Historical Characters, Including Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 45

[cahn]

Unfortunately, there was then at Berlin a King who pursued one policy only, who deceived his enemies, but not his servants, and who lied without scruple, but never without necessity.

(from The King's Secret - by Duke de Broglie, grand-nephew of the subject of the book, Comte de Broglie, and grandfather of the physicist) )

Comments

Re: James I and VI: Scotsman on the English Throne

[luzula]

OMG, I didn't know how terrible his childhood was. : (

It's amusing to me that James I/VI really wanted union, while James III/VIII and BPC promised deliverance from the hated union...

Guys, how about peace for all of us! We should be responsible Christian rulers, and I believe we can get on the same page here, right? But I must say that the Pope sucks, and here are an additional two pages to my peace message of why he’s the Antichrist.
LOL!

Re: James I and VI: Scotsman on the English Throne

[selenak]

OMG, I didn't know how terrible his childhood was. : (

Indeed. If 16th and 17th century folk note a child is treated harshly, then....

It's amusing to me that James I/VI really wanted union, while James III/VIII and BPC promised deliverance from the hated union...

Well, they needed something people wanted to offer! But seriously, James I/VI seems to have been the only guy wanting the union in his time on both sides of the island, whereas by the 18th century, Scottish feelings were at least mixed. (English feelings by and large seem to have been still mainly anti Scots, but not in a "we want them to become an independent kingdom again" kind of way.) As to why James wanted it, well, it would have made administration much easier, for starters. And he also thought both realms could learn from each other. (From a purely monarchical pov, he'd have loved for the English Commons to be as relatively harmless to him as the Scottish parliament, and thought the Scottish Kirk definitely should be more like the English Church, neatly organized in diosceses with bishops doing the administrative work instead of being the unruly monarchical headache it was. This was not a view shared by either Scots or English.