Welcome to the History of English Podcast, a podcast about the history of the English

language.

This is Episode 144, a murder of crows and princes.

In this episode, we're going to look at an interesting phenomenon that was emerging in

the English language in the mid-1400s.

It was a fad for coining new terms for collective nouns, like a school of fish and a gaggle of

geese and a murder of crows.

It was also a time of transition in England.

The Plantagenet era was coming to an end.

The last Plantagenet King was Richard III, one of the most controversial kings in English

history.

Much of that controversy surrounds the fate of his two nephews who disappeared in the

tower of London.

According to the popular tradition, he had them murdered in order to secure the throne

for himself.

That verdict is still a matter of debate, but it points to a different kind of murder,

a murder of princes.

So this time, we'll explore those historical and linguistic developments.

But before we begin, let me remind you that the website for the podcast is historyofenglishpodcast.com.

You can sign up to support the podcast and get bonus episodes and transcripts at patreon.com-historyofenglish.

Now this time, we're going to resume our overall historical narrative.

Over the past few episodes, we've explored the great vowshift.

...