In three X of teaching medieval European history , I ’ve noticed my students are specially curious about the crossway of the level told in stratum and the depictions of the Middle Ages they see in movies and television .
Judged by their historical accuracy , cinematic portrayals are a mixed bag .
However , pop fantasy , unencumbered by the competing priority of " getting it right , " can , in large-minded apoplexy , reflect the values of themedievalsociety that exhort it .
" House of the Dragon " is one of those TV shows . Aking , lacking a male heir to his toilet , lift his teenage daughter to be his named successor , and a complex dynastic drama ensues .
This plot line reflects the literal obstruction facing women who aspired to practice royal authority in knightly society .
The Queen as a Conduit to Power
George R. R. Martin , whose novels were the foundation for the HBO series " Game of Thrones , " has madeno secret of his inspirationfor " House of the Dragon":the Anarchy , a two - decade geological period , from 1135 to 1154 , when a homo and a woman vied with each other for the English throne .
The story exit like this : Henry Isired two dozen or more child out of wedlock . But with his queen , Matilda , he had only a daughter , the future " Empress " Matilda , and a Word , William . With William ’s birth , the frontmost duty ofmedieval queenshipwas fulfilled : There would be a male heir .
Then tragedy strike . In 1120 , a drunken 17 - yr - old William attempt a nighttime channel crossing . When his also - inebriated steerer slay a rock ‘n’ roll , the prince drowned .
The queen had become flat two years before , so Henry I remarried — Adeliza of Louvain — but they had no children together . The rocker sat empty and the littoral in Henry I ’s hourglass take to the woods low , so he resolved that his lone legitimate child , Matilda , would have the throne as a ruling queen .
The move was unprecedented in medieval England . A pouf could exert influence in her husband ’s physical absence or when , after a power ’s death , their Word was a youngster . Her part , moreover , as an intimate confidant and counselor could be consequential .
But a fairy was not expected to swing a sword or lead troops into conflict and shape the personal loyalties on which kingship remain , to say nothing of themisogynyinherent to medieval English beau monde . The queen was the conduit through which power was transferred by union and childbirth , not its exclusive wielder .
Viserys and Henry I Share the Same Plight
A similar scenario drives the game of " House of the Dragon . " The absolute preference for a male swayer in the fictional kingdom Westeros is give tongue to in the serial ' opening view .
Theold king , having outlived his sons , empowers a council of nobles to choose his successor between two of his grandchild , the cousinsRhaenysandViserys . Rhaenys , a female , is the older of the two .
Yet the male Viserys becomes mogul and Rhaenys , " the queen who never was , " later on contritely concedes that this represented " the order of things . "
Once installed , however , Westeros ' new king would have understood the quandary of England ’s Henry I.
Aemma , Viserys ' queen , suffer miscarriage and miscarriages and produces only a daughter , Rhaenyra . A fading Bob Hope for a son is dashed when a breached birth and a savage Caesarean part , intended to hold reach the baby , ends up killing Aemma . The boy — the urgently trust heritor — does n’t live out the day .
Sonless , Visery ’s make inheritor is his younger brother , the debase , sinisterDaemon . When Daemon ’s conduct becomes intolerable , Viserys disinherits and banishes him . leave with his new daughter Rhaenyra , he decides to make her a rule queen , a role the girl relish as she seeks to change " the guild of thing . "
Building Support for a Ruling Queen
The challenge for a mediaeval Billie Jean Moffitt King , whether Henry I or the fictional Viserys , was to persuade the nobleman to overcome their prejudices and not just go for but actively support a woman ’s ascension to power .
Henry I pursued measures to make his girl palatable to them . Matilda , who had married the Holy Roman Emperor Henry V in 1114 , returned to England a widow in 1125 . Henry I , determined to counterfeit a sacramental bond between his daughter and England ’s power , compel his king in 1127 to assert their keep for her as his successor . Henry I then turned to arranging a union for Matilda so she could give birth to a grandson and buttress her locating .
After Matilda ’s wedding ceremony with Geoffrey , count of Anjou , the tycoon were summoned to renew their oath to her in 1131 . A son , Henry , was born two years later on , and a third pledge followed . Henry I died two year by and by of nutrient poisoning aftereating eel , a favorite dish of his .
The durability of his arrangement for Matilda ’s hike to authority was immediately tested .
Viserys in " House of the Dragon " works from a similar playbook . The worthies of Westeros vow their loyalty to Rhaenyra as regal replacement . Once Rhaenyra becomes marriageable , Viserys field a overplus of suitor for her bridge player . A reluctant St. Bridget , Rhaenyra finally enter to a union in which she would " dutifully " produce a manlike heritor but then rent her heart have what it wanted .
The unfortunate final result is her unfitness to conceive with her married man while have three Logos by a lover . Her situation is further complicate by Viserys ' remarriage to the ladyAlicent , who feed him sons . Dangers stalk Rhaenyra ’s path to power . In Westeros , as in England , a princess is expected to guard her chastity closely until marriage and , once we d , to be monogamous and not to " sully " herself in rescript to ensure the legitimacy of her kid — a blatant two-fold criterion when nobleman frequently had children out of wedlock .
Yet even rumors of distaff infidelity could imperil succession . Lineage matters . Blood stick to , as evident in the current of it running from class crown to family crest in the series ' curtain raising credits .
Forces Supporting Matilda Invade England
Did these strategy work ?
Not for Matilda . Stephen of Blois , a boy from the marriage of Henry I ’s sis Adela to a French count , aggressively registered a call to the crown after Henry I ’s death . Many English magnates handily forgot their oaths to Matilda , and Stephen became king .
Matilda was not without supporters — her half - brother Robert , earl of Gloucester ; her husband , the numeration of Anjou ; nobles disaffected by Stephen ’s rule ; and opportunists seeking personal gain from the difference of opinion . Matilda resisted and the Anarchy ensued .
force-out supporting Matilda invaded England in 1139 but , save for a moment in 1141 , she never ruled . She then focused instead on elevating her boy to the jacket .
Prosecution of the warfare finally passed to the vernal Henry . His mounting military success jogged the barons ' memory of their preceding commitments , and the repugn parties reached a settlement . Henry would succeed Stephen . With Stephen ’s death , Henry became Henry II . England would n’t have another rule queen until the ascension of Queen Mary I in 1553 , most four centuries later .
But what of Rhaenyra ?
Westeros is not 12th century England . For Martin , the source , the Anarchy does not attend to to establish diachronic fact but is a well for his creative vision . The fire - breathe dragon — that denizen of the medieval resource – be in Westeros . Rhaenyra ’s pursuit of the throne may be fraught with difficulties , but she is a dragon - passenger , and dragons were the most horrific military plus in the kingdom .
This makes her serious in a way of life Matilda of England could hardly have conceived . Nonetheless , " House of the Dragon , " through the lens of fantasy , reflects a slash of the English medieval experience .
David Routtis an adjunct prof of history at the University of Richmond .
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