A guest post by Adam Pennington
Beneath the entirely fictitious world of Game of Thrones, there exists a lot of true to life history both informing and influencing the story, from characters to historical events. Game of Thrones is in many ways an amalgamation of our past. George RR Martin, the author behind the book series which the tv show is adapted from, has confirmed that The Wars of the Roses is the foundation behind much of the early plot, and it isn’t too difficult to see the correlations.
To try and summarise Game of Thrones for those who haven’t seen it, the series takes place in an entirely made up world split across two continents – Westeros and Essos. Westeros is broken into seven Kingdoms, with a King or Queen of the whole of the continent and then noble house governing the different kingdoms in their name. At the start of the story, the ruling royal house are the Baratheons, who captured the throne by conquest and displaced the previous ruling dynasty, the Targaryens. Much of the first series centres around a conflict between House Stark, rulers of The North, one of the seven Kingdoms, and House Lannister, rulers of The Westerlands and the true power behind the throne. King Robert Baratheon is married to Cersei Lannister. Cersei has a secret long-standing incestuous relationship with her twin Jaime, and the three children being raised as Robert’s are in fact his. When Ned Stark, head of House Stark and Robert’s oldest friend discovers this fact he attempts to lead a coup d’état against Cersei, which fails spectacularly, resulting in his beheading at the end of season one.
The early stages of the Wars of the Roses had a similar story. Richard Duke of York unsuccessfully attempted to displace King Henry VI from the throne, which resulted in his execution. His son, Edward would try again a few years later and this time was successful, overthrowing the King and naming himself King Edward IV. Similarly, in Game of Thrones, Ned’s eldest born son Robb dubs himself “King in the North” and wages a war against King Joffrey, the deranged eldest born of Cersei and her twin Jaime who has succeeded as King following Robert’s death. King Robert has much in common with England’s most notorious King, Henry VIII. He is overweight, quick tempered and loves waging war. His marriage is political and results in no legitimate children of his own, a fact unknown to Robert of course. Henry and Robert both loved to celebrate extravagantly and also enjoyed dangerous sport, particularly hunting. Henry’s successor, like Robert’s, dies at the age of 15. Robert, like Henry, is eventually succeeded by a queen, who dies without an heir, ending the family name.
It is said that Joffrey is based on the blood thirsty Prince Edward of Lancaster, son of Margaret of Anjou and Henry VI, although there are also rumours that he may have been the product of an affair between the queen and the Duke of Somerset. A chronicler at the time said that Edward “talks of nothing but cutting off heads or making war”, anyone who has seen Joffrey Baratheon in action can confirm he is very much the same. Cersei Lannister, Joffrey’s mother is satisfyingly said to be based on Margaret of Anjou. Cersei is cruel and temperamental but devoted to her children despite their overwhelming flaws. Margaret was notorious for her arrogance and temper, as well as a lack of empathy towards those lower than her social class. She agreed albeit with some hesitation to the marriage between her son and Anne Neville, but only for the advantageous power it provided to her. In Game of Thrones Cersei loathes Joffrey’s queen, Margaery Tyrell, daughter of one of Westeros’s richest Lords whose marriage into the royal family helps alleviate rising debts created by the Lannisters. In the end, both women lose everything. Margaret died in obscurity in France as a poor relation of the King, and Cersei is crushed to death in the bowels of her castle, The Red Keep.
Margaery Tyrell, the aforementioned queen to King Joffrey, and subsequently the queen to his younger brother King Tommen has much in common with Anne Boleyn. In the books, Margaery Tyrell was supposed to become a mistress of King Robert which she doesn’t agree to do. Instead she bides her time, and when asked if she wants to be a Queen, she replies “no, I want to be the Queen”. Anne Boleyn famously refused to become mistress to King Henry VIII but would agree to marriage. Margaery, like Anne Boleyn, is shrewd, cunning, charming and a mistress par excellence at the game of court politics. Margaery is schooled in all of this by her formidable grandmother, Lady Olenna Tyrell. Anne Boleyn learnt much of her own courtly skills by following the lead of another formidable woman, Queen Claude of France. Margaery, like Anne, understands the dangers that surround her, but is eventually killed in an explosion of wildfire. Anne Boleyn was of course beheaded, but death by burning could easily have been her fate had Henry not commuted her sentence.
Daenerys Targaryen is believed to be loosely based on Henry VII. Daenerys, like Henry, grows up in exile. As a new born she was whisked across the narrow sea to Essos when her family were overthrown as the ruling dynasty. As a teenager she acquires three dragons and plots to return to Westeros to claim the throne. This she does do, but not until the very end of season six. Henry VII endured several failed crossings from France before he successfully displaced Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth. Daenerys, like Henry, mistrusts the nobles and prominent houses of her new home, she also struggles to adapt to their customs and is continually at odds with those around her. Whilst Henry’s early reign was broadly quite calm, he soon became thrifty, mean and unpleasant. When he finally died, much of England was frankly happy to see the back of him. In Game of Thrones Daenerys is, for the majority of the story, a kind young woman who genuinely wants to do the right thing. Sadly, she suffers considerable blows throughout her short life and in the final season she suffers a full mental breakdown. Daenerys turns into a cold-hearted monster who decimates the entire capital city atop her last remaining dragon, Drogon, before she is assassinated by her nephew, Jon Snow.
It is strongly believed that Tyrion Lannister, the as yet unmentioned third Lannister sibling is based on Richard III. Tyrion is a dwarf and is disliked by the majority of his family, with the exception of his brother Jaime with whom he has a great relationship. What Tyrion lacks in the way of height, he makes up for in intellect and wit. Tyrion is an incredibly kind and caring man, despite receiving continued unfair persecution as a result of his dwarfism. This is somewhat mitigated by his rank as brother of the queen. Similarly, Richard III was born into the prestigious and wealthy York branch of the Plantagenet family, but suffered with severe scoliosis of the spine. Like Tyrion, his senior rank in England helped him avoid maltreatment, and he was said to have superior intellect and an acute understanding of military strategy, which made him an excellent war general. Both men are at the height of their respective societies but suffer from distrust and outward dislike amongst most people because of their abnormalities.
Finally, I wanted to highlight Sansa Stark, eldest daughter of Ned Stark who has much in common with Elizabeth of York. Both are used as pawns for marriage on several occasions, both are tall, elegant and have reddish hair, and both had an almost fairy-tale like desire to become queen, which soon changes as they become political creatures in their own right. Sansa, like Elizabeth, has a challenging relationship with her would be mother-in-law and is viewed as damaged goods as the daughter of a convicted traitor. Elizabeth as daughter of Edward IV and niece of Richard III was viewed with considerable suspicion by the Tudors, in particular the King’s mother, Margaret Beaufort.
Whilst the television show is now over, there are still two more books to be released in the overall saga, so I am confident we will continue to see further historical influence over the story. Once you start spotting these correlations, it’s quite hard to stop noticing them!
About the author
Adam Pennington is a part-time historian based in London. Adam is a graduate of the University of Brighton with a Bachelor of Sciences degree in Media and Communication. Since graduating Adam has predominantly worked in the media industry and still maintains a full-time job in events. In 2020 Adam decided to channel his long held passion for medieval and Tudor history into setting up The Tudor Chest, a website and blog with accompanying instagram account. Adam’s passion for history started at a young age and was helped by where he grew up, living opposite Nonsuch Park and just ten minutes away from Hampton Court Palace. At the heart of Adam’s Tudor passion sits Anne Boleyn. He is an unapologetic Anne Boleyn obsessive, and spends a lot of time reading and listening to anything associated with this most notorious of queen consorts. Adam is also in the process of writing his very first book which will be an exploration of the Pole family, due for release in 2023.
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