Brother Simon of Swineshead

A legend dating to at least the late 15th century holds that King John was poisoned at Swineshead Abbey in Lincolnshire in October 1216. According to the tale, a monk named Brother Simon, having first obtained absolution from Abbot William, put toad's venom into the king's cup of ale, then drank from it himself to allay suspicion — and both men died. The story appears in William Caxton's chronicle (c.1480) and in John Foxe's Book of Martyrs with a detailed woodcut entitled 'The Description of the Poysoning of King John, by a monk of Swinestead Abbeye in Lincolnshire'. The tale also circulates in the Lincolnshire Folk Tales tradition via Henry Winn's verse account. Historically, John is believed to have died of dysentery; the poisoning legend developed as a Protestant-era morality tale.