#disunited kingdom

[neiljohnsonphotography]

DON'T LET THEM STOP YOU VOTING

[aangstolethemortalcup]

Can’t wait for scotland to be free

[erynalasse]

Fingon is the archetypical hero. He does great deeds of valor and daring, notably Maedhros’ rescue and rushing out to defeat Glaurung. He is not terribly afraid of consequences, which is wonderful when he is the only one he’s responsible for. His talent is forging ahead and inspiring everyone to follow him.

Fingolfin is the archetypical king. He is the one that holds his people together across the Helcaraxë and brokers peace with Maedhros after he’s rescued. He’s incredibly aware of every possible consequence, which is wonderful when he’s responsible for a whole kingdom. His talent is uniting everyone and inspiring them to move forward together.

When Fingolfin dies, he acts as the hero, not the king. He tries to borrow his son’s talent for incredibly inadvisable stunts, but it isn’t in his nature. He believes the Noldor are doomed, and thus dies in despair fighting Morgoth because he does not see another path forward, only defeat.

When Fingon dies, he acts as the king, not the hero. He tries to borrow his father’s talent for forging political unity, but it isn’t in his nature. The Nirnaeth’s forces are disunited from their conception to their defeat, and Fingon dies full of hope fighting Morgoth because he does not see any other path forward, only victory.

Fingolfin’s legacy was despair, though he left a lasting blow against Morgoth. Fingon’s legacy was hope, though he did not so much as touch Morgoth.

[somerabbitholes]

hello! it's been a while since you've posted any essay collection 👀 would you be willing to share your favourites of this year with us?

yes! here you go —

Disunited Kingdom by Fintan O'Toole

South Asia's place in contemporary climate fiction by Evan Tims

What's the matter with men? by Idrees Kahloon (archived)

Power to the Caribbean people by V. S. Naipaul (archived)

Can Russia ever be democratic? by Kyle Orton

Death by Design by Daniel Callcut

Joshimath: once upon a town by Rahul Pandita

Exposed by Sadie Levy Gale

In the Shifting Embrace of the Ganga by Arati Kumar-Rao

(Less essay, more interview) Matty Healy by Alexis Petridis

The Roots of Global South's New Resentment by Mark Suzman

How TikTok Became a Diplomatic Crisis by Alex Palmer (archived)

This review of Oppenheimer by Richard Brody of the New Yorker (archived)

India's new growing elite by Shekhar Gupta

There are definitely more I'm forgetting and which I will try to excavate!

[zuko-always-lies]

Friendly Reminder

At the end of the 100 years war,

The Northern Water Tribe is still largely isolationist. After the Siege of the North, they tend nothing to aid the war effort and their only change was sending a small expedition to aid the Southern Water Tribe.

The Southern Water Tribe is a tiny, disunited shadow of its former self due to decades of genocide.

The Earth Kingdom is extremely divided, disunited, and devastated by the war. King Kuei has only just been reinstalled on the throne. It will take many years of consolidation before the government can attempt or demand anything outside its borders.

The Air Nomads have been reduced to one person.

The Avatar is the Firelord's best friend.

The Fire Nation is still almost unopposed, and as far as "international relations" goes what the Firelord wants will generally fly. "Zuko being bullied into x" doesn't make much sense.

[faces-ofvenus]

Hi! I love your writing!

I have a request for Daemon and Aemond - how would they react in the following situation:

female reader has a conversation with Aemma where she talks about her feelings for Daemon . Daemon overhears the conversation and overhears Aemma describing him as a bad choice and a great misfortune for female readers. but reader defends it and describes what is wonderful about Daemon . it becomes clear that she sees sides of him that he is trying to hide

female reader has a conversation with Rhaenyra where she talks about her feelings for Aemond . Aemond overhears the conversation and overhears Rhaenyra describing him as a bad choice and a great misfortune for female readers. but reader defends it and describes what is wonderful about Aemond . it becomes clear that she sees sides of him that he is trying to hide

Were you perhaps having too heated a conversation with your sister Rhaenyra the fact? Your relationship with your half brother Aemond, you just didn't understand all the hatred for the younger boy, you basically watched him grow up, being only 2 years younger than Rhaenyra you were a considerable adult age when Aemond came into being.

- He is an unpredictable and dangerous snake, you more than anyone should see that y/n

You rolled your eyes at her same statements, she didn't know Aemond you did, she didn't want to see that there was good in him, you saw him grow up, you saw how much he suffered, and you were always there, you knew that Aemond was just an adult who had to grow up being underestimated, always trying to prove himself, and for some time, maybe even today, seen as inferior compared to his brothers or nephews.

- You never wanted to meet our brother Rhaenyra, you don't know who he really is, what he had to go through, Aemond is such a sweet human who can honestly be kind, and shy, but he was never allowed to love, why don't you give him the power of doubt, why don't you stop treating him like a monster, so he can stop acting like one!

You said excitedly, not realizing that Aemond himself was listening behind the doors, Aemond always secretly loved you, yes you were his half sister, yes you were more than 7 years older than him, but you were the only one that made his heart skip beats, he remembers when your brother and nephews gave you a pig to ride, how you were the only one that defended him, you were always kind to everyone, and he couldn't stand his family being so disunited with each other, you caught him in the library that day alone, you shared with him that it also took a long time to get a dragon, until he found his dragon, one of the most feared and only not older than Baelon and Vaghar, you encouraged him and gave him a kiss on the forehead he felt the same thing he was feeling now, the purest of euphoria.

You were simply the only one who thought this of him, the only one who always saw him, who didn't see him as inferior just for not having an eye, for not having had a dragon, you defended him and went against everyone for him, against his sister, against his uncle, against everyone, Aemond hurriedly left the mind he could to not be

discovered, but before he promised himself, that he would be faithful to you, no matter if he had to go through your father, brothers, or even burn all of King's Landing and the seven kingdoms.

You were an old friend of Aemma's, in fact your relationship bordered on sisterhood since you were just children and that's why you often referred to each other as sisters, and just as you always advised her and were on her side, you just wanted the same support you gave her when your marriage to Viserys was announced, but it seemed that wasn't the situation now, since your engagement to Prince Daemon was announced, Aemma was always against it, and tried everything to make you come back to reality, to give up and that Daemon was not the man for you.

- You're not listening to me sister, you've always been so stubborn, but listen to me, Daemon is not a good man, he is depraved, do you know how many he slept with today? I know him, you don't.

Since you don't know him like she does, that sincerely hurt, you wouldn't commit yourself to Daemon if you really didn't know who he was, and yes you knew he was a man of a thousand flaws, but honestly, he was the most sincere person you had ever met, since the day of the wedding between Aemma and Viserys, you thought the same as everyone else thought, a stud who is only after bargains, but no, he was highly charming and always treated you with the utmost respect, defending you from some lords who harassed you non-stop, you ran away for nights and days, and explored places that honestly if it weren't for him you would never set foot in, you had the feeling of freedom you've never seen, you sincerely had such deep conversations, you wondered why Daemon never revealed this intelligence, besides he was not a judgmental person, because he knew how to recognize your flaws, and accept them, and so you also accepted him.

- I have always considered you very highly, but I don't allow you to talk that way about my fiancé, I think it's you who doesn't know him, you focus so much on his defects that you can't see his qualities! Like absolutely everyone else I'm tired of this, stop telling me what is right or wrong for me, Daemon is right for me.

You said in one last shout between the two of you, behind you was Daemon unnoticeable as always, he wasn't the gossipy type, he was looking for you, since he hadn't seen you all day, until he found you in a heated conversation with his "beloved" sister-in-law, it wasn't today that he and Aemma were not as I might say, best friends even though she had been married to his father for a few years, but seeing that she was slandering him to you, and not only as advising her to stop your marriage, was like a blow to him, so he decided that he would listen to the end.

You defending him wasn't just hot in his opinion, but simply amplified all the respect he felt for you, he wasn't too sure what you thought of him, he wasn't the most famous person for his politeness and friendliness, not like Viserys, but still you never compared him, but rather saw him and didn't judge him, he knew that by trusting you, loving you and allowing himself to open up to you, was the best choice he made in his life, because honestly no one ever saw anything so good in him not even himself, and he would return that to you completely.

[sleepingswift85]

Funny moment when your political views upset the parents to the point they’d throw you out. They believe that somehow Gary Lineker is a bad guy for criticising the uk government essentially for being fascist. And big love to the pundits and commentators and football in general supporting Gary who has been punished by a broadcaster who caved to pressure from the Tory Party and the right wing press. There is a direct parallel that as soon as Hitler became Chancellor of the Weimar Republic he consolidated the media into state control. The Tories are part of a corporate machine that controls most of the media. The media dictates the news. The news is controlled and the UK’s migrant and refugee crisis is a manifestation of a state allowing a problem to get so bad it makes the people rage against these folks arriving and not the state. Folks you are witnessing a death of the Disunited Kingdom. The BBC is now exposed as a government lackey and it’s loss of it’s historically acclaimed sports coverage due to solidarity. Football is a national institution in England, football is bigger than politics. I stand in complete support of what Gary has done. But hatred of minorities is where fascism starts.

[ingek73]

We didn’t ask for Lady Hussey to resign. But, really, the monarchy must do better on race

Mandu Reid

I witnessed the racist remarks, but blaming one person alone distracts from the depth and breadth of racism in that institution

Published: 19:31 Thursday, 01 December 2022

I generally avoid news about the royals. So it was a real eye-opener to find myself at the centre of a royal story. At a reception on Tuesday to honour those working to end violence against women and girls, I witnessed racist remarks from a member of the royal household directed at my friend and fellow activist, Ngozi Fulani. Lady Hussey’s prolonged interrogation about where Ngozi was really from, what her nationality was and where her people were from, was not – as many people have insisted to me over the past 24 hours – the kind of well-meaning curiosity that all of us experience from time to time (though it’s possible that Hussey believed that it was).

“Hackney” was Ngozi’s answer, but Hussey refused to accept this. Her response implied that Black and brown people couldn’t really be British. It implied that we were trespassing – and it made me reflect on the increasingly hostile environment of this disunited kingdom.

Even so, the media furore feels disproportionate, given the avalanche of huge stories you might expect to be dominating the news cycle. It’s not that this one isn’t serious. Racism always is, which is why I’ve spoken out. But something about this media frenzy feels … off. Even as I write this, interview requests are coming in faster than I can say no to (in one case my refusal was countered with the offer of a huge fee). If you have seen the emergency appeal that the Women’s Equality party launched this week, you will understand how hard that particular refusal was, though it confirmed why my decision had been right in the first place.

The initial calls I received were from journalists not looking for my account, but my corroboration. It took some time to realise that it was the very fact that the incident had been “witnessed” that made it significant, and forced the palace to respond swiftly (and in my view, unsatisfactorily). Unlike when the Duchess of Sussex made her accounts of royal racism, such as the “concerns” that were expressed over how dark her son’s skin might be, the palace wasn’t able to deny or deflect this time. It couldn’t rerun the famous line that “recollections may vary”, because three of us have identical, and identically uncomfortable, recollections of that encounter.

Soon after the first media reports were published, the palace announced that Hussey had resigned. This is a gambit that I have become increasingly familiar with since the Women’s Equality party started campaigning against police misogyny. What I’ve learned is that the “bad apple” narrative is potent not only because it masquerades as taking responsibility without the institution having to do any such thing, but also because it often helps drive a backlash against the “woke brigade” for cancelling yet another innocent. I see that “She’s 83” is now trending on Twitter, imploring us to leave this nice old lady alone, a stance that adds a dash of ageism to the racism that has pervaded much of the commentary.

The funny thing is, neither Ngozi nor I wanted Hussey to receive the grand order of the boot. Ngozi didn’t even name her publicly; it was social media that did this, immediately seizing on the story as another chance to form into polarised rival camps. Instead of stepping down, Hussey should be encouraged to step up, along with senior members of the royal household. This is much bigger than one individual: blaming Hussey risks minimising and distracting from the depth and breadth of racism that is enshrined in an institution that carries the heritage of empire, slavery and inequality (we are their subjects, after all).

Buckingham Palace trumpets its commitment to diversity and inclusion on its website. In a statement on Wednesday, it promised to remind staff of its policies. That’s a big ask when its own annual reports show a lack of diversity among the upper echelons of its staff. The palace’s history is dotted with failures of inclusion. Still, it’s not the worst of the royal courts. Anecdotal evidence suggests that honour falls to Kensington Palace, which didn’t even release this data in its last annual report.

Perhaps a starting point for an institution where staff think it’s OK to touch a Black woman’s hair or question her belonging would be signing up to cultural competence training. I know just the organisation to provide that. Sistah Space, the charity Ngozi runs to support African and Caribbean heritage women affected by domestic and sexual abuse, offers such courses to institutions that don’t know where to begin.

Wouldn’t it be something if Buckingham Palace asked for their help? It would certainly chime with the Queen Consort’s speech at the reception, in which she said that the starting point for responding to survivors of abuse was listening to them and believing them. Perhaps, one day, that principle could extend to Meghan too.

Mandu Reid is leader of the Women’s Equality party

[dag-hammarskjold]

[T]he United Nations is not in any sense a supra-natural authority, it is not difficult for intelligent and well-informed people to accept that statement intellectually. But it seems to be more difficult to base policy and judgenent upon the logical conclusions that should be drawn from this fact. There are so many aspects of the United Nations that contribute to the misleading but persistent mental image of a government. It has a written constitution. Its organs debate and vote in a manner resembling parliamentary institutions on a world scale. Its very name is in a sense deceptive. So there persist tendencies to try to deal with world problems in the United Nations by legislative fiat and to judge its record and its usefulness as if it were a rather ineffectual attempt at world government. And when the Members of the United Nations appear year after year to be disunited in most things, disillusion mounts. For some, faced with the desperate anxieties of our age, this leads to advocacy of strengthening the United Nations by endowing it with genuine powers of world government. I have sympathy for the idealism of such friends, but they are seeking to escape the consequences of history by constitutional magic. Who can look out upon our deeply divided world and conceive it to be possible that such nations as the United Kingdom, United States or the Soviet Union would cede any significant element of its national sovereignty to a common supra-national authority? Others are tempted to go in the opposite direction. Harassed by the necessity to wrestle day after day with intractable problems, with one emergency after another, world organization sometimes seems to be just an added complication rather than a help in finding the answers. So they are inclined to concentrate the policies and programs of the governments in other channels that appear on the surface to be more in accord with political realities. I have sympathy also for this attitude, yet it is as unrealistic in its way as the other. Those who would follow such a course are also attempting to escape the consequence of history. Just as the diversity of the nations makes world government impossible, so the interdependence of the nations has made world organization necessary.

Text of address by Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld at pilgrims dinner, London, 18 March 1954

[mings]

Hey my friend! So sorry for your Brexit woes. In the States we have some wingnuts pushing for Texas to leave the US. (!) It’s like some sort of contagion. Ugh. 😑 Good to know you’re back home and safe.

Good to hear from you! In truth, whilst brexit was the biggest act of self harm in history, it almost certainly boosted the independence argument in Scotland. Many Scots voted to remain in the UK in the 2014 referendum because they fell for the tory lie that it was the best way of ensuring we stayed in the EU. Fast forward to 2016 and suddenly brexit was a reality, despite 62% of Scots voting to remain in the EU.

Worse was to come under Boris Johnson. He did what his far right puppeteers wanted and executed the hardest of hard brexits. In doing so, he threw Scottish exporters under the bus and effectively destroyed our fishing industry. We're not alone; the Northern Ireland protocol that has been so important in keeping the peace there was also tossed onto his bonfire of vanities. Wales is slightly different for lots of reasons, but nonetheless the nationalist spirit is rising there too...

Britain is no longer the UK. It's an international laughing stock and more of a disunited kingdom than I can recall at any time in my life. Many Scots (and I hesitate to say a majority because that would need a referendum) want out from under Westminster rule. If nothing else, the Supreme Court's decision makes it clear that the so-called voluntary union is anything but. Thus Scotland, and indeed each of the devolved territories, are effectively colonies.

Westminster knows it cannot survive without Scotland's enormous fiscal contribution. We generate enough energy - from renewable sources - to power our nation and still have enough to export. The North Sea oil fields in Scottish waters, which the tories asserted in 2014 were exhausted, now miraculously have many more years life in them (handy that, when you're trying to fill the £multi-billion black hole that your last leader created in the space of just a few weeks).

Scotland has hydro power, wind power, timber and water. The latter will become the new oil in the near future. We have tourism and world-renowned whisky. We can revitalise our fishing and seafood industries if we have unfettered access to the European Market.

We're big enough and strong enough. It's time. My personal view is that Scottish Independence has built into an unstoppable movement. Now it's a matter of when and how, not if.

I visited Texas & Louisiana a few years back. Texas in particular was very different to my other experiences in other parts of America. Yes it's a big state and yes it has oil, but secession? In truth I'm not qualified to judge.

And yes, we're back home in the place that I love. It was good to see our daughter and meet our future extended family. It was a genuine pleasure to feel that warmth that I've felt so many times from folks in countries throughout Europe. But there's nothing quite like the Highlands & there really is no place like home.

[mariacallous]

I generally avoid news about the royals. So it was a real eye-opener to find myself at the centre of a royal story. At a reception on Tuesday to honour those working to end violence against women and girls, I witnessed racist remarks from a member of the royal household directed at my friend and fellow activist, Ngozi Fulani. Lady Hussey’s prolonged interrogation about where Ngozi was really from, what her nationality was and where her people were from, was not – as many people have insisted to me over the past 24 hours – the kind of well-meaning curiosity that all of us experience from time to time (though it’s possible that Hussey believed that it was).

“Hackney” was Ngozi’s answer, but Hussey refused to accept this. Her response implied that Black and brown people couldn’t really be British. It implied that we were trespassing – and it made me reflect on the increasingly hostile environment of this disunited kingdom.

Even so, the media furore feels disproportionate, given the avalanche of huge stories you might expect to be dominating the news cycle. It’s not that this one isn’t serious. Racism always is, which is why I’ve spoken out. But something about this media frenzy feels … off. Even as I write this, interview requests are coming in faster than I can say no to (in one case my refusal was countered with the offer of a huge fee). If you have seen the emergency appeal that the Women’s Equality party launched this week, you will understand how hard that particular refusal was, though it confirmed why my decision had been right in the first place.

The initial calls I received were from journalists not looking for my account, but my corroboration. It took some time to realise that it was the very fact that the incident had been “witnessed” that made it significant, and forced the palace to respond swiftly (and in my view, unsatisfactorily). Unlike when the Duchess of Sussex made her accounts of royal racism, such as the “concerns” that were expressed over how dark her son’s skin might be, the palace wasn’t able to deny or deflect this time. It couldn’t rerun the famous line that “recollections may vary”, because three of us have identical, and identically uncomfortable, recollections of that encounter.

Soon after the first media reports were published, the palace announced that Hussey had resigned. This is a gambit that I have become increasingly familiar with since the Women’s Equality party started campaigning against police misogyny. What I’ve learned is that the “bad apple” narrative is potent not only because it masquerades as taking responsibility without the institution having to do any such thing, but also because it often helps drive a backlash against the “woke brigade” for cancelling yet another innocent. I see that “She’s 83” is now trending on Twitter, imploring us to leave this nice old lady alone, a stance that adds a dash of ageism to the racism that has pervaded much of the commentary.

The funny thing is, neither Ngozi nor I wanted Hussey to receive the grand order of the boot. Ngozi didn’t even name her publicly; it was social media that did this, immediately seizing on the story as another chance to form into polarised rival camps. Instead of stepping down, Hussey should be encouraged to step up, along with senior members of the royal household. This is much bigger than one individual: blaming Hussey risks minimising and distracting from the depth and breadth of racism that is enshrined in an institution that carries the heritage of empire, slavery and inequality (we are their subjects, after all).

Buckingham Palace trumpets its commitment to diversity and inclusion on its website. In a statement on Wednesday, it promised to remind staff of its policies. That’s a big ask when its own annual reports show a lack of diversity among the upper echelons of its staff. The palace’s history is dotted with failures of inclusion. Still, it’s not the worst of the royal courts. Anecdotal evidence suggests that honour falls to Kensington Palace, which didn’t even release this data in its last annual report.

Perhaps a starting point for an institution where staff think it’s OK to touch a Black woman’s hair or question her belonging would be signing up to cultural competence training. I know just the organisation to provide that. Sistah Space, the charity Ngozi runs to support African and Caribbean heritage women affected by domestic and sexual abuse, offers such courses to institutions that don’t know where to begin.

Wouldn’t it be something if Buckingham Palace asked for their help? It would certainly chime with the Queen Consort’s speech at the reception, in which she said that the starting point for responding to survivors of abuse was listening to them and believing them. Perhaps, one day, that principle could extend to Meghan too.

[luxardy]

Introduction to the lands of Luxardy...

Luxardy is a region in Casuara, occupying the majority of the Struthion Peninsula, bounded by the Gnathonean Sea to the south and the Bay of Acipenser to the north. It is bordered by the realms of Ronceval, Astoria, and Escavara to the continental north and Veria on the southeastern tip of the peninsula.

Considered the shell of the once dominant Lucean Empire of ancient times, Luxardy has been disunited for centuries. There exists many Luxardish realms and polities, but most are united under one of two composite monarchies.

The Crown of Marlusca is the largest of the two crowns, occupying more than half of the entire Luxardy region. Centered around the capital of Polvoriento, the second largest city of the region, the Crown of Marlusca presides over 11 kingdoms and other realms united under the reign of the current King, Felipe III the Philanderer. The lands of Marlusca are chiefly arid and dusty hillocks and shrublands. The Crown of Marlusca has recently emerged as the dominant power in the Luxardy region, thanks to its modest wealth acquired by cultivating its impressive mineral deposits, and its subjugation of its neighbours. Marlusca is a regional hub for culture and the arts, drawing in some of the world's most skilled architects and artists to beautify the otherwise unremarkable drylands. Marluscans are known as deeply faithful people, who make space for a bit of charm. Sorcery is largely restricted to the clergy in Marlusca, and Marlusca relies more heavily on non-magical means for its famed prowess in conquest.

The Crown of Salgón is composed of three kingdoms in the southeast, along the narrowest part of the Struthion peninsula. The stranger and more arcane of the two crowns, it is founded around the capital, Lluvia, and is ruled by the infamous Queen Lucía I the Lunatic. The lands of Salgón are patched with marshland, making for a significantly wetter region better suited for agriculture than in Marlusca. Salgón is significantly less developed and wealthy than its northern counterpart. However, the Salgonese are considered the both the most skilled sorcerers and seafarers in Luxardy. Owing to their dual coastlines and many navigable rivers, and bogs, the Salgonese often turn up in many places they may not be expected to. Salgón has a far more lax magical culture than in the rest of Luxardy, where sorcerors are trained as priests, soldiers, and increasingly, in civilian professions. Salgonese sorcerers specialize in magic of the mind.

Finally, independent from the Crowns of Marlusca and Salgón, is the Grand Pontificate, based in Luces, the largest city in Luxardy and the religious centre of the continent. Once the capital of the great Lucean empire, the city is still hugely influential. The institution of the Church is headquartered here, headed by Pope Jovian. Luces is home to many of the world's largest temples and monasteries, with some claiming to house the physical bodies of select Gods. The clergy in Luces are not only some of the most powerful and influential men in the world, but some of the most powerful magicians as well.

[minervacasterly]

On Saturday, on the eve of his coronation on October 29, 1485, Henry VII, traveled from the Tower to Westminster Hall.

He was accompanied by his uncle, the newly created Duke of Bedford Jasper Tudor, his stepfather Thomas Stanley Earl of Derby, Richard Fox his secretary, Christopher Urswick his almoner, the mayor of London and other courtiers. Henry was bare-headed "clad in a long gown of purple velvet edged with ermine and a rich baldric, under a royal canopy supported by four knights on foot". The following day he would be crowned king of England and the ceremony was met with a lot of rejoice from the people. Mary's grandfather has enjoyed the negative propaganda that she posthumously did when he was turned from the great savior of England to the villain of the wars of the roses, and his mother has fared no better since. Yet, let's face the facts here. When Henry took possession of the tower he was met with great pageantry as was expected; his coronation had been planned since his day of triumph in late August. Crowds of people lined up to see their new king and when he took possession of the tower two days before, he was met with great acclaim. Two days before his coronation he restored the lands and title taken from his uncle, and made him a Duke. He also made his stepfather Thomas Stanley and earl and rewarded the earl of Oxford -his great experience and tactics made all the difference at the battle at Ambion Hill- and his other supporters (including his Welsh supporters) handsomely.

Henry's actions with Richard's body have been decried and portrayed in recent fiction as barbaric and though they seem that way to us, they were very common in this period. Edward IV did the same thing to Warwick who was his cousin, and with him were George and Richard who displayed their cousin's naked body for everyone to see that he was really dead and that no rumors would arise (as had arisen before with powerful nobles or kings like Edward II and Richard II) that he wasn't really dead. Henry VII did the same thing, displaying Richard's naked body to the public and then moved his body to the resting place of the Lancastrian kings, until he was laid to rest at Greyfriars where his skeleton was discovered two years ago. Originally there was an alabaster monument and epitaph marking his burial. It was commissioned by Henry in 1495. The epitaph pays homage to Richard while at the same time has him saying he admits defeat and accepts Henry as his new king:

"I, here, whom the earth encloses under ostentatious marble

Was justly called Richard the Third.

I was Protector of my country, an uncle ruling on behalf of his nephew.

I held the British kingdoms in trust, although they were disunited.

And two summers, I held my sceptres.

Fighting bravely in war, deserted by the English,

I succumbed to you, King Henry VII.

But you yourself, piteously, at your expense, thus honoured my bones.

And caused a former king to be revered with the honour of a king

When in twice five years less four

Three hundred five-year periods of our salvation had passed.

And eleven days before the Kalends of September

I surrendered to the red rose the power it desired.

Whoever you are, pray for my offences,

That my punishment may be lessened by your prayers."

The red rose as many historians, among them Leanda de Lisle, Chris Skidmore and more recently, Dan Jones in his book Wars of the Roses: The fall of the Plantagenets and Rise of the Tudors was never among the heraldic badges of the Lancastrian dynasty. They used panther, ostrich feathers, swans and other beasts. The white rose while being one of the many badges of the Yorks, it wasn't the only one and it was only favored by Edward IV. Richard III preferred the white boar which symbolized his loyalty to the North where he had formed his power base. Henry VII's actions mirror those of Richard and his predecessor, Edward IV. They also did everything they could to discredit the previous dynasty by spreading all kinds of rumors and going after everyone whom they suspected supported them, or could be turned against them. Yet what made Henry's actions more controversial was that he rewrote history in a way it hadn't been done before.

In spite of this, Richard was allowed to rest in peace from this point on wards until the dissolution of the monasteries that was the real culprit behind the poor state they found Richard's body.

According to Chris Skidmore in his recent book Rise of the Tudors:

"John Speed in his 'History of Great Britain', published in 1611, stated that at the suppression of Greyfriars' monastery, Richard's tomb was 'pulled down and utterly defaced, since when the grave overgrown with the nettles and weed is very obscure and not to be found.'"

The reason for their negative portrayals was largely owed to the shift in religious thought. Henry VII and especially his mother, like his great-granddaughter Queen Mary, represented the last connection to England's Catholic past and Margaret's piety was no longer see as something to admire but something to loath. Henry in turn was seen as a cold, emotionless being who was incapable of loving his children, much less his wife.

Henry VII and devoted husband and father and it showed by the letters he sent to Margaret and vice-verse when Margaret told him how much she missed him and he replied that he missed her the most and she had to be strong for both of them. Her namesake, Margaret Beaufort had married Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond when she was only twelve and gave birth to Henry when she was thirteen and the event scarred her. She was unable to have anymore children, yet her second marriage was a happy one and during Edward IV and Richard's time, she did everything she could to ingratiate herself with the Yorkist regime and far from being the fanatic, calculated schemer of the white queen and in other popular fiction, she was a pious, devoted matron who did everything she could to make sure her son would be returned from his long exile in Brittany and knowing it was likely he wouldn't get his lands back, she made provisions drafting up a will so he would inherit all the lands and states she had acquired through her three marriages and her family's inheritance. When her son became king she became 'femme sole', and it is a common misconception that she signed her letters as Margaret Regina. Her signature was Margaret R and the R likely stood for Richmond. Like her great-granddaughter Mary, she founded and re-founded universities and was a patron of scholars.

When her son was crowned, Bishop Fisher wrote that she cried and her tears were no tears of joy but of fear because she knew that was the target now and he and his family would never be safe.

So villain or hero, Henry VII was neither, he was a man of his times who was the founder of the Tudor dynasty, who was pious, cautious, and far from the miser of later life, he loved to play sports, gamble and spend time with his family. The same goes for Richard.

"This hysterical desire that people have for reasons either to exonerate him or villanize him and make him a sort of demon person. It’s just so unhelpful to understanding this period because if you truly follow the sort of arch of Richard III, it’s a very interesting life: What you have is a very loyal brother, a very capable military leader. A fixer. A real fixer and a hard, hard man.who’s there and he’s loyal to his brother and ends up in another one of these situations like his father, like his brother having to make difficult decisions very quickly with disastrous consequences. His decision to usurp the throne leads inevitably into the decision to whack the princes in the tower, whoever did it and more or less directly towards Bosworth and this sort of terrible period of three years of unintended and absolutely disastrous consequences puts Richard down. That’s life, it’s complicated but people don’t want to look at Richard III in those ways. There seems to be this desire either to exonerate him or to heap blame on him. It’s just so unhelpful and pointless."

- Dan Jones

Sources:

Henry VII by SB Chrimes

Richard III: the road to Leicester by Amy Licence

Wars of the Roses: Fall of the Plantagenets and Rise of the Tudors by Dan Jones

Rise of the Tudors by Chris Skidmore.

[somerabbitholes]

Favourite essays you have read recently?

Here you go!

My Country Right or Left by George Orwell

Southasia's place in contemporary climate fiction by Evan Tims

Disunited Kingdom by Fintan O'Toole (so, so well done)

Afghanistan: A Final British Betrayal by Tim Willasey-Wilsey

The Ghosts of the British Empire by Priya Saitia

Frances Ha and Today's New York by Jason Bailey

[cppsheffield]

Centre for Poetry and Poetics in Collaboration with Black Humanities Series Presents:

A Reading With Safia Khan, Inua Ellams and Imtiaz Dharker

Venue: The Diamond, LT2, The University of Sheffield, 6pm.

Safia Khan is a junior doctor and poet. Her debut collection (Too Much Mirch) was published in 2022 with Smith | Doorstop and won the New Poets Prize. She has been commissioned to write and deliver lectures in poetry for various universities and literary organisations, including The British Library, The University of Oxford, The Poetry Business, and the Hippocrates Initiative for Poetry and Medicine. Her work has been published in various journals and anthologies including The North, BATH MAGG, Poetry Wales, Introduction X: The Poetry Business Book of New Poets (New Poets List), We’re All in It Together: Poems for a disUnited Kingdom (Grist), Dear Life (Hive), Surfing the Twilight (Hive). -- Born in Nigeria, Inua Ellams is a poet, playwright & performer, graphic artist & designer. He is a Complete Works poet alumni and facilitates workshops in creative writing where he explores reoccurring themes in his work - Identity, Displacement and Destiny - in accessible, enjoyable ways for participants of all ages and backgrounds.

His awards include: Edinburgh Fringe First Award 2009, The Liberty Human Rights Award, The Live Canon International Poetry Prize, The Kent & Sussex Poetry Competition, Magma Poetry Competition, Winchester Poetry Prize, A Black British Theatre Award and The Hay Festival Medal for Poetry. He has been commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company, National Theatre, Tate Modern, Louis Vuitton, BBC Radio & Television. His poetry books include ‘Candy Coated Unicorn and Converse All Stars’ published Flipped Eye, 'The Wire-Headed Heathen' by Akashic Books, The Half God of Rainfall by 4th Estate and The Actual by Penned in The Margins. His plays include ‘Black T-shirt Collection’, ‘The 14th Tale’, ‘Barber Shop Chronicles’ and ‘Three Sisters’ published by Oberon. He founded The Midnight Run (an arts-filled, night-time, urban walking experience.) The Rhythm and Poetry Party (The R.A.P Party) which celebrates poetry & hip hop, and Poetry + Film / Hack (P+F/H) which celebrates Poetry & Film. -- Imtiaz Dharker grew up a 'Muslim Calvinist' in a Lahori household in Glasgow, was adopted by India and married into Wales. She is an accomplished artist and video film-maker, and has published six books with Bloodaxe, Postcards from god (including Purdah) (1997), I Speak for the Devil (2001), The terrorist at my table (2006), Leaving Fingerprints (2009), Over the Moon (2014) and Luck Is the Hook (2018). Her seventh, Shadow Reader, is published in 2024. All her poetry collections are illustrated with her drawings, which form an integral part of the books; she is one of very few poet-artists to work in this way. She was awarded The Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry for 2014, presented to her by The Queen in spring 2015, and has also received a Cholmondeley Award from the Society of Authors and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Over the Moon was shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry 2014. Her poems are on the British GCSE and A Level English syllabus, and she reads with other poets at Poetry Live! events all over the country to more than 35,000 students a year. She has had a dozen solo exhibitions of drawings in India, London, Leeds, New York and Hong Kong. She scripts and directs films, many of them for non-government organisations in India, working in the area of shelter, education and health for women and children. In 2015 she appeared on the iconic BBC Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs. In 2020 she was appointed Chancellor of Newcastle University. She lives in London.

Please note this is an in-person event and we would love you to be there but if you can't make it to Sheffield you can log in by no later then 5.50 on the following link: meet.google.com/fdh-igyk-hrr

[kanophane]

More like disunited kingdom amirite guys