Tomb of King John of England
Today's challenge is favorite historical personage to read about.
I've narrowed it down to the two men that I feel made a significant contribution to history, not because of what they accomplished, but because they were failures. Sometimes a failure affects the future more than a success.
First is King John of England. He's important because there are:
Three Good Things That Come From the reign of Bad King John.
1. He lost all land on the continent.
He alienated two of his most influential nobles by stealing the younger noble's bride while she was on her way to be married. The two brothers took a dim view of this. They switched their allegiance to the King of France taking other influential nobles with them. With one stroke he lost the southern part of France. Momma, Eleanora of Aquitaine, was not happy losing her birthright to the son of her former husband.
Then he murdered his nephew Arthur, who was the rightful heir to the throne, and he was just to be regent. This lost him the northern part of France. King Phillip of France made the split permanent by making nobles choose which side of the channel they sided with.
This is significant as the King of England was now tied to the island. The Angevine Kings spent more time on the continent than the island. They are buried there. John is the first Norman king to be buried in England.
2. He is the father of the British Navy.
John wanted all the land he lost to France back. To do that he needed a navy. England did not have a navy until then. It took a few centuries, but England built its worldwide empire with the navy.
3. The Magna Charta. This alone makes his failure significant to all history. The concept that the King is subject to the law and is not the law. Trial by jury of peers. Milestones in jurisprudence, even though he fought it to the day he died.
The second historical person that changed history by his failures is Cardinal Thomas Wolsey.
He had many accomplishments, but he failed three times and that made all the difference to the future.
1. He tried to get Henry VIII elected the Holy Roman Emperor. He fell a few votes short. Carlos I of Spain became Emperor Charles V. The man who held the Pope prisoner when Henry wanted a divorce.
2. He tried to become Pope. He fell a few votes short.
3. The King's divorce. He failed making Henry VIII divorce Catherine and split with the Catholic Church founding the Church of England. Ireland is still suffering from this split. Wolsey fell from grace and mercifully died on his way to the Tower.
The great what if of history, what if Wolsey succeeded all three times?
14 comments:
The Tudor period is definitely a favourite of mine to read about. Things could have been very different indeed.
This is such an interesting way to think about failure! Good post.
"The great what if of history, what if Wolsey succeeded all three times?"
Maybe you should write a parallel universe story...
Yes, they could have, George.
Glad you appreciate it, Lydia.
Good idea, Marianne.
Lots of interest in British history for this question. Given today's date, I'm a little surprised that I haven't seen more Roman history...
I think you win the award for 'least anticipated answer'! Would be interesting if Henry was elected HRE, to say the least. I assume he was still married to Katherine at the time? It DEFINITELY would have been a no-go afterwards given her connection to the HRE.
@Michael I briefly considered Julius Caesar or Marcus Aurelius, but decided to base my answer on who I actually read about!
Good point, Michael
Stephan, Carlos wouldn't have been in a position to stop him and the Pope, especially if it was Wolsey. He wouldn't have had to break from Rome.
Good choice, Stephan.
Lackland Jack was a bit of a villain, and there's always a temptation to exaggerate villains if one writes about them at all. Wolsey could be made interesting to Real Adults...Thomas B. Costain would probably have written about him by giving him a young protege who had Adventures and a Romance.
(I'm sorry to hear about your loss...Very. Sort of angry, too, that it's still even possible for celiac disease to get to that point!)
He was Lackland as a prince, as king he was Softsword, as he lost every battle.
She was on IV's for 12 hours a day, and lived a long life for someone with her condition. The marriage only lasted two years, most of it with her in the hospital. It was hard not to know about her as she worked at Lifeway Bookstore and my wife of 44 years worked at the Baptist Convention. Thank you for your kind words.
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