"Not all that much in the way of "royalty", but that's a subject that doesn't interest me. Much of British history seems like hissy fits between horny teenagers. Admittedly, a lot of history seems like hissy fits between horny teenagers, but Brits even moreso."
Only the modern ones are boring, now that they have no power. The fascinating thing about people like the Plantagenets and the Tudors is that they are just flawed human beings like everybody else (and who doesn't have an inner horny teenager?) but everything they do is magnified. Lots of couples have marital problems and strife, but when it's the king and queen suddenly the country's in the middle of another civil war. And how many ordinary people have the problem of people getting accidentally murdered just because of a passing fit of temper ("Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?").
In any case, monarchical succession is a handy way of ordering the history of a country, although that kind of breaks down during the War of the Roses with all those mysterious early deaths and child kings.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2011-07-23 11:21 pm (UTC)Only the modern ones are boring, now that they have no power. The fascinating thing about people like the Plantagenets and the Tudors is that they are just flawed human beings like everybody else (and who doesn't have an inner horny teenager?) but everything they do is magnified. Lots of couples have marital problems and strife, but when it's the king and queen suddenly the country's in the middle of another civil war. And how many ordinary people have the problem of people getting accidentally murdered just because of a passing fit of temper ("Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?").
In any case, monarchical succession is a handy way of ordering the history of a country, although that kind of breaks down during the War of the Roses with all those mysterious early deaths and child kings.