Common Knowledge: Difference between revisions

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== [[Real Life]] ==

* Just about everything people today know about King John of England is common knowledge, he was actually a very skilled diplomat and general and under him England was bigger then it had been under any king since the House of Danes ruled and would not be that big again until the house of Stewart. He was able to get most of Ireland to recognize him as lord, and also took significant land in Wales and Scotland which England continued to hold for centuries. He also did not inherit any French land, his brother King Richard had lost all of it to King Philip II of France by the time John became King. He was able to retake most of them and then lose them again a couple times (they were finally given up by his son Henry III). He also inherited the Duchy of Aquitaine after his mother died meaning that he actually had more French land then when he started. He was also able to re-establish England’s independence form the Holy Roman Empire which it had become a vassal state of under Richard. John also was considered to be to kind and friendly with the Jews which was one of the things his enemies used to rally against him. He also was not tricked or forced to sign the Magna Carta. It was a peace agreement between him and rebellious Lords that he did not want to fight with because he was preparing to invade France. However they then changed the treaty after it was signed to give them more power and authority then was agreed to and so King John had it null and voided by the Pope. The fact that no other king was named John was not a slight against him but an unfortunate coincidence as three crown princes were named John. He did not receive his [[Historical Villain Upgrade]] until about 500 years after he died when somebody decided to make him the antagonist of [[Robin Hood]] (who had previously been fighting his grandson King Edward). About the only thing that people know about him that was true is he increased taxes on the nobles, which were a necessity as he needed a bigger army for the bigger kingdom and also had to pay a lot of people for his brother mistakes like getting captured and held for ransom by the Holy Roman Empire.

* King [[Henry VIII]] of England also has a lot of "common knowledge" associated with him. First and foremost it is that he never had a son survive childhood which is false as he had just as many recognized sons as daughters: 2. The first was Henry ~~[[Fitz Roy]]~~ Duke of Richmond and Somerset, who was illegitimate and survived into his late teens. The other and more important one was King Edward, while he was also in his late teens when he died but he did something that would have an impact on England till this day which his father is given credit for. It is also common knowledge that he had all his wives beheaded because they could not provide him a male heir. While it is true that he divorced his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, for this reason, she was also unable to have a daughter as she was in her late 40’s and had stopped menstruating (the armed rebellions she supported against him probably also had something to do with it). As for the other wives two were beheaded for adultery, one died in childbirth, one was a political marriage designed to create an alliance which fell through and the final one survived him. He also was not the founder of the Anglican church or even converted to Protestantism, he just refused to recognize the current Popes because they were pretty much puppets of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the time. He considered himself Catholic and even kept the title Defender of the Faith given to him by the church. Finally he was also fit active and handsome for most of his life. While it is true that in later years health problems limited his mobility and caused him to gain a lot of weight he was not like that for most of his life.

* King [[Henry VIII]] of England also has a lot of "common knowledge" associated with him. First and foremost it is that he never had a son survive childhood which is false as he had just as many recognized sons as daughters: 2. The first was Henry FitzRoy Duke of Richmond and Somerset, who was illegitimate and survived into his late teens. The other and more important one was King Edward, while he was also in his late teens when he died but he did something that would have an impact on England till this day which his father is given credit for. It is also common knowledge that he had all his wives beheaded because they could not provide him a male heir. While it is true that he divorced his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, for this reason, she was also unable to have a daughter as she was in her late 40’s and had stopped menstruating (the armed rebellions she supported against him probably also had something to do with it). As for the other wives two were beheaded for adultery, one died in childbirth, one was a political marriage designed to create an alliance which fell through and the final one survived him. He also was not the founder of the Anglican church or even converted to Protestantism, he just refused to recognize the current Popes because they were pretty much puppets of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the time. He considered himself Catholic and even kept the title Defender of the Faith given to him by the church. Finally he was also fit active and handsome for most of his life. While it is true that in later years health problems limited his mobility and caused him to gain a lot of weight he was not like that for most of his life.

** Also, the painting depicting him holding a turkey leg - there is no such painting, contrary to popular belief. In fact, Great Britain has a royal protocol that forbids officially sanctioned art showing a monarch with food. Possibly anyone who claims there is such a painting is confusing it with a scene from the 1933 film ''[[The Private Life of Henry VIII]]'', which did indeed establish the popular image of him as an obese, lecherous glutton.

* Columbus did not prove the world was round. There is ''no'' record of a mainstream, educated Christian believing the Earth to be flat, and many to the contrary. Some early civilizations believed it to be flat or rectangular, but in every culture informed by Pythagoras, this has been a fringe theory. Seafaring cultures had long known about the curious phenomenon of not seeing another ship's lower hull if they were far away enough. This is because of ''the curvature of the earth'' - and you can see it on land in the right places too.