Sunday, May 26, 2013

Warcry

Every Sunday morning,
a warcry awakens from within.
Enough is enough,
the enemy has best flee.

Dieu et mon droit,
as the English would say.
God and my right.

~Dieu et mon droit has generally been used as the motto of English—and later British (outside of Scotland)—monarchs since being adopted by Edward III. It was first used as a battle cry byKing Richard I in 1198 at the Battle of Gisors, when he defeated the forces of Philip II of France and after he made it his motto. The belief in medieval Europe was not that victory automatically went to the side with the better army but that, as with personal trial by combat, to the side that God viewed with favour. Hence Richard wrote after his victory "It is not us who have done it but God and our right through us".
So after his victories on the crusades "Richard was speaking what he believed to be the truth when he told the Holy Roman Emperor: 'I am born of a rank which recognises no superior but God'."

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