Why serious history buffs are obsessed with Game of Thrones
"There's a hefty dose of Tudor court intrigue, a Dark Ages mood at sea, a dash of Roman Britain to the north and a sexy Genghis Khan to the south," says historian Amanda Vickery
For medieval historian Helen Castor, the parallels with women’s history are unavoidable. Men may reign, but if the right to rule is inherited by blood, there’s always a risk that a female head will bear the crown. “Daenerys Stormborn is the last survivor of House Targaryen, determined to make good her dynastic right to the Iron Throne – just as Matilda claimed the crown of England on her father’s death in 1135.
Like Matilda, she’s compromised by the fact that she can’t lead her own troops into battle.” The strength of the female characters and the exploration of women’s choices in a relentlessly sexist world are the compelling draw for me. But simultaneously it depicts a patriarchal world in which women are fully formed human beings with interior lives. Mostly women rule behind the throne, fired by dynastic ambition like any man.
Cersei Lannister and Catelyn Stark both resemble king-making queen mothers of the past, like Eleanor of Aquitaine, Margaret of Anjou and Margaret Beaufort. Female power is diverse and hard won against an oppressive system. It’s plain Brienne of Tarth who emerges as the only true knight in Westeros, proving detractors wrong and weathering their mocking. Cersei wields her sexuality in the same reckless, ill-thought-out way her twin Jaime uses a sword.
Arya Stark slips through the cracks in her Joan of Arc boy clothes, brutalised by what she has suffered, but a survivor. In an ideal world, I’d have the Iron Throne abolished, and see each of the seven kingdoms claimed by the female heirs. But fate is random, unpredictable and cruel. So it’s anybody’s guess.
Series five of Game of Thrones begins on Monday 13th April at 9.00pm on Sky Atlantic
