What if......

This blog is something slightly different compared to my other recent posts, and I hope you find this interesting.

One of my absolute passions is History and specifically Royal history but also Christian/Religious History, Titanic history, JFK history and Egyptian History. I can't put my finger on when my fascination with these period of time but perhaps it has evolved over the years as I have travelled and read more extensively. There is not a weekend that goes by when we are going to some sort of historical talk or literary gathering, and this weekend is no different. It is the Cirencester History festival and again we have bundled ourselves into cold churches to listen to various historians and professors discuss the topic du jour.

The other thing that I have been doing recently is exploring spirituality and really looking deep into my own belief systems and let me be clear, I am a person of faith. But I am also an inquiring mind. I question things, I don't take it as "given".

From a young age, as early as I can remember, we went to church on Sunday and taught the traditional lessons that form the Christian faith. At school, we had chapel every Thursday morning as well as RE (religion education) lessons until Year 11. We were told that everything else that deviated from that was Evil, was the work of the Devil and that our souls would be at risk of eternal damnation, should we not follow the letter of Gods law. The fear of not reuniting with your loved ones after they had passed was real and tangible, and thus you would NEVER contemplate risking that. Because FOREVER is a bloody long time to be isolated in the pits of hell. YIKES!! It's enough to give me goosebumps even now. I will put it out there that I do have faith and I do honestly believe in a "higher power" but as I have grown up a bit, I have started to challenge the pre-conceived notions of what I was taught during my formative years. The biggest questions that I had were:

1) What came before Jesus? Surely not everyone who had ever lived in the millennia leading up to the birth of Christ were doomed sinners, roaming round in the fire pits of hell waiting for cataclysmic event. Surely it would be way too crowded?

2) Before the birth of "Christianity" there were a whole host of other religions in existence. So who decided that Christianity was the king of western religions? And what gave them the right to make that pronouncement?

3) Why do so many of the religions tell the same "fables", have very very similar hierarchical structures and ultimately a very similar universal "messages" of Love, Peace, Harmony and Respect; and yet words like Heretic, Heathen and Apostate are flung in accusatory and offensive manners at each other, like agreeing with one means that you MUST disagree with everything and everyone else who does not follow your EXACT same ideologies.

So let's ponder.................WHAT IF CHRISTIANITY NEVER "TOOK OFF"

What if, for arguments sake, that Christianity was just another belief system, no more popular than say the Pagan/Earth-Season worshipping religion, or the Mythic belief in the ancient Greek gods?

What would society look like today if this Christian revolution never happened (or the wars declared in its name)? Would Richard the Lionheart have been as "famous"? He clearly wouldn't have died in the "holy land" so would be have even had a King John and therefore the Magna Carta? Stop and think about that for a moment. The implications are HUGE.

Richard would have married and had an heir, who would have inherited the throne instead of John....the whole British Monarchy and the Legal System as we know, it would be vastly different.

Now imagine if the Reformation had never happened and the Tudor succession planning had not been an issue. Imagine if "Bloody" Mary Tudor had ascended to the throne and had NOT started burning people for Heresy. What would society look like today if none of this took place?

If Christianity never took off, and everyone worshipped different gods and had different belief systems, what would Sunday's be? Would Weekends even exist given that Sunday was "the Lords day" or Day of worship or pronounced as the "Day of rest".

Just imagine a world without our cathedrals & churches. No Vatican City and no Pope. No Westminster Abbey or St Paul's Cathedral.

The obvious goes without saying, there would be no Christmas or Easter or Shrove Tuesday or Lent, however it could be argued that these "festive" holidays would exist in some form given that that many were "borrowed" from existing holidays from other religious codes.

It is a very interesting thought.

As we contemplate the question of Christianity, let's take it a bit further down the history line and fast forward a thousand years to What if.....THE WAR OF THE ROSES NEVER HAPPENED?

We all know the story about the Wars of the Roses. The House of Lancaster vs The House of York which started over a dispute about the rightful heir to the throne of England after Edward, the black prince (son and Heir to King Edward III) died and his son, Richard II was overthrown by his cousin Henry Bolingbroke. Welcome to the "cousins war" vernacular.

Now here is an interesting question and one that has substantial implications, dynastically and historically .

Let me start by saying that I am related to King Edward III through his 3rd son, Lionel of Antwerp so I find this topic extremely interesting and oddly personal.

As dynastic law goes in the UK during the dark and middle ages, the first born son of the king would be the heir-apparent and therefore inherit the throne once the sitting king died. Daughters of Kings were not permitted to inherit the throne at this point; (there is another whole discussion on that ie. What if Empress Matilda won the Anarchy wars after her brother died aboard the White Ship...but moving on) so it was only the male line that could inherit. King Edward III had a many children and fortunately had a strong first born son, who in turn had a son, the eventual Richard II.

After the Black Prince died and King Edward III then also died, Richard came to the throne as a child and in a very weakened position. While his reign was generally regarded as a successful one, it would be a mere matter of time before the jealous factions within the family decided that there was a "better option" than Richard to rule. In those days, it was also not just a matter of birth right that enabled you to rule, it was also a matter of brute strength and backing of armies that allowed you to remain so. Unfortunately for Richard, his cousin had stronger factions in his corner. He went onto claim the throne as Henry IV of Lancaster, and as we say, the rest is history.

However......what if Richard II had not been overthrown, what if he had married borne an Heir and continued to rule.

Better still, given that the Dukedom of Lancaster was given to the THIRD (surviving) son and the Dukedom of York to the FOURTH (surviving) son, WHAT IF.......the crown passed directly to the SECOND (surviving) SON and their line. Aka: Lionel of Antwerp. His only daughter married into the Mortimer family. She had a Son (Roger Mortimer, later Earl of March) and would have therefore been named as heir-presumptive (which he was named as anyway by Richard II, as it happens) and the crown passes directly to the York line.

The big questions to come out of this What if are:

1) If Richard II married and had an heir, would there have even been a challenge to the crown?

2) If Richard II's wishes had been carried out and the crown passed to the Mortimer (York) line without contention, there would be no mystery surrounding The Princes in the Tower.

3) If the Princes in the Tower (heirs of Edward IV) had lived, there would have been no Richard III saga, and no Battle of Bosworth. BIGGEST CONSEQUENCE: No Tudor dynasty as Henry VII would not have won the crown. There would have been no fight to win.

WOW - NOW THERE IS A CAN OF WORMS!

Even as I finish writing this part, there is a huge amount to digest in all of that, especially for someone who is a History-geek like myself. My next blog will be finalising my "what if" questions, just because I am intrigued what rabbit hole it will lead me down!!

I hope you enjoyed this read, please do check out my YouTube channel (The Cotswolds Girl)

and I will see you next time.

With lots of love and Big Ol' Hugs

TCG