Welcome to Maid Spin, the personal website of iklone. I write about about otaku culture as well as history, philosophy and mythology.
My interests range from anime & programming to mediaevalism & navigation. Hopefully something on this site will interest you.
I'm a devotee of the late '90s / early '00s era of anime, as well as a steadfast lover of maids. My favourite anime is Mahoromatic. I also love the works of Tomino and old Gainax.
To contact me see my contact page.
Shakespeare is often seen as the bard of the English, just as Greece had Homer and Rome had Virgil. And his greatest work in regards to "Englishness" must be his "Henriad" chronicling the history of England between 1398 and 1485: the reigns of three Henries: IV, V & VI, and bookended by the unfortunate reigns of the two Richards II & III. It's surely a beautifully poetic work with its brilliant symmetry portraying the rise of the House of Lancaster, reaching its climax with Henry V's victory at Agincourt, and then England's descent into the madness of the Wars of the Roses, ending with the evil Richard III's regicide and eventual demise at the hands of Henry Tudor. But Shakespeare also delves into the practical reality of what makes England herself; over this period of time when England was trying to separate herself from the lineages of the continental powers (in particular France) and develop a truly independent sense of self that it had never really held before. This Tudor sentiment of "English exceptionalism" is vocalised directly through the iconic speech made by John of Gaunt in Shakespeare's "Richard II":
This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,Here John sets up three images of England: a Regal England, a Mighty England and a Holy England. These are the three virtues from which England has wrought her soul and made herself independent: her good Kings, her prowess in war, and her unique place in the world given to her by God. The latter of which is expounded upon in the next stanza:
This fortress built by Nature for herself,Here John chalks the prosperity of England up to her position as an island, guarded on all sides by the sea from her enemies. This sentiment of "fortress England" was popular in the Tudor period, and was a vital part of establishing true independence. The greatest enabler of these ideas was England's renaissance King: Henry VIII. The young Henry found himself in a unique position of strength upon ascending to the throne. His Father had left him a country free from the overseas political and military entanglements that had plagued the pre-Bosworthian kings. He had also left him sizeable coffers and a stable mercantile economy. With these advantages the new Henry enacted several crucial reforms that set England on her course to greatness. His greatest reform was of course the English Reformation, separating England from the corrupt bishops of Rome, thus leaving Henry as the sole head of England Temporal & England Spiritual. This also lead to the dissolution of the monasteries and the seizing of their enormous wealth: the first act of nationalisation in our history. With these funds Henry sought to build up his military: both defence and offence.
^A Blockhouse
For defence Henry funded the enormously expensive "Henrician Blockhouses"; a set of many dozens of modern fortifications guarding the entrances to ports, harbours, estuaries and bays along the coastline, fitted with well-trained, permanent soldiers and modern artillery. These blockhouses made Britain practically impenetrable for the next several centuries, indeed Britain would never suffer an armed invasion by sea again (1688 doesn't really count). Offensively Henry sought to build up his naval power, and so in 1546 he formally founded the Royal Navy in its current incarnation (for there was already a Royal Fleet before). This was so successful that the Royal Navy was able to take full control of the Channel, forcing all French ships South of Brittany. The fleet could only be rivalled by the Spanish Armada, who were soundly repelled in 1588 by Sir Francis Drake and the Henrician Blockhouses. Henry also built up the great naval cities of Portsmouth and Plymouth, as well as planting entire new forests in Hampshire and Gloucestershire for the growing of lumber for shipbuilding.
These reforms set out to realise the dream of England as a new Eden, a beautiful, self-sufficient green garden with impenetrable walls, letting in only what her Lord deemed desirable and guarded by the fiery sword of the King's Navy. Peace and prosperity under the providence of God through the King. This was the "English Renaissance", from which Shakespeare himself was a product, and its anachronistically gothic philosophy.
This nurse, this teeming womb of royal kings,This next stanza comes back to that first image of England as the throne of Kings. It propounds upon the glory of the English monarchs as true Christians and good knights, particularly through the strong folk memory of King Richard the Lionheart, which still persists today, of a holy and just warrior king who defeated the Muslim army of Saladin in the Holy Land. The doctrine of the King as the mediator between God and the world underpins the philosophical justification of monarchy: an innocent soul is picked "randomly" to become the ruler of a nation. He should attain this position through his right of birth alone, not through violence (tyranny), wealth (oligarchy), nor deceit (democracy). The Christian Monarch, particularly one such as the English Monarch who controls both church and state, is therefore the incarnation of the Platonic "Philosopher King".
This land of such dear souls, this dear dear land,In this final stanza, as John lays dying, we see that the prosperity of England cannot be taken for granted. John sees the current King, Richard II, as a corrupt and unchristian ruler. Someone who has squandered England's potential by selling off her institutions, backhandedly deposing her most worthy servants, and by acting as a tyrant to her people. Richard's reign is commonly held as one of the worst England has seen: leading to the Peasant's Revolt, the tyranny of the Lord's Appellant, and the eventual collapse of England's position in the Hundred Years War and fall into the Civil War. Here is a grave warning for the England of any age: our current wealth can never be taken for granted, it is no way assured. The path to that "New Jerusalem" is fraught with dangers after all. And Shakespeare, although broadly adhering to the vision of English exceptionalism, brings a subtlety to this grand declaration of a speech by having it be made through the mouth of the historical John of Gaunt. A wily and duplicitous man whose idealism and pride lead him to abandon England for much of his life, and to inadvertently set up the causes for England's pending collapse into civil war. A man who's Great-Great-Grandson would pluck the English crown from a Hawthorn Bush on Bosworth Field and proclaim himself King.
