Brianna DuMont - Fantastic Fugitives: Criminals, Cutthroats, and Rebels Who Changed History (While on the Run!)

ALSO BY BRIANNA DUMONT:

Famous Phonies: Legends, Fakes, and Frauds Who Changed History

Copyright 2016 by Brianna DuMont

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Manufactured in China, September 2015

This product conforms to CPSIA 2008

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Sarah Brody and Brian Peterson

Front cover photo credit Shutterstock; back cover photo credit Wikimedia Commons

Interior illustrations by Bethany Straker

Book design by Sara Kitchen

Print ISBN: 978-1-63220-412-7

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-63450-932-9

Contents

Authors Note

This book isnt your typical history book. Its not about names, dates, and battles. Sure, those are all in here, but at the heart of this book is my best attempt to make history come alive through the real people who made it happen. To that end, you wont find any pesky footnotes or highfalutin arguments that belong to scholars. (That stuff is in back of the book, where its not as fun.) Here, its all about the stories. If you find one that speaks to your soul, theres plenty of further reading and research material to explore in the Sources and Notes on Sources.

And whatever you do, dont expect ho-hum, dusty-as-the-Sahara retellings of these fantastic fugitives. Their lives werent boring, so their stories shouldnt be, either. Buckle up for all kinds of rowdy misbehavior told with a healthy dose of sarcasm. When youre on the run, life is bound to get bumpy.

Introduction

Caution: Bad Is All about Perspective

If youre going to change the world, you better be good at running and hiding. Thats because change doesnt come easily. Those in power usually like things the way they are. Its no surprise, really, since they get to enjoy the benefits. If you rock the boat, they wont be happy. They may even want your head. But dont let that stop you. As youll see from these stories, even on the run, you can still leave your mark.

Not every fugitive is running from the police. Kings, countries, and churches have been known to put a price on someones head, and youll find plenty of political and religious fugitives in this book, too.

Because fugitives need secrecy to stay alive, its not always easy to know all the details of their exploits. Dont worry; these stories arent embellished willy-nilly. Every fantastic detail is 100 percent true. Or at least as far as we know. Being on the run doesnt leave a lot of time for memoir writing unless youre caught and thrown in the slammer like a few of our rebels.

Some of the fugitives youll encounter in this book are easy to root for because they fight the forces of evil, but even heroes have a wart or two. Everyone is human, which means everyone makes mistakes. Still, all of the fugitives were fantastic in one way or another. Some were fantastic people you might want to grab a milkshake with while others have hard-to-believe fantastical stories. Although not all of them were great people, their bad behavior made good change happen.

Just like them, you can change history. Stand up for what you believe in and dont be afraid to make the world a better place; just make sure you have your running shoes tied tight.

Lived: First century BCE, Thrace

Occupation: Soldier turned Gladiator turned Rebel

Spartacus

The Low-Aiming Freedom Fighter

Rome Wasnt Built in a Day, but It Was Built on the Backs of Slaves

Spartacus could have been the heartthrob pinup of his day. He had good looks, hunky arms, and that X factor that made everyone in the room need smelling salts. The Romans saw it and made the slave a gladiator. They trained him to be a ruthless death-dealing warrior, but for some reason it shocked them when he turned on them next.

Before Spartacus bit the hand that fed him, revolt was already in the air. Thanks to two previous slave uprisings, unrest wafted around Italy as contagious as the flu. Being a Roman slave was hard work, and the slaves were sick and tired of man-powering the worlds biggest bullythe empire of Rome .

empire of Rome:

Hold onwasnt Rome a republic during Spartacuss revolt? Technically, yes. The first emperor didnt take over the marble throne until 27 BCE, partially thanks to Spartacus, but the Roman Republic was arguably an empire before that. It had a unified government, always looked to its neighbors for more land, and had amphitheaters full of different peoples under their rule.

Being a gladiator meant being desirable, deadly, and disgusting all at once to the Roman elite. Watching grown men duke it out to the bloody end was a favorite pastime of Roman citizens. That part didnt really bother Spartacus. Blood games and fights to the death were totally normal in the first century BCE. He just didnt like being the one on the sharp end of a sword every day.

A Puzzle of a Guy

Thrace:

Present-day Bulgaria.

Who knows when Spartacus was born; it wasnt like he was supposed to grow up and be famous. It was somewhere in Thrace during the Roman Republic, a time in which a bunch of old, wrinkly guys in Rome called a Senate ruled over the population. The Senate was known for doing things like ordering legions of men to go conquer other people and bring them back lots of slaves and gold.

auxiliary:

Literally the help. Auxiliaries were not native Romans, and they got about a third of the pay that Roman legionaries did. They provided manpower and specialized fighting techniques like horseback riding.

Thracians were known for fighting with abandon, spearing mens heads and screaming like crazy when they attacked their enemies. Lets just say no self-respecting Roman citizen wanted to meet a Thracian in a dark alley. The Senate realized the ferocious Thracians would make good Roman soldiers, but they didnt want to actually make them real Roman soldiers. Instead, the senators hired Thracians to fight in auxiliary units on the Roman side, but not in the legions. Those were for Roman citizens only.

schools:

Youre probably thinking of the Colosseum in Rome at this point. Dont. It wont be built for another 140 years. Games were held in amphitheaters that looked a lot like the oval Colosseum, though.

Spartacus was a free Thracian who fought in a Roman auxiliary, but he didnt stay for long. He deserted and was caught, which was bad news if he ever wanted to go home again. The price for desertion from a Roman auxiliary unit was slavery. Since Spartacus was a hunk in leather armor and muscled like a WWE wrestler, he was sold to a gladiator school. These schools were all around Roman Europe, but Spartacus was sold to one in Capua, near Pompeii.