Playing as much CK2 as I do, I took notice of this Netflix show when it first popped up. I love the Early Medieval Period as the Wild West of Europe, when kingdoms were new and ambition was the way forward. When I first tried to watch it, I was turned off by the low… Read More Quick Review: The Last Kingdom
The Kingdoms of Bran the Broken is neither a Kingdom nor is it Bran’s. Discuss. This analysis, from A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry, argues that the introduction of Elective Monarchy to Westeros, and especially the election of Bran Stark as its first elected king, is doomed to failure. The reasons are as follows: With the… Read More Bran Stark is Hosed – A Reasonable Prediction From the End of Game of Thrones
So sayeth this review of The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise. (h/t Vox Populi) And yes, the reviewer is an Orthodox priest, if you want to ready your ad hominems, and he is positively scathing regarding the myth, even working in a Gone With the Wind reference. As Fernandez-Morera’s book points out, the picture of a tolerant Islam… Read More No, Islamic Spain was Not Tolerant
This post at Catholic Herald uses the announcement of Prince William’s new son’s name to remind us that the Hundred Years War was but one phase of a series of struggles between the French and English Crown that went on from the days of William the Conqueror until the English were run out of Calais 500… Read More Baby Prince Louis Dredges Up Old Memories of 1215
No horse was going to save him. Read the whole thing, as it’s very interesting, and jibes with what accounts of Bosworth I have read. Of course, it bears pointing out that Richard fought like a mad boar at Bosworth, killing Henry Tudor’s standard bearer and very nearly getting to Henry himself before he was… Read More Richard III was Attacked All At Once, Died Swiftly
I see my friends getting all excited for the new season of Game of Thrones. It almost makes me wish for HBO. But as I’ve said before, I’ve read the books, and as I’ve said before, Martin has drawn heavily on the actual history of 15th-century England in creating his saga. Sure, most people with… Read More Game of Roses, or How George R.R. Martin Gave New Names to Historical Persons
Like a Bandit, I made out. Like a bandit. The list: William Shakespeare’s Star Wars – Still reading it, and while i detect clunky moments, when it’s on, it sizzles. Two Gentlemen of Lebowski – A friend of mine summed it up as “so much more spot-on than necessary.” I concur. World War One: A Short History – “In four… Read More The Yuletime Haul of Books: Trenches, Emperors, and the Knave Doth Abide
A while back, I jumped off an article about one of the world’s remaining functional monarchies, that of Morocco, to an argument that survival was the key to success for a monarch. I used the Capetians as an example. Today I’m going to unsay a little of that, and use as an example a dynasty… Read More Medieval Dynastic Fail: The Normans
Medieval Musings is the kind of blog that I would like to write, if it didn’t already exist. The Middle Ages continues to fascinate, both for its seeming atavistic structure (men who work, men who fight, men who pray!) and the constant, chaotic change. Western Civilization went from seeming collapse to being poised to take… Read More Arabia Before Islam at Medieval Musings
At present time, Queen Elizabeth II has been on the English throne for 61 years. If she lasts another three, she’ll tie the record for the longest reign by a British monarch (my money’s on her doing it. She’s only in her 80’s, and her mother lived to be 100). There’s a reason that The King’s… Read More With Monarchy, the Name of the Game is Longevity.
Content Blues 