Talk:Prince Edmund (Blackadder)

Clean
This could use some cleaning up. Far too many words are linked (do we really need links to fruit, bread, butter, church, etc.?) Axeman89 22:03, 14 October 2005 (UTC)

Ha Ha! Who did all that work on This guy! That's fucking brilliant, especially to say he's probably the least popular of the blackadders. Well done to you!--Crestville 11:46, 23 Sep 2004 (UTC)

I've done some minor tidying up, but it needs a section on marriage. Jongarrettuk 12:22, 26 Sep 2004 (UTC)

I will probably get to it during the week. Actualy I find this Blackadder the most interesting of them to explore. User: Dimadick

copyediting; Feb. 14, 2005
I have done more extensive copyediting. Much more is needed and I will do more later.

-Klea

Edmund I or III?
Considering the royal custom of only numbering English monarchs from the time of the Conqueror and his Norman cronies (see Edward I of England), wouldn't our Edmund have been more likely known as Edmund I? Fire Star 17:26, 3 Apr 2005 (UTC)

The only Saxon royal name to reappear with a monarch after the conquest was Edward, and as you say his predecessors were ignored when he came to be numbered - curious in itself as the Norman claim to the throne was originally based on Guillaume le Batard (William I) being the chosen successor of Edward the Confessor. This precedent suggests that an Edmund acceding to the throne - such as the Earl of Rutland might have done, the brother who was the next son of Richard Duke of York after Edward IV, had he not been killed at the battle of Wakefield - might well have been known as Edmund I. It is also possible that by that time the Plantagenets might have decided to recognise their Saxon predecessors and include them in the numbering system. It is interesting to speculate what number Henry VII's eldest son might have taken had he not pre-deceased his father - named for King Arthur, he might well have chosen to be known as Arthur II.

Incidentally, the Wikipedia entries for the previous two King Edmunds have them numbered I and II, although the second is almost always referred to as Edmund Ironside.

On balance, Edmund I or Edmund III would have both been possible for the Black Adder.

RGCorris (talk) 23:37, 22 February 2009 (UTC)

King Edmund
I've put King Edmund back in. His 30-second reign is a key joke of the series - all those years aching to be king, then when he finally makes it he dies almost immediately. An episode of Blackadder 2 has its concluding song begin:

His great-grandfather was a king

Although for only 30 seconds

He wouldn't be Edmund III as pre-Norman Conquest kings aren't counted in the numbering. If they were all our King Edwards would have a number three higher. As for coronation, Edward V and Edward VIII were never crowned either. A maxim of English law is 'the monarch never dies' - at the instant one monarch dies, the next in line becomes monarch. Jess Cully 19:25, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

That seems fair enough, although I'm not sure about the use of the joke in the first line. I'll chalk that up to my lack of experience. Sorry for causing any mischief Palaeologus 23:37, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

He wasn't actually King. He survived his family by 30 seconds but that is not enough to be a king - he couldn't even himself finish his sentence: "I shall be King of England", which is in the future tense anyway. The "Le Roi es mort, vive le Roi" is a French principle not yet generally accepted at that time, least of all in England. Both Edward V and VIII were proclaimed Kings, Edmund wasn't. The key joke is that Edmund toils to fulfill a prophecy that wasn't even directed at him in the first place. Str1977 (smile back) 15:52, 6 March 2006 (UTC)


 * I can't believe I'm actually participating in this argument ... and I really do have work to do. The line of succession in the British Monarchy is seamless, and the title passes instantly to the next in line. It was adopted in Britain in the 1200s due to an unseemly circumstance at Henry III's death. The French did it 200 years later. Quite why the British monarch then has to be officially proclaimed and crowned (after a year or so waiting around) is one of those arcane mysteries of the British Constitution that my brief life is too short to allow me to explain. Garrick92 12:11, 1 September 2006 (UTC)

Move most of this?
I'm thinking that the bulk of this should be distributed among the various episode articles (which we're going to be writing...), leaving only a brief outline similar to that for the other characters similar to Lord Percy Percy or King Richard IV of England... --Bookgrrl 02:04, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

01:53, January 24, 2007 Edit.
Well, the article's finally been split. Yes; it has.

 Gardener of Geda  | Message Me.... 01:57, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Blackadder's paternity
What is the source for claiming with certainty that Donald McAngus was Edmund's biological father? The article previously named both McAngus and his nominal father Richard IV as candidates, which would be better. Jess Cully 11:49, 23 May 2007 (UTC)