The Vice Presidency: A Witness Protection Program

 Vice President William Wheeler

 

Obscure –not known to many people                                                                            

Not readily noticed or seen; inconspicuous;                                                               

Out of sight; hidden...Cambridge Dictionary.

Once there were two brothers. One ran away to sea; the other was elected vice president of the United States. And nothing was heard of either of them again.……Thomas R. Marshall.

One night, around 4 a.m., as sleep eluded us, we went through a usually reliable soporific process of sleep inducers.  We mentallylisted the kings and queens of England and then the presidents of the United States. Sleep did still did not come so we started thinking about Vice-Presidents of the U.S and realized how few of them we remember. Naturally, the following day, actually, it was later that same day, research commenced.  Quick. Name ten pre 1980 vice presidents.  If you can, you are eligible for the Henry Wilson Award. This raises the question are our American vice presidents obscure or just easily forgotten or both?  The answer is yes. Some of them are not just obscure, they are really obscure. Even more are easily forgotten then they become obscure. A selected few are totally obscure although we hope most were probably known, at least temporarily, to their contemporaries……maybe. Indeed, they are so obscure that most educational history syllabi don’t even address them. Alas, poor William Wheeler we hardly knew ye.  We all know John Adams and J.D Vance and Joe Biden but whoops what happened to Dick Cheney? He’s fading fast. 

Obscurity is in the eye of the beholder. Frequently, it depends on the generation. Historians generally agree that generational naming began in the 20th century. Gertrude Stein coined the term "Lost Generation" about those born around 1900 in her work but it wasn’t an official generation, it was a group of ex-pats who lived in Paris, sat at cafes and wrote novels like The Sun Also Rises. The first official generation was the Silent Generation (1928 -1945). They might have known Charles Davis. The Baby Boomers (1946-1964), probably know Hubert Humphrey, Gen X, how about Spiro T. Agnew? Millennials (1981 - 1996)?, yes, J. Danforth Quayle. As for Gen Z, (1997-2012) probably none unless they are named dropped on dancing videos on Tik Tok. Same goes for Gen Alpha (2011-2024). Gen Beta 2025? we’ll get back to you on that one in 20 years. 

Most of us, hopefully, can name the Vice-Presidents who served during our lifetimes. The author can go back to Alben Barkley as a contemporary.  There’s an obscure one for most people….even for Alben Barkley. 

And, so, you don’t wake up at 4 a.m. thinking “who was the vice president during the Martin Van Buren administration”, we present a brief subjective study of the American vice presidents. After comprehensive research, we have deemed many of these be very obscure no matter the generation. We also understand that there may be reader out there who thinks, “Come on! Doesn’t everyone know Schuyler Colfax?”  Our obscurity methodology involved a listing of each president in order of term served. If we name the president, who was the vice president? Do we know him?

Most of those vice presidents who succeeded to the presidency are well known to varying degrees. John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, John Tyler, Andrew Johnson, Chester Arthur (to a lesser degree), Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Harry Truman, Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson, George Bush, Joe Biden all ascended to the presidency.  Other Veeps** who ascended to the presidency verge on the unknown even when they were president. Martin Van Buren and Millard Fillmore are murky examples.  Fillmore is so unknown that he is almost known. We visited his home outside of Buffalo, NY, a must see on the Buffalo must see circuit along with Niagara Falls and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Martin House. We were the only ones at the Fillmore House.  They didn’t even have tee shirts or refrigerator magnets, but he is at least well known to us.  There is even a Millard Fillmore Society founded in 1963, but they are dedicated to his unknown ness not his known ness.  Andrew Johnson and Chester Arthur, former presidents are fairly obscure. The totally obscure are those whose names one comes across, and one has no idea who they were, like Levi P. Morton. The less really obscure are those who’s names we read or hear and they may may resonate to some from other events or times in our nation’s history such as James Buchanan’s V.P, John Breckenridge who ran for the Presidency against Abraham Lincoln in 1860.   Our friend, Millard Fillmore, who was Zachary Taylor’s vice president and Hannibal Hamlin, Abraham Lincoln’s first vice president are obscure but they have become less obscure because they were formerly so obscure that they are now popular trivia answers. You will note as we continue that mid-19^th century was the heyday of obscurity for the nation’s second in command. However, we are certain that by 2080, Richard Cheney and J. Danforth (Dan) Quayle will fit into the obscure category.  Our objective was to have a Top Ten Most Obscure List but there were just too many and we kept forgetting them. Mercifully, we will be citing them several more times and you will be reminded of their names during our diligent investigation. You never know, you could be at a casual dinner with friends, a business dinner, a blind date, a Bar Mitzvah, a wedding, a funeral, a church service, an AA meeting….anywhere, and someone might ask, “who was the Vice President during the Franklin Pierce Administration”. You will now be prepared. 

Totally Obscure Vice Presidents – The Obscure of the Obscure.

·      Elbridge Gerry                 Republican   James Madison      1813–1814

·      Daniel D. Tompkins         Republican   James Monroe       1817–1825

·      George Mifflin Dallas        Democratic  James K. Polk        1845–1849

·      William Rufus King           Democratic  Franklin Pierce       1853- 1857

·      Schuyler Colfax                 Republican   Ulysses S. Grant     1869–1873

·      Henry Wilson                    Republican   Ulysses S. Grant     1873–1875 

·      William A. Wheeler            Republican   Rutherford B. Hayes1877-1881

·      Thomas A. Hendricks       Democratic  Grover Cleveland   1885 1889

·      Levi P. Morton                 Republican   Benjamin Harrison 1889–1893

·      Garret A. Hobart               Republican   William McKinley   1897–1899 20

·      Thomas R. Marshall           Democratic  Woodrow Wilson   1913–1921

Ulysses S. Grant managed to have two obscure Vice Presidents which was quite an accomplishment.

There is no need to memorize the above list as you will encounter all of them in the discussion that follows.  However, there will be a quiz at the end. 

In summary: 

·      15 Vice-presidents have become Presidents

·      8 were elevated because of the death of the President

·      7 vice presidents have died in office

·      6 were elected after having been the Vice-president

·      2 vice presidents resigned

·      One became President because the former President resigned 

So, why do we have a vice president?  The Constitution, as ratified on June 21, 1788, included the plans for the vice president. Article II, Section 1 spelled out that “in Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the Same shall devolve on the Vice President.” Congress could also declare by law when a vice president had a disability. Article I, Section 3 established the vice president’s role in Congress: “The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.”

If a vice president became president pre- 1967, the office of vice president was not filled. In 1967 the 25^th Amendment filled the vacancy when a vice president became president.  Section 2: Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.

Pay attention to the above because in 1974 the U.S ended up with a president and vice president, neither of whom were elected.

Returning to the consideration of Vice Presidents, the first two, Adams and Jefferson are easy. Adams referred to the office as “The vice presidency is the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived.” Trouble begins with  our third President, Thomas Jefferson. He served two terms. His first vice president was the odious Aaron Burr, infamous for killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel. "Talk less, smile more,” said Mr. Burr.  But in 1805 Jefferson’s number 2 had had us stumped. Of course, it was George Clinton, a former governor of N.Y. Evidently, Clinton grew so fond of the job that he stuck around for the next administration and President, James Madison’s first term.  In 1812, he ran against Madison.  It was close, but he lost. Madison’s second V.P was the first of our obscurables, (our word), Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts. Elbridge who? Needing a job, after losing an election for governor of Massachusetts, Elbridge Gerry asked President James Madison to choose him as vice president. You may recognize his name as the word gerrymandered originated with his name and from his term as governor when he manipulated election districts to favor Republicans. Then, we were lost again for James Monroe’s #2 but at least he had the same one for both of his terms. It was another former Governor of New York, Daniel Thompkins. “I know, I’m ignorant and undereducated but,” … said Thompkins.  Those of us who have lived in Manhattan know that he gave his name to Thompkins Square on the lower east side. New York would have quite a few former governors and other politicians who became Veeps as we shall see.

John Adams’ son, John Quincy, came next much to the chagrin of Andrew Jackson who lost the 1824 disputed presidential election to Adams with fishy results decided in the House of Representatives. John Quincy brought along John C. Calhoun of South Carolina as vice president. Jackson succeeded Quincy Adams after his one term and Calhoun stuck around to be Jackson’s Vice President. Not obscure, Calhoun was a rabid pro slavery segregationist and states’ rights advocate and major pre-Civil War political voice for secession.  The notoriously prickly Calhoun was too much for the notoriously prickly “Old Hickory” and vice versa and so he resigned the office in 1832. Along came Martin Van Buren for term number two in 1832. We count Van Buren as the first obscure President 1836-1840. If Van Buren is obscure to most of us, naturally, his V.P, Richard Mentor Johnson, could be in the running for most obscure vice president. Johnson (That’s three V.Ps named Johnson that we’ve had) was a former senator from Kentucky who was infamous at the time for his long-term relationship with an enslaved woman with whom he had two children.  One term was all Van Buren, “Old Kinderhook”, would get and, thankfully, we all know the next one in 1840 thanks to the famous campaign slogan of “Tippicanoe and Tyler Too”.  Alas, William Henry Harrison, old “Tippicanoe” died of pneumonia after cleverly giving a three-hour inauguration speech in the rain in March so Vice President John Tyler, former Governor and senator from Virginia, became the first vice president to replace a president and naturally the press labeled him “the Accidental President”. Tyler managed to make everyone in his party angry so there was no nomination in store for him in 1844.  The next president, a favorite of ours was/is fairly obscure.  James Knox Polk kept every campaign promise, good or bad depending on the historian. Polk gave us another contender for very obscure, a former senator from Pennsylvania, George Mifflin Dallas was his vice president and even though Dallas, County, Texas is named for him he is honored on our very obscure list. Polk had promised not to run for a second term and claimed to have achieved his major policy goals, so he kept his promise and didn’t run for re-election. His 1848 successor, Zachary Taylor “Old Rough and Ready” went kaput in 1850 giving us Millard Fillmore of New York. Fillmore is, as we know is almost well known because he is so not well known. He wasn’t even a former governor of New York; he was the first to hold the office of state comptroller. While Fillmore is obscure, he is also infamous for zealously enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act of 1854. 1856 gave us arguably our least known president, Franklin Pierce, the only president from New Hampshire.  If Pierce was our least known, then his vice president, William Rufus King is a strong contender for most totally obscure. King was the first sitting senator (he was from Alabama) to become Vice President.  Suffering from tuberculosis, he became unlucky vice president number 13. King served only 5 weeks and never got to Washington to take up the office.  He took the oath of office in Cuba while trying to recuperate from his disease and became the only vice president to die before getting actually be vice president. King’s other claim to fame involved Franklin Pierce’s 1856 successor,  James Buchanan. Two lifelong bachelors, Buchanan and King shared a Washington, D.C., home and their seemingly intimate relationship led to widespread gossip. Some contemporaries referred to King as “Mr. Buchanan’s wife,” or as a “Miss Nancy,” which was a commonly used 19th-century epithet for an effeminate male.  Speaking of James Buchanan, generally recognized as the worst president the nation has had, his Vice President, at 36, John C. Breckenridge, not quite obscure, was the youngest to hold the office.  The former member of Congress from Kentucky, ran against Abraham Lincoln in 1860 and later joined the Confederate Army. He and Aaron Burr are the only two vice presidents to be charged with treason. 

“I do not propose to be buried until I am really dead.” — New Hampshire Sen. Daniel Webster, on rejecting an offer to be future President William Henry Harrison’s running mate in 1840.

In the election of 1860, Republican Abraham Lincoln had Hannibal Hamlin, a former governor of Maine as his running mate. He remains a good trivia question because of his obscurity which, as noted, makes him kind of less obscure. It is also a great name for alliterative politician fans. In fact, we have had three alliterative vice presidents, Hannibal Hamlin, William Wheeler and Calvin Coolidge.  In 1864, seeking support from Democrats in Lincoln’s re-election bid, the Republicans dumped Hannibal and chose Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, a southerner to balance the ticket. If it wasn’t for Buchanan, Johnson would be a candidate for worst president in U.S history. He had no vice president. Then, along came war hero, Ulysses S. Grant and his now obscure vice president, Schuyler Colfax, of Indiana, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and a founder of the Republican Party. Colfax was removed from the ticket in 1873 due to charges of corruption in connection with the Credit Mobilier scandal. Crédit Mobilier, now as obscure as Colfax, was a phony construction company set up to build the Union Pacific Railroad. It was financed with fraudulent bonds and used stocks to bribe government officials, resulting in hefty profits for its shareholders. Sound familiar? Quite a bit of that nowadays. Grant then selected Henry A. Wilson, another top candidate for most obscure. Wilson, a former general, had a stroke in 1873 and then died in 1975. Grant, a Civil War hero, didn’t do well with his vice-presidential selections. 

Rutherford B. Hayes, Republican, is not obscure because of the election of 1876. It was one of the, shall we say, the more tainted of the presidential elections.  Democrat Samuel J. Tildon of, yes New York won the popular vote, but he was one vote shy of victory in the Electoral College. 20 electoral votes in were in dispute. Books have been written about this election and PhD candidates have hurled dissertations at each other at twenty paces over this election but basically Congress established a commission. Good things rarely happen when Congress establishes a commission. Political maneuvering and deals ensued and when it was all over, Hayes was declared victor 185 -184 electoral votes thus giving us William A. Wheeler, a member of the House of Representative from New York, another of our favorite obscurables as vice president. Of note is that Wheeler was clean shaven, no beard or gigantic sideburns in contrast to the hairy individuals that preceded and succeeded him. 

1880 brought us James S. Garfield of Ohio and his vice president would be listed in the upper echelon of obscurables. Garfield was assassinated and Chester A. Arthur of, yes, New York, became president. Arthur escaped major obscurity as he is best known for supporting the Pendleton Civil Service Act (1883), which provided for the open appointment and promotion of federal employees based on merit rather than patronage. Merit! Can you imagine? What a concept. On the hairy face front, Arthur had very strange sideburns but no beard. Arthur did not run for election in 1884 as he was suffering from what we know now as Bright’s Disease, a fatal kidney condition. 

We return to our obscure list in 1884 when Grover Cleveland of……guess which state…..yes, New York, brought along Thomas A. Hendricks a member of Congress from Indiana as his vice president. You will note that there have been six vice presidents from Indiana, second only to New York with eight.  Alas, Hendricks was also to join our list of vice presidents who bit the dust.  He was gone just nine months after his inauguration due to a stroke thus rendering him totally obscure but not as totally obscure as William Rufus King.  

The vice presidency was quite hazardous to the health during the 19^thcentury. As we know, vice presidents would not be replaced after they ascended to the presidency until the 25^th amendment in 1967. Grover Cleveland lost the election of 1888, but we have not heard the last of him.  Fortunately, for our study of obscurables, Benjamin Harrison, grandson of old “Tippicanoe” from 1840 won that 1888 election and presented us with Levi P. Morton as the 22^nd vice president. Morton, a banker, member of the House of Representatives was from……..three guesses…..did you say New York? He had also served as Ambassador to France during the Statue of Liberty gifting. After Harrison lost the election of 1892 to Grover Cleveland, who was at that time governor of…….go ahead, guess…..So, Grover Cleveland was back in 1892 but since Thomas A. Hendricks had gone kaput, Cleveland’s running mate was Adlai Stevenson, former member of the House of Representatives from Illinois and Republican party apparatchik. He was also the grandfather of Democrat Adlai E. Stevenson who lost two presidential elections to Dwight Eisenhower, 1952 and 1956. 

Republican William McKinley former member of Congress and Governor of Ohio won the election of 1896. Garrett Hobart, a former governor of New Jersey was chosen as his running mate after Thomas Reed, who had competed for the presidential ticket, rejected the vice-presidential nomination in a snit. Hobart almost made it through his four years as vice president but, alas, he died from heart disease in 1899.  This ended a streak of obscure vice presidents since McKinley ran with Theordore Roosevelt as his vice-presidential candidate in 1900. “I would a great deal rather be anything, say professor of history, than vice president.” Said Roosevelt. And we all know Theodore Roosevelt.  Right? Mckinley was assassinated shortly after his 2^nd term began in 1901 and Roosevelt became president. Teddy ran for re-election in 1904 with running mate Charles Warren Fairbanks, senator from Indiana. Fairbanks and Charles Mifflin Dallas are our two of our obscure vice presidents rendered less obscure because they had cities or counties named after them and would make a good trivia question n’es pas? When Roosevelt did not run again in 1908, a choice he would regret, the rather corpulent William Howard Taft was elected bringing along an obscure vice president with our favorite middle name, James Schoolcroft Sherman a member of the House of Representatives from Indiana. Sherman almost made it through his four years as vice president, but, alas, he expired in October of 1912, of Bright’s disease, (see Chester Arthur), one month before Democrat Woodrow Wilson was elected president. Sherman is famous for being the first Vice President to fly in a plane. He was also the first to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at a baseball game. He was also the last Veep to die in office. Thank goodness because they had been dropping like flies for decades.  

Does the name Thomas R. Marshall ring a bell? He was Woodrow Wilson’s Vice President for two full terms and former Governor of Indiana. The 25^th amendment would have helped him serve as president as Wilson suffered a stroke in 1919 was incapacitated. His wife, Edith, basically ran the country as Marshall  remained largely unaware of his condition because  it was covered up by Wilson’s aides and Madame Wilson. He did not attempt to preside over cabinet meetings, thinking that such action might be viewed as an attempt to usurp Wilson's authority. “Once there were two brothers. One ran away to sea; the other was elected vice president of the United States. And nothing was heard of either of them again.”……Thomas R. Marshall. 

“Vice president: A spare tire on the automobile of government.”….. Will Rogers

In 1920 long came another of the of the “worst presidents”, the scandal scarred Warren Gamaliel Harding of Ohio. Harding’s Secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall would be convicted of the secret leasing of federal oil reserves in Teapot Dome, Wyoming to oil companies. There were also several extramarital affairs and a child born out of wedlock.  Harding had few enemies because he rarely took a firm enough stand on an issue to make any. His campaign slogan was a “Return to Normalcy”. Harding died in 1923 elevating his Vice President, Calvin Coolidge  (another alliterative vice president) to the highest office in the land. “Silent Cal” Coolidge from Massachusetts is not obscure and was one of the better presidents. “I enjoyed my time as vice president. It never interfered with my mandatory 11 hours of sleep a day.”, Calvin Coolidge was the 29th vice president.  We return to kind of obscure but not very obscure with the 2^nd in command to 31^st President, Iowan Herbert Hoover. Vice President, Charles Curtis, a Senator from Kansas was the first man with American Indian ancestry to be elected second highest office in the nation. Curtis was 1/8th American Indian and a descendent of Kaw Chief White Plume and Osage Chief Pawhuska. Poor Hoover and Davis along with him, was buried in the Franklin Roosevelt presidential election landslide of 1932.  The Great Depression probably had something to do with it.

Democrat Franklin Roosevelt of New York would be elected four times.  There were assorted vice presidents.  The first was John Nance Garner, Speaker of the House of Representatives from Texas.  Garner had some regrets. "Worst damnfool mistake I ever made was letting myself be elected Vice President of the United States.  Should have stuck with my old chores as Speaker of the House.  I gave up the second most important job in the Government for one that didn't amount to a hill of beans.  I spent eight long years as Mr. Roosevelt's spare tire." He also referred to the vice presidency as “not worth a bucket of warm spit” although he may have used a different word than spit. Still, Garner is not very obscure since he is associated with the famous Roosevelt but Roosevelt’s next Vice President is more obscure than Garner but not completely obscure. Henry Wallace of Iowa.  The nation dodged a bullet when Wallace was not re-nominated for the office in 1944 and replaced on the ticket by Harry Truman. Wallace wanted closer relations with mass murderer Josef Stalin and the Communist regime in Russia. He denounced the Marshall Plan in 1948 and ran as a Progressive (Thomas Dewey was the Republican candidate) in 1948 against…….. Harry S. Truman. Truman, no middle name, just S. Truman became President in 1945 when Roosevelt died. “Look at all the vice presidents in history. Where are they? They were about as useful as a cow’s fifth teat.”, said Mr. Truman,

We return to obscurity with Truman’s vice president, Alben W. Barkley, Senator from Kentucky. As noted, Barkley’s claim to fame was having his 10-year-old grandson call him **Veep, because vice president took too long to say. The media quickly picked it up, especially when the 71-year-old Barkley married a 38-year-old widow whom they dubbed the “Veepess”. Time Magazine, satirically, suggested the president should be “Peep”, the Secretary of State, “Steep”, and the Secretary of Labor, “Sleep”. 

We skip obscures for a few years now since Dwight Eisenhower’s Veep, Richard Nixon is very well known. Nixon was elected President in 1968. While Richard Nixon was undergoing his Watergate travails, his vice president, former governor Maryland, Spiro T. Agnew resigned from office in October 1973 under a cloud of corruption and the American public became familiar with his “nolo contender” plea bargain to one charge of income tax evasion.  Spiro T. Agnew will be a strong candidate for the most obscure list. Nixon selected Speaker of the House, the 3^rd in line for the presidency, Gerald R. Ford as vice president to replace Spiro T. and when Nixon resigned in 1974, now President Ford said, “I’m a Ford, not a Lincoln”. Evidently, he was proud of that. Ford also seemed prone to falling down flights of stairs while wearing WIN (whip inflation now) buttons.  Thanks to the 25^th amendment, Ford selected New York governor, Nelson Rockefeller as his Veep. This ended a long streak of non-N.Y governors as vice presidents. Rockefeller was a major Republican party-political figure during the 1960s but had stayed on past his sell date as governor by 1974.  He should be on our most obscure vice presidents list. He was famous but not many people remember him as a vice president. Ford would choose Robert Dole of Kansas as his running mate in 1976 but in 1974/75 the nation now had two unelected politicians in the two highest offices in the land.

In between Eisenhower and Nixon came John F. Kennedy and when Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas (see George Mifflin Dallas), Texas, his vice president, Lyndon B. Johnson former senator from Texas became president. Can you name Johnson’s V.P in 1964? Here is where generational obscurities come to the fore.  Hubert Horatio Humphrey, senator from Minnesota was, like Nelson Rockefeller, a major political figure of the 1960s. Now? not so much. “The President has only 190 million bosses. The Vice President has 190 million and one.” said Humphrey. President Jimmy Carter, at a Democratic Presidential Convention introduced him as “Hubert Horatio Hornblower”. Carter’s, vice president, Walter Mondale former senator from Minnesota, again, lost the 1980 Presidential election to Ronald Reagan and George H.W Bush. George H.W Bush is not obscure, but when he served as President, his Vice President was J. Danforth (Dan) Quayle. Dan is fading from memory but many of his quotes will live on, “The Holocaust was an obscene period in our nation's history. I mean in this century's history. But we all lived in this century. I didn't live in this century." Or,  referring to the slogan “a mind is a terrible thing to waste”, said “What a waste it is to lose one's mind. Or not to have a mind. How true that is”. You get the idea. 

If you think we are moving to the less obscure because they are more recent, think again. We know Bill Clinton and his Veep, Al Gore but George H. Bush’s vice president.  Did you say Dick Cheney? Cheney was a former member of the House from Wyoming and held several cabinet posts. He went into hiding after 9/11 and was never seen again. Along came Obama and his vice president,  Joe Biden. “It's easy being vice president - you don't have to do anything”, said Mr. Biden. Speaking of Biden, with him as president, came Kamala Harris of California as his vice president. “I love Venn diagrams. I really do; I love Venn diagrams. It's just something about those three circles and the analysis about where there is the intersection, right?”, said Harris

Stepping back one administration between Obama and Biden we have the category of Not Completely Obscure Yet But On the Way. Donald Trump’s first vice president, Mike Pence, former governor of Indiana could very well be on our most obscure list in another 10 years. 

In the movie, “Back to the Future”, Michael J. Fox goes back in time and meets his parents as young people. He has to ensure that they will fall in love and marry and there will be a Michael J. Fox in the future. Every time something goes wrong and it looks like they won’t get together, he starts fade away just like our most recent vice presidents are starting to fade in the public memory. See Pence, Mike. They are becoming obscure and will be obscure for Generation Alpha and Generation Beta.  Some vice presidents even became more obscure during the research and writing of this essay. We had to look up Garret Hobart several times. 

“One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice-president, and that one word is 'to be prepared'.” …….Dan Quayle

And, As Promised, Your Quiz:

1.    Which vice president died before he became vice president?

2.    Who was Schuyler Colfax and was he related to Dodger pitcher, Sandy Koufax?

3.    How many Johnsons served as vice president?

4.    Which vice president was part Native American?

5.    Which vice president killed Alexander Hamilton?

6.    Which vice president was dumb as a rock?

7.    How many vice presidents have become president?

8.    Which vice president was the first to be called “Veep”

9.    Which vice presidents were charged with treason?

10. Which vice president and president is honored by the Millard Fillmore Society?

 

The Vice Presidents

John Adams Federalist     George Washington         1789–1797

Thomas Jefferson1 Republican   John Adams          1797–1801

Aaron Burr   Republican   Thomas Jefferson            1801–1805

George Clinton      Republican   Thomas Jefferson   1805–1809

George Clinton      Republican   James Madison      1809–1812 4

Elbridge Gerry       Republican   James Madison      1813–1814 5

Daniel D. Tompkins Republican James Monroe       1817–1825

John C. Calhoun    National Republican John Quincy Adams       1825–1829

John C. Calhoun    National Republican        Andrew Jackson     1829–1832 

Martin Van Buren  Democratic  Andrew Jackson     1833–1837

Richard Mentor Johnson  Democratic  Martin Van Buren           1837–1841

John Tyler    Democratic  William H. Harrison        1841 12

George Mifflin Dallas       Democratic  James K. Polk1845–1849

Millard Fillmore     Whig  Zachary Taylor               1849–1850 

William Rufus King Democratic Franklin Pierce       1853

John C. Breckinridge  Democratic James Buchanan   1857–1861

Hannibal Hamlin    Republican   Abraham Lincoln   1861–1865

Andrew Johnson    Democratic  Abraham Lincoln   1865 

Schuyler Colfax      Republican   Ulysses S. Grant     1869–1873

Henry Wilson        Republican   Ulysses S. Grant     1873–1875 17

William A. Wheeler Republican   Rutherford B. Hayes1877–1881

Chester A. Arthur   Republican   James A. Garfield   1881 

Thomas A. Hendricks  Democratic Grover Cleveland1885 

Levi P. Morton      Republican   Benjamin Harrison 1889–1893

Adlai E. Stevenson Democratic  Grover Cleveland   1893–1897

Garret A. Hobart   Republican   William McKinley   1897–1899 

Theodore Roosevelt Republican William McKinley   1901 

Charles W. Fairbanks Republican Theodore Roosevelt1905–1909

James S. Sherman   Republican   William H. Taft      1909–1912 

Thomas R. Marshall Democratic Woodrow Wilson   1913–1921

Calvin Coolidge     Republican   Warren G. Harding 1921–1923 

Charles G. Dawes   Republican   Calvin Coolidge     1925–1929

Charles Curtis        Republican   Herbert C. Hoover 1929–1933

John Nance Garner Democratic  Franklin Roosevelt 1933–1941

Henry A. Wallace   Democratic  Franklin Roosevelt 1941–1945

Harry S. Truman    Democratic  Franklin Roosevelt 1945 

Alben W. Barkley   Democratic  Harry Truman       1949–1953

Richard M. Nixon  Republican   Dwight Eisenhower1953–1961

Lyndon B. Johnson Democratic  John Kennedy       1961–1963 25

Hubert H. Humphrey Democratic Lyndon B. Johnson1965–1969

Spiro T. Agnew      Republican   Richard Nixon       1969–1973 26

Gerald R. Ford      Republican   Richard Nixon       1973–1974 28

Nelson A. Rockefeller Republican Gerald Ford        1974–1977

Walter F. Mondale  Democratic  Jimmy Carter         1977–1981

George H. W. Bush Republican   Ronald Reagan       1981–1989

J. Danforth Quayle Republican   George H. W. Bush 1989–1993

Albert A. Gore, Jr.  Democratic  William J. Clinton   1993–2001

Richard B. Cheney  Republican   George W. Bush    2001–2009

Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Democratic  Barack Obama       2009–2017

Michael R. Pence    Republican   Donald Trump      2017–2021

Kamala D. Harris   Democratic  Joseph R. Biden, Jr. 2021–2025

J.D. Vance   Republican   Donald Trump      2025–present

*Vice president is a type of title, and titles are subject to specific rules of capitalization. Titles are specific to a person’s rank, office, job, or position. When vice president is used as a title to specify a particular person, it is capitalized.

But when it is used without a specific person in mind, it stays in the lowercase form.

Sources:

https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/what-is-the-constitutional-role-of-the-vice-president

Millercenter.org

https://www.britannica.com/browse/Vice-Presidents

https://www.kurtshistoricsites.com/vice-president-grave-directory/

https://www.archives.gov/presidential-records/vice-presidential-records

https://cv.libguides.com/US_Vice_Presidents

etymonline.com/word/veep

 

Alphonso the Slobberer vs. Eystein the Fart

You're a Monarch or Nobility. You're Going to Get a Nickname

Titles are but nicknames, and every nickname is a title.

Thomas Paine

                                          Charles the Peculiar

A nickname is an informal name used to replace a formal one. A nickname often morphs to familiar or humorous terms. The word nickname is derived from the Middle English ekename, literally meaning an additional name.  The first recorded use of “eke name” was in the Middle English devotional Handlyng Synne in 1303 by Robert Manning (nickname, “Bobby Prayer Hands”) a Gilbertine Monk of Brunne.  Nicknames have been around for centuries and will be around for centuries. Many people, including you, may have one at one time or another.

Today, many of us are familiar with some athlete nicknames such as “Babe” (Ruth), The Great One”, Wayne Gretzky, “Crazy Legs Hirsh, (Elroy), “Shoeless Joe” (Jackson), “Pistol Pete” (Maravich) or “Iron” (Mike Tyson). We also have to mention baseball player, Jhostynxon Garcia, nicknamed “Password”. In the Old West we had “Buffalo” Bill Cody, “Texas” Jack Omohundro, “Wild Bill Hickok and “Calamity” Jane. Gangsters loved nicknames and the media loved them too.  We had Charles “Lucky” Luciano, “Scarface” Al Capone, Lester “Babyface” Nelson, and Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel. In fact, some nicknames have nicknames, we counted 15 for Elizabeth starting with Liz and on to Lizzie, Betty, Beth, Bess………Margaret has Peggy and Maggie and Margie, John has Jack, Jock and Jake. Cities have nicknames, “The Big Apple”, “The Windy City”, “La La Land”. Even countries have nicknames, “The Emerald Isle”, “The Land of the Rising Sun”, and “The Great White North”.

Historically, royal families recycled a tiny pool of names to project continuity and legitimacy. France alone couldn’t get enough of Louis. They had 18 kings named Louis. Without last names or Roman numerals, a catchy—and often brutal—nickname was the only way to tell one monarch from another. Dynastic surnames like Plantagenet or Tudor or Capet were not used by contemporaries. Regnal numbers like "Henry II" only became standard practice around the 13th and 14th centuries. Henry II, (we’ll call him “Hank “ The Deuce”) ruled England from 1154 to 1189.  Historians, chroniclers, friends and enemies relied on epithets to distinguish rulers and nobility. These titles generally came from three sources: political propaganda, physical descriptions, or later historical judgments.  Names came from great deeds, infamy, physical traits and in the case of France, a surfeit of Louis’s so they needed to be differentiated.  As for the common people, of course they got some too. For example, in the 12^th century all male peasants were called “Jack”, although according to the Prosopography (now there’s a word for you) of Anglo-Saxon England, you could become acquainted with Siward the Sot, Alweard the Stumpy, or Gwilseth the Gleawbeorht.  As we shall see with the nobility there were also many “the fats” and “the balds”. 

A good name will wear out; a bad one may be turned; a nickname lasts forever.

Johann Georg Ritter von Zimmermann

Some of the most famous titles with which we are familiar with were contemporary PR campaigns. "The Great" was frequently pushed by supporters, court historians, or the rulers themselves to project power and military success. History is replete with “the greats”.  We have Alexander of Greece, (355 B.C – 322 B.C); Charlemagne the Great, King of Franks and Holy Roman Emperor (748-814); Cyrus the Great of Persia (580-529 BC); Genghis Khan, (Temujin) Mongol (1162-1227); Constantine the Great of Rome (272-337); Peter the Great of Russia (1672-1725); Catherine the Great of Russia (1729-1796) - that’s two “greats for Russia within 71 years.  Of course, Russia also had Ivan “the Terrible” (1530-1584), no explanation needed.  However, we award title the greatest of the greats to Akbar the Great (1542-1605) of the Mughal Empire because his name Akbar is a superlative meaning greater or greatest rendering him the name, basically “Greatest of the Great”.    

Less superlative nicknames were applied by monks and chroniclers centuries after the monarch went kaput as a way to summarize a legacy. Often, these titles mutated over time. Sometimes it was not for the better. Consider poor English King Ethelred the Unready as a classic example. His title has nothing to do with being unprepared. In Old English, his name was Æthelred Unræd, which was deliberate pun meaning "noble counsel, poorly counseled." Over the centuries, the pun part was lost, and English speakers simply translated the unfortunate Ethelred’s name to "Unready."

Throughout history, people have been running around and conquering other cities and/or countries. Many of these chose to be named or were named “the conqueror”.  For example, when he conquered England in 1066, the Norman duke, William the Bastard (1028-1087), became William the Conqueror and Mehmed II, (1432–1481) Sultan of the Ottoman Empire became, Mehmed the Conqueror after he captured Constantinople on 1453. 

So, there are “Greats” and Conquerors, and now we shall examine the names of some other monarchs or nobles who were neither great nor conquerors. In Rome, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus gained the name “Caracalla” because he liked to wear a distinctive Gallic-style hooded cloak, a Caracalla.  Caracalla was assassinated by his soldiers while urinating by the Syrian roadside in 217 A.D. No report as to whether he was wearing his hoodie.  Claudius, (10 B.C – 54 A.D), succeeded his nephew the deranged emperor, Gaius Caesar aka Caligula, aka “Little Boot”, after his assassination at age 28 by the Praetorian Guard. Claudius (full name, Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus), was called, Claudius the Stammerer. Not to be outdone, centuries later France would have Louis the Stammerer. Stammering wasn’t Claudius’s only issue; he also had a severe limp and was partially deaf. Claudius invaded Britain in 43 A.D which brings our study to England where “Ethelred the Unready’s” son Edward became Edward the Confessor, (1003?-1066). He was the penultimate Anglo Saxon King of England and was cognemed (my word) thus because of his piety, not because he confessed to being on the grassy knoll in Dallas, or helping killing Jimmy Hoffa, or cheating at Dominoes. The Confessor started the whole William the Conqueror kerfuffle when he named Harold Godwinson as his successor even though he may already have promised the crown to a distant cousin, William, Duke of Normandy. William took umbrage, invaded England, defeated Harold at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and “The Bastard” became “The Conqueror”. Britain has given us quite a few famous and infamous nicknamables.  We have Richard the Lionheart 1157-1199 who spent most of his life and reign involved in wars and fighting and very little involved in Kinging. He was very brave, albeit irresponsible, but “Lionheart” stuck rather than “the Negligent”. He spent only 6 months of his 10-year reign in England. If you watch all the movies and shows about Richard back-to-back, they may also add up to six months. And that leads us to Richard’s younger brother, King John of England, aka John Lackland. He was nicknamed Lackland because his father, Henry II bequeathed lands to his sons, Henry, Geoffrey, and Richard (Lionheart) and none to John boy, hence Lackland.  John became King when Richard stupidly got himself shot by an arrow while attacking some minor castle in France. You’ll note that John has no number after his name. That’s because John was such a bad ruler, a disaster in fact, that there was never another King John for Britain which, of course, greatly saddens this author. At least John was Lackland.  Queen Mary 1 has gone down in history labeled Bloody Mary. Mary (1516-1558) was the daughter of serial bridegroom Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. Mary was Catholic and when she became Queen after the death of Edward VI, Henry’s teenage son in 1553, her advisors began taking reprisals and persecuting the Protestantism of Henry and Edward after those Protestants had persecuted Catholics when Henry broke with the Church. Over 300 people labeled heretics were burned at the stake during Mary’s brief (1553-1558) rule.  At least she would have a drink named after her although competing stories involve a lovelorn Parisian patron, and a Chicago waitress at the Bucket of Blood Club. Bloody Mary was succeeded by her Protestant half-sister, Elizabeth 1, The Virgin Queen, daughter of that serial bridegroom Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Despite centuries of speculation, there is no evidence that Elizabeth was not a virgin. The Protestants, you guessed it, took reprisals against the Catholics. Elizatheth, however, labeled Catholics “traitors” instead of heretics so they were not burned at the stake.  They were not so humanely drawn and quartered instead. Ah, Christianity. Since the victors write history, the Elizabethans labeled Mary, “Bloody Mary” and so she remains. 

Nicknames stick to people, and the most ridiculous are the most adhesive.

Thomas Chandler Haliburton 

A century later, Oliver Cromwell and Parliament overthrew and executed King Charles I. Cromwell became “Lord Protector”. His son, Richard was not the man his father was.  Not a military man nor a leader, he was labeled “Queen Dick”, or “Tumbledown Dick” and would be replaced by King Charles II.  Meanwhile, looking back a few centuries in Scotland we find, Lulach the Simple Minded. Lulach was the stepson of Macbeth of Shakespeare fame and was King of Scots in 1057. The simple minded one, alternate nickname, “The Foolish” did not last a year when he was assassinated. His historical significance is that Lulach was the first king in Scotland for whom there are coronation details. Also in Scotland, in Galloway, ancestral home of the author, we call attention to Archibald the Grim who was the 3rd Earl of Douglas and Lord of Galloway from the mid 1300s until his death in 1400. It wasn’t that he was humorless, it was because his English enemies feared him. But not so much his son, Archibald the Loser who had a knack losing battles as well as an eye and a testicle to the English.

Crossing the channel to France and beyond, we encounter another John (yay!). King John II “The Good” (1350-1364). John was captured by the English at the Battle of Poitiers. We’re not sure why he was “the good” since he really didn’t do anything good other than losing battles, being captured by the English and being king during the Black Death. One of John the Good’s principal French enemies was Charles the Bad of Navarre. There will be more “the Bads” to come in our survey.   Pepin “The Short”was Charlemagne’s father. Charlemagne is generally recognized as being about 6 ft. tall which was quite tall in those days. So how did “The Short” sire Charlemagne? As happened with Ethelred the Unready, it is a misnomer. He wasn’t short.  Pepin’s Latin name was “Pippinus” or “Pippinidus” and “The Short” was a misinterpretation of “Pippinus,” which means “little Pippin”. That was lost on the early translators and poor Pepin morphed into “The Short”. Before long, the use of ‘the Short’ became too common to be corrected. Charles the Bald, 843-877, Charlemagne’s grandson was not bald he was in fact extremely hairy so………..France can’t get enough of Charles and Louis’s. Recall there were 10 Charles and 18 named Louis. So, we come to “Charles the Mad”, actually Charles VI (1368-1422). He was absolutely barking mad in fact. He suffered extended periods of insanity and believed he was made of glass. Earlier, we find Charles (III), the Simple”, (879-929 not because he was intellectually challenged but because, he was straightforward and honest so it is an honorific although we see Charles “the Simple and think…………There were a few Phillips too, six in all beginning with Phillip I “The Amorous” (1052-1108).  Guess why.  Sadly, Phillip II apparently had no nickname. Fast forward a few years to Philip III “The Bold” (1245-1285), youngest son of John “The Good”, (we like to name drop John) then along came Philip IV “The Fair” (1268-1314), so named because he was tall and blond.  Then we have Philip V “The Tall”, 1293-1332), who was also tall, both stood over six feet. There was another John, “John the Posthumus”, so named because he was born posthumously after the death of his father Louis X “The Quarreler”, in November 1316 and then proceeded to die four days after his birth but he still gets credit as a king and any time we can mention a king named John, we go for it. Speaking of Louis X, (1289-1316), “the Quarreler”, aka “the Headstrong, or “the Stubborn”, so named because he feuded at one time or another with almost every member of the nobility. Louis II “the Stammerer” (877-874), son of Charles ‘the Bald”, stuttered his way through a brief 18-month reign. On the corpulent side we have, Holy Roman Emperor Charles III “Charles the Fat”, (839 -887). Charles is just one of a number of porcine rulers known by the epithet “the Fat,”. He is joined by Alfonso I of Portugal, Conan III of Brittany, Henry I of Navarre and Louis VI of France…. All “The Fat”.

Up north, they were very creative with the nicknames. We begin with “Eystein the Fart”. Eystein Halfdansson, was an 8th century king of Norway. The epithet “Fart” is usually believed to mean that he was a busybody or loudmouth, not his flatulence. No definitive explanation has yet been found, however. “The Fart” had a son, “Halfdan the Bad Entertainer”, also known as King Halfdan the Mild, His nickname apparently refers to his habit of paying his soldiers generously but providing them with little food or entertainment. Bad entertainer would now apply to the countless untalented people infesting television these days.  Continuing with the Vikings, we meet Ivar “the Boneless “– Died, 873. Ivar was a Viking chieftain whose favorite pastime was invading and plundering England, Ireland and later, Scotland. Encyclopedia Brittanica informs us that the meaning of Ivar’s weird nickname is not known with any certainty. It might refer to a hereditary skeletal condition such as osteogenesis imperfecta or to an inability to walk. Lots of Viking in our bizarre nickname survey as we turn to Harald Fairhair (c. 860—died c. 940).  Harold is recognized by medieval historians as the first king of Norway, reigning from 872 to 930. Why “Fairhair”? Harald refused to cut his hair until he was named king. This took about 10 years, so he probably looked like Rapunzel by the time he ascended the throne.  Probably had a lot of cooties in that nest on top of his head also. Harald "Bluetooth" Gormsson was a king of Denmark and Norway who reigned from 958 to 986. “Bluetooth” Gormsson did not invent a wireless system that allowed devices to exchange data over short distances but he did like to invade England.  All Viking kings loved to invade Britain. Another Viking, ‘Eirik the Priest Hater’ was the King of Norway from 1280 until 1299. He was the eldest surviving son of King Magnus the Lawmender of Norway.  Eirik received the nickname "Priest Hater" from his antagonistic relations with the church. Also, in Norway there was Ragnarr, a ninth-century Viking chieftain who (according to legend) killed a deadly serpent while wearing a pair of cowhide breeches. It would have been fitting that he be called Ragnarr the Serpent Slayer to honor his brave achievement but, alas, he has gone down in history as Ragnarr Hairy Pants instead.

Moving to Germany we find, another John. He was John II  “the Babymaker”. He worked hard for his nickname as he allegedly fathered 63 illegitimate children. Hopefully, some were named John.  John II, alas, was not a king but the Duke of Cleves, in northwestern Germany.  His son, John III was the father of Anne of Cleves, the fourth wife of serial bridegroom, Henry VIII.  Bordering Germany, in Austria we meet, Albert IV, “Albert the Peculiar”. He was a Duke from 1395 until 1404. It’s not immediately obvious why he was given the nickname of ‘peculiar,’ but he must have been. We do know about Ivaylo the Cabbage, Tsar of Bulgaria, who went kaput in died 1281. Legend has it he led a peasant uprising against the Tsar and because he was a peasant, Cabbage was a derogatory named bestowed on him by the nobility. He overthrew the Tsar and then amazingly defeated Genghis Khan’s Golden Horde……twice. His offspring were, naturally, Cabbage Patch Kids. 

 The Medici were a rich, influential and powerful family in Florence during the Renaissance. “Piero the Unfortunate” was the exception. Piero, (1474-1503), was ruler of Florence for two years from 1492-1494 following the death of his father, Lorenzo the Magnificent (1449-1492). Piero cleverly cancelled an alliance with powerful France in favor of one with not so powerful Naples.  Piero lost control of the city when the French invaded. He was then ousted from power when the people revolted and plundered the Medici Palace. As if that weren’t unfortunate enough, Piero eventually drowned crossing a river while fleeing from a battle in 1503.  Another bad one, “William the Bad” of Sicily,( 1120–1166). The nobles hated him so they called him the “the bad”. His son, William II was more popular and was naturally labeled “The Good”. If William II the Good had a son named William III, we would hope he was named “William the Ugly” so we would have The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly. Back on the mainland, we encounter, Alphonso the Slobberer - King of León and Galicia (1188-1230). Allegedly he had fits of rage that had him foaming at the mouth thus discouraging aides and would be assassins from getting too close.  On the leisure clothing front, we encounter, “Bermudo II the Gouty” King of León and Galicia, (953 – 999). Bermudo, who’s favored attire was Bermudo Shorts, ruled parts of Spain, fought Muslim invaders and died of you guessed it, Gout.  Pity poor Henry IV of Castile (1425-1474) who has gone down in history as “Henry the Impotent.” Henry ruled the Spanish kingdom from 1454 to 1474. When he was fifteen, Henry was married to Blanche II of Navarre. Thirteen years later, Henry filed for divorce, stating that they had never consummated the marriage. The Catholic church held a trial, where they confirmed Blanche’s virginity and received testimony from several prostitutes who explained that Henry’s sexual prowess was just fine, except when it came to his wife. “Wilfred the Hairy” ruled as Count of Urgell and Cerdanya from 870, Barcelona, Girona, and Besalú from 878, and Ausona from 886. Visit the sculpture of Wilfred in the Cathedral of Barcelona and you’ll understand the nickname; the guy looks like he’s literally wearing a bodysuit made of hair. “Charles the Bewitched”(1661-1700) of Spain, was the product of centuries of Hapsburg inbreeding. He was ugly, deformed and smelly. Not surprisingly, he fathered no children. He did like to eat. Contemporary chroniclers describe a typical meal “He has a ravenous stomach, and swallows all he eats whole, for his nether jaw stands so much out, that his two rows of teeth cannot meet”. He went kaput at 38 labeled “the Bewitched” because of his poor health and inability to sire children. So, basically, in the words of Rogers and Hart, he was “bewitched, bothered and bewildered.”  And how could we forget Vlad “the Impaler”, Prince of Wallachia, born in Transylvania, the inspiration for Dracula. His fondness for impaling his enemies on stakes in the ground and leaving them to die earned him his nickname.

Finally, we visit the, Byzantine Empire where we encounter the charming, Basil II, “the Bulgar Slayer” due to his penchant for conquering Bulgaria and other Baltic countries and slaughtering the populace.  On the proboscis front we encounter, Justinian II, “the Slitnose” who was the Byzantine emperor from 685 to 695. Mr. Slitnose was a bit of a tyrant and quite unpopular and that led to rebellion by his general, Leonitis. Mutilation, specifically rhinectomy, was a common punishment in the Byzantine court and Justinian was captured and deposed and then, before a large crowd gathered for the event, was subjected to a rhinectomy (cutting off the nose) and glossotomia. slitting of the tongue.  It was nothing to sniff at.  Unfortunately for Leonitis, he too would be de-nosed a few years later. Meanwhile Justinian would regain the Imperial throne in 705 and for his second reign he now sported a golden prosthetic nose and became an even worse tyrant. Eventually the Byzantines rose against him again and Justinian’s own soldiers seized and beheaded him - golden nose and all.  Still, it could be worse. Spare a thought for poor Constantine V of Byzantium (718-775) who had to rule his Mediterranean kingdom while wearing the name Constantine Copronymous, which means “Constantine Dung-Named.”

Nicknames have evolved over time and are still universal. It’s all nicknames all of the time if you think about it. They continue to be a popular way for people to refer to others. As we’ve indicated, people may go through more than one nickname during their lives. Who knows, there may even be a “Eystein the Fart” or “Wilfred the Hairy” out there somewhere.

Title photo – Charles the Peculiar.

 

Sources:  No A.I ! Never. 

https://www.medievalists.net/2023/05/the-10-strangest-nicknames-of-medieval-rulers/

https://timepieceshistory.com/2022/07/20/medieval-monarch-monikers/

https://www.ranker.com/list/leaders-known-as-the-great/renata-carmen

https://read.dukeupress.edu/hahr/article/53/1/150/151510/Henry-IV-of-Castile-1425-1474

https://www.scienceabc.com/social-science/why-is-pepin-called-the-short

https://www.mentalfloss.com/history/royalty/60-historys-strangest-royal-epithets

https://tswerplat.com/the-fascinating-history-and-enduring-popularity-of-nicknames/

https://www.britannica.com/topic/nickname

https://themediaevalmonk.wordpress.com/2021/07/27/interesting-early-medieval-english-nicknames/