King John, a martyred countess, and a fun Game of Thrones quiz

On the medieval historical front, May 27, 1199 was the day when John finally got his wish and was crowned King of England, the first and last monarch to bear the name John, which may be seen in itself as a commentary on his reign. And on May 27, 1541, Henry VIII committed one of his most appalling judicial murders, executing Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, on a trumped-up charge of treason. The accounts of the beheading of the frail, sixty-eight year old woman, his cousin, George of Clarence’s daughter, and one of the last surviving members of the Plantagenet dynasty, are already well known, so I’ll leave it at that, feeling that dwelling upon them would be a grim way to begin the day.
And since we Game of Thrones addicts were denied our fix on Sunday, here is a fun quiz for my women readers. I approached it thinking, “ABC—anyone but Cersei!” But I turned out to be Margaery Tyrell, which is cool since the wonderful Natalie Dormer has breathed such life into her character for the HBO series. Neither Margaery nor Tywin had made much of an impression on me in the books, but Natalie and Charles Dance have been absolutely amazing on-screen.
http://www.medievalists.net/2014/05/2...