While the concept of overmighty subjects is perhaps not well-known, such individuals tended to have a major impact on history in certain periods. One of the periods that had some of the more memorable overmighty subjects was the War of the Roses. The overmighty subjects during this time period more or less would decided who would win which battles and ultimately who would take the throne of England. Even though this is such a small part of the overall history of the medieval world, it is still worth learning about since these individuals had more power than most monarchs.
These people had so much power and money that they could do whatever they wanted at any time. One individual that fit in this category from the War of the Roses is Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick. The vas amount of land that he owned and the titles that he earned, as well as his relation to King Edward IV, put him in a great position of power. His name in many history books, if not all, is the Kingmaker. Because of his wealth and position he came to a point in his career where he could make or break who sat on the throne, and he did.
The literary value of the concept of the overmighty subject did not escape George R. R. Martin when he was writing A Song of Ice and Fire. There are many individuals who could be categorized as an overmighty subject in the Game of Thrones world, but the two most prominent that would be easy to explain and discuss would be Tywin Lannister and Petyr Baelish. Both of these characters, in both the book and the television series have excessive power for a non-king. Tywin Lannister, head of the powerful Lannister family, married his daughter to King Robert and later saw two of his grandsons become king. As young kings, they required a powerful Hand, and Tywin served in the position himself (much as he had for King Aerys Targaryen).
Petyr Baelish was the Master of Coin on the Small Council, which gave him significant amount of power which his intelligence-gathering activities in his King’s Landing brothels only enhanced. Trafficking in valuable information from those who frequented his businesses, he was able to manipulate kings, nobles, and Council members.
When attempting to find material to supplement this lesson, a key source is Michael Hicks’s article “Bastard Feudalism, Overmighty Subjects and Idols of the Multitude during the Wars of the Roses,” which is very helpful. The article gives an in-depth analysis of overmighty subjects, as well as examples that fit the profile from the War of the Roses. An article that could be helpful is located here; this article describes the Wars of the Roses, but does not tie it to the Game of Thrones universe, which could be beneficial by allowing the students to make the connections themselves.
Another good resource when trying to teach this portion in a class is a video that TED-Ed released showing the TV show’s parallels to the War of the Roses:
While this video is more about the War of the Roses parallels to Game of Thrones, it could be used to set the stage for the discussion of overmighty subjects. Without the background knowledge on the Wars of the Roses, trying to observe the parallels between the original overmighty subjects of the Wars of the Roses and those in Game of Thrones cannot happen. By establishing a basic foundation of knowledge, students can discuss the core concept more easily.
There are many activities that could be done with this idea of an overmighty subject, much of it being active-learning based. One activity could be for students to create a graffiti wall of ideas that could be associated with the term overmighty subject and individuals from Game of Thrones that might be overmighty subjects. After the students have completed the activity, the class as a whole could discuss what they see on the graffiti walls, which would get the students to think more critically about both history and Game of Thrones.
Another activity for this could be to assign parallel readings (a document from medieval England and an excerpt from Martins’ novels) and divide students into groups to discuss parallels. Groups of two or three are best for an exercise of this nature, to ensure that all students in the group take part in discussion.
The comparison between characters like Tywin Lannister and real individuals like Richard Neville brings actual historical events into sharper focus some students. Using popular culture to illuminate history makes the details of history easier to remember; it also makes the discussion more engaging for students. In today’s society, more students have a knowledge of pop-culture and television shows than they do of factual history and taking advantage of that is a way to heighten student engagement. A detail from the Wars of the Roses might seem insignificant to students, but put it in the context of Game of Thrones and suddenly the idea comes alive.
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