Back in History: 5 Secret Marriages That Ended in Disaster

A tragic and tearful story of the Middle Ages is a love story between French scholastic and poet Pierre Abélard and his beloved pupil Héloïse. Abelard was famous for his knowledge and is said to have surpassed all the professors in Paris.

At that time, Canon Fulber’s niece, Eloise, lived in Paris – she was beautiful, intelligent and educated. Abelard became her teacher and fell in love. Eloise reciprocated not only spiritually, but also physically. Eloise even got pregnant and the couple got married, although Eloise didn’t want to – she was afraid marriage would block Pierre’s path to spiritual titles. But when Fulber, Héloïse’s uncle, discovered this connection, he became furious and hired people who castrated Abelard. After that, Pierre and Eloise took the oath of celibacy and went to the monasteries.

And although they lived the rest of their lives apart, the lovers continued to correspond until the end of their days.

Irish adventurer Andrew Stoney aspired to marry one of Britain’s most powerful and wealthy women, Mary Eleanor Bowes, Countess of Strathmore. It was in the second half of the 18th century. A young widow with five children could afford to choose her fiancé as she pleased.

Knowing the Countess, Stony played a duel, as if defending her honor. Lying that in this duel he was mortally wounded, he wished to see the object of his passion, being already on his “death bed”. Marie believed the gigolo and promised to marry him to comfort the dying man – he was carried to the altar in her arms.

But immediately after the wedding, Stoney suddenly came to life, and the countess turned out not to be a happy bachelor, but a newly married woman. Stoney embezzled her money and locked her in her own house. The adventurer raped the maidservants, and they bore him children. Later, one of the servants, sympathizing with her mistress, helped the countess to escape. But she didn’t stop at escaping – she was determined to defend her right to freedom and exact revenge on the attacker. Although a divorce at that time was something incredible, Mary managed to get justice and Stoney was sent to prison.

James Coyle was an Irish priest who immigrated to Birmingham, Alabama. In 1921 he secretly married a very unusual couple. Her name was Ruth Stevenson and she was the daughter of a Methodist minister and an honorary member of the Ku Klux Klan. Pedro Gussan, a Puerto Rican, son of their former employee, became his chosen one. But as soon as news of the wedding broke, Father Stevenson broke into Coyle’s house and shot him dead.

Maria Martin was born in 1801. At age 24, she had an affair with 22-year-old William Korder, nicknamed the Fox, a swindler and trickster. Soon Maria became pregnant and gave birth to a child who soon died – perhaps not without help.

One day, Corder suggested to Mary that they meet at the Red Barn, from where they were to flee to Ipswich. The meeting was postponed several times, but finally William said they had to flee immediately because, according to him, Mary was being persecuted for illegitimate children.

Maria went to the Red Barn, located on Barnfield Hill, half a mile from Marten’s cottage. There she had to put on a man’s dress and run away with her fiancé. No one else saw her alive.

Korder swore he knew where Maria was and that she had become his wife after a secret marriage and was simply afraid to return to her parents who judged her. He wrote to the Marten family, claiming he lived with his wife on the Isle of Wight.

Maria’s mother-in-law started repeating that in her dreams she sees how Mary was buried in that same red barn. She convinced her husband to go to the barn and forge a grain silo. The remains of their daughter were found there. Wrapped around her neck was a green handkerchief that belonged to Corder.

William was arrested, charged with killing his fiancée and hanged. In the last days of his life, Corder confessed to the murder – he claimed to have accidentally shot Maria in the eye.

Sir Walter Raleigh was known as a favorite of the famous Virgin Queen Elizabeth I. It was he who sent an expedition to explore the territories along the Roanoke River and founded this very infamous colony. Raleigh was seen as proud and career-minded, but Her Majesty adored her.

They had a stormy platonic romance. He became Captain of the Queen’s Personal Guard, Admiral of Devon and Cornwall, and the Queen gave him one of the most luxurious homes in London.

Raleigh and the Queen wrote romantic letters to each other, scratching them with diamonds on glass. But romance is romance, and the flesh demands its own. A much more “worldly” romance has come to Raleigh with the Queen’s bridesmaid, Elizabeth (Bess) Throckmorton. When she became pregnant, Raleigh and Elizabeth married in secret.

It was a double whammy for the queen – she considered her ladies-in-waiting to be vestals, and the favorites were inviolable.

Raleigh left his wife demolished on his estate, boarded a ship and sailed to America, but the Queen ordered him back. As soon as he set foot on English soil, he was sent to the Tower. Elizabeth Throckmorton was excommunicated from court.

But Raleigh was one of the finest admirals in the English fleet, and Elizabeth eventually forgave him.

Raleigh’s marriage was happy – he loved his wife and children, but he had a hard time with the queen’s resignation. She took nothing away from him except her attention, which Raleigh treasured so much. When Elizabeth died, the new monarch, James I Stuart, treated her without sympathy. At 64, Raleigh was beheaded and his embalmed head given to his wife.