"He's obnoxious and disliked; did you know that?" "I hadn't heard!"
The only response (thus far!) to my joining the Top 5's meme was scm asking (well, demanding XD) to know my top 5 historical figures! So I'm going to answer that now. Also, if anyone else thinks of a top 5, I'm still taking them, since I like doing memes and I want to post more often (apparently even without much substance XD). On to history!
Thinking of 5 figures is actually kind of hard, since I have my go-to 3 set up, but I'm not entirely sure who deserves to round out the 5. I'll list them in reverse chronological order, which will give me more time.
5. John Adams - My affection for him derives largely from 1776 and my deep affection for William Daniels, and I actually disagree with a lot of the ideas he represented. I'm a big fan of all the Adamses, though, except maybe Quincy. The relationship between John and Abigail you can see through their letters is just adorable. Nobody else was trying quite so hard to do what he thought was right, and John Adams gave that struggle everything he had. So he's pretty great.
4. Thomas Jefferson - I feel like Adams and Jefferson have to come as a pair, because they never agreed on anything but they were pretty much BFFs anyway. I agree with Jefferson's anti-Federalism a lot more than Adams's system, but I disapprove of a lot of his activities (Sally Hemings...*) and lopsided ideas (his pronounced dislike of women except Abigail Adams exhibiting intelligence). Nobody's perfect, but I'm glad that these two deeply imperfect men were as instrumental as they were in forming a country, and that they were both smart enough to realize they didn't have to agree to respect each other and work together.
3. Queen Jane I - I know there's not a lot to respect about Lady Jane Grey, but her ridiculously short life (and shorter reign) are so tragic that she has a special place in my heart all the same. She never wanted to be queen, she certainly never wanted to be beheaded as a usurper (despite having legitimately acceeded as Edward VI's named heir) - all she tried to do was make her family happy. Her parents were incredibly strict on her, and her cousin Edward (and arguably her husband, though she didn't want to marry) was the only person in her family who was nice to her. How did that end up? Her husband's just-executed body wheeled past her window before she was taken to the same fate. She was so smart and so young, and none of it was her fault and I just feel so bad for her that she'll always be a favorite.
2. Geoffrey Chaucer - This is in no way related to the fact that I still love Geoffrey Chaucer Hath a Blog, despite its never updating anymore, and when it does it's always John Mandeville or Lewis. Chaucer gets to be on this list because he's absolutely my favorite thing about the Middle English period. Not only was he its first real champion, but his writings (as his life) demonstrate a huge variety of interests and education. Even though he's always very demonstrably upper-middle class (as much as was possible in the late 14th century), he gives a more robust cross-section of what was going on than a lot of his contemporaries (for example, he wasn't solely concerned with the moral and religious betterment of mankind). I really can't say enough about how badass Chaucer was (despite being a career bureaucrat), and how annoying a lot of the people who get more respect were: Dante was an unhinged narcissist, Boethius (who was NOT a contemporary, but whose De consolatione philosophae was a Huge Deal) was writing fanfic about how he shouldn't be in prison and even the prosopopoeic figure of Philosophy herself agrees with him, and William Langland was the world's most uptight stick in the mud. Basically Chaucer rules and writing in an intentionally old-fashioned, florid style is totally cool.
1. Alfred the Great - He was always going to be number one, even if I didn't do it chronologically. Alfred got me an A int he hardest history class I ever took, and there is basically nothing I can think of that isn't pretty much amazing about him. It's true that it's a bit overblown to say he united the kingdoms of England and took back the Danelaw, because he died before he could do that. But he did start the process, and his son finished the job. What he did accomplish was incredibly farsighted on its own, though - he set up a really intelligent military system, he developed the first English navy, he supported education for everyone, he made the standard template for a town/burh usable and strong in both peace and war, he beat back the vikings (though, as we mentioned, not all the way), and he did it all after spending the first part of his reign hiding in a swamp. I won't go as far as others and say he was the first English king, but he was the first to even partially succeed at uniting the English kingdoms for their mutual benefit and protection. He definitely earned the right to be the only English monarch called Great.
So, that took a while, but I think it's a pretty acceptable group. TR gets an honorable mention for his manic walrus-grin and hunting the snallygaster, but couldn't make it all the way onto the list because of being much too modern and also his foreign policy :C
Anybody else want some wordy top-5s? Let me know and I will happily devote another otherwise-empty morning to your edutainment :D
*Wikipedia tells me that the Sally hemings controversy has been pretty much cleared up, and that Jefferson was not involved with her/cheating on his wife or the father of her 6 "octroon" children, but rather that his nephew was. So go Jefferson! I'm sorry I doubted you.
Thinking of 5 figures is actually kind of hard, since I have my go-to 3 set up, but I'm not entirely sure who deserves to round out the 5. I'll list them in reverse chronological order, which will give me more time.
5. John Adams - My affection for him derives largely from 1776 and my deep affection for William Daniels, and I actually disagree with a lot of the ideas he represented. I'm a big fan of all the Adamses, though, except maybe Quincy. The relationship between John and Abigail you can see through their letters is just adorable. Nobody else was trying quite so hard to do what he thought was right, and John Adams gave that struggle everything he had. So he's pretty great.
4. Thomas Jefferson - I feel like Adams and Jefferson have to come as a pair, because they never agreed on anything but they were pretty much BFFs anyway. I agree with Jefferson's anti-Federalism a lot more than Adams's system, but I disapprove of a lot of his activities (Sally Hemings...*) and lopsided ideas (his pronounced dislike of women except Abigail Adams exhibiting intelligence). Nobody's perfect, but I'm glad that these two deeply imperfect men were as instrumental as they were in forming a country, and that they were both smart enough to realize they didn't have to agree to respect each other and work together.
3. Queen Jane I - I know there's not a lot to respect about Lady Jane Grey, but her ridiculously short life (and shorter reign) are so tragic that she has a special place in my heart all the same. She never wanted to be queen, she certainly never wanted to be beheaded as a usurper (despite having legitimately acceeded as Edward VI's named heir) - all she tried to do was make her family happy. Her parents were incredibly strict on her, and her cousin Edward (and arguably her husband, though she didn't want to marry) was the only person in her family who was nice to her. How did that end up? Her husband's just-executed body wheeled past her window before she was taken to the same fate. She was so smart and so young, and none of it was her fault and I just feel so bad for her that she'll always be a favorite.
2. Geoffrey Chaucer - This is in no way related to the fact that I still love Geoffrey Chaucer Hath a Blog, despite its never updating anymore, and when it does it's always John Mandeville or Lewis. Chaucer gets to be on this list because he's absolutely my favorite thing about the Middle English period. Not only was he its first real champion, but his writings (as his life) demonstrate a huge variety of interests and education. Even though he's always very demonstrably upper-middle class (as much as was possible in the late 14th century), he gives a more robust cross-section of what was going on than a lot of his contemporaries (for example, he wasn't solely concerned with the moral and religious betterment of mankind). I really can't say enough about how badass Chaucer was (despite being a career bureaucrat), and how annoying a lot of the people who get more respect were: Dante was an unhinged narcissist, Boethius (who was NOT a contemporary, but whose De consolatione philosophae was a Huge Deal) was writing fanfic about how he shouldn't be in prison and even the prosopopoeic figure of Philosophy herself agrees with him, and William Langland was the world's most uptight stick in the mud. Basically Chaucer rules and writing in an intentionally old-fashioned, florid style is totally cool.
1. Alfred the Great - He was always going to be number one, even if I didn't do it chronologically. Alfred got me an A int he hardest history class I ever took, and there is basically nothing I can think of that isn't pretty much amazing about him. It's true that it's a bit overblown to say he united the kingdoms of England and took back the Danelaw, because he died before he could do that. But he did start the process, and his son finished the job. What he did accomplish was incredibly farsighted on its own, though - he set up a really intelligent military system, he developed the first English navy, he supported education for everyone, he made the standard template for a town/burh usable and strong in both peace and war, he beat back the vikings (though, as we mentioned, not all the way), and he did it all after spending the first part of his reign hiding in a swamp. I won't go as far as others and say he was the first English king, but he was the first to even partially succeed at uniting the English kingdoms for their mutual benefit and protection. He definitely earned the right to be the only English monarch called Great.
So, that took a while, but I think it's a pretty acceptable group. TR gets an honorable mention for his manic walrus-grin and hunting the snallygaster, but couldn't make it all the way onto the list because of being much too modern and also his foreign policy :C
Anybody else want some wordy top-5s? Let me know and I will happily devote another otherwise-empty morning to your edutainment :D
*Wikipedia tells me that the Sally hemings controversy has been pretty much cleared up, and that Jefferson was not involved with her/cheating on his wife or the father of her 6 "octroon" children, but rather that his nephew was. So go Jefferson! I'm sorry I doubted you.