I agree with you...perhaps into her nineties, which, as you point out, would have been pretty astounding for the time and it's easy to see how some people might want to sensationalise her age a bit more.
Speaking of longevity, my paternal great grandfather was 109 and his wife was 106. They died in the mountains of northern Greece within a month of each other! When I first visited this village in 1972 I saw 2 sisters close to 100 years of age up in the branches of the fruit trees throwing fruit down to the children below (no ladders!) A visit to the graveyard indicated that these ages were about average for these villagers…
See the music video for "Return to Innocence" by Enigma, don't get all teary eyed though, like me. Looks like rural Greece. I want to visit Greece before I die.
@@nicolemascarenas7892felt the same way, but then got to thinking how different trees are, and some might be easy to climb for a person with the right reach, which might make it hard for children but a walk in the park for grown ups. But that might be my envy as I am sadly feeling "past my tree climbing days" at 55 already.
Her having a new set of teeth is the first big clue that someone else assumed her identity…you’d think that would’ve been the first thing her contemporaries pointed out.
I had a cousin who got in two sets of teeth as well so this actually made me think it was more believable as it is improbable to the point of unbelievable so why include that bit at all. My cousin got two sets of baby teeth tho not adult teeth.
@@Facetiously.Esoteric History Guy, who is a student of History, was quoting Samuel Clemmons (a/k/a Mark Twain). Thanks for pointing that out, as Mr. Twain is no longer with us, and thus cannot defend his sagacity and wit on TH-cam.
I believe she was at least 100- 110. On another note… There’s a documentary about how although Richard III had scoliosis, he would have looked normal to the naked eye while fully clothed and would have been able bodied enough to fight in battles and demonstrate horsemanship with the proper training. This particular documentary used what was considered a “body double.” It was very interesting. I highly recommend it.
I've actually seen that documentary I think (assuming we're talking about the same one - they used a modern-day man who has a similar case of scoliosis and had him try riding with armour on). It was very good.
The ‘Old Countess’ daughter shared the name of Katherine, so was it possible some jumbling of the names led to the belief that the senior Katherine lived for longer than she did?
I expect she hit 100 before she died, which would have been very extraordinary. Also it’s possible her daughter was confused with her - this has been shown to have happened in other cases of supposed super longevity
Similar legends sprung up in New Orleans about the "Voodoo Queen", Marie Laveau - that she was immortal or had, at least, lived until an advanced age. In reality, one of her daughters, who did resemble her physically, was also named Marie and was a voodoo priestess, so the two were often mistakenly thought to be the same person. Given that birth records in the 15th and 16th centuries were sketchy at best, especially for the birth of girls, is it possible that the Countess had a daughter who had the same name and essentially assumed her identity, or people assumed, like with Laveau and her daughter, that they were the same person?
I know I’m very late to the party, but I’ve just been going through all the different playlists here and decided this morning to go through the Irish History videos, and had to stop and listen again as I live in Frederick, Maryland and I’ve never heard of the person mentioned! I will have to look him up now!
I think you did an excellent job of deducing her real age. Although it would have been rare for someone to live that long in the time before modern medicine it was certainly possible. I remember once researching the genealogy of the American film actor, Jimmy Stewart 1908-1997. He lived to age 89. His father lived to be 89, his grandfather 92, his great grandfather 84 and his great-great grandmother born in 1749 lived to be 86 or 87. These ages don’t seem that incredible today but I think they were pretty unusual for the time period.
my father was born in 1902 and died in 1987 - age 85. my mother was born between 1909 and 1910 and crossed in 1999 about age 99. i expect to live longer than either of my parents.
I am reminded of 2 stories about extremely old women which I heard or read thus year. The first was the legend of the so-called "Voodoo Queen of New Orleans". It has been confirmed in recent years that her daughter took over her identity when she died to expand the legend of her powers. But your story about the rents staying unchanged while she lived reminded me of the story of an allegedly very old French woman, who's daughter and son-in-law buried her body as her daughter so they could continue to live at the same rent in her Paris apartment.
Agreed, I think it was a clever trick with a relative and because our ancestors were never able to put the same date down on consecutive census forms. I know this is before census but just an illustration of how exaggeration is accepted or the stories old people tell especially with dementia?!
I agree with people saying her daughter could have been mistaken for her. A great age, the same name and a lack of portraits (or a strong family resemblance) would make it an understandable mistake, and not even necessarily a deliberate deception. The idea she lived to around 90 makes a lot of sense to me though, I believe Lettice Knollys lived to a similar age? Not impossible, even for Tudor people.
Reminds me of a character in a Thomas Hardy book, who worked one place during his summers and another place during his winters. He calculated his age counting his summers separately to his winters, thereby adding probably 40 extra years to his true age.
As a physician of nearly 40 years (& not 140), the regeneration of dentition is the most amusing & implausible. Whilst I am an avid fan of the historical narrative, therefore, the fact that it is history, & so written (for the most part) by contemporaries of the time in question, it is equally plausible that for posterity's sake, embellishment would (naturally) be foremost in the minds of the reporters of the time - in particular, the fantastical, anecdotal. Given the period this woman lived, I'd make an educated guess that she lived no more than eighty, perhaps eighty five. An unusual presentation, thank you :)
Honestly I think that by renewing her teeth, they meant having some kind of denture made, and not actually having grown new teeth and it just got misinterpreted in the future.
Fascinating lady, I really love your narration. I don't believe she made it to 142 but I COULD see late 90ties and then the story was padded to sound even more extraordinary. Would love to see a Netflix series on HER instead of the millionth series on Henry VIII and his poor wives.
Our children are still struggling with the fact that I didn’t have an iPhone or iPad growing up…..I thought that was bad, until I read that your children think you lived BEFORE dinosaurs, Not even AT THE TIME of dinosaurs when you could have told them you used to walk your pet baby stegosaurus around the block on a leash. 😂Given it was at least 65 million years AFTER dinosaurs that humans appeared….I’m desperate to know where you found the fountain of youth and does longevity run in your family. Peace out for a looong and happy life. 👍🏻😉
Exceedingly toothsome analysis.. Kudos I've been intrigued about Catherine since seeing her portrait in an exhibition in the Crawford Gallery in Cork several years ago. Thoroughly stimulating and intelligent presentation.. Keep up the good work.. Thank you 🙂👌
Haha, I hadn't watched this back in a while, so I had to go into the video to see what you meant, but you're so right. Those are enormous pants/trousers. Many thanks for watching and commenting (and giving me a smile!)
I concur with the previous comments that the is is possible that a daughter, granddaughter, or close friend (intimate partner perhaps) assumed her identity to exploit her endowment.
I'd wager she was about a hundred years old. It would seem like forever in a time people died at the age of 50. I imagine that over the course of the Stuart era people kept changing her birth and death date by a few years until she went from a long lived woman to a near mythical figure
Since her daughter was also Catherine, and would have also been elderly if her mother died in her 80s or 90s, they could have been mistaken for the same woman if the daughter was also still living.
My paternal family lived into their 80's. My paternal grandparents both lived into their eighties. My father just passed this year in February at 87. Up until a week before he died, he walked at least 5 miles a day for the last 17 years of his life. Before then he worked as a stone Mason from the age 25 to 70, and then he retired. He still had most of his hair although thinner on top, very little gray, and in no way seemed frail. He had no allergies even to poison ivy, and I don't ever remember him being sick. Though he told me he caught whooping cough from me when I was a baby. He very rarely took any medications. He died in his sleep from heart arrethmia.
first i just wanna say, i’m sorry for your lost and second my grandparents and my grandpas siblings were the same, my grandma died before her 90s because of malpractice but she most likely would of lived well into her 90s. one of my great uncles lived to 100, almost 101.
I had a relative that died at 97 after he mowed his lawn. His fourth wife was 40! His other wives died. Between 'real' children and 'step' children he supported 43 children!
My mother is half-Irish, i.e., her mother was Irish and her father was Norwegian, both immigrant families in Wisconsin. My mother's Irish grandfather came from County Cork, settled in Marquette County, Wisconsin, and served in the Civil War 1861-1863, and 1863-1865. I have a photo of my mother sitting on her grandfather's lap in the early 1920's. My mother will be103 next month.
Church records in Ireland? I would be surprised if those are much more than a rare few that survived. Catholic church in Ireland wasn't exactly well-loved by the English Government.
That hoax theory sounds like when cats inherit a house and guardians are appointed to stay there for as long as the cat lives and the cat keeps mysteriously changing colour
Could you maybe do a video on Elizabeth Bathory? There is so much confusion about her, she is demonized possibly. I find it hard to believe she actually was evil like they say she was. I would love to learn more about the real person. Thanks for the fantastic video's so far. I love all of them.
I too believe Elizabeth was heavily demonized by her enemies. I think she was certain harsh and not above getting her hands dirty, but nothing like the devil worshipper that most stories make her out to be.
Reminds me of a man who used his grandfather's baptism records. They had the same name so it's speculated that he didn't make these claims himself until anyone in his life who could argue it was dead. It was over two centuries ago so it seemed legit and he was a local celebrity.
This was such a cool deep-dive! Thanks for taking the time! As much as my knee-jerk reaction is to be incredulous that people genuinely believed the legends of her 140+ yr age for centuries, I think of how we treat "reality tv" in the modern age and find it hard to judge 😅 We all know, in theory, how contrived reality tv story-lines are...but it doesn't stop people from rushing to snap judgments and gossiping about the limited personalities we are shown, all over social media; being completely serious about it haha. People love a tantalizing story and we all have heard things that we know, deep down, are highly implausible, but that we want to believe is true anyway! In this, we never change 😉
Richard III had scoliosis but this can be concealed by well made clothes. So the statement about him being well made is highly probable, as it wouldn't likely have been visible.
Indeed. When they found his skeleton, they could confirm the scoliosis, and that it wouldve been clearly noticeable when naked, but would be concealed, when clothed. Which also confirmed the many contemporary accounts of Richard being a fierce and capable warrior, meaning that the scoliosis would not have hampered his physical fitness. Even his enemies with their many character assassinations after his death never questioned his prowess in battle, nor that he died on the battlefield in fierce combat, also confirmed by the clear marks of battle wounds on his skeleton.
Sounds like the original lady had a daughter who looked very much like her and took over at some stage to continue getting the jointure. ;) (And maybe even a granddaughter…)
I’m guessing that she probably lived past the age of 100 by at least a few years for sure. Some of my French relatives and some of my other ancestors lived past the age of 100 so who knows.
It was possible for a girl to be married at the age of 12 in the 15th century. Margaret Beaufort was married to her Tudor husband at that age and gave birth to the future Edward VII about a year or so later. Even so, 140 would be very old for anyone living during the past 4,000 years.
Fascinating. I think what you said about rents not being increased until the countess died could have something to do with it. There are a few reports of people living into their 80’s , possibly a couple of 90’s but these are few and far between. She had very good genes 🧬 if she did. I wonder what she would have thought about the fact that she’s still being talked about today. Many are just relegated to obscurity She’s famous. Thank you 🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺
I know. I think she must have had great DNA too. I'm sure she'd be amazed, but flattered that people are still talking about her. Thanks for watching. I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
"Chinese whispers" for everyone else who was as confused as I was is "Broken telephone". I feel like at some point saying a confused conversation is just Chinese whispers might have become less desirable.
Also as it was very rare to have accurate portraits painted, and very few individuals would ever have access to even those images, so it would be relatively easy to present yourself as an other person, there’s nothing compare to. If a well presented old lady is introduced to strangers as the Countess, they can only presume it must be her. And if she pretends to be hard of hearing, abit forgetful and slightly eccentric, she could get away with just about any story! 🤔 I thought maybe “she had all her teeth renewed” must just mean ‘she had new false teeth’… but apparently false teeth where only invented in Europe from the 1700s. 🦷🦷🦷🦷🦷
6:38 "incontinentlie" - or incontinently: Immediately, without delay. Love this story! I'd never heard of her. She was probably pretty dang ancient for the time period, but 162? Nope! Sounds like a case of chinese whispers.
Ah, thank you. :-) I was hoping someone would know the answer to that one. It is a great story, isn't it? I wasn't sure anyone would want to watch a video on her, as, like you say, she's not well known, but I liked the tale so much I wanted to tell it.
@@HistoryCalling Just found your channel today and having a little binge. Really enjoying it! So well researched! Just finished watching the one on the portraits of Catherine Howard and loved the clear discussion and comparisons of portraits.
My grandma’s grandma’s grandfather lived to 105. He was born in Devon in 1797 and died in Cardiff in 1902. His daughter died at 91. There’s a newspaper article about him in the Cardiff Times, he remembered the jubilee of George III, he was a waiter at the banquet celebrating Waterloo, and reportedly drank his entire life and in his later life was granted one ounce of tobacco a week by the workhouse he ended up in. His parents both lived relatively long for working class blacksmiths in rural Devon, his father was born in 1770 and died age 73, and his mother was born in 1775 and died age 83
Oo! I want to be "wild Irish!" I could see a very old person pretending to be even older for some local notoriety, or for them to have forgotten so local rumor made a elderly person crazy-old, especially if there were a lot of Katherine Fitzgeralds. But yeah, 91 is still pretty impressive and in that era? good heavens.
12:04 average life expectancy wouldn’t be accurate though, because it includes infant, baby, toodler, kids, and teens too, a lot of ppl did not make it past their teen years, hell A LOT died soon after birth or before their 7th birthday so it’s very well there were many irish nobles you lived well beyond 55.
A copyright strike for showing a photo of a 100s years old painting hanging in a museum??? That funny. Leonardo Da Vinci's descendants would be rulers of the entire world off the Mona Lisa's copyrights lawsuits alone
probably the owners of the portrait hold a copyright, we have some old portraits we don't allow people to photograph for copyright reasons in the museum i work in. I don't understand how that works, but I am no lawyer.
Could happen I want to high school with a girl who was on her third set of teeth she lost baby teeth then lost what was suppose to be adult teeth and got another set of adult teeth.
The timeline of 83 years makes the most sense. It’s likely that the exaggeration of her age was a popular sensationalism used to sell copy. Like today, fantastical tales would make for good story telling and would as likely make for word-of-mouth propagation.
I saw that documentary, the man who played his body double was called ( Ithink) was Dominic Smee. He was so nice and managed to do everything anyone could do, I can't remember what it was called, I'm sorry.
I’ve given this some thought, and I find it very odd that no one seems to have written anything of her 140-year life, other than her longevity and her teeth. If I knew of a person who had experienced things this woman had over so many generations, I would, at the very least, seek her out to hear all she might share. I think, perhaps the Countess of Desmond probably consisted of a string of related women, or women who were given the same title as the first Countess of Desmond. Perhaps in reality, she lived 60 or 70-years (which would still be rather impressive at the time), and carried stories of her ancestors or predecessors and, over the ages, all of it became shuffled together and she became a 140-year old woman. It’s a very interesting story, but I find it difficult to believe. Perhaps if they could examine her remains, science might be able to estimate how old she actually was around the time of her death. But then, we all love to embrace our legends.
I had read years ago where a scientific study claimed the human body was biologically structured to maintain a healthy life span of 120 years. The same study was able to establish the natural life spans of many species, both animal and plant. Years ago life expectancy was cut short due to the rapid spreading of disease and unnatural aging caused by hard laboring. No other animal works any harder than the minimum necessary for survival. Human life span today is shortened due to an environment we ourselves developed in addition to a diet of chemically enhanced food products. Consume only nature's healthy foods, lay about refusing to labor any more than necessary, sleep often, avoid anything that could causes stress and you too could live to be 120. Oh yeah another key to living the full 120, don't breathe our contaminated air.
My great grandmother 5 times, back was born 1789, she died 1889, and three months, she was full blooded Cherokee native from Oklahoma. On my father's side they all lived into their 90's, my dad who will be 83, has prostate cancer, and he's doing good so far, but I don't think he'll make it to 90, but who knows. But I agree she lived long but not 140.
Interesting story. I think this video could have benefited from a timeline, so you could have marked every date you said because it really got a bit confusing with all the numbers, especially when I tried to keep track of how old she would have been in which account^^'
@@HistoryCalling Yes, the timeline you used later was very helpful, I just got very confused in the beginning when you read out all those sources. I can't recall which king was from when to when and had no idea about the timespans and how that changed with each source. A bit like: source A said 16xx and source b said the reign of Edward and I was like "uhm, when?" xD I'm not English and never had the kings and their times in school either^^' Still a really good video, especially the explanations on why people were more likely to believe someone could have lived for so long
Could you do a video about the woman you mentioned that did in fact live 120 something years? I think that would be a great video and very interesting!! And BTW I do think your thoughts that the Countess was around 90 years old is correct 👌☺️
Ah, the French lady. It's tricky to get copyright free images of someone who lived as recently as her I'm afraid (that's why I showed such an old photo of her). That might make a video hard to do. I don't think she had a particularly notable life in any case. Quite normal, like most of the rest of us, until she started breaking all the age records :-)
There's people living to 120 today, who is to say nobody can live for 140 years, there is thousands of written record of people living to over 150 years throughout history. Who are we to say they're all wrong?
The regrowth of her teeth implies perfect rejuvenation and telomer protection of her DNA, perfect repair of any genetic damage. Without that misfortune in the cherry tree, she would have lived for many centuries. A mutant, unique, one in 10 Bil. chance. One born every century…….one is out there….right now my dear 😄😉
Yes, that would definitely be a factor, though even if you averaged the age at death for people who survived past their 5th birthdays (to remove the very high infant mortality) I don't think it would be anywhere near as good as it is today. It was certainly a challenging time to be alive. Thanks for watching and commenting.
It wouldn’t have been far off though. 50 or 60 wouldn’t have been considered ‘old’ but it wouldn’t have been an uncommon age to die at for many nobles, especially women. Remember, these people were extremely unfit, eating extremely rich diets and had very little to no exercise aside from the occasional horse ride or hunting expedition, the upper classes were often at least mildly inbred, and many of the upperclass women spent a significant portion of their adult lives pregnant which takes a toll on health. They also often had close contact with servants who had horrible living conditions and could spread illnesses. 55 was not old by the time’s standards but it was probably considered a reasonable age. Like how these days someone dying at 70 is certainly not anywhere near the maximum age we can live but it’s not exactly considered an early death
I sure wish we humans could grow a set of choppers! Another legend was Englishman Thomas Parr, "Old Parr," who lived through the reigns of ten monarchs and died at age 152. IIR, historians determined the life of the grandfather was fused with the lives of the father and son, thus amounting to the incredible age.
I have a death notice that mentions, kings seen take the throne and their origins, Queens seen wed, Wars and Battles lost and won. The lady was 126 this was not an unusual longevity. Recheck your information. These were outliers from the normal, which is what you base your doubt on. There were many who lived past 120years of age. They cannot be averaged out of existence. They were the strength in hope that so many lived their lives around, strength in the hope their lives were worthy of the same blessing from their Gods at the time.
It seems to me that with the habit of using the same name, it would be reasonable to think it was a relative. That would make it easy for others to be mislead either accidentally or deliberately.
I saw a grave memorial in England a while back for a lady said to have died in I think her 107th year, and that at a very advanced age (about 90) had new teeth! What it's taken to mean is a set of falsies. Did they have false teeth in Desmonds time?
@@wesleybarrett9502 I don't know, never heard that claim before. I understood his claim was due to his Baptism record being confused with his grandfathers.
On Katherine's birth date. You accept as factual that her husband's first wife died in 1505 and that he died in 1534. If she was born in 1504, your estimate, and married at a normal age of about 16 then she married him in 1520. Very unlikely that a man of that class in that period would remain unmarried for 15 years, then marry a very young girl. More likely they married in the 1505-1510 period. If she was born in the 1485-1490 period this would make more sense. That would account for the references to 15th Century kings if her family was at the Royal Court for part of that period and she encountered them in any way a a young girl at court. Considering the Irish politics of that time it would have been a reasonable thing for a noble Anglo-Irish family to be present at Court. That would have her marry between 15-25 years of age, favoring the youger half of this range. If you accept a 1604 date of death then that would make her between 114-119 years old at death, which is also quite possible. For a notable person this would be considered a "newsworthy" item, which explains chroniclers noting it, especially the circumstances. The extreme exaggeration is mostly due to the character of those who related it.
What? It was VERY common, basically normal practise for wealthy men to remain single into their 20s or 30s, enjoy their youth and make a name for themselves, and then marry a young girl. That was the common practice. Most noble brides were 10-15 years younger than their grooms in that period
Average life expectancy was low in the past largely because of high childhood mortality. A surprising number of people lived into their 70's and even 80's. 140 is ridiculous though!
Really interesting video! One little critique I have is that you talk about the average death age of nobles as an argument against her longevity. I guess the high infancy death rate would make it seem low. That being said, I really like your videos. They are so much more thorougly researched than other stuff here on youtube. Keep up the good work!
I want the secret of regrowing teeth! I don't want to be 140 though. on the subject of teeth, it seems to have been a bit of a thing. Richard 3rd was supposedly born with teeth, thereby confirming he was a monster!
I'd just love to be able to prevent myself from getting cavities, especially as Covid has meant no trips to the dentist for ages. I hadn't heard the story about Richard III, but that's very interesting. There's so much mythology around him.
@@HistoryCalling I think Shakespeare alludes to it in his famous piece of Tudor propaganda. I read something that suggested he May have been born with the beginnings of 2 baby teeth, but that apparently is not that unusual and certainly not the full formed gob full in a child who had been in the womb long past his arrival date, according to his (mostly Tudor) enemies. It ranks in there with Anne Boleyn's 6th finger I think. 'Can someone pass the salt???' Lol
@@annegoodreau4925 my cousin's son had 2 sets. They had to remove one as they grew inso that he didn't end up with a mouthful of teeth. My point was about Re growing teeth, That would be handy.
@@hogwashmcturnip8930 not that handy lol both my grandmothers grew a tooth in their late 80's one had it removed and one had a hole cut in her dentures so she could keep it ! I have a few third set myself .
My father's family has a history of long lifespans with every man in his direct line reaching somewhere between 90-100 years of age since the record begins (late 17th century).Family legend would have it that they were even older of course 🤭
Do you understand how you have been born? Do you realise all those fathers you idealise are only 1 second rejections of their forefathers? Into actual humans? Aka women, girls, your ancestors didn't care
Isn't there another one of these stories about a 160 year old farmer who went to dinner with the King and died from eating the rich food? Also, there's no reason to pejoratively assume "no one lives that long", we do have biblical references to very long-lived people which suggests that, occasionally, there are people who live extremely long.
I believe your calculations to be correct. It is thoroughly implausible for someone to have lived to 140, particularly in a time period where medicine was little more than 'Beads and Rattles'. You mention that the Countess had a daughter but give no further information on her. Is it possible that said daughter resembled the Countess to such an extant that people could (or did) mistake the two? Assuming the daughter outlived the Countess this may explain some of the confusion.
Medicine was worse than "beads and rattles," as those wouldn't make you any worse than you already were. Medieval 'medicine' was likely to actually hasten your death with all the bloodletting, purging, and heavy metal based 'cures'. Unless you had a wound that could easily be pointed to from the outside and say, "Well, there's your problem." Stich it up, slap some honey and a bandage on and (literally) pray to God you'd just have to deal with whatever pain you had; and likely die of sepsis.
Though I would have not expected this to happen to a countess since records were better for nobility. However, there is some evidence (at this time I cannot source it, so don't quote me) that some churches did mistaken baptism records with fathers or mothers. Therefore long lived families and misidentified records could account for over 120 year olds at that time
I don’t know if I would dismiss it so quickly. There are always anomalies. There are people who have lived long enough to get a 3rd set of teeth. I don’t know about 140, but it’s not crazy to think she could have made it past 100. My oma is approaching 100 and is so spry it’s crazy. She goes hiking all the time and takes care of herself. Stranger things have happened.
She was not the only one who said Richard was a well-built man. And doctors who have examined the skeleton say that the scoliosis was the s shape from side to side and not back to front, so that you would not have a hump or anything. One shoulder would probably be slightly, but not a lot higher than the other. And he was known to be a good swordsman and a good soldier. That would also mean he was well built
It sounds like she, the 1st wife, Elizabeth, and the daughter we’re all meshed together in one story. On top of which, it sounds like her daughter (as an old woman, too) took on the facade of the mother…to help her tenants! I would bet money they all (tenants and Catholic Locals) swore on the daughter being the mother a d even putting an old woman in the house to act as the younger Countess (she would have been well cared for). Especially, if there was a major resemblance (my mother and I could pull it off if we were closer in age). Likely, even the local priest may have been on it (I bet they actually share a headstone or tomb). Honestly, if I were old and could help people by pretending to be my mother-I would seriously consider it! Having the grave/tomb looked at would answer questions. If anything exists (or if it’s even necessary-not sure it is). There may be two people under one headstone or in a tomb). Perhaps even the priest did help alter records of Baptism to help very poor people at the local church-If they still existed and didn’t get “ruined.” Sir Walter Raleigh was awful on the natives of NC…and I believed despised the Irish even in NC-he sent many here first (he wasn’t a very good man-and also horribly Anti-Catholic). Raising the rents on tenants would have put such a burden on the church, too. And also made many homeless. Which sin is worse to a good man/person? Or to a loving God he likely believed in? He was even having to *sort of* act Protestant at that point. Which the Irish/Catholic HATED. There are some people called , “super agers” (over 100 now… which would have likely been over 75-and most definitely 90 then) who do have telemeres that shorten themselves more slowly over time…(it is by far *mostly* passed through women on the X chromosome). Being about half Irish Descent, I do have ancestors (even recently) that have hit their 100s -or nearly did!
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So how old do you think the Countess of Desmond was? Let me know below and check out my PATREON site for extra perks at www.patreon.com/historycalling
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She prob lived till 50 and they be OMG she's inmortal!
I agree with you...perhaps into her nineties, which, as you point out, would have been pretty astounding for the time and it's easy to see how some people might want to sensationalise her age a bit more.
Walter Raleigh was my 14 x great uncle, and famously talked a load of bollocks at times.
@Dani Hope Hyperdontia is a thing. It's rare, but it does exist.
Speaking of longevity, my paternal great grandfather was 109 and his wife was 106. They died in the mountains of northern Greece within a month of each other! When I first visited this village in 1972 I saw 2 sisters close to 100 years of age up in the branches of the fruit trees throwing fruit down to the children below (no ladders!) A visit to the graveyard indicated that these ages were about average for these villagers…
Very interesting maybe it's the combination of the food, the area and them taking care of each other.
Thats so cool you got to see that.I've never seen old ladies in trees
@garyallen8824 I agree their ages were above average and I doubt that this generation lives as long!
See the music video for "Return to Innocence" by Enigma, don't get all teary eyed though, like me. Looks like rural Greece.
I want to visit Greece before I die.
@@nicolemascarenas7892felt the same way, but then got to thinking how different trees are, and some might be easy to climb for a person with the right reach, which might make it hard for children but a walk in the park for grown ups.
But that might be my envy as I am sadly feeling "past my tree climbing days" at 55 already.
That she died because she fell while climbing a tree at the age of 140 is absurd. Surely she was pushed.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Well, her teeth were hungry
Lol
😂
🤣🤣🤣🤪✌
Her having a new set of teeth is the first big clue that someone else assumed her identity…you’d think that would’ve been the first thing her contemporaries pointed out.
Good point! Someone must have said "You're not the Old Countess, she has no teeth remaining."
"Uh, no, its me. I just grew a new set of teeth!"
Actually, my great grandfather had two sets of adult teeth. So that’s possible.
@@raeraewells7053 Maybe he did…but probably not.
She had a daughter with the same name.
I had a cousin who got in two sets of teeth as well so this actually made me think it was more believable as it is improbable to the point of unbelievable so why include that bit at all.
My cousin got two sets of baby teeth tho not adult teeth.
I saw her just last week playing the drums at a jam night.
😂😂😂😂 I was there with her 😂😂😂
Best answer yet. She's still with us
And she renewed her teeth for the 9th time last week.
Lmfaooooo
Tupac, and Elvis were there
"Never let truth get in the way of a good story".
Very true.
Obviously
Nice "History Guy" reference.
@@traceythompson1092
lmao
Mark Twain (Samuel Clemons) made that reference not some TH-camr.
You ALL should be ashamed.
@@Facetiously.Esoteric History Guy, who is a student of History, was quoting Samuel Clemmons (a/k/a Mark Twain). Thanks for pointing that out, as Mr. Twain is no longer with us, and thus cannot defend his sagacity and wit on TH-cam.
I believe she was at least 100- 110. On another note… There’s a documentary about how although Richard III had scoliosis, he would have looked normal to the naked eye while fully clothed and would have been able bodied enough to fight in battles and demonstrate horsemanship with the proper training. This particular documentary used what was considered a “body double.” It was very interesting. I highly recommend it.
I've actually seen that documentary I think (assuming we're talking about the same one - they used a modern-day man who has a similar case of scoliosis and had him try riding with armour on). It was very good.
@@HistoryCalling, yes!! That’s the one!! I concur, it was fabulous!
Do you, by chance, have the name for the documentary?
@@joannabaparileszczynska Yes, it’s titled, “Richard III The New Evidence.”
@@crystallong9625 thank you so much
The ‘Old Countess’ daughter shared the name of Katherine, so was it possible some jumbling of the names led to the belief that the senior Katherine lived for longer than she did?
Exactly my thought.
I expect she hit 100 before she died, which would have been very extraordinary. Also it’s possible her daughter was confused with her - this has been shown to have happened in other cases of supposed super longevity
Similar legends sprung up in New Orleans about the "Voodoo Queen", Marie Laveau - that she was immortal or had, at least, lived until an advanced age. In reality, one of her daughters, who did resemble her physically, was also named Marie and was a voodoo priestess, so the two were often mistakenly thought to be the same person. Given that birth records in the 15th and 16th centuries were sketchy at best, especially for the birth of girls, is it possible that the Countess had a daughter who had the same name and essentially assumed her identity, or people assumed, like with Laveau and her daughter, that they were the same person?
I know I’m very late to the party, but I’ve just been going through all the different playlists here and decided this morning to go through the Irish History videos, and had to stop and listen again as I live in Frederick, Maryland and I’ve never heard of the person mentioned! I will have to look him up now!
Never too late to party with Irish history, that's what I say :-)
I think you did an excellent job of deducing her real age. Although it would have been rare for someone to live that long in the time before modern medicine it was certainly possible. I remember once researching the genealogy of the American film actor, Jimmy Stewart 1908-1997. He lived to age 89. His father lived to be 89, his grandfather 92, his great grandfather 84 and his great-great grandmother born in 1749 lived to be 86 or 87. These ages don’t seem that incredible today but I think they were pretty unusual for the time period.
Longevity also ran in my mother's family. I recently did the family tree and they all lived to be just under 90 200 years ago
my father was born in 1902 and died in 1987 - age 85. my mother was born between 1909 and 1910 and crossed in 1999 about age 99. i expect to live longer than either of my parents.
I recently did my family tree and on my mother's side, they all lived well into their eighties as far back as the 1700s
Michel Eugène Chevreul, a French chemist who developed a law on colours, lived to be 103!! having been born in 1786 and dying in 1889.
I am reminded of 2 stories about extremely old women which I heard or read thus year. The first was the legend of the so-called "Voodoo Queen of New Orleans". It has been confirmed in recent years that her daughter took over her identity when she died to expand the legend of her powers.
But your story about the rents staying unchanged while she lived reminded me of the story of an allegedly very old French woman, who's daughter and son-in-law buried her body as her daughter so they could continue to live at the same rent in her Paris apartment.
Agreed, I think it was a clever trick with a relative and because our ancestors were never able to put the same date down on consecutive census forms. I know this is before census but just an illustration of how exaggeration is accepted or the stories old people tell especially with dementia?!
I agree with people saying her daughter could have been mistaken for her. A great age, the same name and a lack of portraits (or a strong family resemblance) would make it an understandable mistake, and not even necessarily a deliberate deception. The idea she lived to around 90 makes a lot of sense to me though, I believe Lettice Knollys lived to a similar age? Not impossible, even for Tudor people.
Reminds me of a character in a Thomas Hardy book, who worked one place during his summers and another place during his winters. He calculated his age counting his summers separately to his winters, thereby adding probably 40 extra years to his true age.
As a physician of nearly 40 years (& not 140), the regeneration of dentition is the most amusing & implausible. Whilst I am an avid fan of the historical narrative, therefore, the fact that it is history, & so written (for the most part) by contemporaries of the time in question, it is equally plausible that for posterity's sake, embellishment would (naturally) be foremost in the minds of the reporters of the time - in particular, the fantastical, anecdotal. Given the period this woman lived, I'd make an educated guess that she lived no more than eighty, perhaps eighty five. An unusual presentation, thank you :)
Honestly I think that by renewing her teeth, they meant having some kind of denture made, and not actually having grown new teeth and it just got misinterpreted in the future.
At this point in time, Sara, it must be left to pure conjecture; I suspect we'll never really know....
imagine if someone just went "yoooo i got an epic idea to prank some people in the future" and everyone went "ahhahah yesssss" and now we're here
She ate her Lucky Charms and got lucky. Legend has it she's still alive and kicking and has since grown at least 10 more new set of teeth.
Haha, that made me laugh :-) Thanks for watching.
Lucky Charms are magically delicious.
Fascinating lady, I really love your narration. I don't believe she made it to 142 but I COULD see late 90ties and then the story was padded to sound even more extraordinary. Would love to see a Netflix series on HER instead of the millionth series on Henry VIII and his poor wives.
140 old? 🤔
If my kids are to be believed I was around before the dinosaurs. 🦕🦖
They will always tell us that we might actually have been one of the dinosaurs. Dear, me...
@@elizabethlinsay9193 So true.
Our children are still struggling with the fact that I didn’t have an iPhone or iPad growing up…..I thought that was bad, until I read that your children think you lived BEFORE dinosaurs, Not even AT THE TIME of dinosaurs when you could have told them you used to walk your pet baby stegosaurus around the block on a leash. 😂Given it was at least 65 million years AFTER dinosaurs that humans appeared….I’m desperate to know where you found the fountain of youth and does longevity run in your family. Peace out for a looong and happy life. 👍🏻😉
Exceedingly toothsome analysis.. Kudos
I've been intrigued about Catherine since seeing her portrait in an exhibition in the Crawford Gallery in Cork several years ago.
Thoroughly stimulating and intelligent presentation.. Keep up the good work.. Thank you 🙂👌
7:20 Tudors: More sleeve!
James: Uhhh we gotta be original! More pants!!
Haha, I hadn't watched this back in a while, so I had to go into the video to see what you meant, but you're so right. Those are enormous pants/trousers. Many thanks for watching and commenting (and giving me a smile!)
Puffington pants for fancy prancing's...
I concur with the previous comments that the is is possible that a daughter, granddaughter, or close friend (intimate partner perhaps) assumed her identity to exploit her endowment.
You're missing the point, but as long as you like males effluent holes you will never understand her tourture
@@dba750 what?
I'd wager she was about a hundred years old. It would seem like forever in a time people died at the age of 50. I imagine that over the course of the Stuart era people kept changing her birth and death date by a few years until she went from a long lived woman to a near mythical figure
Since her daughter was also Catherine, and would have also been elderly if her mother died in her 80s or 90s, they could have been mistaken for the same woman if the daughter was also still living.
My paternal family lived into their 80's. My paternal grandparents both lived into their eighties. My father just passed this year in February at 87. Up until a week before he died, he walked at least 5 miles a day for the last 17 years of his life. Before then he worked as a stone Mason from the age 25 to 70, and then he retired. He still had most of his hair although thinner on top, very little gray, and in no way seemed frail. He had no allergies even to poison ivy, and I don't ever remember him being sick. Though he told me he caught whooping cough from me when I was a baby. He very rarely took any medications. He died in his sleep from heart arrethmia.
first i just wanna say, i’m sorry for your lost
and second my grandparents and my grandpas siblings were the same, my grandma died before her 90s because of malpractice but she most likely would of lived well into her 90s. one of my great uncles lived to 100, almost 101.
I had a relative that died at 97 after he mowed his lawn. His fourth wife was 40! His other wives died. Between 'real' children and 'step' children he supported 43 children!
All my Irish relatives lived past 100 so some loose truth to the myths.
Haha, sadly none of mine have, but we live (literally!) in hope :-)
My relatives did too but we're Irish Mexican,😊 ❤
My mother is half-Irish, i.e., her mother was Irish and her father was Norwegian, both immigrant families in Wisconsin. My mother's Irish grandfather came from County Cork, settled in Marquette County, Wisconsin, and served in the Civil War 1861-1863, and 1863-1865.
I have a photo of my mother sitting on her grandfather's lap in the early 1920's. My mother will be103 next month.
My 100 year old great grandma is 50% Irish
funny, MY irish grandparents both died in their 70's. I guess personal anecdotes don't equal facts after all :(
Is it possible people mistakenly merged Catherine and her daughter Catherine into the same person in their stories?
Where was the church records? As a noble there should have been a record of her baptism, as well as a record of her burial.
Not noble women. Just the men
I don't know where the church records "were"
@@dontstart8440 The oldest daughter of a noble household was often recorded
Church records in Ireland? I would be surprised if those are much more than a rare few that survived. Catholic church in Ireland wasn't exactly well-loved by the English Government.
That hoax theory sounds like when cats inherit a house and guardians are appointed to stay there for as long as the cat lives
and the cat keeps mysteriously changing colour
I have to say, you are quite brilliant and I’m impressed. Your logic is faultless. Subscribing now and thanks.🇬🇧🏴
There is also an island in Japan where people live in old age most of elders living in island are 80-120 years old.
Could you maybe do a video on Elizabeth Bathory?
There is so much confusion about her, she is demonized possibly.
I find it hard to believe she actually was evil like they say she was.
I would love to learn more about the real person.
Thanks for the fantastic video's so far. I love all of them.
Yes, she'd be fascinating. I'd like to think she's not as bad as portrayed, but I don't know. I've heard some pretty awful things ...
@History Calling yes
That is wat I would love to find out the truth
@@HistoryCalling oh YES DEFINITELY do an episode about Elizabeth Bathory!! Please please please!!!☺️
I've seen a documentary about her on TH-cam. It's pretty good. I'll try to find it again and come back and share the name or link of it for you 😉
I too believe Elizabeth was heavily demonized by her enemies. I think she was certain harsh and not above getting her hands dirty, but nothing like the devil worshipper that most stories make her out to be.
Reminds me of a man who used his grandfather's baptism records. They had the same name so it's speculated that he didn't make these claims himself until anyone in his life who could argue it was dead. It was over two centuries ago so it seemed legit and he was a local celebrity.
This was such a cool deep-dive! Thanks for taking the time!
As much as my knee-jerk reaction is to be incredulous that people genuinely believed the legends of her 140+ yr age for centuries, I think of how we treat "reality tv" in the modern age and find it hard to judge 😅
We all know, in theory, how contrived reality tv story-lines are...but it doesn't stop people from rushing to snap judgments and gossiping about the limited personalities we are shown, all over social media; being completely serious about it haha.
People love a tantalizing story and we all have heard things that we know, deep down, are highly implausible, but that we want to believe is true anyway!
In this, we never change 😉
Richard III had scoliosis but this can be concealed by well made clothes. So the statement about him being well made is highly probable, as it wouldn't likely have been visible.
Indeed. When they found his skeleton, they could confirm the scoliosis, and that it wouldve been clearly noticeable when naked, but would be concealed, when clothed. Which also confirmed the many contemporary accounts of Richard being a fierce and capable warrior, meaning that the scoliosis would not have hampered his physical fitness. Even his enemies with their many character assassinations after his death never questioned his prowess in battle, nor that he died on the battlefield in fierce combat, also confirmed by the clear marks of battle wounds on his skeleton.
@Rosalind Riley me too.
He wore armour and was known fighter in wars
Sounds like the original lady had a daughter who looked very much like her and took over at some stage to continue getting the jointure. ;) (And maybe even a granddaughter…)
Very little imagination with names back then
That would explain teeth to be "regrown" aka it is another person with a set of teeth.
I’m guessing that she probably lived past the age of 100 by at least a few years for sure. Some of my French relatives and some of my other ancestors lived past the age of 100 so who knows.
It's certainly not impossible. Those are some good genes you've got too!
@@HistoryCalling sadly though as much longevity that is in my family my father passed on at age 64 so I’m not too confident, just hoping for the best.
It was possible for a girl to be married at the age of 12 in the 15th century. Margaret Beaufort was married to her Tudor husband at that age and gave birth to the future Edward VII about a year or so later. Even so, 140 would be very old for anyone living during the past 4,000 years.
Henry VII, not Edward VII. Edward VII is a post Victorian king.
Great video, very interesting, thank you 🙏
Glad you enjoyed it
Fascinating. I think what you said about rents not being increased until the countess died could have something to do with it. There are a few reports of people living into their 80’s , possibly a couple of 90’s but these are few and far between. She had very good genes 🧬 if she did. I wonder what she would have thought about the fact that she’s still being talked about today. Many are just relegated to obscurity She’s famous. Thank you 🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺
I know. I think she must have had great DNA too. I'm sure she'd be amazed, but flattered that people are still talking about her. Thanks for watching. I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
Ah, those wild Irish. My ancestors were hard to domesticate. Thank you, I am thoroughly enjoying your stories.
Mine too! Glad you enjoyed it :-)
er.....She wasnt wild Irish. Or even remotely Irish. She was Norman. Part of the English settler class.
James the First's trousers were pretty impressive
Puffington pants for fancy prancing's...
Have you heard of Lettice Knollys who lived to the age of 91 (1543-1634)? She was the one who married Robert Dudley I think.
"Chinese whispers" for everyone else who was as confused as I was is "Broken telephone". I feel like at some point saying a confused conversation is just Chinese whispers might have become less desirable.
Sir Walter Raleigh is not a very credible source in my opinion. Because, you know, the whole El Dorado situation.
And that he was a pirate for Queen Elizabeth I rather than a country gentleman with a city named after him.
Could they be mixed up with her daughter who may have resembled her as she aged?
Also as it was very rare to have accurate portraits painted, and very few individuals would ever have access to even those images, so it would be relatively easy to present yourself as an other person, there’s nothing compare to. If a well presented old lady is introduced to strangers as the Countess, they can only presume it must be her. And if she pretends to be hard of hearing, abit forgetful and slightly eccentric, she could get away with just about any story! 🤔
I thought maybe “she had all her teeth renewed” must just mean ‘she had new false teeth’… but apparently false teeth where only invented in Europe from the 1700s. 🦷🦷🦷🦷🦷
6:38 "incontinentlie" - or incontinently: Immediately, without delay.
Love this story! I'd never heard of her. She was probably pretty dang ancient for the time period, but 162? Nope! Sounds like a case of chinese whispers.
Ah, thank you. :-) I was hoping someone would know the answer to that one. It is a great story, isn't it? I wasn't sure anyone would want to watch a video on her, as, like you say, she's not well known, but I liked the tale so much I wanted to tell it.
@@HistoryCalling Just found your channel today and having a little binge. Really enjoying it! So well researched! Just finished watching the one on the portraits of Catherine Howard and loved the clear discussion and comparisons of portraits.
Clearly this is just someone’s Crusader King character.
Haha, I had to go Google that to get the reference. Katherine would make a great video game character I'm sure. Thanks for watching.
Great history video I enjoyed it can't wait to see more soon your videos are always enjoyable 😀
My grandma’s grandma’s grandfather lived to 105. He was born in Devon in 1797 and died in Cardiff in 1902. His daughter died at 91. There’s a newspaper article about him in the Cardiff Times, he remembered the jubilee of George III, he was a waiter at the banquet celebrating Waterloo, and reportedly drank his entire life and in his later life was granted one ounce of tobacco a week by the workhouse he ended up in. His parents both lived relatively long for working class blacksmiths in rural Devon, his father was born in 1770 and died age 73, and his mother was born in 1775 and died age 83
Just starting this story!....I'm already addicted and subscribed to your channel.
Great research.
Well done.
Really enjoyed this.... Subscribed x
Yay! Thank you!
Oo! I want to be "wild Irish!"
I could see a very old person pretending to be even older for some local notoriety, or for them to have forgotten so local rumor made a elderly person crazy-old, especially if there were a lot of Katherine Fitzgeralds. But yeah, 91 is still pretty impressive and in that era? good heavens.
12:04 average life expectancy wouldn’t be accurate though, because it includes infant, baby, toodler, kids, and teens too, a lot of ppl did not make it past their teen years, hell A LOT died soon after birth or before their 7th birthday so it’s very well there were many irish nobles you lived well beyond 55.
Well made and researched video presented with a lovely brogue.
Subbed.
Welcome aboard!
A copyright strike for showing a photo of a 100s years old painting hanging in a museum??? That funny. Leonardo Da Vinci's descendants would be rulers of the entire world off the Mona Lisa's copyrights lawsuits alone
probably the owners of the portrait hold a copyright, we have some old portraits we don't allow people to photograph for copyright reasons in the museum i work in. I don't understand how that works, but I am no lawyer.
“Grew new teeth at the age of over 100” idk why, but this is hilarious to me.
Could happen I want to high school with a girl who was on her third set of teeth she lost baby teeth then lost what was suppose to be adult teeth and got another set of adult teeth.
It's uncommon to grow a second set of adult teeth, but it does happen.
@@rebeccavaughn8897 yes Emanuel Swedenborg famously grew a 3rd set in his 50's 🤔
The advent of dentures methinks….
The timeline of 83 years makes the most sense. It’s likely that the exaggeration of her age was a popular sensationalism used to sell copy. Like today, fantastical tales would make for good story telling and would as likely make for word-of-mouth propagation.
I saw that documentary, the man who played his body double was called ( Ithink) was Dominic Smee. He was so nice and managed to do everything anyone could do, I can't remember what it was called, I'm sorry.
Richard III: the New Evidence
I’ve given this some thought, and I find it very odd that no one seems to have written anything of her 140-year life, other than her longevity and her teeth. If I knew of a person who had experienced things this woman had over so many generations, I would, at the very least, seek her out to hear all she might share. I think, perhaps the Countess of Desmond probably consisted of a string of related women, or women who were given the same title as the first Countess of Desmond. Perhaps in reality, she lived 60 or 70-years (which would still be rather impressive at the time), and carried stories of her ancestors or predecessors and, over the ages, all of it became shuffled together and she became a 140-year old woman. It’s a very interesting story, but I find it difficult to believe. Perhaps if they could examine her remains, science might be able to estimate how old she actually was around the time of her death. But then, we all love to embrace our legends.
I had read years ago where a scientific study claimed the human body was biologically structured to maintain a healthy life span of 120 years. The same study was able to establish the natural life spans of many species, both animal and plant. Years ago life expectancy was cut short due to the rapid spreading of disease and unnatural aging caused by hard laboring. No other animal works any harder than the minimum necessary for survival. Human life span today is shortened due to an environment we ourselves developed in addition to a diet of chemically enhanced food products. Consume only nature's healthy foods, lay about refusing to labor any more than necessary, sleep often, avoid anything that could causes stress and you too could live to be 120. Oh yeah another key to living the full 120, don't breathe our contaminated air.
Great content,lovely voice and accent👍.
Thank you! 😃
My great grandmother 5 times, back was born 1789, she died 1889, and three months, she was full blooded Cherokee native from Oklahoma. On my father's side they all lived into their 90's, my dad who will be 83, has prostate cancer, and he's doing good so far, but I don't think he'll make it to 90, but who knows. But I agree she lived long but not 140.
Interesting story. I think this video could have benefited from a timeline, so you could have marked every date you said because it really got a bit confusing with all the numbers, especially when I tried to keep track of how old she would have been in which account^^'
But there is a timeline like that in the video. Do you mean another one?
@@HistoryCalling Yes, the timeline you used later was very helpful, I just got very confused in the beginning when you read out all those sources. I can't recall which king was from when to when and had no idea about the timespans and how that changed with each source. A bit like: source A said 16xx and source b said the reign of Edward and I was like "uhm, when?" xD
I'm not English and never had the kings and their times in school either^^'
Still a really good video, especially the explanations on why people were more likely to believe someone could have lived for so long
Could you do a video about the woman you mentioned that did in fact live 120 something years? I think that would be a great video and very interesting!! And BTW I do think your thoughts that the Countess was around 90 years old is correct 👌☺️
Ah, the French lady. It's tricky to get copyright free images of someone who lived as recently as her I'm afraid (that's why I showed such an old photo of her). That might make a video hard to do. I don't think she had a particularly notable life in any case. Quite normal, like most of the rest of us, until she started breaking all the age records :-)
There's people living to 120 today, who is to say nobody can live for 140 years, there is thousands of written record of people living to over 150 years throughout history. Who are we to say they're all wrong?
The regrowth of her teeth implies perfect rejuvenation and telomer protection of her DNA, perfect repair of any genetic damage. Without that misfortune in the cherry tree, she would have lived for many centuries. A mutant, unique, one in 10 Bil. chance. One born every century…….one is out there….right now my dear 😄😉
@XYZABC Believeit No….its not 😉
...i wonder, very interesting idea...
The average of 55 for Irish nobles would be skewed down by early deaths.
Yes, that would definitely be a factor, though even if you averaged the age at death for people who survived past their 5th birthdays (to remove the very high infant mortality) I don't think it would be anywhere near as good as it is today. It was certainly a challenging time to be alive. Thanks for watching and commenting.
It wouldn’t have been far off though. 50 or 60 wouldn’t have been considered ‘old’ but it wouldn’t have been an uncommon age to die at for many nobles, especially women.
Remember, these people were extremely unfit, eating extremely rich diets and had very little to no exercise aside from the occasional horse ride or hunting expedition, the upper classes were often at least mildly inbred, and many of the upperclass women spent a significant portion of their adult lives pregnant which takes a toll on health. They also often had close contact with servants who had horrible living conditions and could spread illnesses. 55 was not old by the time’s standards but it was probably considered a reasonable age. Like how these days someone dying at 70 is certainly not anywhere near the maximum age we can live but it’s not exactly considered an early death
@@HistoryCalling Considering that at that time nobles in Irland where britts ,ya ,why not, ,🇨🇮🇨🇮🇨🇮🇨🇮
I love your work. Your voice is strong and appealing, perfect for such narration! I look forward to hearing more!!
Thank you so much!
I sure wish we humans could grow a set of choppers! Another legend was Englishman Thomas Parr, "Old Parr," who lived through the reigns of ten monarchs and died at age 152. IIR, historians determined the life of the grandfather was fused with the lives of the father and son, thus amounting to the incredible age.
And somehow she was not dubbed a witch in her lifetime?
I know Virginia Wolf’s “Orlando” is based on Vita Sackville-West, but surely Wolf must have been familiar with this story?
Ponce de Leon gave her the elixir of life which was the Fountain of Youth .This is good example of the pursuit of Enternal Youth .
I have a death notice that mentions, kings seen take the throne and their origins, Queens seen wed, Wars and Battles lost and won. The lady was 126 this was not an unusual longevity. Recheck your information. These were outliers from the normal, which is what you base your doubt on. There were many who lived past 120years of age. They cannot be averaged out of existence. They were the strength in hope that so many lived their lives around, strength in the hope their lives were worthy of the same blessing from their Gods at the time.
It seems to me that with the habit of using the same name, it would be reasonable to think it was a relative. That would make it easy for others to be mislead either accidentally or deliberately.
I saw a grave memorial in England a while back for a lady said to have died in I think her 107th year, and that at a very advanced age (about 90) had new teeth! What it's taken to mean is a set of falsies. Did they have false teeth in Desmonds time?
This reminds me of the tale of Tom Parr who purportedly lived to 152, but was probably 70 to 100.
Didn't they later on speculated that records were falsified to "prove" his age in the 17th century when he passed?
@@wesleybarrett9502 I don't know, never heard that claim before. I understood his claim was due to his Baptism record being confused with his grandfathers.
On Katherine's birth date. You accept as factual that her husband's first wife died in 1505 and that he died in 1534. If she was born in 1504, your estimate, and married at a normal age of about 16 then she married him in 1520. Very unlikely that a man of that class in that period would remain unmarried for 15 years, then marry a very young girl. More likely they married in the 1505-1510 period. If she was born in the 1485-1490 period this would make more sense. That would account for the references to 15th Century kings if her family was at the Royal Court for part of that period and she encountered them in any way a a young girl at court. Considering the Irish politics of that time it would have been a reasonable thing for a noble Anglo-Irish family to be present at Court. That would have her marry between 15-25 years of age, favoring the youger half of this range. If you accept a 1604 date of death then that would make her between 114-119 years old at death, which is also quite possible. For a notable person this would be considered a "newsworthy" item, which explains chroniclers noting it, especially the circumstances. The extreme exaggeration is mostly due to the character of those who related it.
What? It was VERY common, basically normal practise for wealthy men to remain single into their 20s or 30s, enjoy their youth and make a name for themselves, and then marry a young girl. That was the common practice. Most noble brides were 10-15 years younger than their grooms in that period
Thank you. Well done. Subscribed.
Welcome aboard!
Average life expectancy was low in the past largely because of high childhood mortality. A surprising number of people lived into their 70's and even 80's. 140 is ridiculous though!
I agree with your estimate. Especially in that time period
Really interesting video!
One little critique I have is that you talk about the average death age of nobles as an argument against her longevity. I guess the high infancy death rate would make it seem low.
That being said, I really like your videos. They are so much more thorougly researched than other stuff here on youtube. Keep up the good work!
I want the secret of regrowing teeth! I don't want to be 140 though. on the subject of teeth, it seems to have been a bit of a thing. Richard 3rd was supposedly born with teeth, thereby confirming he was a monster!
I'd just love to be able to prevent myself from getting cavities, especially as Covid has meant no trips to the dentist for ages. I hadn't heard the story about Richard III, but that's very interesting. There's so much mythology around him.
@@HistoryCalling I think Shakespeare alludes to it in his famous piece of Tudor propaganda. I read something that suggested he May have been born with the beginnings of 2 baby teeth, but that apparently is not that unusual and certainly not the full formed gob full in a child who had been in the womb long past his arrival date, according to his (mostly Tudor) enemies. It ranks in there with Anne Boleyn's 6th finger I think. 'Can someone pass the salt???' Lol
Actually having a 2nd set of adult teeth is not unheard of. My neighbor's son was found to have a complete set of teeth behind his adult teeth.
@@annegoodreau4925 my cousin's son had 2 sets. They had to remove one as they grew inso that he didn't end up with a mouthful of teeth. My point was about Re growing teeth, That would be handy.
@@hogwashmcturnip8930 not that handy lol both my grandmothers grew a tooth in their late 80's one had it removed and one had a hole cut in her dentures so she could keep it ! I have a few third set myself .
My father's family has a history of long lifespans with every man in his direct line reaching somewhere between 90-100 years of age since the record begins (late 17th century).Family legend would have it that they were even older of course 🤭
Those are excellent genes to have :-)
@@HistoryCalling Yes but notably I'm not a man lol.
Do you understand how you have been born? Do you realise all those fathers you idealise are only 1 second rejections of their forefathers? Into actual humans? Aka women, girls, your ancestors didn't care
@@dba750 😯🤔🤐
I want to know how she grew teeth. I need some new teeth!
Me too. It would save on having to get fillings! :-)
@@HistoryCalling I'm gonna have to google that. I've heard of regenerating teeth before. But a whole set???
@@HistoryCalling is there any history of people growing teeth.
@@yadayada752 yes Emanuel Swedenborg famously grew a 3rd set of teeth in his 50's 🤔
Thank you.
Isn't there another one of these stories about a 160 year old farmer who went to dinner with the King and died from eating the rich food? Also, there's no reason to pejoratively assume "no one lives that long", we do have biblical references to very long-lived people which suggests that, occasionally, there are people who live extremely long.
What a Fascinating woman
Definitely. I'd love to know more about her.
I believe your calculations to be correct. It is thoroughly implausible for someone to have lived to 140, particularly in a time period where medicine was little more than 'Beads and Rattles'.
You mention that the Countess had a daughter but give no further information on her. Is it possible that said daughter resembled the Countess to such an extant that people could (or did) mistake the two? Assuming the daughter outlived the Countess this may explain some of the confusion.
Medicine was worse than "beads and rattles," as those wouldn't make you any worse than you already were. Medieval 'medicine' was likely to actually hasten your death with all the bloodletting, purging, and heavy metal based 'cures'.
Unless you had a wound that could easily be pointed to from the outside and say, "Well, there's your problem." Stich it up, slap some honey and a bandage on and (literally) pray to God you'd just have to deal with whatever pain you had; and likely die of sepsis.
Though I would have not expected this to happen to a countess since records were better for nobility. However, there is some evidence (at this time I cannot source it, so don't quote me) that some churches did mistaken baptism records with fathers or mothers. Therefore long lived families and misidentified records could account for over 120 year olds at that time
I don’t know if I would dismiss it so quickly. There are always anomalies. There are people who have lived long enough to get a 3rd set of teeth. I don’t know about 140, but it’s not crazy to think she could have made it past 100. My oma is approaching 100 and is so spry it’s crazy. She goes hiking all the time and takes care of herself. Stranger things have happened.
Although it seems an impractical scheme, I do like idea that people successsfully pretended the old lady was still alive to delay an increase in rent.
She was not the only one who said Richard was a well-built man. And doctors who have examined the skeleton say that the scoliosis was the s shape from side to side and not back to front, so that you would not have a hump or anything. One shoulder would probably be slightly, but not a lot higher than the other. And he was known to be a good swordsman and a good soldier. That would also mean he was well built
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Nobody lived to that age in those days let alone these days.
It sounds like she, the 1st wife, Elizabeth, and the daughter we’re all meshed together in one story. On top of which, it sounds like her daughter (as an old woman, too) took on the facade of the mother…to help her tenants! I would bet money they all (tenants and Catholic Locals) swore on the daughter being the mother a d even putting an old woman in the house to act as the younger Countess (she would have been well cared for). Especially, if there was a major resemblance (my mother and I could pull it off if we were closer in age). Likely, even the local priest may have been on it (I bet they actually share a headstone or tomb). Honestly, if I were old and could help people by pretending to be my mother-I would seriously consider it! Having the grave/tomb looked at would answer questions. If anything exists (or if it’s even necessary-not sure it is). There may be two people under one headstone or in a tomb). Perhaps even the priest did help alter records of Baptism to help very poor people at the local church-If they still existed and didn’t get “ruined.” Sir Walter Raleigh was awful on the natives of NC…and I believed despised the Irish even in NC-he sent many here first (he wasn’t a very good man-and also horribly Anti-Catholic). Raising the rents on tenants would have put such a burden on the church, too. And also made many homeless. Which sin is worse to a good man/person? Or to a loving God he likely believed in? He was even having to *sort of* act Protestant at that point. Which the Irish/Catholic HATED. There are some people called , “super agers” (over 100 now… which would have likely been over 75-and most definitely 90 then) who do have telemeres that shorten themselves more slowly over time…(it is by far *mostly* passed through women on the X chromosome). Being about half Irish Descent, I do have ancestors (even recently) that have hit their 100s -or nearly did!