Glyndwr, Churchill, St Francis: Judging Some Historical Figures by Their Pasts

Owain Glyndwr: an English Soldier

History is funny isn't it? If we judged everyone on their pasts, well here's a few:

St Augustine would be an arrogant lawyer who freed a murderer. 

St Francis would be a materialist party animal (probably a misogynist to boot). 

Owain Glyndwr would be an English soldier defending the crown and killing for his king. 

Winston Churchill would be a disgrace who ordered troops to fire on strikers and the mastermind of a battle that killed many and ended in total failure. 

And of course there's Mary Magdalene who - although never called an ex-prostitute in the Gospels - was said to have had a 'colourful' past.

I dare say there's many more...

Eleanor of Aquitaine and Our Freedoms

Without Eleanor of Aquitaine we may not have the freedoms the government is now trying to take away...

1. She became Queen of England and the Angevin Empire/Dynasty.
2. She enabled the rise of William Marshall, probably the greatest knight of his age who served Henry II and Richard I.
3. Later as Earl of Pembroke he brought King John & the rebel barons together.
4. This resulted in Magna Carta, which William signed after the death of King John.
5. Many of the rights of Magna Carta - to property, Habeus Corpus, trial by jury etc. - we now take for granted. Yet the government seems to have many in its sights...

I think we throw away ancient freedoms at our peril.