This isn't really my area of expertise, so I'll just stick to admiring the hilarity of many of your listed criteria, e.g. "invented passport," "Prince in the Tower. Unsuccessful reign not his fault," and "Patron saint of difficult marriages!" This takes the wind out of the more serious criteria on your list.
Also, as far as the tourist displays on the Tower of London are concerned, doesn't Richard I get any love? I'm not defending his reign on a serious historical basis, but come on, the Lionheart? Absolutely my favorite king growing up. (Probably because he had the best nickname and the Plantagenets clearly had the best coat of arms, but still.)
RI spent six months of his entire reign in England, bankrupted the country, left it without a stable succession, and engaged in a series of unnecessary and devastating wars. He's still used as a boogey-man figure in the Middle East to scare Arab children, who are told that Malik Ric will come and eat them up if they don't behave.
The earliest Robin Hood stories date from the early 14th century, and mention a King Edward. (Which makes it difficult to date them, because around the year 1300 there were three Edwards in quick succession :) Also, one of the earliest members of Robin Hood's group is Friar Tuck, and there weren't any friars until several decades after R1's death.
It was Sir Walter Scott who put Robin Hood during the reign of R1, in Ivanhoe. Which I like because the awesomest character in it is named Rebecca, but otherwise, not historically accurate At All.
I'm still a fan of R1, though - I kinda have to be, since he made up such a large part of my dissertation! And any historical figure who's got that many myths around him is an awesome resource for a medievalist who works on discourse and representation :)
See, I told you I should have stayed out of this thread on grounds of ignorance. :) Of course, all of my knowledge of the whole story comes from Robin McKinley's The Outlaws of Sherwood, so I blame her.
Chopping the heads off of English monarch paper dolls? I mean, I'm all for multimedia and interactivity, but that might be pushing the envelope a little. :)
There are some possible interesting arguments that later monarchs try to deliberately emulate their namesakes as role models, a la Edward the Confessor. I don't have enough data to make an argument there. (Also, Not My Era.)
Hmmm, I wonder if this could work for me. "After a great deal of thought I have found that this is a Good Differential Equation (TM)." Plz to have tenure now, thx!
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Also, as far as the tourist displays on the Tower of London are concerned, doesn't Richard I get any love? I'm not defending his reign on a serious historical basis, but come on, the Lionheart? Absolutely my favorite king growing up. (Probably because he had the best nickname and the Plantagenets clearly had the best coat of arms, but still.)
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Yeah, I liked him as a kid, too. :(
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The earliest Robin Hood stories date from the early 14th century, and mention a King Edward. (Which makes it difficult to date them, because around the year 1300 there were three Edwards in quick succession :) Also, one of the earliest members of Robin Hood's group is Friar Tuck, and there weren't any friars until several decades after R1's death.
It was Sir Walter Scott who put Robin Hood during the reign of R1, in Ivanhoe. Which I like because the awesomest character in it is named Rebecca, but otherwise, not historically accurate At All.
I'm still a fan of R1, though - I kinda have to be, since he made up such a large part of my dissertation! And any historical figure who's got that many myths around him is an awesome resource for a medievalist who works on discourse and representation :)
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But all is good in exchanging random trivia among friends!
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Although my job would be a heck of a lot easier if it were. "Good King!" "Bad King!" "Tenure!" Wheeeee!
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There are some possible interesting arguments that later monarchs try to deliberately emulate their namesakes as role models, a la Edward the Confessor. I don't have enough data to make an argument there. (Also, Not My Era.)
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