Henry as a Non-Existent Character

[pajan]

I wanted to offer my perspective on how to view Henry as the main character of Kingdom Come and add a few historical insights. Kingdom Come is a unique game because it takes place in real history with real characters. In a way, it could be compared to a historical novel. However, Henry is a fictional character and is not historically anchored. The only thing we know about the person who could have been Henry from Skalitz is that he warned the garrison of Talmberk Castle about the army of Sigismund of Luxembourg („PALACKÝ, František, ed. Stařj letopisowé česstj od roku 1378 do 1527, čili pokračowánj v kronikách Přibjka Pulkawy a Benesse z Hořowic, z rukopisů starých wydané. Praha 1829. Scriptorum rerum bohemicarum; tomus III. V edici díla F. Palackého od Jaroslava Charváta: Dílo Františka Palackého. Svazek druhý. Praha 1941 [1945]., s. 29“). Racek Kobyla of Dvorce was married to Anna of Úlibice and had no children, so with his death in 1416, the family line died out. Therefore, I think it is pointless to argue about which Henry is canonical and which is not. Henry from Skalitz is more of an intermediary for the player to explore the world of the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1403 and, of course, to play the game rather than just watch a movie.

The implementation of sexual minorities is quite a bold decision. I won't comment on how it was addressed by Warhorse. I am a PhD student in Czech history, which I don't want to use as an argument that I am right, but rather as an explanation of the perspective from which I view this. I only know sources of Czech or Central European provenance. To begin with, it is important to realize that sexual minorities were not a topic in the Middle Ages. Moreover, the word sodomy, which was used in this context, referred to all possible sexual practices that were morally unacceptable at the time (and there were many). Additionally, historical written sources were long created only within a narrow circle of people. For example, as far as I know, there is no ego document in which someone described how they felt in medieval society, for instance as a gay person. The big question is how the game will handle this. It could turn out well or badly.

More interesting, at least from my perspective, is the question of cultural diversity in the Lands of the Bohemian Crown at the beginning of the 15th century. Interestingly, Central Europe was probably much more culturally diverse at that time than Western Europe before overseas expeditions. Besides Czechs, there were Moravians, Germans (Bavarians, Saxons, Brandenburgers, etc.), Jews, Poles, Roma, Silesians, Lusatian Serbs, Hungarians, Tatars (Cumans), Italians or Greeks who fled from the collapsing Byzantine Empire. The first written record of Czechs encountering black people comes from the second half of the 15th century from travelogues („Panoš Jaroslav, Václav Šašek z Bířkova, Martin Křivoústý, Martin Kabátník, Jan Hasištejnský z Lobkovic etc.“), so these encounters took place outside Bohemia. Theoretically, it would also be possible to mention the Jewish merchant Ibrahim ibn Yaqub who was in Bohemia in the 10th century, but we do not know who was in his entourage. Arabs and Turks were naturally known. As far as I know, there is nothing about black people in city books – sources documenting life in medieval Czech towns – which is strange because they wrote all sorts of nonsense there like a two-headed cow being born and dying immediately afterward. As for long-distance trade, it did not bring many non-European merchants to Bohemia either. Again speaking about Central Europe where long-distance trade mostly involved Venetian merchants bringing goods (e.g., lemons documented in Bohemia since the 13th century) and then sending them north via the Amber Road. Therefore Italians (Vlachs) were primarily associated with long-distance trade in Bohemia.

In conclusion, it's a game and it should primarily be fun. There's no point arguing about it. Either you want to play it with what it offers or you don't. Time will tell how it turns out. I'll look at it as if I'm playing a historical novel or movie.