#also this is empire we're talking about it doesnt exactly make for ideal family situations

[historia-vitae-magistras]

hello!! I don’t know much about american or british history and I was wondering, why do people have Arthur (unwillingly) abandon Alfred when he’s a baby and basically be an absent father? Could you explain briefly, if possible? Was there anything specific going on in the UK that kept Arthur from raising Alfred and does that mean the British rule in the colonies wasn’t as strong? I promise I will do lots of reading on my own too, but I was wondering from an hws perspective if u could explain what was keeping Arthur busy?? Thank you!! (sorry I am not American nor British so I rly don’t know and it’s a trope I have seen a lot - the absent Arthur thing)

The 17th century was incredibly violent and brutal. Civil and Imperial wars across the board. What's now the UK was a hot mess. I usually link more primary source type stuff but I will put mostly Wikipedia links below and try to keep this brief? Also this is not my period of specialty so I might miss some things I shouldn't have. But I tried?

There was the policy of salutary neglect that kind of permitted the Americans to do their thing.

The English executed a king in 1649, were ruled by a Oliver Cromwell for 5 years, fought a civil war, got another king in 1660 and in the process the conflict spread across the entirety of the British Isles with the War of the Three Kingdoms just cutting a swathe of violence across England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland of a truly horrifying level. Then there was the Great Fire of London, 3 wars with the Dutch, and two or three wars with the French in the 17th century depending on how you define 'war.' I can't imagine Arthur being in any sort of decent shape during all of that, especially between 1639 and 1660.

In America there was pretty much constant conflict between Dutch and French and English settlers until the Dutch were shoved off the continent completely and New England and New France came into more frequent direct conflict. And when the French Canadians weren't reinventing guerrilla warfare against the New Englanders the New Englanders were invading Quebec, or fighting wars of genocide against the indigenous peoples like King Phillips War, or King William's War. No one was having a good time.

In that same period, there were witch hunts on both sides of the pond. In the British Isles, witches were burned. In America, they were hung. But yeah, busy and bloody time.