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struggle4progress

(118,041 posts)
Fri Mar 1, 2013, 10:39 PM Mar 2013

Favorite English King


3 votes, 1 pass | Time left: Unlimited
Æthelred the Unready
1 (33%)
Gurguit Barbtruc
0 (0%)
Richard IV
0 (0%)
Edgar the Peaceful
1 (33%)
Uther Pendragon
0 (0%)
Kong
0 (0%)
Sweyn Forkbeard
0 (0%)
Cadwallader
0 (0%)
Burger
0 (0%)
William the Bastard
1 (33%)
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Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll
36 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Favorite English King (Original Post) struggle4progress Mar 2013 OP
Cole - the dude knew how to party, with his pipe and his bowl and his fiddlers... petronius Mar 2013 #1
I completely forgot about Cole the Slaw struggle4progress Mar 2013 #2
Queen Elizabeth I Sedona Mar 2013 #3
"I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too, and think foul scorn struggle4progress Mar 2013 #5
King Penguvin Paulie Mar 2013 #4
Richard III. Aristus Mar 2013 #6
Did ye 'ear that fr'yer drinkin buddy Will, when 'e was incautiously in 'is cups? struggle4progress Mar 2013 #10
No. If anything, Will would have been motivated to malign Richard even further. Aristus Mar 2013 #12
That's why I wondered if it were mebbe him when he wuz a mite tipsy struggle4progress Mar 2013 #13
Let's face it union_maid Mar 2013 #15
RICHARD III WAS A GREAT KING. They have located his bones.... he will get a burial trueblue2007 Mar 2013 #33
My favorite, too nickinSTL Mar 2013 #35
Gurguit Barbtruc mokawanis Mar 2013 #7
Fuck the royals! They should all die of syphilis contracted from their cousins! ohiosmith Mar 2013 #8
I went with Sweyn. bluedigger Mar 2013 #9
Hey! Wanna go guzzle some mead and then invade England? struggle4progress Mar 2013 #11
B.B. King kwassa Mar 2013 #14
Why, King Arthur, of course Art_from_Ark Mar 2013 #16
King - Love and Pride (80's music) IcyPeas Mar 2013 #17
Richard III (I like the vicious smart asses) Tom Ripley Mar 2013 #18
I'm surprised that my fav isn't among the selections jrandom421 Mar 2013 #19
George VI is Elizabeth's FATHER. Manifestor_of_Light Mar 2013 #25
I like George VI, too. He had a sweet, sad face. And he shouldered an unexpected burden with grace Demoiselle Mar 2013 #28
Yep. Really did not expect to be king. Manifestor_of_Light Mar 2013 #31
George died in 1952 jrandom421 Apr 2013 #36
No King Aurthur? WTF! Demo_Chris Mar 2013 #20
Arthur wasn't king of England Bucky Mar 2013 #21
No, I am thinking Aurthur and Sir Lancelot and Merlin Demo_Chris Mar 2013 #23
many English kings are my direct ancestors grasswire Mar 2013 #22
I thought that channel only did shows on Aliens, Mermaids, and Hitler Demo_Chris Mar 2013 #24
The King of Rock 'n Roll. bluesbassman Mar 2013 #26
Love that song pintobean Mar 2013 #32
Cadwallader's Welsh. geardaddy Mar 2013 #27
Uther Pendragon In_The_Wind Mar 2013 #29
No King George III? charlie and algernon Mar 2013 #30
Of course, if he had succeeded in protecting the Empire, we would not madinmaryland Mar 2013 #34

struggle4progress

(118,041 posts)
5. "I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too, and think foul scorn
Fri Mar 1, 2013, 11:06 PM
Mar 2013

that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm; to which rather than any dishonour shall grow by me, I myself will take up arms"

Smart lady: survived despite the Nine Days Queen and the Thomas Seymour affair and Wyatt's rebellion

Earned a AAA rating IMO

Aristus

(66,096 posts)
6. Richard III.
Fri Mar 1, 2013, 11:26 PM
Mar 2013

Scandalously maligned.

Brave warrior, skilled general, gifted administrator, possibly not the murderer of the Princes in the Tower. (I'm betting it was Henry VII.)

struggle4progress

(118,041 posts)
10. Did ye 'ear that fr'yer drinkin buddy Will, when 'e was incautiously in 'is cups?
Sat Mar 2, 2013, 12:10 AM
Mar 2013

One of the "princes" in the Tower was Edward V, at 12 the eldest son of Edward IV (d. 9 April 1483). He had come to London in May 1483 for his coronation; his uncle, Richard Plantagenet, intercepted him along the way and sent him to the Tower as a "protective" move. In June, after his younger brother, the Duke of York, had joined Edward V in the Tower, Richard Plantagenet assumed the throne (an act confirmed by Parliament early in 1484). Shortly thereafter, the Tower princes simply vanished forever: before the end of the summer, rumors circulated locally and internationally that they had been murdered at the new king's request. Two more years passed before Henry Tudor's victory at Bosworth -- so there is a two-year gap, between the time the princes were last seen (when they were completely under their uncle's control) and the first moment Henry Tudor could possibly have exercised any control over their fates

Aristus

(66,096 posts)
12. No. If anything, Will would have been motivated to malign Richard even further.
Sat Mar 2, 2013, 12:37 AM
Mar 2013

He was writing during the reign of the granddaughter of the man who overthrew Richard III. So it was a good idea to portray Richard as villainously as possible.

union_maid

(3,502 posts)
15. Let's face it
Sat Mar 2, 2013, 03:28 AM
Mar 2013

The argument as to whether Richard did the princes in has been going on ALMOST as long as the Mac vs PC argument. It will never be settled. I think he did it if only because killing off any rival to the throne that you could kill off was SOP of good governance at the time. And he did usurp the hell out of the throne. But did that make him a bad person? Well, maybe a little, but the subsequent carrying on about it all was just a bit disingenuous considering that everyone was busy killing everyone else off at the time, and whenever there was time there was the burning of villages and farms and other things that were not good for children and other living things.

I voted for Edgar the Peaceful because no one else had. Also he was quite possibly not insane, which seemed to be unusual for a monarch.

nickinSTL

(4,833 posts)
35. My favorite, too
Mon Mar 4, 2013, 11:46 PM
Mar 2013

While I think it's possible that he was responsible for the murder of his nephews, there's just no way to prove who did it.

His reputation as we have known it mostly comes from Sir Thomas More & Shakespeare, both of whom wrote under Tudor monarchs.

More's work was really a means of claiming that no king was legitimate without consent of Parliament, and the facts weren't all that important. He used Richard III as a villain because that's what he could get away with. The Tudors' best claim to the throne was by conquest, not by blood or inheritance, so vilifying Richard made them seem heroic, rather than usurpers.

Shakespeare probably went in large part from More's work (and probably others writing under the Tudors) and was again likely to be safest making Richard out to be a villain.

He was a solid administrator and loyal to his brother Edward. I suspect he'd have been much happier had he been able to stay up in York administering the north of the country, rather than being at court and becoming king.

While I'd like to think he didn't murder his nephews, the truth is that there were rumors of their deaths during his lifetime, and he never produced them alive to counter those rumors. That doesn't look good. Of course, even if they were dead, that doesn't mean Richard necessarily ordered the murders.

ohiosmith

(24,262 posts)
8. Fuck the royals! They should all die of syphilis contracted from their cousins!
Fri Mar 1, 2013, 11:44 PM
Mar 2013

Last edited Sat Mar 2, 2013, 12:22 AM - Edit history (1)

Erin go bragh!

jrandom421

(999 posts)
19. I'm surprised that my fav isn't among the selections
Sat Mar 2, 2013, 09:44 PM
Mar 2013

Edward I aka "Longshanks" aka "Malleus Scotorum" aka "Hammer of the Scots".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_I_of_England

A close second is George VI and Elizabeth still hates her uncle with a white-hot passion unsurpassed by any star in the universe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_VI

 

Manifestor_of_Light

(21,046 posts)
25. George VI is Elizabeth's FATHER.
Sun Mar 3, 2013, 07:36 PM
Mar 2013

Her uncle is Edward VIII (real name David), the guy who ruled for less than a year in 1936, and abdicated to marry Wallis Simpson. I think that was a coverup. I think the real reason he abdicated was that he saw war coming in Europe, and since the Windsors changed their name from Hanover, and were German, that he didn't want to fight his cousins.

Also, the English Royal Family was quite concerned that England would become a satellite of Germany, because Edward VIII and Wallis were hanging out with Hitler a lot.

Elizabeth's grandfather, George V said about Edward VIII, "He will ruin himself within the year" after he is crowned which became true. George V also said that he hoped that the younger brother, Bertie (George VI) would rule and Lilibet (Elizabeth) would ascend the throne, which is exactly what happened.

jrandom421

(999 posts)
36. George died in 1952
Sun Apr 7, 2013, 04:17 PM
Apr 2013

at the age of 57, due to the lung cancer he got from the excessive smoking he did as a stress relief. The war and everything else took its toll on George, and Elizabeth still hates her father's older brother for that, thinking he would have lived another 30 years without the stress of carrying the Empire through World War 2.

grasswire

(50,130 posts)
22. many English kings are my direct ancestors
Sun Mar 3, 2013, 05:11 PM
Mar 2013

It would be hard to pick a favorite.

Incidentally, the History Channel begins a new series tonight on the Vikings. The story parallels the history of my Viking ancestors.

Scary stuff!!

madinmaryland

(64,920 posts)
34. Of course, if he had succeeded in protecting the Empire, we would not
Mon Mar 4, 2013, 08:09 PM
Mar 2013

have any teabaggers today, and would have had universal health care years ago!!

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