Free The Good, the Bad and the Unready by Robert Easton Page A

leaving a nation to mourn and muse on what might have been.
    Robert the English Achilles
    Robert Devereux, second earl of Essex, 1567–1601
    French soldiers called Essex ‘the English Achilles’ because of his acts of valour on the battlefield. But, like his Greek mythological namesake, he had a fatal flaw: his Achilles heel was his hot-headedness, which regularly got him into trouble and finally resulted in his execution after he publicly stated that conditions in England were ‘as crooked as [Queen Elizabeth’s] carcase’.
    Henry the English Alexander
    Henry V, king of England, 1387–1422
    Like Alexander the GREAT , Henry was a man of military action. At the age of ten he was given his first sword,and at sixteen he fought in his first battle. Soon after coming to the throne he invaded France and in October 1415 won a famous victory at Agincourt when the French, outnumbering the English three to one, used disastrous tactics against Henry’s longbowmen.
    Like Alexander, Henry was also over-fond of alcohol. Chroniclers furthermore state that in his youth he ‘fervently followed the service of Venus as well as Mars’ and a bevy of contemporary records, telling of his waywardness, leave little doubt that there is some truth to his reputation as something of a drunken wastrel.
    Henry followed his namesake by dying in his thirties, in Henry’s case almost certainly of dysentery.
    Henry the English Solomon
    Henry VII, king of England, 1457–1509
    The Lancastrian victory at the battle of Bosworth Field brought the Wars of the Roses to an end and Henry to the throne. With admirable Solomon-like diplomacy Henry succeeded in uniting the houses of Lancaster and York by marrying Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward the ROBBER .
    Edward the Josiah of England
    Edward VI, king of England, 1537–53
    In the Second Book of Kings in the Bible one reads of the young King Josiah ordering the demolition of pagan temples and instigating a comprehensive set of religious reforms. Similarly, in histories of the Tudor period one reads of King Edward ordering the destruction of all shrines and images of saints as he continued the reforms of his father, BLUFF KING HAL .
      Robert the English Achilles see ENGLISH EPITHETS
    Henry the English Alexander see ENGLISH EPITHETS
    Edward the English Justinian see Edward the HAMMER OF THE SCOTS
    Henry the English Solomon see ENGLISH EPITHETS
    George Est-Il-Possible?
    George, prince of Denmark, 1653–1703
    ‘James the Popish Duke’ (see the POPISH AND PROTESTANT DUKES ) noticed a peculiar trait in his son-in-law. Every time the consort of BRANDY NAN was relayed a piece of bad news, he would invariably shake his head and sigh, ‘Est-il possible ?’ This occasional mannerism became something of a daily occurrence during the Glorious Revolution of 1688 when the prince heard report upon report of military mismanagement or desertion.
    Erik Evergood
    Erik I, king of Denmark, 1056–1103
    While England was decidedly a Christian nation in the eleventh century, the Church had yet to establish a firm footing in Denmark, and the task of embedding the faith in the nation’s culture fell to Erik ‘Ejegod’. As his nickname suggests, Eric was a piousmonarch – so pious in fact that he is noted as the first European king ever to go on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Pilgrimages usually involve a return journey, but not for the good Erik, who never again set foot in his kingdom, ending his days instead on the island of Cyprus.

[F]
    Charles the Fair see GALLIC PRACTICE
    Edwy the Fair
    Edwy, king of the English, c.941–59
    Edwy came to the throne when a precocious teenager and almost immediately fell out of favour with all his senior advisers. Dunstan, the abbot of Glastonbury, was notably and understandably irked when, during Edwy’s coronation ceremony, he discovered his royal charge ‘consorting’ with a young lady. By 959 most of the elders had had enough of Edwy and put their support behind a