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British Monarchy: An Overview

Many powerful personalities have occupied the British throne throughout the 1200 year history of the Monarchy. From Alfred's unification of the various English Kingdoms in 871 AD, to Henry VIII's creation of the Anglican Church as means to circumvent the catholic ban on divorce, to the abdication of Edward VIII in 1936 in order to marry a twice-divorced commoner, many of the British Monarchs have embodied the character that has insured them an easily recognizable place in history. No king, however, has earned more conflicting opinions than Richard the Lionheart.

Historians have afforded Richard both great praise and great criticism. He has been portrayed as a great crusader, a poet, and the one of the last romantic heroes of a dying age of chivalry (Smith 71). His place in legend is undisputed and is based on substantially true events. Many historians, however, have taken a hostile view toward the King. They have presented a picture of Richard as a brutal absentee who negligently allowed his kingdom to degenerate toward anarchy while he indulged his passion for war. The 19th century historian Bishop Stubbs went so far as to call him, "A bad son, a bad husband, a selfish ruler, and a vicious man" (Henderson 14). It is one of the great curiosities of history that Richard is regarded simultaneously as a legendary hero of the English tradition and a negligent brute.

Richard was born on September 8, 1157, in Oxford. In spite of this geographical fact of his birth, Richard was and remained throughout his life, a Frenchman. His father, Henry II, was the descendant of a noble family who had ruled the French province of Anjou for 250 Years. His mother, Eleanor, was in her own right, the Duchess of Aquitaine, which her family had ruled since the 10th century. Through the royal tradition of politically expedient marriage, the subsequent inheritance of sovereignty, and the premature death of his older brother, Richard became t...

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British Monarchy: An Overview. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 04:46, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1686905.html