I do not read the history of all US Presidents or all
England Kings, but many interest me, Henry II was one of them.
My reading of the history of
England usually begins in William the Conqueror, nearly 1,000 years ago. Henry I was the son of William the
Conqueror and the grandfather of Henry II. That should give you some idea of who
Henry II was and when he reigned. Several
things about Henry II intrigued me.
T.S. Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral is the only verse play/verse drama
that I read or may be the only one that was present in English
literature. This is the
story of Henry II and Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was
murdered in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170.
I always want to write the interesting stories of several
famous Archbishops of Canterbury over the ages, but never got time to do it.
On a light moment during WWII
Churchill promised Roosevelt to recommend him for the position of Archbishop of
Canterbury if FDR should lost the Presidential election (for the 4th term). I
forgot what U.S. position FDR offered Churchill if he were to meet the same
fate; the Chairman of the Federal Reserve? Nevertheless, it was a very
important position that was appointed, not elected.
Before “William the Conqueror” (the
Norman) invaded England Isle, he was Duke of Normandy (now part of France); he
was just a duke to the French King Louis VII. The modern English people are blending
Anglo-Saxon with Norman. Normans
were French, even though they are not strictly the French race.
In A History of English Speaking
People, Churchill wrote,
“The accession of Henry II began
one of the most pregnant and
decisive reigns in English history. . . Few mortals have led so full a life as
Henry II or have drunk so deeply of the cups of triumph and sorrow. In later life he fell out with Eleanor
[his wife]. When she was
over fifty and he but forty-two he is said to have fallen in love with “Fair
Rosamond”, a damosel [a young woman] of high degree and transcendent beauty, and generations have enjoyed
the romantic tragedy of Queen Eleanor, . . . . offering her hapless
[unfortunate] supplanter [one to replace] the hard choice between the dagger
and the poisoned cup. Tiresome investigators have undermined this
excellent tale, but it certainly should find its place in any history worthy of
the name.”
Queen Eleanor was the consort queen for French King Louis
VII from whom she divorced and then married Henry II, (eleven years of her junior)
King of England, the rival of Louis VII. She offered the hard choice between the dagger
and the poisoned cup to the mistress of her husband, Henry II.
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Pregnant here means “meaningful
and weighty”
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I like the word of
transcendent and even wrote a post of it last year. It is difficult to comprehend and to use the
word of “transcendent”; I don’t know its equivalent in Chinese.
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‘transcendent’ means “exceeding
usual limits or being above material existence”; it also means “heavenly or
otherworldly”. When uses ‘transcendent’
to describe beauty, it is a beauty unseen in this world, 美若天仙, so to speak.
The following is what Churchill wrote about Hitler's Mein
Kampf.
All was
there--the programme of German resurrection, the technique of party propaganda;
the plan for combating Marxism; the concept of a National-Socialist State; the
rightful position of Germany at the summit of the world. Here was the new Koran of faith and war:
turgid, verbose, shapeless, but pregnant with its message.
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Pregnant here means “filled
or fraught; replete”, such as <This was, from the Party’s
point of view, both deplorable in itself and pregnant with danger for the future.>
