User:Marye the quene

Marye the quene
Portrait by Antonis Mor, 1554. Queen Mary I of England is the historical figure that I owe my love of history to.
Born	1994 Arizona, United States
Religion	Greek Orthodoxy

About Me

I love history, royalty and religion; thus, many of my edits will be regarding the history of monarchs and their religion. I am currently a history major at Arizona State University, though I will not have a career in history.

What is below is a list of my own personal thoughts regarding certain figures that I like in history. I also argue certain points and cite sources.

I will update this user profile soon, but for now, that's all!

Historical Figures That I Like

Edward I of England

King Edward is my favorite monarch second to Mary I. I find it interesting how he loves his wife and that it is reported that he never had any other women during a time that royalty were forced into a marriage where they did not love who they were marrying.

Edward I

His love to his wife is expressed when when she dies; he erects twelve statues in her honor for each night the procession stopped to sleep. They're known as Eleanor Crosses. Another aspect that I enjoy about his life, and the life of many other monarchs during this time is their religious life. Edward, being the son of one of the most pious kings, Henry III, definitely had an impact on Edward. However, every king during this time, including King John, a king considered somewhat atheistic (something I will argue against when I add King John to this list), had a religious life.

For me, as someone who is religious, the religious life of a monarch is deeply important especially due to many of the policies created and the way their life is lived (for most) is influenced by their religion. Religion may even be a bias of mine; many will write off John as irreligious, yet with enough evidence, and there is evidence, one can see past many of the guises that early medieval historians used to attack the ones they go after. So, let us move to King John.

John, King of England

If you don't know, I have a special love for the English monarchy and English history in general. Generally any King or Queen (Empress) will be liked by me until anything after Queen Elizabeth I. Anything after her is somewhat of a snooze-fest for me. I do find some things interesting, such as Guy Fawkes' Gunpowder Plot (especially due to the role that religion plays in it; however, there aren't many cases like that. My love of history is entrenched generally in pre-1500 history, thus even my love of Marye the quene is unique when compared to my general love of history.

Okay, King John; this king, for me, is very interesting. What I desire to know is his true life, how he lived, and especially his religious life. I will essentially be addressing the Wikipedia page regarding his personal life and religion. I do not dispute the fact of his lack of religious conviction, though, to make an argument of his irreligion out of that would be an Argument from silence. What should be looked at are the medieval historians such as Matthew Paris (whom I do like for his medieval art) and others like him who purposefully defame John because of their dislike towards him. The arguments that each medieval historian proposes against John is inconsistent in nature. Historian W. L. Warren in his book King John, talks about how odd that one source would say something scandalous about John's religious (or in this case, irreligious) actions, yet no other source would say the same thing. A handful of sources would say something bad about the king, but each conviction was a completely different conviction. For example, Warren says in page 171, "Adam of Eynsham, the biographer of St Hugh of Lincoln, says that John never communicated after he came of age, not even at his coronation. If that were true it is surprising that no other chronicler mentions so remarkable a fact" I would urge all to read W. L. Warren's book, King John. It shows John in a right historical light that other historians ignore. Those in the ancient past who wanted to defame someone would wipe them from history, however, in the Middle Ages, those who wrote history were the monks in various monasteries throughout Europe. If one wanted to defame someone in medieval Europe, you defame their religious life; you say they were not a good Christian.

Tomb effigy of King John, Worcester Cathedral

To be continued...