sábado, 1 de febrero de 2014

A Song of Ice and Fire: Fantasy and History II

Let’s continue within the rich universe of “A song of Ice and Fire” by George R. R. Martin. This time, our focus will be on Tywin Lannister, the stern patriarch of House Lannister and Lord of Casterly Rock.

And to what historical figure will I compare him? Well, with none other than the stern and dreadful Edward I, King of England.

Tywin Lannister as portrayed in the HBO series
Painting of Edward I, King of England

So, without further ado, let’s see who Edward Longshanks  was.

Edward I was King of England from 1272 to 1307. He was the first son of Henry III and was also known as Edward Longshanks and Hammer of the Scots. He was a very tall man for his time, hence the nickname “Longshanks”. He was known to be temperamental and a very intimidating man (his height surely helped). He instilled fear in his contemporaries. Despite this, he embodied the medieval idea of kingship: as a soldier, an administrator and a man of faith.

He was involved early in the political intrigues of his father’s reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English Barons which he swiftly crushed.

He then became a crusader and left England to fight in the Holy Land. He returned to England after his father’s death to be crowned as King of England.

During his reign he overtook a great reformation of the royal administration and common law. Although he is much more well known for his military action.

After suppressing a minor rebellion in Wales in 1276, Edward Longshanks responded to a second rebellion with a full-scale war of conquest in 1282 that resulted in a very bloody but successful campaign which ended in England ruling over Wales. The king built a series of castles all over the country and settled them with Englishmen to keep control over the region.

Next, he directed his attention towards the north: towards Scotland. After being invited to arbitrate a succession dispute, Edward claimed feudal domain over the kingdom of Scotland. The war that followed resulted in victory for the Scots, but the blow delivered by the English was great and left behind a bloody trail.

At his death in 1307, he left to his son, the future Edward II, an ongoing war with Scotland and a great deal of financial and political problems to solve.

So, long story short, Edward I was a king who ruled with an iron hand and allowed no mercy to those who dared defy him. That sounds sort of familiar, doesn’t it? Edward dealt with his enemies more or less the same way that Tywin does: with a swift and violent response.


The way Edward dealt with the Welsh rebellion is sort of the same way that Tywin dealt with the Reyne’s of Castamere. And the way he crushed William Wallace’s rebellion is sort of similar to how he crushed Robb Stark’s rebellion.

But that is not the only similarity. Edward’s father; Henry III was a pretty weak man, especially in comparison to his son, and almost destroyed the English Crown with his weak way of dealing with the feudal rebellions. Just like Tywin’s father; Tytos Lannister, who was known to be a pretty meek lion who, in Tywin’s eyes, almost destroyed all by himself the Lannister name.

Tytos, in his weakness, allowed the sworn houses to Casterly Rock to rebel very frequently against their liege Lord only to gain more power for themselves. And because of this, Tytos, and House Lannister started to be perceived as weak by his own vassals, causing the very famous events that lead to the creation of the song known as “The rains of Castamere”.

Both Tywin and Edward were in a profound disagreement with their father’s politics in regards to their own nobles. And both took action, setting aside the words and parchment that their fathers had used. 

Between the years 1264 and 1267, Edward I, tired of his father’s weakness, engaged the royal army in a civil war with his own barons known as the Second Barons’ War.  In it, the baronial forces led by Simon de Montfort fought against Henry I’s loyalist, led by Edward I, who at the time was still a prince. In the battle of Evesham, Edward defeated Montfort on the field and captured him. Then, Edward commanded that Montfort was to be killed and mutilated on the field itself. And so, Montfort met a gruesome end at the hands of young Edward.

Tywin, did something very similar in the Reyne rebellion. The Reyne’s, one of the richest families in Westeros, decided that they should have more power than the Lannisters, and rose in rebellion. Tywin, resentful of his father’s soft hand, asked Tytos to command himself the campaign against the rebellion. His father, who still was Lord of Casterly Rock, agreed. And so, Tywin fought and defeated the Reyne’s. The consequences were terrible. He slaughtered every man, woman and child who carried the name Reyne and burned their stronghold to the ground. These events helped regain the power of the name Lannister and their reputation. Now, and thanks to Tywin, all families knew what happened to those who questioned the might of Casterly Rock.

After Edward ascended into the throne, his main concern was restoring order and re-establishing the royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father. One of his main goals was to reestablish the lands and rights that the crown had lost during Henry III’s reign. And so, both men, when they finally stepped in their father’s shoes, they set themselves into the mission of restoring their family names and rights.

But these two very powerful men weren’t only alike in the political and military aspects of their lives. Both men were married to “the loves of their lives”. In 1254, Edward married to Eleanor of Castille, the half-sister of King Alfonso X of Castille, in order to settle an alliance between the two countries. Though it was an arranged marriage, both came to love each other very much and became a vital part of each other’s life. Edward was a very devoted husband and was absolutely faithful to her throughout their married life, a real rarity among monarchs of the time. Her death in the year 1290 affected the monarch deeply. He displayed his grief by erecting 12 crosses in his wife’s memory, one at each place where her funeral cortège stopped in its procession.


Tywin was married to a cousin of his: Joanna Lannister, It was an extremely happy marriage. It was said that while Tywin ruled Westeros as the Hand of the King, he was ruled by his wife at home. Joanna died while giving birth to their third son: Tyrion. A deep grieve struck Tywin after her death and it is said that he has not smiled since then.

Edward and Eleanor had at least fourteen children, perhaps as many as sixteen. Of these, five daughters survived into adulthood, but only one boy did: Edward, who would succeed his father as Edward II. Joanna gave Tywin three children: the twins Jaime and Cersei, and the dwarf Tyrion.

Another aspect in which they look similar is in their great disappointment in their children.

Edward I was very concerned with what he perceived as his son’s failure to live up to the expectations of an heir to the crown, and actually exiled his son’s favourite (and provably lover): Piers Gaveston. The future Edward II was a weak, capricious, and vacillating man who undid most of his father’s efforts in keeping Scotland united by the English Crown. He was (most probably) homosexual and made no effort to hide it, which really irritated his father. And ended up being deposed of his throne by his French wife (see the previous article I made about the similarities between Cersei and this woman; Isabella of France).

Tywnin was also pretty disappointed in his offspring: Jaime became a knight of the Kingsguard without his consent or knowledge, loosing his rights as heir to Tywin and the possibilities to marry and have children to keep the Lannister name alive. Cerscei, with her poor political schemes and her incapability to keep her son in line was another deep source of disappointment. But the biggest one to Tywin was his third son: the Imp. Tywin thinks that his son shames the name of Lannister because of his condition as a dwarf and his frequent trips to the whorehouse.

Last but not least, Edward I fought to squash the Scottish rebels and won. Much like Tywin fought the Stark rebellion and won. Both, the Scotsman and the Stark are Northmen, and both Edward and Tywin are south men and much richer than their adversaries. Both leaders went on these campaigns trying to crush their enemies, whose main goal was to detach themselves from the crown, claiming themselves independent.

And what’s more, both these rebel leaders; William Wallace and Robb Stark were betrayed to Edward I and Tywin by their own Bannermen. In Wallace’s case, it was Sir John de Menteith who turned him over. And in Stark’s case, it was the old Lord Walder Frey of the Crossing. Both Wallace and Stark meet with a grim end for opposing the crown.

Physically, both these men were quite impressive. Edward I, at 6 feet 2 inches was said to tower over most of his contemporaries, fact which earned him the name “longshancks”. Tywin is also described as physically impressive, although his height is never specifically addressed.


Edward I was considered by his contemporaries as an able, even ideal king. But he was not loved by his subjects, he was feared and respected in shares alike. Much like Tywin, who is considered a very capable person with great capacities for ruling. It is said that when Robert Baratheon was barely 6, he was taken to King’s Landing with his brother Stannis to an audience with the king. Both children were very much impressed by the King, by its regalness and persona. Years later, their father told them that the man whom they had so admired was not the king Aerys, but his Hand, Tywin. This anecdote reaffirms this vision of Tywin as someone regal and fit for ruling. As for his reputation, Tywin, like Edward, is feared and respected alike.

All of these facts serve as proof, so to speak, of Martin’s source of inspiration for his world and inhabitants. And so, I leave you until my next post!


No hay comentarios:

Publicar un comentario