by George RR Martin, the author of “Game of Thrones”, is a lover transi from the Middle Ages period, inspired by many factual elements of this period to nourish his unbridled imagination. Example with Joffrey's poisoning!
Multiple poisonings, massacres and other atrocious abuse sessions, humiliations, struggle to death between family clans, relentless revenge … Welcome to the universe of George RR Martin, the venerated creator of Game of Thrones!
The author, who affirmed in an iNterView given to the CBC channel in March 2012 “Take epic fantasy in Tolkien's tradition […]and combine it with a realistic genre “,, has largely nourished his work and of course the cult series of HBO, by borrowing many factual elements or events which took place in the Middle Ages, its favorite period.
As such, one of its models is the cycle of Cursed kings by Maurice Druon, composed of seven volumes written between 1955 and 1977 and which was wonderfully adapted to TV in 1973. “This is the original story of Game of Thrones” Even let go of Martin, evoking the Druon river saga, the first volumes of which were reissued in Great Britain in 2013, To the great joy of Martin.
A very dark vision of the Middle Ages
Martin who also develops a very dark vision of the Middle Ages. “Bad authors [de fantasy] are inspired by social structures of the Middle Ages […] But they don't seem to realize what it means. They write scenes in which the young courageous peasant woman rumbles the bad prince “ explained George Rr Martin in an interview with Times Entertainment in April 2011.
“”[Dans la réalité] The bad prince would have raped her. He would have put her on the irons and would have ordered that she was thrown on him. I mean that the social structure in places like these was hard. They had consequences. And people have been raised since childhood to know […] the homework and privileges of their class. It was always a source of tensions when someone came out of their condition. And I tried to reflect this “ said the author.
If the novelist's words deserve some real shades-social oppression in the Middle Ages being much more subtle than what it suggests, it is not, however, here of developing the realistic aspect or not of his approach in his saga. But to put in historical perspective certain facts and / or elements borrowed during this period.
Divine justice or poisoning?
We stop episode 2 of season 4, baptized The lion and the rose. An episode during which the tyrannical, cruel and degenerate young king Joffrey (Jack Gleeson) humiliates his uncle Tyrion in front of the banquet offered in honor of his marriage to Margaery Tyrell (Natalie Dormer).
The ceremony then turns into drama when Joffrey is taken terrible convulsions and suffocates, after having ingested a generous part of cake and wine, which turns out to be poisoned. And while he makes his last breath in the arms of his grieving mother, the ideal culprit is already all found: Tyrion …
To say that fans of the series jubilee jubilee on the death of this despot is euphemism, as it turned out to be particularly sadistic and cruel, especially towards the Stark family …
Below, the agony of the wren in question, to be enjoyed as it should …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBMFLDB3CBI
For this sequence, the writer is especially went to seek inspiration a little In the death of a prince called Eustache IV of Boulogne, during another English civil war, very distant, which was called Anarchywhich took place between 1135 and 1153. It was this period which also serves as a background for the monumental work of Ken Follett, The pillars of the earth.
“Eustache stifled to death during a banquet” Martin said in the interview. “Hundreds of years later, people are still debating: he simply suffocated or was he poisoned? The fact is that by suppressing Eustache, it finally brought peace that ended the civil war. The death of Eustache was accepted [comme accidentelle]and I think that's exactly what the assassins hoped.
In Game of Thrones, the whole kingdom witnesses Joffrey's spectacle choking to death after swallowing a piece of cake. But what the assassins did not plan is that Cersei immediately suspects that it is a murder. She is not deceived for a second on this. “
Hbo
A precise historical reference
To return a little to the historical reference of George Rr Martin, to the death of King Henri I of England, in 1135, a certain Etienne de Blois, one of the grandsons of the famous Guillaume the Conqueror, seizes the throne at the expense of the legitimate and designated heiress, Mathilde the Emperesse, the daughter of the late king. For 19 years, the two were tearing themselves apart, naturally playing the system of alliances between the Duchies and the Vassals.
Exhausted by this merciless struggle, the two camps began peace negotiations in 1153. But the son of Etienne de Blois, Eustache IV of Boulogne, therefore, does not hear it. It must also be said that during a council held in London on April 6, 1152, Étienne de Blois had asked the barons to recognize Eustache as their next king and pay tribute to him.
He even tried to make him crown during his lifetime, but his relations with the clergy had been so degraded during the years of civil war that he encountered a lively opposition. In fact, we also understand the very personal interest of Eustache IV to oppose this negotiated peace, logically seeing the crown escape him …
Hbo
At the siege of Wallingford in July 1153, learning that his father and the Duke of Normandy Henri Plantagenêt negotiated a cease-fire, he entered a black anger after his father and left the courtyard, withdrew in early August 1153 towards the abbey of Bury Saint Edmond (located in the county of Suffolk) which was one of the most powerful monastic places in England.
One of the most revered also, a place of pilgrimage, since the monastery welcomed the relics of the King-Martyr Edmond of Est-Anglie since the 10th century, the last King of East Anglie before the conquest of this kingdom by the Vikings.
The monks welcome Eustache IV with a splendor due to its rank, notably by offering it a superb dinner. The count has only one idea in mind: to fill his empty funds to pay his soldiers, who are also frustrated with a military campaign finished prematurely. Eustache therefore requests the monks for the funds, but the latter refuse to access his request. The count then orders to loot the monastery and its riches from top to bottom. A terrible crime.
Hbo
Back in his castle located in Cambridge, Eustache IV dines copiously during a banquet, with pillaged food from the monastery. But from the first bites, he collapsed and stifled to death, just like Joffrey in the series. According to some stories, he would have died immediately; Others explaining that his agony lasted a week before expiring.
In one case as in the other, it was not necessary more to the monks to see in this death anything less than a divine punishment, or at least a just punishment administered by Saint Edmond himself, at the height of the crime that Eustache had committed.
The other argument, more rational although no evidence could be brought, is that it would have been poisoned; The timing of his death being a little too ideal: his death puts an end to any dispute of peace negotiations. Eustache IV still alive, the latter would certainly not have seen the light of day …
A death worthy of Attila
Ultimatelywe can point out another interesting example as a potential source of inspiration for George Rr Martin concerning the way in which Joffrey dies but which he did not speak, and which is mentioned by the most curious. The poison ingested by Joffrey causes him an epistaxis, more commonly a bleeding of the nose, clearly visible in the images above.
Enough to recall a famous death, that of the famous conqueror Attila Le Hun. Attila died in early 453 suddenly and unexpectedly in his sleep, it seems to suffocate by nose bleeding during his wedding night.
Very quickly, the rumors of assassination by his new wife, either by poisoning or by suffocation, surfaced. But the hypothesis generally retained is an apoplexy due to excess alcohol during the wedding. A death that would certainly have lacked panache for the tyrant Joffrey, which one is not angry to see suffering before making the soul …
