Game of Thrones. Whether you have read the Song of Ice and Fire books by George R.R. Martin or are glued to the tv screen every week when HBO debuts a new episode, one thing is clear: this is some of the best story telling out there. The characters feel so real and multifaceted- there are no black and whites, but many contrasting shades of grey; the continent of Westeros feels like a place taken right out of our own world's history- in fact sometimes one forgets that the stories told are not actually from our history, but are from a world of fiction... That is until a dragon shows up and that little voice inside you head goes "oh yeah! This is fantasy." One of the beautiful things about reading the books and watching the hit HBO series is that you can fully immerse yourself in a world that feels so rich and real. The heraldry and history of the houses, the battles and tactics, political plots and alliances made by marriage and broken by blood and betrayal, the languages and customs of each land, it all feels like something we can tangibly reach out, grasp and find within our own history.
George R.R. Martin got much of his inspiration from actual events, battles, customs and places from the pages of medieval European history. From the War of the Roses, to incestuous marriages, from the Jacobite Wars in Scotland to Roman soldiers on Hadrian's Wall, there are many parallels between our own world's history and the events and customs found in the World of Westeros. This week's blog post is going to look at the real historical places, people and events that inspired Game of Thrones. So why not pour yourself a goblet of Dornish wine, warm yourself by the fire and drape yourself in furs as winter is coming and "you know nothing, John Snow", but when you're done reading you may come to know just enough to survive this all out clash of kings!
THE LAW OF HOSPITALITY
In Game of Thrones there is the sacred law of hospitality, otherwise known as the Guest Right, which in the world of Westeros can date back thousands of years to the days of the First Men. When a guest, be they common born or noble, eats the food (traditionally bread and salt) and drinks the drink off a host's table beneath the host's roof, the Guest Right is invoked. When invoked, neither the guest can harm his host nor the host harm his guest for the length of the guest's stay as they are bound by the ancient law of hospitality -- lest they provoke the wrath of the gods both old and new.
The idea of the law of hospitality is not unique to the universe of A Song of Ice and Fire, but is steeped deeply in the traditions of our own world. The Greeks and the Romans practiced hospitium, which they believed was a divine right of the guest to receive hospitality and the divine duty of the host to provide it. The god Zeus Xenios was the god of strangers and suppliants and breaking the divine oath of hospitium would result in angering the gods.
In Slavic cultures the offering of bread & salt is a traditional greeting to welcome guests, which is often still done today.
In Celtic Law it was the duty of a host to grant a person's request for refuge and it was the host who was expected to provide not only food and shelter, but to also provide protection and insure that their guest did not come to any harm while in their care. This law can be found going back not only to medieval Ireland and Wales, but back to the Iron Age.
THE RED WEDDING
One of the most shocking events for both those who read the books and watched the television series was the infamous Red Wedding. When George R.R. Martin was asked in an interview what he would be doing the night the episode was going to air on HBO, he said he planned to be as far away from a television as he possibly could since having to write that part of the story was difficult enough. The historical inspiration for the Red Wedding can be found in Scotland's bloody past of the Black Douglas Dinner.
The name "the black" Douglas was given by the English. During the Douglas's early rise to power they had fought with William Wallace for Scottish independence from England- not unlike the Starks of Winterfell who fought to establish an independent Kingdom of the North. Like the Starks, the Douglases fought very similarly and used similar battle tactics. Though they were often outnumbers, the Douglases moved fast, were lightly equipped and struck hard against their enemies despite their adversaries having stronger military positions, more funding and greater numbers to their armies (similar to the Lannisters).
As the decades rolled on, the Douglases rose to power through marriage and political alliances. During the 14th and 15th century the Douglases were the most predominant of the Scottish Lowland families and held a lot of the power behind the reign of the Stuart monarchy By the early 15th century the Douglases were so powerful that they were seen as a threat by the rest of the clans and the crown.
In 1440 William the 6th Earl of Douglas was invited to dine with the boy King James II, who was only ten years old at the time. During the dinner a black bull's head- a symbol of death- was brought into the dining hall on a platter. it then became very clear what was going to happen next. After the meal the Douglas chiefs were marched from the hall, given a mock trial and beheaded.
You think that the Douglases would have learned their lessons, but apparently not. Twelve years after the Black Douglas Dinner, James II (who was now a grown man) invited the 8th Earl of Douglas to dine with him. The two had been feuding for years and the King invited the Earl under the false promise of safe conduct where they could talk over their differences. During the dinner James II made wild accusations of treason and conspiracy. He drew out a dagger and stabbed the Earl of Douglas himself.
HADRIAN'S WALL
In the world of a Game of Thrones, there is a wall made of solid ice that stretches 300 miles across the land from the Bay of Seals to the Gorge and stretches up to 900 feet at it's highest points, and in other areas has been built into natural hills which helps to strengthen it's structure. When we look to our own world- Great Britain to be precise- we can find a similar structure known as Hadrian's Wall. Carbon dating can place the start of construction at 118 AD, and though the stones of Hadrian's Wall may not be infused with magical spells, and at it's tallest points only reaches 20 feet, it still managed to stretch across nearly 75 miles of land starting East at Solway Firth (which makes up part of the Irish Sea) and went West to the Roman fort Segedunum (modern day Wallsend, UK) at the River Tyne which flowed out to the English Channel- literally dividing the land.
Hadrian's Wall marked the Northern boundary of the Roman Empire not unlike how The Wall marks the Northern border of the Seven Kingdoms. The Wall in the universe of a Song of Ice & Fire was constructed by Bran the Builder (from whom Brandon Stark gets his name) where as Hadrian's Wall was built and named after the Roman Emperor Hadrian. Hadrian's Wall was not built to keep the White Walkers at bay, but it was used to keep out the unwanted "barbarians" from the rest of the Roman Empire. Notice any similarities to how the Wall in Game of Thrones was used to keep the Wildlings as well as the White Walkers on the other side of the Seven Kingdoms?
Many of the Roman soldiers who served along Hadrian's Wall were not there by choice. There was a form of formal punishment known as militiae mutatio which was a relegation to inferior service or duties- which was getting off easy considering many military punishments included server beatings and death. Hadrian's Wall was the most disliked post for a Roman Soldier. It was the furthest a soldier could be posted from Rome yet still be in the Empire. The locals were hostile and the land was even more hostile covered in thorn bushes, frost, and known for it's miserable grey and wet weather. Chances are if you were a Roman soldier who found themselves being sent to Hadrian's Wall, it was because you did something wrong, or came from a very poor family not unlike many men of the Night's Watch.
CLOSE RELATIONS OF CLOSE RELATIONS
In the world of Westeros we see the incestuous coupling of the Lannister twins Cersei and Jaime as well as the tradition the Targaryan's held for centuries where they would marry sister to brother to keep the bloodlines pure. Cleopatra of Egypt was the offspring of her father Ptolemy XII Auletes and his wife who was either his sister or cousin. Cleopatra's first two marriages (before Mark Anthony) were to her brothers Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy XIV which was the custom. The mad Roman emperor Caligula committed open incest with all three of his sisters Livilla, Drusilla, and Agrippina; and the royal Spanish and Austrian Habsburgs consistently married uncles to nieces and cousins to cousins. The last Habsburg ruler was King Charles II of Spain who was known for his physical, emotional and mental deformities and died impotent and without an heir. And let us not forget about Prince Carlos of Asturias. Now most normal people have 8 great-grandparents and 16 great-great-grandparents where as Carlos had only 4 great-grandparents and 6 great-great-grandparents! Thanks to modern science we know why overlapping too many genes is not a good thing.
THE WAR OF THE ROSES
George R.R. Martin has repeatedly said the he has been greatly influenced by the War of the Roses from 1455- 1485 but has said that: "there's really no one-for-one character-for-character correspondence. I like to use history to flavor my fantasy, to add texture and verisimilitude, but simply rewriting history with the names changed has no appeal for me."
Many fans and historians have made comparisons of the Lancasters of England to the The Lannisters of Westeros. I'll start by stating the obvious: the two names themselves are very similar, not to mention that both the Lancasters from history and the Lannisters of fiction are both exceptionally wealthy households. Whereas the Yorks of England's North could be said to be some of the inspiration behind the Starks of Winterfell. The (staged) deaths of Bran & Rickon by the hands of Theon Greyjoy bare similarities to the story of the Two Princes in the Tower. To this day historians debate as to whether the young Edward V of England and Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York were in fact even murdered at all and could have escaped in secret. Robert Baratheon came to meet his end during a drunken hunting accident involving a boar- which was exactly how Robert de Vere the ninth of Earl of Oxford came to meet his untimely end. Robert de Vere was the favourite of Richard II's and their relationship was said to be a little more then friendly- not unlike the homosexual relationships that Robert Baratheon's brother Renly enjoyed.
IN CONCLUSION
Be ye a rabid fan of fantasy or an amateur historian, there is no doubt that the smash HBO hit television series Game of Thrones and the books A Song of Ice & Fire by George R.R. Martin is sure to draw you in and keep you there. The world and the characters are deep and inviting and it is easy to lose yourself in the storytelling. The next time you catch an episode, or pick up one of the books keep what you read here in mind and see if you can't find your own parallels between the history of the world of Westeros and our own.
Kimberleigh Roseblade is an active martial artist, instructor, and writer. She is based in Toronto, Canada where she studies and teaches with the Association of European Medieval Martial Arts (AEMMA). Read more from Kimberleigh Roseblade.