Jeffrey Hudson the Court Dwarf of the English Queen Henrietta Maria of France

Posted3 months agoActive3 months ago

daverol

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18 comments

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The story of Jeffrey Hudson, a court dwarf of Queen Henrietta Maria of France, has sparked interest in the HN community, with discussions around his unusual life and the cultural context of court dwarves.

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01Story posted
Oct 7, 2025 at 1:51 PM EDT
3 months ago
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02First comment
Oct 13, 2025 at 5:23 AM EDT
6d after posting
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16 comments in 132-144h
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04Latest activity
Oct 14, 2025 at 2:07 PM EDT
3 months ago
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Discussion (18 comments)

Showing 18 comments

zeristor

3 months ago

3 replies

Yikes, he was the son of a bull baiter.

How have I not heard of bull baiting until now, ugly though it is.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bull-baiting

gerdesj

3 months ago

1 reply

Guess what bulldogs were bred for 8(

zeristor

3 months ago

I know, that and the Birmingham Bullring, I thought that was a cattle market.

CaptainOfCoit

3 months ago

1 reply

For some reason, humans stopped pitting dogs against bulls but are still to this day doing it ourselves in stadiums filled with people cheering while a bull is slowly bled to death. Very crazy it's still legal today in parts of the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullfighting

IAmBroom

3 months ago

1 reply

Happily, Mexico finally made it illegal!

CaptainOfCoit

3 months ago

Kind of, right? It seems it was banned in some states, "but resumed on 29 January 2024 after a series of legal challenges" according to Wikipedia. Unless I'm getting the order of events incorrect.

citruspi

3 months ago

TIL about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear-baiting as well

Apparently still practiced (although illegal) in Pakistan and was occurring in the United States as recently as last decade

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion-baiting too

golem14

3 months ago

1 reply

I love the movie "Time Bandits", they did a great job casting the dwarves there.

I'm still thrilled Sean Connery joined the cast and that George Harrison wrote part of the score (Dream away).

RIP, Randall, Fidgit, Strutter, Wally and Vermin!

Many happy returns, Og!

n1b0m

3 months ago

1 reply

One of my favourite films of all time.

Robin Hood: And you're a robber too. How long have you been a robber?

Strutter: Four foot one.

Robin Hood: Good lord! Jolly good. Four foot one? Well that-that-that is-is- a long time, isn't it?

golem14

3 months ago

That is really long indeed. But John Cleese as Centurion teaching Brian how to graffiti "Romans go home" on the wall must remain my all time favorite.

CENTURION: What's this, then? 'Romanes Eunt Domus'? 'People called Romanes they go the house'?

BRIAN: It-- it says, 'Romans, go home'.

CENTURION: No, it doesn't. What's Latin for 'Roman'? Come on!

BRIAN: Aah!

CENTURION: Come on!

BRIAN: 'R-- Romanus'?

CENTURION: Goes like...?

BRIAN: 'Annus'?

CENTURION: Vocative plural of 'annus' is...?

BRIAN: Eh. 'Anni'?

CENTURION: 'Romani'. 'Eunt'? What is 'eunt'?

BRIAN: 'Go'. Let--

CENTURION: Conjugate the verb 'to go'.

BRIAN: Uh. 'Ire'. Uh, 'eo'. 'Is'. 'It'. 'Imus'. 'Itis'. 'Eunt'.

CENTURION: So 'eunt' is...?

BRIAN: Ah, huh, third person plural, uh, present indicative. Uh, 'they go'.

CENTURION: But 'Romans, go home' is an order, so you must use the...?

BRIAN: The... imperative!

CENTURION: Which is...?

BRIAN: Umm! Oh. Oh. Um, 'i'. 'I'!

CENTURION: How many Romans?

BRIAN: Ah! 'I'-- Plural. Plural. 'Ite'. 'Ite'.

CENTURION: 'Ite'.

BRIAN: Ah. Eh.

CENTURION: 'Domus'?

BRIAN: Eh.

CENTURION: Nominative?

BRIAN: Oh.

CENTURION: 'Go home'? This is motion towards. Isn't it, boy?

BRIAN: Ah. Ah, dative, sir! Ahh! No, not dative! Not the dative, sir! No! Ah! Oh, the... accusative! Accusative! Ah! 'Domum', sir! 'Ad domum'! Ah! Oooh! Ah!

CENTURION: Except that 'domus' takes the...?

BRIAN: The locative, sir!

CENTURION: Which is...?!

BRIAN: 'Domum'.

CENTURION: 'Domum'.

BRIAN: Aaah! Ah.

CENTURION: 'Um'. Understand?

BRIAN: Yes, sir.

CENTURION: Now, write it out a hundred times.

BRIAN: Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. Hail Caesar, sir.

CENTURION: Hail Caesar. If it's not done by sunrise, I'll cut your balls off.

tetris11

3 months ago

2 replies

> Various theories existed for his size, including that his mother choked on a gherkin while pregnant, but he probably had a growth hormone deficiency caused by a pituitary gland disorder.

> No details of his captivity were recorded except that he claimed to have grown to 45 inches (110 centimetres) during this time, doubling his height after 30 years of age,[9] which he attributed to the hardships he had suffered.

Hormones are amazing, I wonder if there's any literature on what triggered his later growth

mechanicum

3 months ago

1 reply

I mean, 25 years and 27 inches later, and only reappearing after the queen Hudson served had died, with no tale of exactly where he’d been or how he got back… the cynical explanation would be that he was simply a different man claiming to be Hudson in the hope of a handout from the restored monarchy.

exasperaited

3 months ago

That too. This sort of stuff happened a lot; Perkin Warbeck and Lambert Simnel etc.

exasperaited

3 months ago

While it's possible it was something like finally getting proper nutrition or that something delayed puberty, or some random circumstance that caused his pituitary to start working again, like one too many hilaaaaarious slaps on the head, it's probably more likely the historical record was simply inaccurate/falsified/mythologised, and he reached his full height more or less at adulthood. After all, there were likely no really unimpeachable records of his earlier height.

dimal

3 months ago

2 replies

> Hudson had no interest in resuming his role of pet or clown and let it be known he would suffer no more jokes or insults. There is no record of the precise offence offered, but in October 1644, Hudson challenged the brother of William Crofts to a duel. Crofts arrived at the duel brandishing a large water squirt, but his flippancy would lead to his death, as Hudson fatally shot him in the forehead.

Savage!

exasperaited

3 months ago

Rules are rules, I guess.

shermantanktop

3 months ago

At 18” tall I wondered what type of pistol he would have used. AFAIK 17th c pistols were still sizable and unwieldy.

sambeau

3 months ago

The Oakham brewery has a rather fine beer named after him:

https://www.oakhamales.com/product/jhb/

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