impact of great farts throughout history has not been limited to weird and disproportionate consequences such as the triggering of widespread mayhem, death, and destruction. They have also wrecked political careers and destroyed social standings. A prime example of that can be seen in the social faux pas, or more like fart pas, of Elizabethan era aristocrat Edward de Vere, 17^th Earl of Oxford.

Reportedly, while making a deep bow to show his respect and obeisance to Queen Elizabeth I, this Earl of Oxford exploded in a huge fart. He felt so embarrassed and ashamed that he left the country for seven years. When he finally came back home, the queen’s first words upon his return to court were: “My lord, I had forgot the fart!“

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.