Still from S2E9, depicting a victorious Tywin Lannister and Loras Tyrell. HBO.
2. The Battle of Blackwater Bay, an iconic moment in the War of the Five Kings, is a thinly disguised and compressed fantasy regurgitation of the Second Arab Siege of Constantinople
The largest battle in the War of the Five Kings, the Battle of Blackwater Bay was an attempt by the forces of Stannis Baratheon to capture the capital city of King’s Landing. Combining a large naval assault, followed by an amphibious landing, the attack was rebuffed by soldiers under the command of Tyrion Lannister. Although reinforcements led by Twin Lannister earned the glory, the victory was due, in no small part, to the use of wildfire by the king’s forces to decimate the Baratheon fleet. Although compressing the events into a single night, the famed battle depicted in Game of Thrones is actually a retelling of the Second Arab Siege of Constantinople.
Lasting for more than a year, from 717 to 718, the forces of the Umayyad Caliphate sought to breach the capital city of the Byzantine Empire. Protected by the massive Theodosian Walls, the attacking forces were unable to penetrate the city and instead opted to encircle and blockade the city into submission. However, their naval blockade was breached by Byzantine ships wielding the aforementioned “Greek fire” and permitted the capital to be resupplied by sea. Attacked by Christian reinforcements from the rear, the Arabs were forced to retreat, suffering the near-total destruction of their fleet and loss of approximately 100,000 men.
Still from S7E7 of Game of Thrones, depicting Queen Cersei Lannister alongside her brother Lord Jaime Lannister. HBO.
1. In addition to Anne Boleyn, the character of Cersei Lannister is equally inspired by the lives and personalities of two French female leaders of the Middle Ages: Catherine de’ Medici and Margaret of Anjou
Bearing noticeable correlations with the character of Cersei Lannister, Margaret of Anjou was similarly forced to marry a king at a young age. Wedding Henry VI of England as part of an ultimately unsuccessful truce between England and France in 1445, her marriage to the feeble monarch was an unhappy one. Bearing only one child, Edward of Lancaster, her son, like the children of Cersei, became the victim of repeated, and plausibly true, rumors concerning his legitimacy. Equally, like Cersei, Margaret outlived her progeny, with Edward of Lancaster killed at the hands of his Yorkist rival Edward VI.
Offering further additions to Martin’s fictional composite character, Catherine de’ Medici was born in 1519 into the prestigious Italian family. Augmenting her wealth and power further, in 1533 the fourteen-year-old Catherine married Henry Valois, the heir apparent, being elevated to the position of Queen of France in 1547. Later serving as the mother of Kings Francis II, Charles IX, and Henry III, ruling as regent from 1560 until 1563 during the infancy of her second son, the reigns of her children should historically be regarded at least equally her own. Wielding enormous executive power, Catherine’s ruthlessness strongly mirrors the desperation of Cersei to hold onto her family’s crown.
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