Thailand
German sword, mid 16th century
from The State Art Collection, Dresden
Sorry I had to cancel our planned social engagement, but I was too busy thinking about Edward II. I know we haven't seen each other in person for 6 years, but the thing is, Edward suffered an extraordinary military defeat at Bannockburn only 2 years after his hot boyfriend was murdered, and I know that it's foolish to speculate that the two events are even remotely related, but it's certainly poetic. I know I haven't replied to your last sixteen texts, but did you know that Edward became so obsessed with his second (evil) boyfriend that he put him in charge of the royal household and ended up starting an actual war against the barons who wanted to put an end to his evil boyfriend's influence over the kingdom? I'm really sorry that I've cancelled our plans four times in a row, but unfortunately Edward's wronged wife raised an army against him with the intent to depose him, and when she landed on the shores of England with her invading armies and her own hot boyfriend, she was dressed as a widow, and the metaphor is just too striking. I've just been really busy thinking about it all. Maybe we can meet next week, unless I'm thinking about the time Edward II gave his own actual children to his evil boyfriend and his wife to raise, without asking his own wife about it first. I'll let you know.
Me, hiding my phone from my partner, not because I’m having a torrid affair, but because she might see that I’ve got fourteen tabs open about Edward II and the Despenser Wars and I’ve got Trainline primed to book me a ticket to Gloucester at any moment
Me, craning my neck to glare furtively at the door as I type, not because I’m watching hideously embarassing saucy films, but because my partner might come up the stairs and see that I’m making a family chart of the De Clare and Despenser families
Me, right now, writing this post about Edward II instead of doing literally anything else with the fleeting, finite time apportioned to me upon this Earth
Just found out that Gloucester Cathedral, the location of Edward II’s tomb, has a world famous 15th century tower, and that it’s 69m tall, which I really do think is what Edward would have wanted
ALSO just found out that Edward apparently hated Hugh Despenser (his second and evil boyfriend) when he first met him, likely because Edward's father had arranged Hugh's marriage to the woman that Edward had wanted Piers Gaveston (his first super hot boyfriend) to marry, for reasons of land ownership and titles and whatnot, which means that Edward and Hugh were essentially an enemies-to-lovers-to-traitors romance... fiction could never
I promise I’ll stop yelling about these gay bastards soon but I need you all to know that it was not uncommon in the 1300s for people to spell their names in multiple different ways, and yes, there are actual records of Hugh spelling his name as ‘Huge Despenser’, and one chronicler of the time made a little joke about it, saying that he was the less huge son of a huge Despenser, ha ha ha, humour peaked in the 1300s
Medieval chroniclers be like
Oh man “dispenser” lends itself to puns ALSO
did you know before seeing this poll that New Zealand's actual name is Aotearoa?
yes! I knew this
no, I had no idea
(for clarification, aotearoa is the original māori name for new zealand and is used widely across the country. nz is also often referred to as "aotearoa new zealand" instead of one or the other!!!)
please reblog because I'm kiwi and I need this to get to people who don't follow me directly for less biased results!!!
here's a pronunciation guide for all of you asking [:
EDIT: someone has brought it to my attention that the FULL māori name for new zealand is aotearoa me te waipounamu, which encompasses both north and south island. Some iwi (māori communities/tribes) would rather that aotearoa me te waipounamu become the official name for the country. thank you everyone who is providing opportunities for learning in this post!!
2022: "People go to visit river Jordan in Jerusalem and fetch their sacred water and go to Mecca, too,” Osunyemi Efunsola, who has been chief priestess of Busanyin, a companion deity for Osun, for the last 25 years. “This is our church and this is our mosque.” [Eromo Egbejule/Al Jazeera]
