#predeceaser

[wonder-worker]

A central element of the myth of [Eleanor of Aquitaine] is that of her exceptionalism. Historians and Eleanor biographers have tended to take literally Richard of Devizes’s conventional panegyric of her as ‘an incomparable woman’. She is assumed to be a woman out of her time. […] Amazement at Eleanor’s power and independence is born from a presentism that assumes generally that the Middle Ages were a backward age, and specifically that medieval women were all downtrodden and marginalized. Eleanor’s career can, from such a perspective, only be explained by assuming that she was an exception who rose by sheer force of personality above the restrictions placed upon twelfth-century women.

— Michael R. Evans, Inventing Eleanor: The Medieval and Post-Medieval Image of Eleanor of Aquitaine

The idea of Eleanor’s exceptionalism rests on an assumption that women of her age were powerless. On the contrary, in Western Europe before the twelfth century there were ‘no really effective barriers to the capacity of women to exercise power; they appear as military leaders, judges, castellans, controllers of property’. […] In an important article published in 1992, Jane Martindale sought to locate Eleanor in context, stripping away much of the conjecture that had grown up around her, and returning to primary sources, including her charters. Martindale also demonstrated how Eleanor was not out of the ordinary for a twelfth-century queen either in the extent of her power or in the criticisms levelled against her.

If we look at Eleanor’s predecessors as Anglo-Norman queens of England, we find many examples of women wielding political power. Matilda of Flanders (wife of William the Conqueror) acted as regent in Normandy during his frequent absences in England following the Conquest, and [the first wife of Henry I, Matilda of Scotland, played some role in governing England during her husband's absences], while during the civil war of Stephen’s reign Matilda of Boulogne led the fight for a time on behalf of her royal husband, who had been captured by the forces of the empress. And if we wish to seek a rebel woman, we need look no further than Juliana, illegitimate daughter of Henry I, who attempted to assassinate him with a crossbow, or Adèle of Champagne, the third wife of Louis VII, who ‘[a]t the moment when Henry II held Eleanor of Aquitaine in jail for her revolt … led a revolt with her brothers against her son, Philip II'.

Eleanor is, therefore, less the exception than the rule – albeit an extreme example of that rule. This can be illustrated by comparing her with a twelfth century woman who has attracted less literary and historical attention. Adela of Blois died in 1137, the year of Eleanor’s marriage to Louis VII. […] The chronicle and charter evidence reveals Adela to have ‘legitimately exercised the powers of comital lordship’ in the domains of Blois-Champagne, both in consort with her husband and alone during his absence on crusade and after his death. […] There was, however, nothing atypical about the nature of Adela’s power. In the words of her biographer Kimberley LoPrete, ‘while the extent of Adela’s powers and the political impact of her actions were exceptional for a woman of her day (and indeed for most men), the sources of her powers and the activities she engaged in were not fundamentally different from those of other women of lordly rank’. These words could equally apply to Eleanor; the extent of her power, as heiress to the richest lordship in France, wife of two kings and mother of two or three more, was remarkable, but the nature of her power was not exceptional. Other noble or royal women governed, arranged marriages and alliances, and were patrons of the church. Eleanor represents one end of a continuum, not an isolated outlier.

[poorlittleyaoyao]

This morning’s “why couldn’t this story have provided literally any detail about supporting characters’ families” conundrum: WHAT HAPPENED TO WEN QING AND WEN NING’S PARENTS?

[thechipofluigireal]

Uhhhh me when Limbus company (Ishmael Meri and Ahab Predeceased)

[whitmerule]

Arwen: I choose a mortal life.

Elrond: et tu, Arwen??

Elros, somewhere: hell yeah that's my niece 🥳

[redladydeath]

love how everyone is suddenly coming around to the idea of a vox redemption arc purely because we don't want him to die/be banished to the off-screen dimension by the end of season two

[anghraine]

Just thinking about my headcanon that Elladan and Elrohir are both temperamentally inclined towards Men (and the Dúnedain particularly), and despite the difficulties and complications, would likely have both chosen the fate of Men had not Arwen chosen mortality.

But it's not that Arwen's choice wholly determines theirs. We know they have to consider their choice and that they delay making it. It's not an easy or obvious thing for them.

Still, the prospect of Elrond and Celebrían losing all their children to Elros's fate hangs heavily over their thought processes and quiet discussions and so forth. Ultimately, despite their personal inclinations, one of the twins decides he can't do that to their family and people, and makes the choice of Elwing.

And the other doesn't.

[winepresswrath]

drusilla's canon grandma kink is a thing that can be so charming & unhinged.

[beautifulscreaminglady]

Thinking about this local woman who died recently who had FOUR ex husbands listed in her obit. All rich as fuck. Did she know how much of an icon she was?

[eclipsecrowned]

wakes up. chooses to torture the muse.

[tyrannosaurus-trainwreck]

Actually, I know damn well Darcy never sat down and thought about marrying Lizzie. If he had, it would have been a week before he was rounding up Bingley, sitting him down, and looking him in the eye like he was about to propose high treason and going, "Jane. You still down bad for her?"

Coin toss whether Bingley would actually get to answer before Darcy turned around and flipped over a whiteboard like

and launched right into the most detailed migration pattern known to Regency England to keep the extraneous Bennets as contained as humanly possible by rotating them between various Bingley/Darcy estates. Like, we're talking about trading them off for minor holidays a decade out kind of detailed.

"If you and Jane take them for Lady Day ten years hence, Elizabeth and I will take them for Michaelmas. We'll all be together for Christmas and Midsummer, so we'll divide the responsibility individually on those days."

This would be followed by thirteen different spreadsheets projecting joint expenditures so Bingley knows what sort of financial commitment he'll be shouldering and how to minimize it, what proportion Darcy will take care of, what the estate plans are in case Darcy predeceases anybody, when they should probably roll out various stages to keep it from affecting their respective sisters' ability to maximize their own husband-hunting--whole nine yards.

Darcy does not know that he'll probably be murdered when the Bingley sisters find out why he asked for their social calendars. He'd be marginally fine with that at this point, because the fucking Napoleonic War campaigns were not as meticulously planned as his roadmap to getting the other three Bennets satisfactorily married, and Darcy feels about as able as if he'd spent the last year on Elba.

It takes Bingley a few minutes to realize why this is happening, then he's like

"You proposed to Elizabeth?! Congratulations!"

Darcy... knew there was something he was forgetting.

That man would have kicked the Collins's door open with four binders tucked under each arm, dumped them in a pile in front of Elizabeth, and loudly announced that if they get married tomorrow he can have her entire family except for Jane extraordinary renditioned to the Scottish moors by Sunday and then been like

"Why are you yelling at me?! I promise you, it will work! You'll never see anyone in your family except for Jane again, I swear it!" when she starts yelling at him.

[billandtedsgayjourney]

oooh nothing like two close friends getting engaged to their partners within a month to make me feel very Alone

[senorboombastic]

This One Song… PREDECEASED on SCENE PAROLE

Tell you what – we love hearing from artists when things go right. We equally love hearing from artists when things go dreadfully wrong. A song that was a piece of piss, written in 20 minutes? Or years in the making and a bastard to write? Whether it’s a song that came together through great duress or one that was smashed out in a short amount of time, we’re getting the lowdown from some of our…

[thechipofluigireal]

Predecessor and Predeceased

[elainemorisi]

I don't know if it's temporal or geographic or I just never noticed as a kid, but obituaries out here often include people's best friends in a non euphemistic sense and I just think it's really nice

[byjove]

If one wife dies on you, that’s unfortunate. If you’re widowed twice, that’s truly rotten luck. If you have 3+ wives that predecease you, you were one suspicious motherfucker.

[copperbadge]

Hi! You posted recently about notifying a charity when they're a You posted about notifying a charity when they're a beneficiary in your will, and how it helps everyone. I have a charity as a last-ditch beneficiary - i.e., if all the people I would rather my estate go to are dead then it goes to them instead of the government. Is that something I should notify them about? At that point my estate would be executed by the government, so there wouldn't be anyone left to reach out to.

In cases like that, where the nonprofit is a backup, I don't think you need to notify unless you want to -- notifying helps us to work with people who are definitely going to give, and in some ways it helps us to predict-out how many donations we'll get to the bequest program over time, but when it's a contingency, it's really up to you.

I know there have been times when we've been glad to know of a contingency bequest, but usually when it's a large amount and there's Inheritance Drama. For example, a parent with two kids leaving everything to Kid One, and if Kid One predeceases them, we get everything; Kid Two often tries to contest that, or even just conceal it from us in some cases. At that point it's helpful to have documentation of the parent's wishes.

But if there's no particular drama and the nonprofit is a last-ditch, I think you're fine not to. It's a nice thing to do regardless!