(no subject)

[tinyjo]

[Poll #1490404]

Inspired by last night when I asked Alex to pick out a medieval This Sceptred Isle for me. He read out the dates on the box and I said sleepily "So, Elizabeth I and James I probably" and he was very impressed that I actually knew that from the dates. I asked him which century Henry VIII reigned in and he found it hard. So am I weird for knowing this stuff, or is he unusual for not knowing it. I can't really remember where I got taught it, I just kind of picked it up. I can also name all the Kings and Queens since William I in order, given a little thinking time, which I know is weird.

Comments

[brixtonbrood.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty good on naming them in order (I used to have them all memorised in a little jingle for quiz purposes, but I can now only remember it up to John - after Richard III I can work my way through them from actual knowledge but I need thinking time). Dates on the other hand I have to extrapolate from a few fixed points. I knew Elizabeth was on the throne at 1600, and the 1580s rang a little bell, which I've now remembered was the Spanish Armada (1588).

None of this comes from school though (except insofar as that's where I caught the quiz bug)- I didn't do History O Level, and we did the Stuarts not the Tudors.

[brixtonbrood.livejournal.com]

Himself however was 100% sure on her dates - again not from anything he learnt at school - he's also a keen quizzer and just better at dates than I am (though he's still not totally reliable on the distinction (if any) between Mary Queen of Scots and Mary Tudor).

[asciident]

the distinction (if any) between Mary Queen of Scots and Mary Tudor

Mary Tudor can refer to either Henry VIII's sister (French queen, later Duchess of Suffolk) or his daughter by Catherine of Aragon, though the one that reigned as Queen of England was his daughter of course. Mary, Queen of Scots, never sat on the English throne though she was briefly a French queen (during which time she first pressed her supposed right to the English crown) and of course the Scottish queen, at least until her lords ran her out of the country and into exile in England where she was later executed for treason by her cousin (via her mother, Margaret Tudor) Elizabeth I.

Yeah, bit of a Tudor nut over here. :3

[brixtonbrood.livejournal.com]

I wish I could believe that this will make him better informed, but I've been trying to drum it into him for almost twenty years now, and it still hasn't stuck.