Mediaeval History
Posts in The Copybook tagged ‘Mediaeval History’
John Balliol had to decide whether his first loyalty was to the throne of Scotland or to the man who put him there.
In 1292, John Balliol became King of Scots thanks to the baffling decision of the Scottish noblemen to let King Edward I of England decide between John and his rival for the crown, Robert de Brus, Lord of Annandale. Edward immediately let it be known that he regarded John as his vassal, and Scotland as an English fiefdom; but John Barbour felt that no Scottish King should serve two masters.
What were the Scots thinking back in 1290, when they asked King Edward I of England, of all people, to choose them a king?
In 1286, Alexander III, King of Scots, was killed in a riding accident; four years later his heiress and granddaughter Margaret died in Orkney aged just seven, leaving Scotland without a clear successor. Thirteen ‘Competitors’ staked a claim. They were whittled down to two, John Balliol and Robert de Brus, and to John Barbour’s disbelief the squabbling Scots asked Edward I of England to choose the winner.
As a young prince Henry V was ‘fierce and of wanton courage,’ Thomas Elyot tells us, but there was one man with courage to match his.
Young prince Henry, son of King Henry IV of England, won himself a reputation as an irresponsible tearaway. It was this that led his counterpart in France, the Dauphin, to underestimate him; had the Dauphin heard this tale, first told by Tudor diplomat Sir Thomas Elyot, surely he would have thought twice before despatching that infamous box of tennis balls on Henry’s accession in 1413.
When the Rising of the North went all wrong in 1569, rebel leader Thomas Percy turned to trusted ally Hector of Harlaw for help.
In 1558, Mary I died and her half-sister Elizabeth, a Protestant, assumed the crown. Both the Pope and Philip II of Spain, Mary’s widower, were wrathful but no reaction came until September 1569. Mary Queen of Scots, a Catholic, had fled to cousin Elizabeth’s protection, and two Catholic nobles spotted an opportunity for change. George Carleton, Bishop of Chichester, takes up the tale of ‘the Rising of the North.’
A much-travelled Spanish visitor amazes an English audience with his tales of wonder overseas, until he is brought up short by his servant.
As a young man, James Howell (?1594-1666) had toured extensively abroad and studied several foreign languages. In 1642, his lavish tastes landed him in the Fleet prison for debt, and there he began to write professionally; that same year, he published a handbook on travel, in which he made a little digression on the subject of the tales travellers tell on their return.
In the days of King James I, Thomas Coryat visited Italy and came home with an affected Continental habit: eating with a fork.
When Peter Damian, Bishop of Ostia, learnt that the late Maria Argyropoulaina (?-1007), daughter-in-law to the Doge of Venice, had eaten with a little fork rather than her fingers, he denounced it as unnatural. But on a tour of Italy in 1608, Englishman Thomas Coryat found that forks were now everyday items, and he even brought the fashion back home.