The King’s Counsel

Have you ever woken up wrestling with a problem? Unless it is a scene for a story, I know I will not solve anything by handing over the blessing of sleep. And yet, despite knowing that worry solves nothing, I still have those moments where I ponder a problem in the middle of the night with no one awake to talk to. 

The trouble with humans is that in the darkest hours of our lives, we isolate. We believe we can solve things just by replaying the scenario repeatedly in our minds. 

I’d wager that medieval kings and queens had some pretty colossal problems. If someone with a bigger army and better strategy than you wanted your land, they could come in and take over your kingdom.

If you were lucky, as a defeated monarch, you may be under house arrest for a couple of decades, with a nice pension fund and some good mead and company. If you were less fortunate, your enemies would display your head as a trophy outside the castle walls. Or your body parts sent to your allies to remind them not to mess with the new ruler. In my medieval fantasy series, my villain King Radolf was a big fan of publicly displaying his enemy’s heads. 

Medieval rulers who were wise understood the importance of not governing in isolation, despite their fear of hidden enemies. Kings and queens had counsels to help with talking through tough decisions. When I was looking at one of my most mentioned monarchs, King Henry VIII, I noted he met with his counsel daily. Records show that in 1540 he had 19 men on the counsel. In one of my previous newsletters, I mentioned that King Henry had beheaded a few of his wives and had also divorced his first wife. This was not a decision he made in isolation.  

Thomas Audley, Lord Chancellor, became a member of Henry VIII’s Privy Chamber in 1527. He backed the King’s desire to divorce Katherine of Aragon and his marriage to Anne Boleyn, setting in motion a course of action that altered history.

While Henry’s romantic reputation has earned him a high level in the toxic relationships hall of fame, there was some logic behind the madness. We understand that being without an heir was dangerous for kings. It signaled to their enemies and their countrymen that their rule was unstable. Every power hungry distant relative would come up with a plan to state a claim to the throne. These disputes often ended in violence and unsettled the economic development of the country. It is something that we see every day as wars erupt around the modern world. Wars alter trade routes. Families are unsettled. Wars damage infrastructure and ultimately leads to a demoralized population and a devalued currency, even if a successful coup is managed along the way. 

We may not always agree with all the decisions that some of King Henry VIII’s advisors encouraged. However, we know that having a strong counsel and a good succession plan is important for the growth of a nation. Having governance institutions protects private property rights. It provides law enforcement and lays the foundation for economic prosperity. All great leaders in history understood this.

It may surprise you that the villain in the Chronicles of Nadine, King Radolf, also has the interest of his citizens close at heart. In book 1, The Last of the Silver Wings, where the Bishop asks for a special tax for a Holy War. King Radolf is not keen. He realises that an overtaxed population will suffer hardship. Although the King is known for his dark romantic history, he understands that having a discouraged population is not beneficial for the Northern Kingdom. Besides his unsavoury reputation with women, he has one other vice. His fanatical preoccupation with acquiring a dragon.

Having a dragon as part of an army could bring a war to an abrupt end and is far more cost effective than feeding thousands of soldiers. Having a dragon could strike a single blow of fear and be the end of any other wars, or so it seems. And for those of you who have not read the series… King Radolf has this in common with King Henry VIII. He has no male heir.  He does, however, have a council member who drives many of his less savoury decisions and that is Lord Teebald, his spymaster. It is a tricky relationship because Lord Teebald has accumulated a massive fortune and has a significant influence over King Radolf. 

We can not navigate through life without some sort of counsel. But the trick is to find the ones where there is a mutual respect and desire for all of you to prosper. The kind whose counsel helps you to sleep better at night.