2008-09-10 - 1:54 p.m.
Inspire Me with Your Greatness (PART III)
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You know how the British monarchy was supposedly self-justified by their Divine Right to rule? (Yes, I realize that other countries have monarchies too. But for some reason, England and more specifically Henry the VIII come to mind first when I think about kings and queens.)
Do you think that medieval kings actually believed that it was god’s will for them to be king? I guess if you’ve been led to believe something like this from the moment you were born it would seem pretty plausible, or even obvious. On the other hand, being king is pretty important job. Surely even kings have moments in which the terrible feeling of their own inadequacy looms before them so thickly that they wonder why nobody else can see it. Do you think that kings suspected, or even knew, that god had nothing do with it during these times?
I like to think that they did. I like to imagine medieval kings living in constant fear that their deepest secret - that they had never felt that they had any connection with god, nor communicated with him in any way, ever, that it was entirely possible that they were just a crummy-old, regular human being - would be discovered.
