Jazzy D&#39;s Soul Notes

Have you seen castle Rochester? I wonder why was it so important to capture it in times of king John. (Yes, I watched the movie "Ironclad" couple of years ago)

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Rochester's my home town- it's an important bridgehead on the River Medway and on the road to London, which why it was vital to capture the castle both for King John in 1215 and for King Louis of France in 1216.

Edited Date: 2015-09-01 02:49 pm (UTC)

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Castle is on the other side of river than London where king John was heading. And being sieged that castle couldn't hold a water crossing anymore.

Hm, wiki says that king destroyed the bridge by himself, it seems he didn't hurry to cross the river.

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But without holding the castle, you couldn't easily cross the bridge as the bridge of those days had defensive towers which were part of the castle itself- a 'watergate'. Barons captured the castle from Bishop Langton and held it against John and a seven week siege did a lot of damage to both bridgehead and castle.

King John seems to have been very good at making enemies! King Louis of France took the castle in another siege (Easy because it was so badly damaged by John's siege) shortly before John's death in 1216

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King John was able to destroy the bridge to prevent possible support from London to cross the river. He also scared away 700 riders of actual support from there by sending rumor that he is heading towards to intercept them. So it seems that castle defenders couldn't hold or protect the bridge. They could possibly make the water crossing difficult by shooting arrows from the walls, so it was necessary to capture the walls, but was it necessary to sit there another month sieging the keep?

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I think John must have thought it worth the time, but I suspect he may have been wrong.

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He managed to recapture all the territory within two following months and prince Lois arrived a half a year later. He could save some time and forces to deal with the rest.

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Although he died in Newark within a few months- legend is that he was poisoned, although it's most likely he died of 'camp fever' (amoebic dysentery) and exhaustion.

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He died a year after the siege of Rochester and soon after that defeat on the sea. With an additional month who knows, may be prince Lois would decide do not intervene like he didn't claim the throne after all.

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That's a question to which we'll never know the answer, although it did at least leave us with Magna Carta! :o)

Of one thing there is no doubt though- John was certainly a tyrant.

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About questions, did some scientists try to inspect his remains to find the reason of his death?

Of one thing there is no doubt though- John was certainly a tyrant. Sure.

starring: a lion as king John and a wolf as sheriff of Nottingham.

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It's known where his remains lie of course but I'm not sure anyone has. Kings still get treated with a certain respect.

King John was not a good man —
He had his little ways.
And sometimes no one spoke to him
For days and days and days.
And men who came across him,
When walking in the town,
Gave him a supercilious stare,
Or passed with noses in the air —
And bad King John stood dumbly there,
Blushing beneath his crown.

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Sure, with respect. I guess when the remains of king Richard III were found three years ago they were treated with respect by scientists.

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And given a reburial in a decent tomb afterwards- they had to check it was him and it was.

Interestingly, he DID have a slight shoulder disability although not the gross hunchback of Shakespeare's Richard.

He now lies in Leicester Cathedral

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Looking on the picture of the skeleton I say that his spine was terribly bended which gave him a big hunchback.

Anyway king Richard had his decent tomb and it was not his or those people fault that descendants decided to destroy a church and a graveyard and build a parking on that place.

So, I do not think it would be a big disrespect to clarify was king John murdered or died from a disease and for this to open his tomb and take some probes.

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Intriguingly enough, they found a young man who has exactly the same deformity of the spine and built him a suit of armour based on a surviving example of Richard's.

He found that it supported his back in such as way that he could ride a horse and handle a sword- so the disability wouldn't have stopped Richard in battle.

The young man, Dominic Smee, doesn't have a gross visible deformity either but he has the same scoliosis as Richard- this article might interest you:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/11038600/Richard-III-the-hunchback-king-really-could-have-been-a-formidable-warrior-...-and-his-body-double-can-prove-it.html

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Well, yes. Mr. Smee has the same type of spinal problem and on the photo he has no terribly visible hunchback which is formed in such cases by bulging out shoulder blade. If there is king Richard's cuirass survived until now, one can estimate how big the hunchback of the owner was.
Anyway, William Shakespeare had written his piece using some lie and slander that John Morton spread out about king Richard, so there is some poetical exaggeration.

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Just a bit!

As a historian, I'm always aware of and suspicious of contemporary propaganda, especially as I study civil war, revolution and rebellion as a specialism.

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History is written by winners.

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Hence e the idea of alternative histories from other voices.

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Alternative history is a bit discredited term connected mainly with some fantastic theories without any facts or basis.

One cannot exclude history from politics it will always be used to serve current political interests so one shall wait till only history remains.

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So they say- it's a historian's job to unpick what gets said. :o)

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So everybody says. By simple logic people who betrayed their king tried to capture and imprison him and invited a foreign army to invade their country by promising a foreign prince a throne are usually called traitors. Does anyone ever call baron d'Aubigny or William Marshal traitors? No, they are heroes, so it was, so it will ever be.

Well, I've heard that resigned king Edward VIII had in planes to cancel Magna Carta and dismiss parliament but I guess it was rather wishful thinking from his side than planes.

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Earl William managed to die in his bed- quite an achievement for someone of that sort!

By the time Edward had any power, there were only three clauses of Magan Carta left on the statute book anyway so I don't think anyone would have noticed.........

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Yes, to die in own bed by natural causes was rare those times for warriors. Speaking about this, what is more amazing that is mother of king John who managed to defend her castle against her grandson's army at the age of 80.

For king Edward it would be rather symbolic revenge.

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Just so.

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kaishin108.livejournal.com

Bewitched, that is so cute! :-)

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Yep, i thought so too.

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Good to see they've finally got the work started on Eastgate House!

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Yes at last!

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It was our $%^&! local council that left it to get into such a state in the first place- if it had been dealt with at the time, it wouldn't have cost a tenth as much!

Ever been inside the building? It's stunning!

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Yes i have and it is amazing. I will have to revisit once the work is done.

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Likewise!

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cornerofmadness.livejournal.com

nice. love the view leading down to the sea

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That is St.Leonard's , which is right next to Hastings, 1066 country.

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cornerofmadness.livejournal.com

Ooo, cool. I was just saying I need to get back to the UK. I loved Wales but didn't get to see much of England and nothing at all of Ireland and Scotland and I would love to.

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ron-broxted.livejournal.com

Spent a short while in St Leonards in 02 after I came back from the Chechen border. Hated it.

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Yep, quite a depressing area i guess.

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seawasp

"I wonder if this shop was once owned by the Charmed Ones."

I would expect by Samantha Stephens, actually.

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Oh yeah, i forgot about her, and i loved the wiggle of her nose.

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malterre.livejournal.com

Love these, they would make great watercolors

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thespian15.livejournal.com

Not the Charmed ones, Samantha Stevens. :)

I really like the High Street. :)
Hugs, Jon

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Wink wink , wiggles nose, gets out broomstick etc

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thespian15.livejournal.com

I LOVE Bewitched. :)

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kabuldur.livejournal.com

Are you trying to bewitch us?

Beautiful England.

I would have loved to be at that pub listening to jazz!

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