20 Times Game of Thrones "Borrowed" From Real History

1. In addition to Anne Boleyn, the character of Cersei Lannister is equally inspired by the lives and personalities of two French female leaders of the Middle Ages: Catherine de’ Medici and Margaret of Anjou

Bearing noticeable correlations with the character of Cersei Lannister, Margaret of Anjou was similarly forced to marry a king at a young age. Wedding Henry VI of England as part of an ultimately unsuccessful truce between England and France in 1445, her marriage to the feeble monarch was an unhappy one. Bearing only one child, Edward of Lancaster, her son, like the children of Cersei, became the victim of repeated, and plausibly true, rumors concerning his legitimacy. Equally, like Cersei, Margaret outlived her progeny, with Edward of Lancaster killed at the hands of his Yorkist rival Edward VI.

Offering further additions to Martin’s fictional composite character, Catherine de’ Medici was born in 1519 into the prestigious Italian family. Augmenting her wealth and power further, in 1533 the fourteen-year-old Catherine married Henry Valois, the heir apparent, being elevated to the position of Queen of France in 1547. Later serving as the mother of Kings Francis II, Charles IX, and Henry III, ruling as regent from 1560 until 1563 during the infancy of her second son, the reigns of her children should historically be regarded at least equally her own. Wielding enormous executive power, Catherine’s ruthlessness strongly mirrors the desperation of Cersei to hold onto her family’s crown.

Where do we find this stuff? Here are our sources:

“A History of the Roman Republic”, Klaus Bringmann, Polity Press (2007)

“The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History, 1300-1850”, Brian Fagan, Basic Books (2000)

“The Great Warming: Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations”, Brian Fagan, Bloomsbury Publishing (2009)

“Climate History, and the Modern World”, Hubert Lamb, Routledge (1995)

“Lancaster and York: The Wars of the Roses”, Alison Weir, Ballantine Books (1996)

“Hadrian’s Wall: A History and Guide”, Guy de la Bedoyere, Tempus Publishing (1998)

“The Antonine Wall”, David J. Breeze, Birlinn Ltd (2009)

“The Santorini Volcano and the Destruction of Minoan Crete”, D.L. Page, The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies (1970)

“The Eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79”, Haraldur Sigurdsson and Steven Carey, in “The Natural History of Pompeii”, Wilhelmina Mary Feemster Jashemski and Frederic Gustav, The Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge (2002)

“The Norman Conquest: A New Introduction”, Richard Huscroft, Longman Publishing (2009)

“Anne Boleyn: Henry VIII’s Obsession”, Elizabeth Norton, Amberley Publishing (2009)

“Sexual Heresy at the Court of Henry VIII”, Retha M. Warnicke, Historical Journal (1987)

“Henry VIII: Man and Monarch”, David Starkey and Susan Doran, British Library Publishing Division (2009)

“Hunting and the Royal Image of Henry VIII”, James Williams, Sport in History (2005)

“The New Knighthood: A History of the Order of the Temple”, Malcolm Barber, Cambridge University Press (1993)

“The Janissaries”, Godfrey Goodwin, Saqi Books (2006)

“The Madness of the Emperor Caligula”, A.T. Sandison, Medical History (1958)

“Glencoe: The Story of the Massacre”, John Prebble, Holt, Rinehart and Winston (1966)

“Japanese Historians and the National Myths, 1600-1945: The Age of the Gods and Emperor Jimmu”, John S. Brownlee, University of British Columbia Press (1997)

“Joan of Arc: A Military Leader”, Kelly DeVries, Sutton Publishing (1999)

“Richard III: The Maligned King”, Annette Carson, History Press (2009)