#burnings

I walked into his room to him dead asleep having put on He Man for his kitten to watch and his kitten was, in fact, watching He Man

Artists rendition:

Richard “þe Wulf” Vaughan, Colonel-Contractor of “þe Wilde Wulfs” Grand Company, Reigning Viscount of Greenwood, and Founding, Dynastic Patriarch of House Vaughan. Born the orphaned son of a Gelder merchant corsair from “The Free Cities” under the plutocratic, mercantile, and bourgeois rule of "The Gelderland Merchant League” operating within the trade theatres of the Continents of distant Maharaj and Mauretania. Young Richard Vaughan would grow up in the lavish, Kingstowne manor of an executive associate of “The King’s Landing Trade Company” with their crown charter formally and officially granted by, and consistently renewed upon the consecutive reigns of “The Hereditary, Reigning Kings of Albion and The Current, Dynastic Patriarchs of House Lyonheart” to monopolize trade and exercise government powers over the colonial possession of “New Albion” in “The New World.” when his widowed mother became the aforementioned executive associate’s mistress. In his youth, Richard Vaughan was put on trial by the sheriff of Kingstowne for the allegations of carnal knowledge and illegitimate conception with the daughter of a different executive associate of “The King’s Landing Trade Company” with their crown charter to monopolize overseas trade and exercise government powers over the colonial possession of “New Albion” in “The New World.” As punishment for the accounts of carnal knowledge and illegitimate conception with the daughter of a prominent associate of “The King’s Landing Trade Company,” Richard Vaughan was formally impressed into the direct homage and the military service of “The Royal Army of The Kingdom of Albion and of House Lyonheart.” serving first as a longbowmen and later as a billmen within The Royal Army of The Kingdom of Albion’s and of House Lyonheart’s professional “regiments of foot."

When war officially broke out between "House Lyonheart of The Kingdom of Albion" and “Maison Williamson du Royaume d'Aquitaine” during “La Premiere Fronde des Communes.” Richard Vaughan’s regiment of foot was enlisted into the personal, campaigning, and expeditionary host of “Robert III, 40th and Late King of Albion and Former, Dynastic Patriarch of House Lyonheart.” Shortly after his 21st birthday, Richard was captured and taken prisoner during Robert III’s calamitous and failed “Siege of Tourangeau” during a successful intercession to lift The Siege of Tourangeau as both the comital capital of “Le Comté de Touraine” and the dynastic seat of power of “Maison Clemenceau” under the swift, ruthless, and decisive military leadership of “Prince Tancred Williamson, Le Duc Régnant de Chambord,” the illustrious, prolific, and formidable brother of “William XXI, Le 64e et Régnant Roy d’Aquitaine et Le Patriarche Dynastique et Actuel de Maison Williamson.

In the aftermath of “La Premiere Fronde des Communes” culminating in Robert III’s calamitous defeat and capture at the hands of “Prince Tancred Williamson, Le Duc Régnant de Chambord” and the subsequent drafting, signing, and official publication of “The Treaty of Fontainebleau” between the constitutional monarchy of “House Lyonheart of The Kingdom of Albion” and the absolute monarchy of “Maison Williamson du Royaume d’Aquitaine.” Richard Vaughan was taken as a hostage by “Renaud de Châtillon, Le Marquis Régnant de Gevaudan et Le Patriarche Dynastique et Actuel de Maison Châtillon” in “Le Duché de Brionne.” It was during his incarceration as a hostage living in the baronial estate of Le Marquis de Gevaudan that Richard Vaughan had acquired a literary and an oral proficiency in Aquitianien, “Lyonnais” or “Southern Aquitainien,” and “Classical Cosmopolitan” or “Ecclesiastical Cosmopolitan” under the strict and rigorous, academic tutelage of the domestic, household chaplain, confessor, and tutor to Le Marquis de Gevaudan and his Dynastic Household, as well as the skills of horseback riding while serving as an attendant to the personal squire and stablemaster to Le Marquis de Gevaudan. Richard Vaughan's freedom was eventually purchased by a travelling mercenary band composed mostly of Albionic, Frivoli, and Entscheidene recruits known as “þe Kingswood Huntsmen” under the regimental command of Colonel-Contractor Callaghan “Hunter” McCartheigh. Colonel-Contractor McCartheigh took a keen interest in the prospective services of Richard Vaughan for his equally prized and coveted literary and oral proficiency in both the vernacular and the liturgical, Cosmopolitan languages, as well as his proficiency in horseback riding. Under the personal command and the direct supervision of Colonel-Contractor Callaghan “Hunter” McCartheigh, Richard Vaughn would develop a proficiency in both the use and the tactical, battlefield application of matchlock arquebuses and muskets, weaponry and technology that was not yet fully embraced by the professional regiments of foot within “The Royal Army of The Kingdom of Albion and of House Lyonheart,” with their doctrinal predisposition towards the battlefield deployment of levied, composite regiments of billmen and longbowmen in an age of warfare dominated by professional, composite regiments consisting of spearmen, pikemen, and halberdiers heavily armoured in plate cuirasses and chainmail hauberks fighting in conjunction alongside matchlock arquebusiers and musketeers.

Richard “þe Wulf” Vaughan would eventually acquire his titular and honourary sobriquet while rallying the surviving elements of “þe Kingswood Huntsmen” after the untimely demise of Colonel-Contractor Callaghan “Hunter” McCartheigh” during the iconic “2440 Siege of Garyalburg” towards the conclusion of “The War of The League of Wörtzburch” fought between a “Religiously Conservative” alliance of “Des Kaisercliche Haushalt Des Reichstaat” and “Hohenluxembourg Des Königreich Schönbrunn” against a “Religiously Reformed” or "Luxembourgian” alliance of “Hohenbuchenauer Des Herzogtum Solingen” and some minor, Religiously Reformed principalities and aristocracies within “Die Entscheidene” or “The Northern Imperial” cultural and linguistic hemisphere of “Das Zweitene Kaiserreich der Menschheit.

Upon his election to succeed the now deceased Colonel-Contractor Callaghan “Hunter” McCartheigh as the new Colonel-Contractor of “þe Kingswood Huntsmen,” Richard “þe Wulf” Vaughan would rename his Mercenary Company as “þe Wilde Wulfs” in his native, Albionic tongue to compliment the titular and the honourary sobriquet originally coined by Freiherr Ulrich Von Buchenauer, brother to "Conrad Von Buchenauer, Der herrschende Herzog von Solingen, Der momentane Dynastieschef von Hohenbuchenauer, weltlicher, übertragener, Kurfürst Des Selbst Kaiserreich der Menschheit, and The Official Defender, Guarantor, and Worldly Champion of Karl Von Luxembourg, Ph.D, and his general, sweeping, and universal theological reformation to the religious establishment of, and the institutions of organized religion within The Conservative Church of The New Gods traditionally and historically housed and seated within The Holy Sept at Classical Romulus, Cosmopoleis," following Richard “þe Wulf” Vaughan’s die-hard, grim, and unwavering final stand against a mighty host of the combined forces of the Religiously Conservative “Kaiserliche Haushalt Des Reichstaat” and “Hohenluxembourg Des Königreich Schönbrunn” long enough for “a feudal host” or “a composite army” of “Hohenbuchenauer Des Herzogtum Solingen” and some of the minor, Religiously Reformed principalities and aristocracies from "Das Zweitene Kaiserrech der Menschheit" or "The Empire of Mankind Secundus" to lift The Siege of The Bishopric-Principality of Garyalburg and provide military relief to Acting Colonel-Contractor Richard Vaughan and the surviving elements of “þe Kingswood Huntsmen” garrisoned and fortified within The Bishopric City of Garyalburg’s mighty walls. Over the course of his decades-long post of command as Colonel-Contractor of “þe Wilde Wulfs” Grand Company, Richard “þe Wulf” Vaughan would study under the disciplined, regimented, and rigorous tutelage of the world renowned fencing masters within both “Die Entscheidene” or “The Northern Imperial” and “Il Frivolo” or “The Southern Imperial” cultural and linguistic hemispheres of The Empire of Mankind Secundus. Eventually becoming well versed in the battlefield application of a broad, catholic, and wide variety and range of fencing styles and sword types which would earn him numerous accolades and triumphs of worldly renown and prestige for meritorious service, skill-at-arms, and military fitness as a skilled, seasoned, battle-hardened, and grizzled fencing master.

In the aftermath of “The War of The League of Wörtzburch” as the first major war of religion waged between the Religiously Conservative and the Religiously Reformed monarchies, principalities, and aristocracies within “Die Entscheidene” or “The Northern Imperial” cultural and linguistic hemisphere of “Des Zweitene Kaiserreich der Menschheit” or “The Empire of Mankind Secundus.” Colonel-Contractor Richard “þe Wulf” Vaughan and his “Wilde Wulfs” Grand Company would continue to acquire numerous accolades and triumphs of meritorious service, battlefield distinction, and skill-at-arms serving as mercenary contractors employed in the seemingly numberless and uncountable petty wars, political feuds, and minor skirmishes within both “Die Entscheidene” or “The Northern Imperial, and “Il Frivolo” or “The Southern Imperial” cultural and linguistic hemispheres of “Des Zweitene Kaiserreich der Menschheit” or “Il Impero del’Umanità Secundo."

Using the immense fortune he had accrued from his mercenary contracts fighting in the numerous major wars and minor conflicts on behalf of the multitude, or the plethora of the Religiously Conservative and the Religiously Reformed monarchies, principalities, and aristocracies within “Das Zweitene Kaiserreich der Menschheit” or "Il Impero del’Umanità Secundo.” Richard “þe Wulf” Vaughan would offer a generous lump sum to “Robert III, 40th and Late King of Albion and Former, Dynastic Patriarch of House Lyonheart” for the formal and official ennoblement to the long vacant, feudal estate of “The Viscounty of Greenwood” and it’s attached seat within the secular, feudal, aristocratic and noble peerage officially represented within “The Upper, House of Lords Temporal and Spiritual” in Albionic Parliament traditionally and historically housed and seated within “The Palace of Winchester” in “Kingstowne, Albion.” The seasonal income generated by the feudal estate of The Viscounty of Greenwood being siphoned into the state treasury of The Kingdom of Albion and of House Lyonheart, whose civil administrators had governed the region during the longstanding interregnum, or the inherent absence of any hereditary, dynastic, aristocratic and noble household. Both the royal, state mandated confiscation of The Viscounty of Greenwood, and it’s solicitation to anyone with the fortune large enough to officially purchase the aforementioned feudal estate and it’s attached, parliamentary seat within “The Upper, House of Lords Temporal and Spiritual” in “Albionic Parliament” being a fiscal scheme orchestrated by Robert III, 40th and Late King of Albion and Former, Dynastic Patriarch of House Lyonheart to help him raise the necessary funds needed to pay for the extortionate king’s ransom formally imposed upon him during the aftermath of his disastrous and failed military expedition during “La Premiere Fronde des Communes” in “Le Royaume d’Aquitaine” marked by the drafting, signing, and official publication of “The Treaty of Fontainebleau” officially concluding the war between “House Lyonheart of The Kingdom of Albion” and “Maison Williamson du Royaume d’Aquitaine.”

Richard “þe Wulf” Vaughan as The Colonel-Contractor of “þe Wild Wolfs” Grand Company formally headquartered within the castletown of “Greenwhich,” the feudal capital of The Viscounty of Greenwood and the dynastic seat of power of the newly ennobled “House Vaughan," is best identified on the battlefield by his signature suit of baroque, gilded and enameled, brigandine armour worn over a richly burned, chainmail hauberk. A type of armour that has been traditionally remarked with excessive disgust, disdain, and revulsion by the feudal, landed, aristocratic and noble knights of both “Le Royaume d’Aquitaine,” as well as “Die Entscheidene” or “The Northern Imperial” and “Il Frivolo” or “The Southern Imperial” cultural and linguistic hemispheres of The Empire of Mankind Secundus for it’s traditional and stereotypical association with brigands, mercenaries, thieves, and outlaws, as well as “the middle classes” of bourgeoisie, merchants, country gentlemen, professionals, and artisans who were legally restricted from both the battlefield application and the private ownership of both full plate armour suits and heavy coats of chainmail through sumptuary laws formally and officially mandated and imposed within legislative decrees enacted by both the Religiously Conservative and the Religiously Reformed monarchies, principalities, aristocracies, and their hereditary, dynastic households. Off the battlefield, especially during state ceremonies, formal banquets, and jousting tournaments, and much to the revulsion and the scorn of his feudal, aristocratic and noble peers. Richard “þe Wulf” Vaughan as The Reigning Viscount of Greenwood and The Founding, Dynastic Patriarch of House Vaughan is often seen wearing a richly dyed, gilded, and ornamented, yet functional Gambeson sporting the heraldic liveries of his “Wilde Wulfs” Grand Company. A habit that was frowned upon and held in general contempt by his feudal, aristocratic and noble peers collectively and officially represented within “The Upper, House of Lords Temporal and Spiritual” of Albionic Parliament traditionally and historically housed and seated within “The Palace of Winchester” in “Kingstowne, Albion.” Who generally considered it equally ideal and customary to wear the imported, elaborate, baroque, gold-spun, richly dyed silk dresses, tunics, and jupons crafted by the world renowned, master tailors of Couronne and Bravvos from the exotic, prized, and coveted Khasharii silks imported by the Erizen and the Ashuryan silk merchants.

As his preferred primary armaments, Richard “þe Wulf” Vaughan prefers to wield a pair of wheellock pistols while fighting on horseback and a wheellock rifle while fighting dismounted, before closing in for the kill with his baroque, gilded, ornamented, and bejeweled side sword as his prized, secondary, melee weapon. Richard “þe Wulf” Vaughan also carries a rondel dagger richly engraved with gilded, ornamented lettering of a mysterious, cryptic, female given name of what those who know him best speculate and suggest to be that of his first, greatest, and only love from his youth etched onto the blade as his sidearm on the occasion that he is disarmed of both his primary and secondary armaments in combat. This set of weapons were allegedly gifted to him by “Giovanni Colella,” the world renowned “Frivolo” or “Southern Imperial” painter, sculptor, musician, architect, poet, playwright, natural philosopher, mathematician, siege engineer, historian, political theorist, polyglot, swordsmith, gunsmith, master armourer, botanist, and herbalist from the great city of “Bravvos,” the aristocratic capital of “La Serenissima Reppubblica di Toscana” or “The Toscanii Republic,” more commonly and informally abbreviated as “La Serenissima,” as a gesture of his deepest, and most genuine gratitude to “þe Wulf” for successfully evacuating much of the municipal citizenry of Bravvos out of “The 2444 Siege of Bravvos” at the hands of a mighty, expeditionary, and campaigning host of knightly retinues, pike-and-shotte infantry regiments, and gunpowder-based, siege artillery paying direct homage and military service to “Alexius VI, 101st and Reigning Emperor-Elect of Mankind, Hereditary, Dynastic, Imperial Princeps or Imperial Magnate for Des Reichstaat, The Imperial Demesne, or Nymphenburg, and Current, Dynastic Patriarch for Des Kaiserliche Haushalt or The Imperial Household” formally charged with the systematic neutralization of the collective uprisings of the baronial and knightly, dynastic households of patrician aristocracy and nobility officially represented within “La Frivola” or “The Southern Imperial” “La Lega Toscana” or “Toscanii League” campaigning to resist the feudal supremacy, the political excesses, and the abuses of worldly, temporal power at the hands of the culturally and the geographically distant "Alexius VI, 101st and Reigning Emperor-Elect of Mankind, Hereditary, Dynastic, Imperial Princeps or Imperial Magnate for Des Reichstaat, The Imperial Demesne, or Nymphenburg, and Current, Dynastic Patriarch of Des Kaiserliche Haushalt or The Imperial Household." “Der Kaiserliche Haushalt” or "The Imperial Household" essentially being the direct descendants of “Prinz Heinrich Von Nymphenburg,” the first crowned and anointed, Hereditary, Imperator of The Empire of Mankind Secundus by Archpatriarch Demetrius IV, 100th Bishop of Romulus and Former, Ecclesiastical Patriarch of The Conservative Church of The New Gods officially housed and seated within “The Holy Sept” at “Classical Romulus, Cosmopoleis.” The Imperial Household as the hereditary, dynastic bloodline of Prinz Heinrich Von Nymphenburg being the lawful, legitimate, and anointed inheritors of the Cosmopolitan, Classical Romulan sigil of Augustinian Regulus, the last, aristocratic and noble, patrician dictator for life of The Cosmopolitan, Classical Romulan Republic and The First and Founding Imperator of “The Empire of Mankind Primus.” The secular, feudal regimes of "The Dynastic Patriarchs of Imperial Household," with their traditional and historical monopoly over the formal and the official elections for the title of “Emperor-Elect of Mankind” as "The Hereditary, Dynastic, Imperial Princeps or Imperial Magnates for Des Reichstaat, The Imperial Demesne, or Nymphenburg,” were consistently and demonstrably characterized, or otherwise defined by the legislative marginalization and misrepresentation of the rich and prosperous “Frivoli, or “Southern Imperial” member states of “Il Impero del’Umanità Secundo” geographically situated within “La Valle Olympiana.”

One peculiarity of Richard “þe Wulf” Vaughan as The Colonel-Contractor of “þe Wilde Wulfs” Grand Company is his eagerness to outright reject mercenary contracts from monarchs, princes, and aristocracies seeking to procure his military services for the expressed intent of the systematic genocide and the punitive purging of peasants and unarmed civilians. While Richard “þe Wulf” Vaughan’s and his “Wilde Wulfs’” reputation for military professionalism and military service is equally renowned and reputed by both the Religiously Conservative and the Religiously Reformed monarchs, princes, and aristocracies across the breadth, the expanse, and the enormity of “The Civilized World,” as well as those states whose rulers, subjects, and citizens are religiously subscribed to “The Faith of The Old Gods” ultimately derived from the first, great schism between The Conservative Church of The New Gods based on the original and the historic codification, canonization, and formalization of the most widely and the most traditionally attested versions of the oral mythologies of the Classical Mycenean and Cosmopolitan pantheons into “the Classical Cosmopolitan” or “the Ecclesiastical Cosmopolitan” conservative rite and liturgy of “The Holy Canons of The New Gods” under the direct oversight and the personal supervision of The Cosmopolitan, Classical Romulan, Imperator of Mankind “Cassadorian the Great,” with "The Churches of The Old Gods" originally founded by the Cosmopolitan, Classical Romulan, master theologian “Saint Enoch the Sufferer” and his theological peers and political allies, with their theological and scriptural emphasis on the spiritual, cultural, and moral primacy of “The Mycenean Primordials” or “The Mycenean Elder Gods” in the aftermath of “The Enochian Heresy” and their subsequent exodus and exile from The Cosmopolitan, Classical Romulan, Empire of Mankind Primus over the course of the closing decades of “The Civilized World’s” historical epoch of “Classical Antiquity” or “The Age of Heroes.” “þe Wulf” as one of most highly prized and coveted mercenary contractors has privately expressed a mixture of “impartiality,” “cold, bitter apathy,” and “supreme, fundamental indifference” to the cultural and the religious rationale of “the divine right of kings” or “divine mandate” effectively rationalizing, legitimizing, and justifying the tyrannical, despotic, and oppressive regimes of the very monarchs, princes, and aristocracies who prize and covet, in equal measure, his military services and those of the troops under his direct command and personal supervision.

Despite, or rather because of the combination and the mixture of his “impartiality,” “cold, bitter apathy,” and “supreme, fundamental indifference” towards the cultural and the religious rationale of “the divine right of kings” or “divine mandate” that virtually and effectively rationalizes, legitimizes, and justifies the tyrannical, despotic, and oppressive regimes of the very monarchs, princes, and aristocracies who prize and covet his military services, in equal measure. Although he would never explicitly admit it for the sake of survival and self-preservation in an inherently unfree and unfair world. Richard “þe Wulf” Vaughan has privately confided to those closest and dearest to him an inherent “agnosticism” born of his cynical world view of the cultural and the religious distinctions that paradoxically rationalize, legitimize, and justify the tyranny, the despotism the corruption of monarchs, princes, aristocracies, and their dynastic households. While also being the wellspring of the inherent division, distrust, and sectarianism within the geographic and the demographic breadth, expanse and enormity of whole world and all those who live within it based on inherent cultural and religious distinctions that serve to both rationalize and legitimize the very tyrants and despots who seek to oppress, exploit, and subjugate the very people who look up to and depend upon them for leadership, guidance, and unity using the lies and the hypocrisy that they feed them.

While he would never explicitly express and publicize his personal convictions out of the absolute necessity for survival and self-preservation in a fundamentally and an inherently unfree world living under the yoke and in the fetters of the tyranny, the despotism, and the corruption of monarchs, princes, aristocracies, and theocracies. To those closest and dearest to him, as well as those who have earned the hard-earned currency of his trust and respect. Richard “þe Wulf” Vaughan” has exhibited an equal degree and measure of disgust, disdain, and contempt for “The Conservative Church of The New Gods” under the ecclesiastical leadership of “The Archpatriarch,” “The Bishop of Romulus,” or “The Pontifex Maximus” and “The Curia” or “The College of Cardinals” traditionally and historically housed and seated within “The Holy Sept” at “Classical Romulus, Cosmopoleis” as the historic capital, the civilizational kernel, and the titular namesake to both “The Cosmopolitan, Classical Romulan Republic” and “The Empire of Mankind Primus” during The Civilized World’s historical epoch of “Classical Antiquity” or “The Age of Heroes.” He holds disgust, disdain, and general revulsion for the corruption, the abuses, and the worldly excesses of the spiritual, cultural, and moral power, authority, and influence of the ecclesiastical and the monastic clergy of The Conservative Church of The New Gods. Most notably the preaching and proselytizing of their hypocritical code of universal love and bitter self-denial, while eagerly and openly advocating for the unrestraint and the indiscriminate slaughter and massacre of any religious nonconformists whose very convictions threaten, or otherwise contradict their spiritual, cultural, and moral power, authority, and influence through their church-sanctioned and prosecuted crusades, errantry wars, and inquisitions against those deemed as heretics, infidels, dissenters, and blasphemers in the eyes of The Conservative Church. While also using their monopoly on truth, faith, law, and morality to grow fat and decadent from the equally extortionate and exorbitant income generated by the religious tithes, donations, benefices, and services imposed upon the Conservative faithful across the breadth, the expanse, and the enormity of The Known World.

While privately expressing an inherent disdain, disgust, and general contempt for “The Conservative Church of The New Gods” under the ecclesiastical leadership of “The Archpatriarch,” “The Bishop of Romulus,” or “The Pontifex Maximus” and “The Curia” or “The College of Cardinals." With the seemingly numberless and uncountable accounts of their corruption, their abuses, and their worldly excesses. Richard “þe Wulf” Vaughan also holds an equal degree and measure of disdain, disgust, and general contempt for both “The Luxembourgian Reformation” and “The Dissenter Reformation” formally and officially preached and proselytized by “Karl Von Luxembourg, Ph.D,” at "Die Universität Wörtzburch" and “Cassyon Dufresne” at "La Cathedrale des Œillets," respectively. Much like his private disdain for the corruption, the abuses, and the worldly excesses of the spiritual, cultural, and moral power, authority, and influence of both the ecclesiastical and the monastic clergy of The Conservative Church of The New Gods. “þe Wulf” holds a similar hatred for “The Magisterial Reformation” eagerly and earnestly embraced by the Religiously Reformed and most of the Religiously Dissenter monarchs, princes, aristocracies, and their dynastic households. “The Magisterial Reformation” essentially being the Reformed and most of the Dissenter monarchs, princes, and aristocracies “formal assumption of supreme authority over matters of religion” through their legislative decrees to formally and officially convert to either “The Luxembourgian Reformation” or “The Dissenter Theology” on behalf of both their dynastic households and their hereditary subjects and citizens. In the process of their formal assumption of supreme authority over matters of religion, and through the legislative renunciation of their spiritual, cultural, and moral ties of fealty to “The Holy Sept” at “Classical Romulus, Cosmopoleis,” had effectively both founded, and became the supreme heads of their own Reformed or Dissenter "state churches" in the process of their separation from "The Holy Sept" at "Classical Romulus, Cosmopoleis." Through the aforementioned founding of their respective, Reformed and Dissenter "state churches" of The New Gods, the supreme heads of the Reformed and the Dissenter state churches of The New Gods were legally endowed with state investiture over new and prospective bishops and abbots for the expressed purpose of the clerical administration and the maintenance of religious orthodoxy within their respective, Reformed or Dissenter state churches of The New Gods. Despite the reading, the private ownership, and the strict, legalistic interpretation of the vernacular translations of “The Holy Canons of The New Gods” being legally extended to all social classes outside the ecclesiastical and the monastic clergy and the feudal aristocracy and nobility within the Reformed and the Dissenter monarchies, principalities, and aristocracies in The Civilized World.

On 28th February, 1539, Thomas Forret, the Vicar of Dollar, John Keillor and John Beveridge, two black-friars, Duncan Simpson a priest, and a gentleman named Robert Forrester, were all burned together on the Castle Hill on a charge of heresy.

The persecution of Protestants in Scotland, at least if measured in martyrdoms, peaked in 1539, shortly after Cardinal David Beaton, a zealous opponent of reform, was appointed primate of the country, although from the info I have picked up one John Lauder, would have been the man condemning these men, he was Scotland’s Public Accuser of Heretics at the times. Heretics being anyone who didn’t follow the Catholic faith.

Of the five “heresiarchs” executed in Edinburgh, none had quite so fascinating a tale as Thomas Forret, an Augustinian monk turned Vicar whose passion for Scripture and preaching, coupled with frank observation of the institutional Church’s doctrinal and practical failings, earned him a place at the stake at the crest of the Royal Mile, just east of Edinburgh Castle.

Forret had been warned by the high heid yins about his behaviour on the pulpit a few times, one occasion said his sermons might lead to “make the people thinke” but, a very smart man, he rebuked the accusations of going against the lords work by quoting scriptures and his quick wit. At the time in Scotland the sermons were traditionally performed by “Black Friars” and “Grey Friars” That’s Dominican and Franciscan Monks to you and I!

It would all come undone in 1539 when Forret attended the wedding of the Priest of Tullibody, which attendance, no less than the marriage itself, flouted the Church’s stance position on clerical celibacy. Forret had added insult to injury by eating meat at his fellow curate’s wedding celebration, despite the fact that it was Lent.

So grievous were Forret’s collective crimes that, at his trial, he was condemned to death “without anie place for recantatioun.”

Subsequently brought to the place of his execution, a certain Friar Hardbuckell encouraged him to save his soul  by confessing his faith in God. “I beleeve in God,” Forret replied. Hardbuckell then encouraged him to confess his faith in the Virgin Mary by adding the words “and in our Ladie.” Forret answered, “I beleeve as our Ladie beleeveth,” thereby maintaining to the end the perfect and full sufficiency of Christ’s saving work for sinners.

Rating:

Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning

Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Category:

Gen

Fandom:

Merlin (TV)

Relationships:

Merlin & Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)

One-sided Merlin / Arthur Pendragon

Characters:

Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)

Merlin (Merlin)

Additional Tags:

Angst

Hurt/Comfort

Dark Merlin

Worried Arthur

Reference of mind control

Burnings

Angstember2021

day3

Day 5

Language:English

Series: ← Previous Work Part 3 of the Angstember 2021 series