PRISONER
OF APPETITE

Topics: Addiction; Appetites; Bondage; Food; Foolishness; Gluttony; Greed; Limitations; Self-control; Temptation

References: Proverbs 23:1–3, 21; John 8:34; Galatians 5:1; Philippians 3:19; 1 Timothy 6:9; 2 Peter 2:19

Raynald III, a fourteenth-century duke in what is now Belgium, was grossly overweight. His Latin nickname, Crassus, means “fat.”

Raynald’s younger brother Edward revolted against Raynald’s rule. Edward captured Raynald but did not kill him. Instead, he built a room around Raynald in the Nieuwkerk castle and promised him he could regain his title and property when he left the room. This would not have been difficult for most people, since the room had several windows and a door of near-normal size, none of which were locked or barred. The problem was Raynald’s size; to regain his freedom, he needed to lose weight.

Edward knew his older brother. Each day he sent a variety of delicious foods into the room. Instead of dieting his way out of prison, Raynald grew fatter. When Duke Edward was accused of cruelty, he had a ready answer: “My brother is not a prisoner. He may leave when he so wills.” Raynald stayed in his room for ten years and wasn’t released until after Edward died in battle. By then his health was so ruined that he died within a year—a prisoner of his own appetite.

—Thomas Costain, The Three Edwards (Popular Library, 1964)